Parti Québécois Wins Quebec Minority on a Pledge to Consult Voters on Independence

Quebecers elected the Parti Québécois on Monday, choosing a party pledged to consult them on independence. It will be the first PQ government since Pauline Marois was elected in 2012. CBC News projected that the PQ will form the next government, making leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon premier, and CTV News projected a PQ minority.

With all polling stations reported, Élections Québec’s count gave the PQ 59 of the National Assembly’s 127 seats, five short of the 64 needed for a majority. The Liberals won 40 and will form the official opposition, the Conservatives 19 and Québec solidaire 9. The PQ took 28.0 percent of the vote, the Liberals 24.2 percent and the Conservatives 20.7 percent. Turnout was 66.9 percent. In Vachon, the Liberal candidate finished 14 votes ahead of the PQ.

The governing Coalition Avenir Québec won no seats, despite taking 13.3 percent of the vote. Premier Christine Fréchette lost her own seat in Trois-Rivières to the PQ’s Jean Pellerin by 499 votes. St-Pierre Plamondon won Camille-Laurin.

The PQ put its referendum promise in writing before the campaign. “Yes, a Parti Québécois government will consult Quebecers on the independence of Quebec during its first term if it is elected,” St-Pierre Plamondon said in an August 18 statement issued in French. In the same statement he ruled out a referendum while Donald Trump is president, which he said formally means none before January 20, 2029. “One day, Quebecers will decide for themselves, and that day is approaching,” he said.

On Tuesday, St-Pierre Plamondon said a referendum is not among his immediate priorities, and he repeated that none will be held while Trump remains in office. “We’ve got time and we’ve got plenty of urgencies and problems to solve,” he said. He named homelessness, government spending and the rising cost of living, along with a trade team to respond to the trade war with the United States, Global News reported. Liberal leader Charles Milliard said his party would not support a referendum. “For us, it’s no,” he said.

Conservative leader Éric Duhaime, who promised to try to block a referendum, won his own seat in Bellechasse on his fourth attempt to enter the legislature. Milliard, who cast himself as the only federalist in the race, won Orford.

Before the vote, a Synopsis poll for La Presse found 63 percent of Quebecers would vote no on sovereignty. On Monday they chose the party that promises to ask them.