Tight race for Melillo in mock student election

Kenora MP Eric Melillo’s campaign must have resonated with students across northwestern Ontario, as he won this year’s student mock vote for the federal election.

Each election, Student Vote Canada asks elementary and high school students across the country to participate in a mock election to learn more about democracy, the parties and their platforms, and to help them guide students to learn more about the future of their country.

In the Kenora riding, Progressive Conservative Eric Melillo took over 32 per cent of the vote, narrowly beating out the NDP’s Janine Seymour with 31.5 per cent – a difference of only four votes.

David Bruno of the governing Liberal party took 17 per cent of the vote; Remi Rheault of the Green Party had just above 10 per cent; while Craig Martin of the People’s Party of Canada received 8 per cent of students’ votes.

Across the 15 northwestern Ontario schools that participated, St. Thomas Aquinas in Kenora had the largest voter turnout – and students chose Seymour to represent them, with 46 per cent of TA’s vote. Melillo received roughly 31 per cent.

Across the country, over 778,800 votes were cast from over 5,700 schools in each of the 338 federal electoral districts. It was a similar result to the real election, where the Liberal Party formed a minority government, although the NDP would have been the official opposition and won the popular vote.