Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will remain in power following Monday’s early election, Canadian news outlets project.
Trudeau, 49, called a snap election last month in the hopes that his Liberal Party would receive enough votes to take back the majority in Parliament. There are many votes that need to be counted and some Canadians are still waiting in line to cast their ballots, The New York Times reports, but preliminary results suggest the Liberal Party won’t be able to pick up enough votes to have a majority — leaving Trudeau in the same spot he’s been in.
Because his popularity was up thanks to his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, Trudeau called the election two years ahead of schedule. This move wasn’t well received, with many Canadians saying they shouldn’t be going to the polls as the Delta variant is leading to more hospitalizations across the country.
Trudeau was first elected in 2015, and warned voters that if his Conservative Party challenger Erin O’Toole was elected, the country would regress under his less progressive policies. Going into Monday’s election, the Liberal Party and Conservative Party were in a statistical tie.