OTTAWA (AFP) — Canada's parliamentary elections entered the home stretch Friday with the start of three days of advance voting ahead of the main polling day on October 14.
Elections Canada -- the independent federal agency that oversees the voting process -- said those who need to cast their ballots early could do so on Friday, Saturday or Monday.
Tuesday was meanwhile the deadline for putting one's name onto the electoral list.
During the last elections in January 2006 which produced a minority Conservative government with Stephen Harper as prime minister, about 10 percent of registered voters cast their ballots early.
Harper's hopes of returning to power with a majority got a boost Friday with an Ekos public opinion poll in which 36 percent of respondents favored his Conservatives -- a 12-point lead over the main opposition Liberals led by Stephane Dion.
Following a two-day break for televised debates, the main political leaders were back on hustings Friday, campaigning against the backdrop of the US-centered global financial crisis.
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