The Parti Québécois, for decades the political engine of Quebec's sovereignty movement, has suffered a substantial defeat in the October 3 provincial elections, with their projected seat total of three.
The outcome is the latest in a slide that began after 2012 when the PQ was last in power — as a minority government under then-Premier Pauline Marois. The party's 54 seats from the 2012 election were cut to 30 in a disastrous 2014 vote and dropped further to 10 under leader Jean-François Lisée in the 2018 election.
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon became PQ leader in October 2020, and presided over a recent rise in polling numbers, with PQ support reaching 16% in recent days, up from single digits.
Plamondon will win his Camille-Laurin riding with 9,771 votes (42.59%) and a more than 2,000 vote lead over his closest CAQ competitor, according to Elections Québec. That means he'll be heading to the National Assembly for the first time.
"I'm full of hope," said Plamondon, following his win. "I want to see separatists at the National Assembly. There are over two million separatists in Quebec and they will have three advocating for them in government. The only way that will give a future to the French language... is independence," he said to loud cheers and Quebec flag waving.
Votes summary in Camille-Laurin.Élections Québec
Meanwhile, PQ candidate (and former 2018-202 interim party leader) Pascal Bérubé won his riding of Matane-Matapédia with an overwhelming majority (67.61%). When asked about the party's outlook moving forward, Berubé said, "It's not tonight that we're going to do the analyses."
Votes summary in Matane-Matapédia.Élections Québec
Fellow PQ candidate Joël Arseneau will also keep his Îles-de-la-Madeleine seat with 46.40% of the vote. He had been leading a tight race against CAQ candidate Jonathan Lapierre in the polls leading up to election day.
Votes summary in Îles-de-la-Madeleine.Élections Québec
In the last week of the election, Quebec125.com had the PQ with three projected seats, out of 11 total possible.
Detailed table of votes by political party.Élections Québec
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
