Deadlock likely

Canadians voted yesterday in a federal election which is likely to strip the ruling Liberals of their majority in Parliament and leave the country with its first minority government in 25 years.

Polls indicate the Liberals of Prime Minister Paul Martin, hit both by a patronage scandal and voter fatigue after a decade in power, will end up about level with the opposition Conservatives of Stephen Harper.

Neither party looks set to gain enough legislators to control the 308-seat Parliament and the balance of power will likely lie in the hands of the separatist Bloc Quebecois, which wants independence for the French-speaking province of Quebec.

The Bloc has little in common with either the Liberals or the Conservatives and many political observers predict the new government will be so unstable that another election within the year is almost inevitable.

The five-week election campaign was low-key and dominated by the spectacle of Mr Martin and Mr Harper insulting each other, with little real debate over the parties' policies.

The Liberals are promising balanced budgets and more spending on social programmes while the Conservatives want to cut taxes while boosting defence and health care expenditure.

Mr Martin says Mr Harper is a right-wing extremist with a hidden agenda to ban abortion and reduce gay rights. Mr Harper counters with the accusation that Mr Martin is in charge of a corrupt and dishonest government which needs to be kicked out of office.

"The campaign was not very inspiring. It feels as though people will be voting for the party they dislike the least," said Ottawa computer salesman Mark Harrison as he waited to vote.

The first polls in the world's second largest country opened at 8.30 a.m. local time (1100 GMT) in the sparsely populated Atlantic province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The initial results from eastern Canada will already be known before the final ballot boxes close at 7 p.m. (0200 today) in the Pacific province of British Columbia.

Mr Martin came to power last December with high hopes of spending a decade in power but he never managed to assuage voter anger over a report in February which showed C$100 million ($75 million) in government funds had found its way to firms with close Liberal ties.

"Don't steal. The government doesn't like the competition," read the logo on a T-shirt in Montreal spotted by a reporter.

Polls indicate that half a dozen Liberal cabinet ministers are in serious danger of losing their seats, including Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan and Defence Minister David Pratt.

Mr Martin spent the last day of the campaign on Sunday flying from one end of the country to the other in a last-ditch bid to rustle up support.

A relaxed Harper flashed the V-for-victory sign at his homecoming in the western city of Calgary on Sunday night.

"I've been all across the country and we've had a great reception, and I really do think that tomorrow night we're going... to have a new government that Canadians can trust and be proud of," he told cheering supporters.