MONTREAL — The separatist Parti Québécois won Quebec’s provincial election on Monday but fell short of the seats needed to govern alone, returning the party that promises another independence referendum to power for the first time since 2014, BBC News, DW and The Guardian reported.
With most votes counted Tuesday morning, the PQ was on track to win nearly 60 of the 127 seats in the National Assembly, short of the 64 required for a majority. Its share of the popular vote was about 28 percent. The Quebec Liberals finished second with 40 seats, Québec Solidaire won nine, and the Quebec Conservatives gained ground. The Coalition Avenir Québec, which had governed since 2018, was not projected to win a single seat; outgoing Premier Christine Fréchette conceded her own race in Trois-Rivières.
PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, 49, is set to become premier at the head of a minority government that will need opposition support to pass legislation and survive confidence votes. In his victory speech he vowed to be “the premier of everyone in Quebec” while restating his independence goal: “Our national destiny will be achieved one day.” He has said a referendum would not be held while U.S. President Donald Trump remains in office, arguing the question should not be “hijacked by the theatrics of an unpredictable president.”
Rivals quickly signaled limits. Liberal leader Charles Milliard said his party would support the PQ on some issues but “there is no way we will collaborate on a potential referendum.” Polls put support for sovereignty at roughly 30 percent; Quebec voters rejected independence in 1980 and, by a razor-thin margin, in 1995. St-Pierre Plamondon has also pledged to cut Quebec’s ties to the British monarchy, resist any federal push to raise immigration levels and block a proposed high-speed rail line linking Quebec and Ontario.
Prime Minister Mark Carney congratulated the incoming premier, saying “building a stronger Quebec is at the heart of our mission to build a stronger Canada.” The result hands Carney a new national-unity test as Canada remains locked in a tariff fight with Washington, and it lands two weeks before Albertans vote on Oct. 19 on whether to hold a referendum on separation of their own.
Sources: BBC News, DW, The Guardian
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