TORONTO — The recent Ontario election revealed that most people do not support any party and about half the population doesn’t care enough to vote.

While the Liberal party won a majority, taking 71 of 107 seats, 77.68 per cent of voters did not vote for them. Almost half — 47 per cent — of voters stayed home and only 22 per cent of voters picked a Liberal. The election saw the worst voter turn-out in Ontario ever recorded.

Minister of Agriculture Leona Dombrowsky retained her seat in Prince Edward-Hastings. She captured 20,982 votes. Her PC rival Eric DenOuden got 14,823 votes.

The closest race in rural eastern Ontario was in the new riding of Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington, considered a Conservative safe haven. Former Lanark Landowners Association president Randy Hillier got 41 per cent (18,213 votes) of the vote, to squeak past Liberal candidate Ian Wilson (17,289 votes) by just more than 1,000 votes.

The Liberals are already trying to use Hillier’s "redneck" image to their advantage. Said Health Minister George Smitherman: "Randy Hillier is the real leader of the Tory party, reduced as they are to a rural rump."

Central and eastern Ontario remained loyal to the Conservatives. Of 18 seats, the PCs picked up 11 seats, while the Liberals won in the other 7 ridings.

Of the 12 ridings east of Toronto, the Conservatives won 7 and the Liberals took 5. Here’s how the rural counties, east of Toronto, fared:

Durham: PC John O’Toole(47 %)

Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes: PC Laurie Scott (50 %)

Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington (new riding: no incumbent): PC Randy Hillier (41 %)

Leeds-Grenville: PC Bob Runciman (56%)

Renfrew Nipissing-Pembroke: PC John Yakabuski (62 %)

Stormont-Dundas-South Glengarry: PC Jim Brownell (49 %)

Glengarry-Prescott-Russell: Lib Jean-Marc Lalonde (60 %)

Kingston and the Islands: Lib John Gerretsen (47 %)

Northumberland-Quinte West: Lib Lou Rinaldi (45 %)

Peterborough: Lib Jeff Leal (48%)

Prince Edward-Hastings: Leona Dombrowsky (46 %)