PC Premier Pat Binns, 54, will be facing a little more opposition when he calls MLAs back to work in the fall. While he easily won a majority, the Island Liberals took long strides to head out of the Island's political backwoods: led by rookie leader Robert Ghiz.

  • In depth: Prince Edward Island Votes 2003

    • "This is a huge team effort to give us this fantastic win," Binns told the crowd at the community rink in Murray River, where he dropped the election writ 26 days before.

    "We look forward to their input and suggestions. And I certainly pledge that we will work together," he said of the new opposition members he will face in Province House.

    It's a historic win for the Tories: the first time in more than a century that the Conservatives have won three consecutive mandates.

    At the end of the night, the Conservatives lost three of the 26 seats they held when Pat Binns called Islanders to the polls on Sept. 2. The Grits gained back some of the ground they lost in the last general election.

    Two for five in capital

    Most insiders expected the Liberals to make inroads in the handful of ridings in the city of Charlottetown. District 13, Charlottetown-Rochford Square was the scene of one of the most interesting skirmishes in "battlefield Charlottetown."

    Ghiz, the 29-year-old politically untested son of the late Joe Ghiz, was up against Charlottetown Mayor George MacDonald running under the Tory banner. Until winning the leadership of the Liberal party in April, Ghiz worked as the Atlantic advisor to Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

    "We went into tonight knowing it was going to be an uphill battle," Ghiz said to supporters at his Charlottetown headquarters. "Come the next election everyone here is looking at a government in waiting, because we will be there at the next election."

    The Grits also took away a seat. In Charlottetown-Kings Square, Richard Brown gained back the seat he lost in 2000 to Tory Bobby MacMillan.

    All of the Liberal success came in Queens County, traditionally an area not as dependent on government patronage, and known for less predictable voting patterns.

  • Liberal Leader Robert Ghiz: Charlottetown-Rochford Square

  • Richard Brown: Charlottetown-Kings Square

  • Ron MacKinley: North River-Rice Point

  • Carolyn Bertram: Crapaud-Hazel Grove

    • "I think it's healthy to have four opposition members. We accept that we want to be accountable," said Premier Binns.

    Western support lags for Grits

    Support for the Conservatives continued in the traditionally Liberal western Prince Edward Island. Despite a number of close races, all nine districts went Conservative blue.

    NDP lose support

    For NDP Leader Gary Robichaud the evening was a bit of a disappointment. The 41-year-old Summerside high school teacher set two goals going into the election: running a full slate of candidates and increasing the popular vote.

    There were New Democrats in 24 of 27 districts, and at the end of the night the popular vote had dropped to three per cent, less than half of what they won in the 2000 general election.