The leader of Canada’s opposition Conservatives, Erin O’Toole, has admitted defeat in the election.
“I spoke to Mr. Trudeau, I congratulated him on a hard-won campaign,” O’Toole said in a concession speech at the party's election night headquarters in Oshawa, Ontario.
According to official results, Canada’s governing Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau, is leading in 157 out of 338 federal ridings in the country’s national election with over 70 percent of polls reporting.
The Liberals have gained 46.8%, while 35.5% of the votes were cast for the Conservative Party of Canada. Currently, Trudeau's party has 156 seats, 14 fewer than the 170 required for a majoritarian government. The Conservatives have 123 seats.
Before Trudeau announced the new elections, his party had 155 seats in parliament. Following the results of elections to the House of Commons, a new cabinet will be formed and a prime minister will be determined.
All 338 of Canada’s House of Commons seats are up for grabs with the winner of the election declared based on a contentious first-past-the-post system, where candidates with the highest number of votes win without any further runoff ballots. At least 170 seats are needed to form a majority government, although most projections currently point to a minority government.