Quebec’s Liberal Premier Jean Charest won a majority in provincial elections on Monday, spoiling a separatist comeback with a mandate to bolster the province’s slowing economy, TV predictions said.
The victory casts Charest, 50 and at the helm of a minority government since last year, as the first leader of the French-speaking province to win three back-to-back elections in more than half a century.
The separatist Parti Quebecois meanwhile made strides to place second, up from third in the last ballot, and will form the official opposition.
Early results showed the Liberals obtained 43 percent of the popular vote, versus 34 percent for the Parti Quebecois and 16 percent for the Action democratique du Quebec (ADQ).
The count translated into 66 seats for the Liberals, 51 for the Parti Quebecois and seven for the ADQ.
The ADQ leader, Mario Dumont, resigned after his party’s near collapse at the ballot box.
A Canadian-Iranian doctor, Amir Khadir, also became the first member of the nascent leftist Quebec Solidaire to be elected to the province’s legislature, with 38 percent of votes in Montreal’s vibrant Plateau Mont-Royal district.
His party received only 4 percent of votes province-wide, with a total of 5.7 million Quebecers eligible to vote to select 125 members of Quebec’s National Assembly.
“In this period of economic uncertainty, Quebecers have recognized the need for a stable government, and they have strengthened our team by choosing to elect a majority government — a Liberal majority government,” Charest told cheering supporters.
“Dear friends, we will be worthy of your trust, and I will be a premier for all Quebecers,” he said.
Charest called the elections, saying he needed a firmer mandate to steer Quebec through a period of economic instability.
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