Charest’s Liberals Win Minority, While ADQ Finish Strong
Posted March 26, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
An almost too-close-to-call three way race ended in Quebec Monday night with Jean Charest’s Liberals winning a minority mandate while the toss-up for second place enhanced the aura of political instability in the province.
Four years of Liberal rule came to an abrupt end, as Charest was the first premier to fail to win a second majority mandate in 40 years, even strugling in his own Sherbrooke riding.
Charest won or led in more than one-third of Quebec ‘s 125 seats, just a handful more than the Action democratique du Quebec and the third-placed Parti Quebecois.
The biggest story of the night was the remarkable climb of Mario Dumont’s right wing ADQ — a party that’s poised to become the official Opposition ahead of the PQ.
The PQ’s failure to claim a majority means there will be no referendum unless the sovereigntists win the next election, which could be held soon if a minority government fell.
Dumont ‘s party entered the campaign with five seats but managed to stun the political world.
“It was the ADQ that stimulated the election’s issues, and set the tone of the campaign,” Gregoire Blais, a party organizer, said.
“Without the ADQ, it would have been a boring campaign.”
Going into Monday’s election, all three parties were almost evenly split in the popular vote with around 30 per cent each.
“I hope (the election) will be a turning point for Quebec society,” Dumont said as he voted in his riding of Riviere-du-Loup. “Rarely in recent electoral history have people had the feeling that their vote could be so important and make such a difference.
No one alive today can remember a similar outcome. It’s the first minority government in Quebec in 130 years.
