HALIFAX – Green party voters should consider voting either NDP or Liberal in tight races to avoid a Conservative victory, says Green Leader Elizabeth May.

With just two days until the federal election, May said in an interview on Sunday "there's no question that there are some ridings where you might say to vote green you ought to vote NDP to stop a Conservative from winning, and in some ridings you might want to vote Liberal to stop a Conservative from winning."

But she said she also "profoundly disagrees" with Liberal Leader Stephane Dion's assertion that Green party voters across the country should switch to the Liberals.

May said she only envisions Green supporters switching their votes in tight races, most of them in Central Canada.

"It would be maybe 20 per cent of ridings in the country where that's even a factor, and mostly in Ontario," she said from Stellarton, N.S.

That's about 60 of the 308 seats in the House of Commons.

May said she can't be specific about where the seats are, although three Nobel Prize-winning climate change scientists are urging Green voters to defeat Conservatives in 50 close Ontario seats that could decide the election.

Andrew Weaver from the University of Victoria, William Peltier from the University of Toronto and John Stone from Carleton University in Ottawa issued a news release on Saturday saying the country faced "a critical moment."

They noted there are ridings in southern Ontario and British Columbia where the Green party vote is "many times greater than the Conservative margin of victory."

The scientists urged May to tell her supporters in ridings such as Oakville, Ont., to vote Liberal.

May said she's aware of tough criticism from within her party over her apparent endorsement of strategic voting in some ridings.

On Saturday, the Green candidate in the riding of Simcoe North in Ontario expressed anger over May's statements.

"I think she's muddying the waters," Valerie Powell said. "I think she's the best prime minister, and we have to keep working hard as Greens to make sure we have as many MPs as possible."

Asked if she is muddying the waters, May responded, "It's true I am."

"I love Valerie and I read her full quotes and they weren't harsh or unfair. She's right, life would be simpler if I acted like (NDP Leader) Jack Layton and didn't care if Stephen Harper formed government again.

"Life would be simpler if I were a complete hypocrite like Jack Layton and pretended I cared about the climate when all of his strategy makes his own personal success more important than survival of the climate and decent climate policy.

"I'm just not that person."

May's comments came as she campaigned in the riding of Central Nova, where she is in an uphill battle against a strong NDP candidate, Louise Lorefice, and Conservative cabinet minister Peter MacKay.

May and Dion made a deal not to run candidates in each other's riding.

The issue of strategic voting has been a contentious one within the Green party.

During the 2007 Green leadership, rival David Chernushenko accused May of having asked some Green candidates to consider withdrawing from the 2006 election to avoid splitting the centre-left vote.

May rejected Chernushenko's characterization of her actions but acknowledged that she did speak to some Green candidates a week before the 2006 vote.

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Two Green candidates in Quebec, Claude Gaumond in Montmagny – L'Islet – Kamouraska – Riviere-du-Loup and Danielle Moreau in Longueuil, have already asked their supporters to back their Liberal rivals.

May said she regrets those withdrawals, saying they wouldn't make a difference in the outcomes.

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