Canadian lawmaker chosen in coin toss

MONTREAL: An election tie in Canada’s Prince Edward Island province has been decided by a coin toss, local media reported Wednesday.

A judicial recount on Tuesday in one of the island’s electoral districts resulted in the Liberal incumbent’s victory by two votes being quashed.

The judge found that one vote in the May 4 election had been wrongly counted for the incumbent when in fact the Liberal and Tory candidates had each won 1,173 votes.

Under provincial election rules, in the event of a tie, the winner is chosen in a coin toss. Heads and tails are assigned according to alphabetical rank of the candidates’ last names.

The daily Charlottetown Guardian reported that Alan McIsaac – who was tails in the coin toss – emerged from court room trembling after being declared the winner against Mary Ellen McInnis.

“You know what this tells me? Every, every vote counts. And I hope everybody realizes that,” McIsaac told the newspaper.