Is it possible to win the popular vote, but lose the election here? It seems like that is possible since the winner is based off of which party get's the most seats, not individual vote count. If so, has it ever happened before?
Yes, its happened several times.
First Past the Post is a mess:
1974 New Brunswick provincial election
In a province where only two parties were competitive, you’d think there’d be a clear cut winner.
Well, the 1974 New Brunswick election resulted in Richard Hatfield’s PCs winning a majority government even though they received fewer votes than the Liberals.
1957 federal election
Newly minted Progressive Conservative leader John Diefenbaker faced off against Liberal Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent in the 1957 federal election.
The Liberals received 40.5% of the vote, compared to the PCs 38.5%, but won fewer seats. Diefenbaker became Prime Minister in a minority government.
1979 federal election
Joe who? Exactly.
Even though Pierre Trudeau’s Liberals received 40.1% of the votes in the 1979 federal election, Joe Clark’s PCs, who took in 35.9% of the vote, formed a minority government with 136 seats to the Liberals’ 114.
1996 and 2001 British Columbia provincial elections
Meanwhile in B.C., it seems like FPTP is annoying people on both sides of the spectrum
The provincial NDP formed a majority government after the 1996 B.C. election, despite winning fewer votes than the B.C. Liberals. But five years later, the NDP was reduced to 2 seats despite getting 21.6% of the vote.
There may be other examples too.
