1. Home
    2.  
  2. News
  3. Political parties and trade-unions, Politics and institutions

News

Liberals win majority and pro-independence parties see their support grow in Quebecoise elections

 
The PQ (Parti Québécoise) came second and her candidate, Pauline Marois, regains official opposition status · A new left pro-independence party, Québec Solidaire (QS), wins its first-ever seat in Parliament.

A new political stage in Quebec is under way after early elections were held yesterday. The Liberal Party, which has held power since 2003 with a minority government, secured a majority by narrow margin (66 out of 125 seats), while the pro-independence Parti Québécoise witnessed a remarkable growth as compared with the results in the previous elections held almost two years ago (from 36 to 51 seats) thus reclaiming official opposition status in the Quebecoise National Assembly. Action Démocratique du Québec (ADQ), the party which had been conferred such status during the last legislature, sees a spectacular freefall, losing 34 seats. Last but not least, Québec Solidaire, another pro-indepencdence party formed only two years ago, obtained representation with 1 seat.

Jean Charest, Quebec's current first minister, has reached his main goal of securing a majority to guarantee government stability. The PQ, which had been relegated to third-party status during the last legislature, has come back in full force obtaining the highest number of seats since the Quiet Revolution in the 70's, and will be able to closely monitor the Liberal cabinet. The results of the pro-sovereignty party reflect an upward trend which was already confirmed in the last federal elections in Canada, as the Bloc Québécois, Quebec's sovereigntist party at the federal level, won 50 out of Quebec's 75 seats.

The political scene in the Province went through a frenetic last week as opposition parties -Liberals, New Democrats and Bloc Québécois- tried to propose a no-confidence motion against prime minister Stephen Harper, leader of the Conservative minority government. Harper, who finally managed to avoid the motion, criticised the measure by declaring that "at a time like this, a coalition with separatists cannot help Canada". The question of sovereignty thus became again the focus of debate, even though global financial crisis and its effect on Canada were by far the main issues discussed.

Picture: Jean Charest, leader of the Liberal Party and Quebec's Prime Minister, and Pauline Marois, leader of the Parti Québécoise.

Further information: