Liberal minority government elected in Quebec

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

According to preliminary official results, Jean Charest's Parti libéral du Québec have won a minority government in today's Quebec general election with 48 seats in total. The Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ) are currently in second with 41 seats, the Parti Québécois (PQ) are in third place with 36 seats. About 63 seats are required for a majority government in Quebec. The Quebec Liberals won 76 seats in the 2003 election.

Premier Jean Charest, 48, won a close race for his seat in Sherbrooke, despite having already been declared defeated by a PQ candidate. Quebec's chief electoral officer telephoned the premier to relay the news that he had retained his seat. CBC's French language network Télévision de Radio-Canada indicated the initial results were erroneous.

The ADQ have won well over the seats needed for them to have official party status. In the 2003 Quebec election they won a total of 4 seats, and would have needed 8 more seats to obtain party status. In the 2003 election, the ADQ garnered 21% of the vote. If the results of the 2007 election holds, with 31% of the vote for the ADQ, it would represent a significant gain for the party.

The Liberal campaign, under Charest's leadership, stumbled in the latter stages of the campaign when Charest allotted a $700 million windfall, in the form of a transfer from the federal Conservative government, to tax cuts for Quebecers. The move to apply the money so quickly to tax cuts during the campaign, resonated with some as a cynical move to buy votes, and may have harmed the Liberal chances.

The results represent a substantial drop in fortune for the PQ, which entered the election with 45 seats. It is expected that PQ leader André Boisclair may be forced to resign the leadership.

This is the first minority government in Quebec in more than 100 years since the year 1878. Compared to the 2003 election, voter turnout is up by approximately 3%, according to Elections Quebec.

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