(Quebec) The student movement is mobilizing around the desired reform of the voting system, worried to see that it does not reflect the popular will. And he hopes to mobilize the general population.
Student associations say they are determined to relaunch the debate and they are organizing a demonstration in front of parliament on Tuesday, November 29, the day of the return to parliament, in order to make the Legault government aware of their demands. Other actions are planned in the coming months.
Upset by the significant distortion observed in the October 3 election between the popular vote and the number of seats won by each party, five spokespersons, mostly students, argued that it was wrong to claim that the subject did not interest anyone, as did Prime Minister François Legault, when he said that the reform of the voting system was of concern only to “a few intellectuals”.
On the contrary, at a press conference Tuesday in Quebec, they maintained that the population was unhappy with the current situation and demanded changes in this regard.
Essentially, to correct the situation, they say they are in favor of adopting a mixed proportional voting system with regional compensation.
They hope that the elected representatives of the various parliamentary groups represented in the National Assembly will join them next Tuesday, to support their cause.
While he was in opposition, in the spring of 2018, Prime Minister Legault was also in favor of reviewing the electoral system. He pledged to reform the current distortion-prone, first-past-the-post voting system if he took power.
During the first mandate, the then Minister of Electoral Reform, Sonia LeBel, had tabled Bill 39 establishing the mixed proportional voting system with regional compensation, but it was immediately put on the shelf, therefore never adopted.
Under the pretext that it was not a priority of the population, Prime Minister Legault therefore flouted his promise of 2018.
Despite this, the student associations are not giving up and are asking the government to recall this bill.
In the October 3 poll, the three opposition parties obtained a similar score, between 14 and 15% support, but the popular will is in no way reflected in the distribution of seats in the National Assembly. .
The Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) won 21 seats (since revised to 19), Québec solidaire 11 and the Parti Québécois, 3. The Conservative Party, which obtained 13% of the vote, has none.
As for it, the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) of François Legault won the lion’s share, with 90 seats out of 125, therefore 72% of the places, with 41% of the vote.
The organizations present at the press conference were the Mobilization Citoyenne pour une Réforme du Scrutin (MCRS), the New Democracy Movement (MDN), the Coalition for Electoral Reform Now, the Quebec College Student Federation (FECQ) and the Union student from Quebec (UEQ).