Harper leads Conservative party to Canada election win

CANADIAN prime minister Stephen Harper, the first major world leader to face voters since the global financial meltdown, has led his Conservative party to victory.

But the party was forecast to fall short of a majority in parliament.

The Canadian election agency reported that the Conservatives had won or was leading in races for 143 of Parliament's 308 seats in yesterday's election, an improvement over the 127 seats the party had in the previous parliament.

Based on results obtained from election officials, Canadian Broadcasting Corp predicted the Conservative Party would not win the 155 seats needed to govern on its own.

That would force it to again rely on opposition support to pass budgets and legislation – as it has had to since a 2006 election victory.

Mr Harper had called elections early in hopes of getting his party a majority.

Figures gave the Conservatives 37% of the total vote, the Liberals 27%, Bloc Quebecois 10%, New Democrats 18% and others 8%.