Canada gears up for general polls next week as Justin Trudeau eyeing to return as PM faces tough challenge

Four years back, Justin and his Liberal Party had completely swept to power with 184 seats. However, the situation seems tough for him this time as several other parties have emerged as strong contenders.

In Canadian politics, a majority and minority government (hung parliament) are the two results that can emerge following the polls.

In case a party wins 170 seats or more then it will form a majority government in the nation.

This time the key contest in the polls will be seen between Trudeau and  Conservative Party rival Andrew Scheer.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who is the first person of colour to run for prime minister, and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May are also emerging as key figures in the polls who can upset Trudeau's bid to return to power.

Meanwhile, former US President Barack Obama openly endorsed Trudeau by tweeting: "I was proud to work with Justin Trudeau as President. He's a hard-working, effective leader who takes on big issues like climate change. The world needs his progressive leadership now, and I hope our neighbors to the north support him for another term."

As of Friday morning, opinion polls show this race will be incredibly tight. Most pollsters are predicting a minority government led by either the Liberals or the Conservatives.If the Liberals do lose the government, it would be a historic defeat, just four years after a remarkable comeback, when they leapfrogged from third place in the House of Commons to a majority victory, reported BBC.

Women contesting polls this time:

This time, 651 women candidates will contest the polls across all party lines.

Equal Voice Canada said there has been a 9 percent increase in the number of women candidates this time in comparison to last year.

It said in a statement: "All four of the major federal parties increased the number of women running under their banner since the last election, with the Conservative party showing the biggest increase from 20% to 32%; while the NDP has the highest number of women running overall with an impressive 49%. On average, the Liberals, Conservatives, NDP and Greens increased the number of women on their party roster by nearly 9%."

Overall in 2015, 33% of candidates running for the Liberals, Conservatives, NDP, Greens, and Bloc were women. In 2019, this number has jumped to 42%, with a total of 595 women candidates running for these parties.