Canadians long for majority government: poll

OTTAWA, July 23 (Xinhua) -- Canadians have a strong desire for a majority government, after having been ruled by three minority governments since 2004, according to polls released Thursday.

But those polled are equally split as to which party should lead the majority government, as the ruling Conservatives and opposition Liberals remain in deadlock.

In an EKOS poll commissioned for the CBC and released Thursday, 26 percent said they wanted a Liberal majority, while 25 percent called for a Conservative majority.

Only 15 percent of those polled called for a Liberal minority and nine percent said the best result would be a Conservative minority. Twenty-five percent would not want any of the above choices.

In terms of support rate, the poll put the Conservatives at 32.8 percent, with the Liberals at 32.5 percent. The NDP were third at 14.8 percent, the Greens fourth at 11.5 percent and the Bloc Quebecois at 8.4 percent.

The poll was completed between July 15 and 21 and included a random sample of 3,158 Canadians aged 18 or older. The margin of error for a survey of this size is plus or minus 1.7 percentage points.

A Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey released earlier this month showed similar results. Sixty-four percent of respondents prefer a majority over a minority government, up from 52 percent two years ago.

Only 24 percent said they preferred a minority, as compared to 36 percent in 2007.

In terms of parties, 30 percent prefer a Liberal majority, and 14 percent a Liberal minority, as compared to the 24 percent who backed a Conservative majority and nine percent who wanted a Conservative minority.

Minority governments are not common in Canadian politics. Including the current government, there have been only 11 minority governments in Canadian history.