The 2011 Manitoba general election was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. It took place on October 4, 2011, due to the new fixed-date election laws. In the outgoing legislature, the New Democratic Party of Manitoba (NDP) held 37 of the 57 seats, the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba (PC Party) held 19 of the 57 seats and the Liberal Party of Manitoba held one of the 57 seats, after Kevin Lamoureux resigned his seat in the riding of Inkster to run as a Liberal candidate in a federal by-election.^[1]

Quick Facts 57 seats of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba 29 seats are needed for a majority, Turnout ...

2011 Manitoba general election

← 2007 October 4, 2011 (2011-10-04) 2016 →
57 seats of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba 29 seats are needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	55.77%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Greg Selinger Hugh McFadyen Jon Gerrard Party New Democratic Progressive Conservative Liberal Leader since October 17, 2009 April 29, 2006 October 17, 1998 Leader's seat St. Boniface Fort Whyte River Heights Last election 36 seats, 48.00% 19 seats, 37.89% 2 seats, 12.39% Seats won 37 19 1 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 199,066 188,528 32,420 Percentage 46.16% 43.71% 7.52% Swing 1.84% 5.97% 4.60%
Popular vote by riding. As this is an FPTP election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote, but instead via results by each riding.
Premier before election Greg Selinger New Democratic Premier after election Greg Selinger New Democratic

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Following the last census, electoral district boundaries were adjusted. There are 57 electoral districts.

Despite being perceived as a tight race in the run-up to voting, with The Globe and Mail expecting it to be the "closest in more than a decade",^[2] the NDP won its fourth consecutive term in government, taking 37 seats, an improvement of one from the 2007 election – thus gaining their largest majority ever in the Assembly – whilst the Progressive Conservatives failed to make any gains beyond closing the gap in the popular vote, and not a single incumbent was defeated.^[3] The PC leader Hugh McFadyen announced shortly thereafter that he would resign his post. Also facing a disappointing result in the election, Liberal leader Jon Gerrard also announced shortly after the election that he would resign his post once the party crowned a new leader in 2013.^[4]

The Green Party and the NDP have chosen new leaders since the last general election.

On August 27, 2009 Premier Gary Doer, after being Premier of Manitoba for ten years announced his resignation as Premier and leader of the NDP. The following day he was appointed Canada's Ambassador to the United States.^[5][6]

Three candidates entered the campaign to replace Doer: Steve Ashton, Greg Selinger and Andrew Swan. On September 28, 2009, Swan bowed out of the race and endorsed Selinger. Some pundits believe this was an attempt to stop Steve Ashton from becoming leader.^[7]

Ashton, first seen as a minor candidate, ended up being a heavy-weight and, gaining momentum, scored big victories in some ridings, however it wasn't enough to convince many MLAs or win union endorsement. Selinger won the leadership election on October 17, 2009 with 65.75% of the ballot. His victory was achieved in large part by being backed by unions and the vast majority of the party elite.^[6][8]

The Green Party elected James Beddome to a two-year term party leader on November 15, 2008, defeating incumbent Andrew Basham and third candidate Shane Nestruck. After his victory, he said that he would work toward running a full slate of candidates in the next provincial election. He was the party's candidate for a by-election in the northeast Winnipeg division of Elmwood in early 2009.

Of 777,054 registered voters, 55.77% or 433,346 cast votes in the election.^[9] Although this is slightly lower than the 2007 election, voter turnout in Manitoba has generally declined since the mid-1970s when it reached 78.3% in the 1973 general election.^[10] About 78,500 voters took advantage of advance polls, more than any previous election.^[11]

The following is a list of the ten ridings most narrowly lost by the indicated party in the 2007 election (by percentage of the vote the indicated party lost by).

New boundaries are in effect for the 2011 election, so some ridings not listed may come into place in the next election with population movements.

• Note that names in bold type represent Cabinet members, while italics represent party leaders.