With his party running fourth across the province Monday night, NDP Leader Dean Constable was looking ahead to the next election.
As a Liberal tide swept the province, leaving Robert Ghiz's party in charge of the legislature with 23 seats, Constable said the electorate was clearly in the mood for change. In that scenario, he said, third parties tend to suffer.
NDP Leader Dean Constable felt strategic voting hurt his party.
"When it's close, strategic voting does come more into play," said Constable.
He thanked his party for running a strong campaign, and said he believes the NDP will do much better in the next election, scheduled for May 2011.
"We have to earn the trust of the Island voters. I've only had a year in the leadership," said the 27-year-old leader.
"I'm very optimistic about where we can go in the next four years."
Across the province, the surging Green party won the race for third place, with a shade over three per cent of the popular vote, compared to the NDP's 1.96 per cent.
Constable placed third in his own district of Charlottetown-Victoria Park, with 7.22 per cent of the vote.
Liberal MLA Richard Brown was re-elected in the district, with 53.6 per cent of the vote, and Tory Jason Lee came second with 33.4 per cent.
Green candidate Denise Reiser received 5.8 per cent of the vote.
P.E.I. Votes 2007 Headlines »
- P.E.I. tide paints province Liberal red
- P.E.I.'s Liberal party cruised to a surprisingly easy victory in Monday's provincial election, crushing the governing Progressive Conservatives and reversing the seat count from the previous legislative session.
- Hasty promises, desire for change sank P.E.I. Tories
- Pat Binns and his Progressive Conservatives went down to defeat in Monday's Prince Edward Island election, at least in part because of how two campaign promises fed into Islanders' growing appetite for change.
- Liberal wave fails to flood Eastern P.E.I.
- Progressive Conservative candidates picked up all of their handful of successes in the eastern part of Prince Edward Island on Monday, as Liberals swept the rest of the province.
- Liberals sweep crucial districts
- The Liberal party took every key district they needed for victory Monday night, and then some.
- 6 ministers defeated as P.E.I. cabinet trounced
- Six of Pat Binns's cabinet ministers fell and two were re-elected as P.E.I. voters bounced the Progressive Conservative government out of office Monday night.
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