Éric Duhaime obtains unexpected support less than a week before the vote. According to PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, the leader of the Conservative Party of Quebec could be disadvantaged by the “distortions” in the voting system.
“I have very, very little in common with the Conservatives in terms of ideas, but I think that if a party obtains 15% in the polls, it deserves to be heard in the National Assembly. […] Even when we don’t agree, a party that represents the voice of many citizens must obtain its space,” said the leader of the Parti Québécois during a press scrum in Quebec.
“People have an interest in there being collaboration between different points of view in the National Assembly,” he continued.
The trend in the polls indicates that the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) is losing its feathers as the election campaign progresses. The last Léger survey before the election period placed the government party at 42% of the voting intentions. It would now be at 37%.
With the same percentage of the popular vote in 2018, the CAQ won 74 seats. However, according to the poll aggregator Qc125.com, the party could well win more than 90 seats. At about 15% in the voting intentions – practically the same percentage as the Liberals, the Solidarity and the PQ – the Conservatives risk winning none.
“There really is a distortion, indeed, in the current system,” agreed Paul St-Pierre Plamondon Thursday. He expects a strong reaction if the popular vote does not translate into seats for certain parties.
“If voices are not heard in parliament, where things are decided, they are often heard in the streets,” he said.
Further details will follow.