Parti Québécois | St-Pierre Plamondon elected, only three deputies for the PQ

(Boucherville) La remontée du Parti québécois dans les sondages s’est concrétisée dans les suffrages exprimés, mais elle ne lui a pas permis d’éviter une cuisante défaite avec seulement trois élus, son pire résultat depuis sa fondation. Le parti de René Lévesque n’aura que trois représentants à l’Assemblée nationale, mais le chef Paul St-Pierre Plamondon a réussi son pari et représentera les citoyens de Camille-Laurin au Parlement.

Charles Lecavalier
La Presse

« Même si les résultats en termes de sièges ne sont pas à la hauteur de nos attentes, on est en bonne voie de terminer deuxième ex æquo [avec Québec solidaire] in terms of votes,” Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon told a hundred activists in Boucherville. His election gave some hope to supporters, who had been having a tough night up until then.

The Parti Québécois, he says, is promised a “bright” future, and it is the “best second choice of voters”, welcomed the PQ leader, who devoted a large part of his speech to the question of independence.

Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon received a helping hand from fate during the election campaign: the Québec solidaire candidate withdrew in the middle of the campaign after being filmed stealing a PQ leaflet from a mailbox. In the absence of a division of the vote between the two sovereigntist parties, Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon succeeded in winning the riding from the Coalition avenir Québec. He can boast of having caused the only defeat of the evening for the party of François Legault.

Hope rather than resignation

In addition to the leader, only MPs Pascal Bérubé in Matane-Matapédia and Joël Arseneau in the Îles-de-la-Madeleine saved their seats. “We are thinking of you, we are thinking of our colleagues, we are thinking of the incredible campaign led by our leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon,” Pascal Bérubé told Radio-Canada.

The PQ leader says he was carried by this energy, that of “people who choose hope rather than resignation”. “We made a spectacular comeback,” he said.

This second breath allowed Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon to save what remained of the PQ. Polls only credited the formation with 9% of voting intentions in August.

After two solid performances at the leaders’ debates, the PQ leader has seen his popularity skyrocket. At the time these lines were written, he was neck and neck with Québec solidaire with 15% of the votes cast, ahead of the Liberal Party.

But the first-past-the-post system is ruthless. And finishing second does not give a seat in the National Assembly. The PQ had obtained 17% and elected 10 deputies in 2018. It has only three left, with 15% of the votes cast.

caquiste steamroller

“In light of the results, which we recognize and accept, some very serious questions arise. Is it normal that a political party which obtains around 40% of the votes [obtienne] 70% of the seats? Is it normal that a political party which obtains 15% of the vote does not even obtain 3% of the seats? Is it normal for a political party which obtains 13% of the votes to obtain no votes in the National Assembly? asked the PQ leader.

Because despite the election of the leader, the parliamentary wing of the Parti Québécois is devastated. The separatist formation, which formed a minority government in 2012, has been in constant decline since.

On the North Shore, the CAQ steamroller easily brought down the fortresses of René-Lévesque and Duplessis. The second had always been represented by an elected Parti Québécois since 1976. Candidates Marilou Vanier and Jeff Dufour Tremblay lost by several thousand votes.

On the other side of the river, things didn’t go any better. In Gaspé, outgoing MP Méganne Perry Mélançon bit the dust against caquiste Stéphane Sainte-Croix, and star candidate Alexis Deschênes failed to keep Bonaventure in the PQ fold. Same result in Rimouski. The three ridings passed into the hands of the CAQ.

Two other bastions of the PQ fell during this evening: Joliette and Jonquière. The outgoing deputies, Véronique Hivon and Sylvain Gaudreault, did not represent themselves, and the CAQ once again won the day. For the first time in 50 years, no separatist MP was elected in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean region. “The idea of ​​independence is too strong, it will never die”, reacted, disappointed, the former deputy Sylvain Gaudreault to Radio-Canada.