Electoral history of William Lyon Mackenzie King

This article is the electoral history of William Lyon Mackenzie King, the tenth Prime Minister of Canada.

King was the longest-serving Prime Minister, in office for a total of 21 years, 154 days.

He led the Liberal Party of Canada in seven consecutive general elections, winning six times (1921, 1925, 1926, 1935, 1940, 1945) and losing once (1930).

[1] King was the third of four prime ministers to serve non-consecutive terms, the others being Macdonald, Meighen, and Pierre Trudeau.

King was a member of the House of Commons for five different constituencies, from three different provinces (Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan), a more diverse electoral record than any other prime minister.

King was able to maintain his government for four years, with the support of the Progressives in the Commons.

However, he was forced to resign over a federal procurement scandal less than a year into office, leading to his replacement as prime minister by Arthur Meighen, leader of the Liberal-Conservatives.

These events triggered a constitutional crisis, the King–Byng Affair, and the general election of 1926.

King and the Liberals won the greatest number of seats in the election, but were short of a majority.

King managed to stay in power by a working alliance with a group of Independent Liberals, who had opposed his position on conscription.

King stood for election to the House of Commons sixteen times, in three different provinces (Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan).

At this time, newly appointed Cabinet ministers had to stand for re-election, but it was customary for the other political party not to oppose the election.

Although the custom at the time was that the other parties would not contest a by-election to allow a party leader to obtain a seat, the defeated Conservative candidate from the general election, future prime minister John Diefenbaker, encouraged David Burgess to contest the seat as an independent.

This is the only case where two future prime ministers faced each other as candidates for the same riding.

Due to a federal procurement scandal, King had resigned as prime minister in mid-1926 and been replaced by Arthur Meighen, who shortly afterwards called the 1926 general election.

He resigned the seat to allow King an opportunity to re-enter the House of Commons.

His primary opposition was William Stevens Fielding, former premier of Nova Scotia and former Finance Minister in Laurier's governments.