OTTAWA -- Mark Carney's Liberal Party is projected to form a minority government, winning enough seats to lead the country but falling short of a majority, according to the preliminary results released by Elections Canada Tuesday afternoon.

Liberals are sitting at 169 seats and need three more seats to form a majority government. Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives are set to remain in opposition, with 144 ridings.

The Canada Elections Act requires a judicial recount, supervised by a superior court judge, to be conducted in any riding where the difference in votes between the top two candidates is less than one-thousandth, or 0.1 percent, of total votes cast in the district.

According to local media, recounts are expected in some close races across the country and the results could change in the coming days.

Elections Canada estimated the voter turnout in this election to be over 68.66 percent of the eligible voter population with 19.6 million ballots cast.