Tue 06 October 2026:
Paul St-Pierre Plamondon poised to become premier after sharp recovery from 2022 result
Majority still unclear; leader has pledged a third referendum after Trump leaves office
The secessionist Parti Québécois has won the most seats in Quebec’s election and will form the next government in the predominantly French-speaking Canadian province, according to media reports.
Monday’s result puts the question of whether the province should leave Canada back on the agenda, testing Prime Minister Mark Carney’s appeal for national unity.
Party leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is set to become premier. On the campaign trail he pledged a third referendum on leaving Canada in his first term, while saying he would wait until US President Donald Trump leaves office in January 2029.
It was not yet clear whether the PQ had secured the 64 seats required for a majority in the 127-seat National Assembly. Short of that threshold, it would head a minority government and would need opposition support to pass major legislation and survive confidence votes.
The Parti Québécois last held office from 2012 to 2014. Monday’s win is a sharp turnaround from the 2022 provincial election, when the party took only three seats. It also ends eight years in power for the Coalition Avenir Québec, a centre-right Quebec nationalist party that does not favour independence.
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Daniel Beland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, told The Associated Press news agency that the victory reflects Quebec’s multiparty system, where support is divided among several parties, rather than a surge in secessionist sentiment.
Support for independence remains at about 30 percent, low by historical standards, he said.
Still, Beland said a secessionist government in Quebec represents a new national-unity challenge for Carney, particularly with another independence-related vote approaching in Alberta.
“Seeing that a pro-independence party won in Quebec barely two weeks before an independence-related referendum takes place in Alberta might suggest to the Trump administration that national unity remains a major issue in Canada despite the popularity of Mark Carney,” Beland said.
Quebec has already held two referendums on independence, in 1980 and 1995. Voters rejected secession both times. The second was decided by a narrow margin, but no further referendum has been held in the three decades since.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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