Liberals prevail in Quebec election

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Here's the latest, as of 1:37 am, from the CBC:

-- Liberal Party (48 seats; 33.08% of the vote)

-- Action Démocratique du Québec (41 seats; 30.80% of the vote)

-- Parti Québécois (36 seats; 28.32% of the vote)

Premier Jean Charest's centrist and federalist Liberals thus win a second mandate, although they will govern in the minority in a closely divided National Assembly (the province's first minority government in almost 130 years). The ADQ, a conservative populist party, will be the official opposition under Mario Dumont. The separatist PQ, which had promised a referendum on sovereignty if elected, ends up third.

It looked as if Charest was going to lose his Sherbrooke seat, but he has prevailed.

The Liberals may have benefitted from the recent federal budget, the ADQ from the general unpopularity of the heretofore two leading parties and their respective leaders, Charest and André Boisclair, as well as from its platform of fiscal conservatism and cultural nationalism (nationalism without sovereignty, for now).

The Liberals were behind in the polls just a week ago, although they had generally been ahead since January.

For more, see Wikipedia.