Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada was headed to a second term on Monday after an often ugly campaign that became a referendum on his character and on his authenticity as an earnest standard-bearer for liberalism.

Trudeau’s Liberal Party will not retain its majority in Canada’s House of Commons, according to projections by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, but it will keep enough seats to allow Trudeau to form a government, with support from two Left-leaning parties.

The victory was a personal vindication for Trudeau, who battled accusations that he had bullied his former attorney-general, an Indigenous woman, and faced damaging revelations late in the race that he had dressed in blackface and brownface as a young man.

But these problems also clearly took a toll.

The Liberals’ share of the popular vote fell throughout the country as it was losing its hold over the House of Commons.

“It’s a reflection of the fact that the shine has come off the Trudeau brand,” said Andrew McDougall, a professor of political science at the University of Toronto.

While Trudeau acknowledged early Tuesday morning “that it is always possible to do better”, his acceptance speech was victorious rather than repentant.

“From coast to coast to coast, Canadians rejected division and negativity,” he said in Montreal. “For four years we have done everything we could to improve people’s lives and that is what we will continue to do.”

Trudeau may have benefited from having an opponent, Andrew Scheer, leader of the Conservative Party, who lacked his star power.

Scheer focused his campaign on Trudeau’s character — calling him a “fraud” who is “always wearing a mask” — rather than putting forward his own defining vision for the nation beyond cutting taxes.

Trudeau’s return to office is a comeback of sorts for a man who was a celebrity from birth, as the first child born to a sitting Canadian Prime Minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau. He has often been underestimated, and has consistently defied expectations since entering politics.

His victory in 2015 was a surprise. His win on Monday, no matter how qualified, had been by no means assured. A charismatic figure, Trudeau came to power in 2015, touting himself as a new kind of politician — a self-proclaimed feminist committed to fighting climate change, open to refugees and dedicated to transparent, collaborative decision-making, what he called “sunny ways”.

Trudeau must not only mend public opinion about his character but work with political rivals to advance his agenda. “Trudeau comes out of this likely relieved but chastened,” said Shachi Kurl, the executive director of the Angus Reid Institute, a non-profit polling group.

“If the last two years weren’t easy, it’s only going to get harder. Those sunny ways are just so past now.”