QS, the PQ and the PCQ demand an overhaul of the voting system following election
QS, the PQ and the PCQ demand an overhaul of the voting system following election
François Legault’s CAQ cruised to victory on Monday (October 3), with just 41% of the vote winning them 90 out of the 125 seats in the National Assembly. Similarly, the Quebec Liberal Party received less overall votes (591,066) than Quebec solidaire (634,525) and the Parti Québécois (600,691) but formed the official opposition with 21 seats, as opposed to 11 for QS and 3 for the PQ. The upstart Conservative Party of Quebec was right behind them with 530,768 votes, but received no seats.
The leaders of QS and the PCQ called for change in their speeches on election night. Camille Pellerin-Forget and Jolaine Paradis-Châteauneuf, the PQ candidates in Hull and Pontiac respectively, spoke with CHIP 101.9 on election night and echoed their party’s leader, Paul St-Pierre-Plamondon, in calling for electoral reform.
“Pellerin-Forget: I think we have to rethink, I think it’s a sign that we have to rethink the voting system. All the parties are unanimous, except the CAQ. We must rethink the voting system, everyone is unanimous. At some point, we will have to come together to ensure that there is real democracy in Quebec.
Paradis-Châteauneuf: Because, indeed, it is not normal for the Parti Québécois to obtain 15% of the votes to have three seats, the Liberal Party, it is 14% I think, and they obtain 23 if I’m not mistaken, almost 24 seats. There is absolutely a distortion. (translated)”
Speaking with media yesterday (October 4), Premier François Legault ruled out changes to the voting system, as he had on the campaign trail. The CAQ had campaigned on electoral reform in the 2018 election, but backed away from it while in government.
Voter turnout was down slightly from the last election in 2018, with 4,163,501 people (66.06%) exercising their right to vote compared to 66.45% four years earlier, making it the lowest turnout since 2008, where only 57.43% of those eligible participated.
Situation in the Outaouais
The CAQ solidified their grip on the Outaouais region on Monday night, with their three incumbent MNAs dominating in their ridings (Chapleau, Papineau and Gatineau), as well as managing to flip the historically Liberal riding of Hull. Their candidate in the Pontiac region, Corinne Canuel-Jolicoeur, received more votes (7,056) than any non-Liberal candidate since the Union Nationale held power in the 1970s.
CHIP 101.9 was at the CAQ victory party, and François Carrier produced this (French-language) report:
The full (French-language) interview with the PQ candidates is available here.
