First Past the Post

This is Canada’s electoral system. People vote for one candidate in their riding and whichever candidate has the most votes (a plurality) wins. In other words, whoever has the most votes passes the post first and wins. This is different than other voting systems where the winning candidate must win the majority of all votes. Similarly, the federal party that wins the most seats forms the government and the leader of that party becomes Prime Minister. Note, if that party wins less than the majority of seats (i.e. they win 169 or less of the 338 ridings) they’re still in power, but hold only a minority government.