After a meteoric rise seemingly from nowhere, Quebec's Conservative party now faces a dramatic series of losses in tonight's election, with leader Éric Duhaime projected by CBC to lose in his riding of Chauveau in Québec City and no other candidates leading.
After calling nurses and teachers "girls" and being called an "agitator" by most-likely-to-be-reelected Premier François Legault, Duhaime appears headed for a convincing loss to CAQ candidate Sylvain Lévesque.
Summary of votes in Chauveau.Élections Québec
Just over 73% of the votes have been counted in Chauveau as of 9:45 on election night, and only 31.74% of those votes have gone to Duhaime, according to Élections Québec. He trails Lévesque by nearly 6,000 votes, with less than 30% of the votes yet to be counted.
Despite qualifying for multiple leaders' debates, the PCQ hasn't won a seat so far tonight, as the Parti Québécois also faces disappointments with only two projected seats in this election.
Duhaime ran a controversial campaign as leader of the PCQ, promising to end the SAQ alcohol monopoly in the province, alongside harsh critiques of Legault's COVID-19 policies. His statement on the campaign trail that the PCQ was "the most qualified" to oppose the CAQ seems not to have convinced Québec voters, as the Liberals are projected to firmly claim their spot as official opposition against the CAQ.
In a speech on election night, Duhaime railed against Québec's electoral system, observing that his party received a comparable amount of votes as the Liberals, with the Conservative party trailing them by only 20,000 votes as of 10:00 p.m. on election night.
Speaking to CBC, Duhaime affirmed his goal to stay on as leader for "10 years," and committed to staying involved in the Conservative party for the coming elections.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
