Parti Québécois wins Quebec election and will form the province’s next government

The Parti Québécois won the most seats in Quebec’s election and will form the province’s next government. Its leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, is set to become premier, bringing the party back to power after its defeat in 2022.

During the campaign, Plamondon promised a third referendum on Quebec leaving Canada during his first term. He said he would wait until US President Donald Trump leaves office in January 2029.

### Seat count and government status

It was not yet clear whether the party had won the 64 seats needed for a majority in the 127-seat National Assembly. If it falls short, it will lead a minority government and need opposition support to pass major legislation and survive confidence votes.

The result ends eight years of government by the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), a centre-right Quebec nationalist party that opposes independence. The Parti Québécois last governed from 2012 to 2014 and won just three seats in the 2022 election.

### Independence and national unity

Daniel Beland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, told The Associated Press that the result reflects support divided among several parties rather than a surge in secessionist sentiment. Support for independence remains at about 30 percent, he said, low by historical standards.

Beland also described a separatist government as a new challenge to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s national-unity message. He pointed to an upcoming independence-related vote in Alberta, scheduled for less than two weeks after the Parti Québécois victory.

Quebec held independence referendums in 1980 and 1995, and voters rejected secession both times. The second vote was decided by a narrow margin; no further referendum has taken place in the three decades since.