Less than 70% of Quebec voters turned out to vote this year. This is a similar rate to that of the last elections, in 2018. At the time of writing (10:45 p.m.), the preliminary turnout was hovering around 67.95%, according to figures from the Director-General Quebec Elections (DGEQ).
The riding of Louis-Hébert tops the list of active voters with a rate of 83.15%. The Caquiste fortified castle is closely followed by Montarville (80.79%) and Chutes-de-la-Chaudière (77.89%). Unsurprisingly, the riding of Ungava, which intersects with Nord-du-Québec, brings up the rear with 30.30% of voters having come to vote.
The civic momentum awakened by the Maple Spring student strike of 2012 (74.6%) has visibly run out of steam ten years later. With the exception of the 2008 election, when only 57.43% of voters exercised their right to vote, we have to go back to 1927 to reach a threshold below the 70% mark, as we saw during the polls. 2018 (66.45%) and 2022.
Before 1931, the low percentages of votes were explained by the election of a notable proportion of deputies by acclamation. The lowest level of 27.3% was also reached during the 1919 election marked by the election without opposition of 45 of the 81 members of the Legislative Assembly.
The golden age of Quebec electoral participation came in the 1970s, which coincided with the rise of the sovereigntist movement. Witness the elections of 1970 (84.23%), 1973 (80.38%), 1976 (85.27%) and 1981 (82.49%) which passed the 80% mark. This plateau was exceeded for the last time in 1994 (81.58%) in the context where Jacques Parizeau’s Parti Québécois had undertaken to hold a referendum on independence during its mandate.
The participation rate in Quebec is now approaching that recorded on the federal scene, where it rose from 61.1% in 2011 to 67% in 2019 before falling back to 62.6% in 2021. However, it remains significantly higher than that Ontario, which hit an all-time low of 43.52% in June 2022.
One out of four Quebec voters turned out during the advance poll last week. According to the DGEQ, 24.44% of voters went to vote between September 23 and 29, or more than 1.5 million people. More than six million voters were registered on the electoral lists.