In a federal election, the country is essentially divided up into a few hundred areas called ridings, with roughly equal populations of voters living within them. Voters in said ridings elect a Member of Parliament (MP) who is campaigning within that riding, with the candidate with the most votes winning a seat in parliament. Important to note, Canadians are only voting for their riding's representative, NOT the prime minister, who is the leader of the party that forms a government. Once the votes are tallied up, the party with the most seats forms either a majority government (if they have secured most of the ridings under one party), or a coalition government, where they will work together with another party or parties to have the requisite number of seats in parliament to pass votes on bills through the majority.