OTTAWA, Dec. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- A polling station in each of Canada's all 308 federal ridings will be open on Christmas day to give voters advance opportunities to exercise their right in case they cannot vote on Jan. 23.

    Elections Canada said it will keep the voting centers open fromnoon until 4:00 across the country.

    Elections Canada, which will spend almost 300 million Canadian dollars (260 million U.S. dollars) to try to get voters to the polls, is pulling out all the stops to get a decent turnout in this rare winter campaign.

    About 22.7 million Canadians are eligible to vote in the election. In last year's summer election, the turnout was a record-low 61 percent.

    Advance polling stations will be open again on Jan. 1. Advance polls in more locations, and with longer hours, will be held on Jan. 13, 14 and 16 ahead of the official Jan. 23 election day.

    Jean-Pierre Kingsley, Canada's chief electoral officer overseeing the election, is hiring about 190,000 helpers to operate 60,000 polling stations in the 308 ridings across the country.

    "We will take all measures necessary to make it easy for Canadians to exercise their right to vote," he said when the campaign began last month.

    Meanwhile, all federal party leaders are taking a short break for Christmas, after which they are expected to return on Jan. 1 to full speed campaigning.

    With the campaign about half over, the Liberal party is still keeping its lead among the four main parties. According to a poll by Leger Marketing which was released Saturday, the Liberals hold an eight-point lead, with 36 percent of respondents to support them.

    The opposition Conservative party is second with 28 percent, followed by the New Democratic Party (NDP) with 17 percent, the Bloc Quebecois with 12 percent, and the Green party with five percent.

    Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe last week predicted another minority government, but one that may last longer than theprevious 17-month-old Liberal government. A 40 percent supporting rate is considered to be the minimum required for a majority victory.

    The Liberal party has formed the federal administration since 1993. Enditem