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Liberals take Quebec provincial vote, but separatists gain
OTTAWA, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Quebec separatists were in an upbeat mood on Tuesday, despite a third consecutive election defeat, saying the Parti Quebecois's surprisingly strong performance was good reason to be optimistic. The party, which wants the largely French-speaking province of Quebec to break away from Canada, won 51 of the 125 seats in the provincial legislature in Monday's election, up from the 36 seats it had held previously. It also won 35 percent of the popular vote -- around 5 percentage points more than expected.The ruling Liberals won 66 seats, up from the 48 they won in March 2007, and will form a majority government. They took 42 percent of the popular vote. The Liberals and the Parti Quebecois gained at the expense of the right-leaning Action democratique du Quebec, which came close to winning in 2007. This time the ADQ won just seven seats, down from the 39 it held when the vote was called. Liberal premier Jean Charest called the election less than two years into his mandate on the grounds he needed a majority in the legislature to tackle what he described as "the economic storm" hitting Quebec. "The issue of the election was the economy, and is still the economy. That hasn't changed. That transcends all other issues," Charest told a news conference on Tuesday. Posted by: Steve White 2008-12-10 |
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