Trends in LIMS

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Number of seats won by major parties at each election through 2014
  •   Conservative
  •   Liberal
  •   Union Nationale
  •   Parti Québécois
  •   Independent
  •   ADQ
  •   Other
Electoral results by parties and independent MNAs (as a percentage of total National Assembly seats) from 1927 to 2008.

This article provides a summary of results for the general elections to the Canadian province of Quebec's unicameral legislative body, the National Assembly of Quebec (and its predecessor, the Legislative Assembly of Quebec). The number of seats has generally increased over time, from 65 for the first six elections, to the current high of 125.

The chart on the upper right shows the information graphically, with the most recent elections towards the right.

The Conservative party (blue) in 1936 merged into the Union Nationale (now defunct). The 1970s saw the arrival of the sovereignist Parti Québécois, to be followed by Québec Solidaire and the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) in 2006 and 2011, respectively.

This article only covers elections since the Canadian confederation in 1867, when Quebec was created as one of Canada's provinces. For Quebec's first 15 elections as Lower Canada from 1792 to 1840, see Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. For the 8 joint elections of Ontario and Quebec as the Province of Canada, from 1840 to 1867, see list of elections in the Province of Canada.

Summary of results

Graph of Quebec general election results by share of votes, 1993–2022; omitted are minor parties consistently registering less than 2% of the vote as well as those who campaigned intermittently.
Graph of Quebec general election results by seats won, 1993–2022; those of independent MNAs are omitted.

The table below shows the total number of seats won by the political parties in each election. It also shows the percentage of the vote obtained by each party. The winning party's totals are shown in bold. There have been five elections (1998, 1966, 1944, 1892 and 1886) in which the winning party did not have the largest share of the popular vote. Full details on any election are linked via the year of the election at the start of the row.

Pre-1936

Election Total seats Conservative[A] Liberal Other
Seats Vote (%) Seats Vote (%) Seats Vote (%) Seat-winning party
1867 65 52[G] 53.48 13[F] 35.40 11.12
1871 65 46 51.72 19 39.43 8.84
1875 65 46 50.67 19 38.59 10.74
1878 65 34 49.49 31[H] 47.49 3.02
1881 65 50 50.38 15 38.97 10.65
1886 65 29 46.19 33 39.58 3 14.23 Parti national
1890 73 24 45.11 43 44.20 6 10.69 Parti national (5); Parti ouvrier (1)
1892 73 52 52.41 21 43.65 13.94
1897 74 23 43.82 51 53.28 2.90
1900 74 7 41.85 67 53.15 5.00
1904 74 7 42.73 67 55.43 1.84
1908 74 14 39.92 57 53.53 3 6.55 Ligue nationaliste
1912 81 16 43.01 64[E] 53.54 1 3.45 Ligue nationaliste
1916 81 6 35.09 75 60.57 4.34
1919 82 5 16.90 75 51.91 2 31.19 Parti ouvrier
1923 85 20 39.32 64 52.52 1 8.16 Independent
1927 85 9 34.31 74 59.33 2 6.36 Independents
1931 90 11 43.54 79 54.88 1.58
1935 89 17 18.93 47 46.53 25 34.54 ALN

Post-1936

Election Total seats Liberal Union Nationale Parti Québécois CAQ / ADQ[I] Québec Solidaire Other
Seats Vote (%) Seats Vote (%) Seats Vote (%) Seats Vote (%) Seats Vote (%) Seats Vote (%) Seat-winning party
1936 90 14 39.41 76 56.88 3.71
1939 86 70 54.05 15 39.13 1 6.81 Independent
1944 91 37 39.35 48 38.02 6 22.63 Bloc Populaire (4)
CCF, Independent
1948 92 8 36.17 82 51.24 2 12.59 Independents
1952 92 23 45.77 68 50.50 1 3.72 Independent
1956 93 20 44.87 72 52.80 1 2.33 Independent
1960 95 51 51.38 43 46.61 1 2.01 Independent
1962 95 63 56.40 31 42.15 1 1.45 Independent
1966 108 50 47.29 56 40.82 2 11.89 Independents
1970 108 72 45.40 17 19.65 7 23.06 12 11.89 Créditistes
1973 110 102 54.65 4.92 6 30.22 2 10.21 Créditistes
1976 110 26 33.78 11 18.20 71 41.37 2 6.64 PNP, Créditistes
1981 122 42 46.08 4.00 80 49.20 0.71
1985 122 99 55.99 0.23 23 38.69 5.08
1989 125 92 49.95 29 40.16 4 9.89 Equality
1994[D] 125 47 44.40 77 44.75 1 6.46 4.4
1998[C] 125 48 43.55 76 42.87 1 11.81 1.8
2003[B] 125 76 45.99 45 33.24 4 18.18 2.3
2007 125 48 33.08 36 28.35 41 30.84 3.64 4.1
2008 125 66 42.08 51 35.17 7 16.37 1 3.78 2.6
2012 125 50 31.20 54 31.95 19 27.05 2 6.03 3.7
2014 125 70 41.52 30 25.38 22 23.05 3 7.63 2.4
2018 125 31 24.76 10 17.09 74 37.47 10 16.06 1.68
2022 125 21 14.37 3 14.60 90 40.97 11 15.42 14.64

Notes

A Includes all Independent Conservative candidates elected from 1875 to 1892.
B Results include the by-election on 20 May 2003 in the Champlain electoral district to break a tie in the original general election.
C Results include the by-election on 14 December 1998 in the Masson electoral district due to the death of PQ candidate Yves Blais on 22 November 1998.
D Results include the by-election on 24 October 1994 in the Saint-Jean electoral district to break a tie in the original general election.
E Includes Independent Liberal candidate; the 27 May 1912 election of Gustave Lemieux by acclamation in Gaspé; and the 15 July 1912 election of Joseph-Édouard Caron in the Îles-de-la-Madeleine.
F Includes the Independent Liberal candidate elected.
G Includes the Conservative candidate elected in the by-election held in Kamouraska on 11 February 1869.
H Power went back and forth a few times after the 1878 election. For most of that legislature, the Liberals controlled a minority parliament with the support of some Conservative members.
I The Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ) ran from 1994–2008. The Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) was founded in 2011, merged with the ADQ (absorbing all of its sitting MNAs), and ran in its first election in 2012.

References