2014 Quebec general election

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125 seats in theNational Assembly of Quebec 63 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	71.43% ( 3.17%)
Majority party Minority party   Leader Philippe Couillard Pauline Marois Party Liberal Parti Québécois Leader since March 17, 2013 June 26, 2007 Leader's seat Roberval Charlevoix–Côte-de-Beaupré(lost re-election) Last election 50 seats, 31.20% 54 seats, 31.95% Seats before 49 54 Seats won 70 30 Seat change 21 24 Popular vote 1,757,071 1,074,120 Percentage 41.52% 25.38% Swing 10.32pp 6.57pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader François Legault Françoise David andAndrés Fontecilla (as spokespeople) Party Coalition Avenir Québec Québec solidaire Leader since November 4, 2011 David: February 4, 2006 Fontecilla: May 5, 2013 Leader's seat L'Assomption David:Gouin Fontecilla:Ran inLaurier-Dorion (lost) Last election 19 seats, 27.05% 2 seats, 6.03% Seats before 18 2 Seats won 22 3 Seat change 4 1 Popular vote 975,607 323,124 Percentage 23.05% 7.63% Swing 4.00pp 1.60pp
Popular vote by riding. As this is an FPTP election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote, but instead via results by each riding. Click the map for more details.
Premier before election Pauline Marois Parti Québécois Premier after election Philippe Couillard Liberal

The2014 Quebec general election was held on April 7, 2014 to elect members to theNational Assembly of Quebec. The incumbentParti Québécois which had won a minority government in 2012 was defeated by theQuebec Liberal Party underPhilippe Couillard who won a majority government of 70 seats, while the incumbentParti Québécois finished second with 30 seats, becoming the first single-term government sinceJean-Jacques Bertrand'sUnion Nationale government was defeated in1970. Pauline Marois electoral defeat marked the shortest stay of any Quebec provincial government since theCanadian Confederation.^[1] It marked the lowest seat total for the Parti Québécois since1989 and its smallest share of the popular vote since its inaugural run in 1970, as PremierPauline Marois losther own riding. TheCoalition Avenir Québec underFrançois Legault made minor gains in terms of seats despite receiving a smaller share of the popular vote than in theprevious election.Québec solidaire won an additional seat, though co-spokespersonAndrés Fontecilla failed to win his riding. This election saw the return of the Liberals to power 2 years after their defeat in2012. To date this is the last election where the Liberal Party won a majority of seats in the Quebec Assembly.

At the outset of the campaign, the Parti Québécois had a modest lead in the polls and appeared to have a realistic prospect of winning amajority government. However, the party's support rapidly collapsed after the party announcedPierre Karl Péladeau, the president and CEO of media conglomerateQuebecor, as astar candidate.^[2] Péladeau's conservative andanti-union business background was widely criticized as being at odds with the party'ssocial democratic history;^[3] and his outspoken support for a thirdreferendum onQuebec sovereignty quickly sidelined the issues — including theCharter of Quebec Values and the corruption allegations against the Liberals, the latter of which had contributed to the defeat ofJean Charest's government in the 2012 election — which the party had identified as its primary campaign themes, alienating many voters who had little desire to revive the sovereignty issue.^[2]

In March 2014, PremierPauline Marois was accused of antisemitism byThe Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) surrounding the statements made by party member Louise Mailloux.^[4] Mailloux had written statements equating the Jewish practice of circumcision to rape and claimed that halal and kosher food prices werekept high to fund religious activities abroad. She wrote that the money went to: “For the Jews, to finance Israel’s colonization in Palestinian territories? And for Muslims, to fund theMuslim Brotherhood, the Islamists who want to impose Islam worldwide?” Marois defended Mailloux, denying antisemitism within the party and stated that she had "very good relations with the leaders of this community and the leaders of all the different communities in Quebec.” CIJA claimed Marois's apology and statements were inadequate and "meaningless excuses" with CIJA Quebec vice-president, Luciano Del Negro, stating: "She alleges a misunderstanding and refuses to basically recognize her views are not only offensive, but anti-Semitic in nature.”^{[4][5][6][7][8]}

¹ Results among "likely voters"

Parti Québécois

• Le Devoir^[39]

Quebec Liberal Party

• La Presse^[40]
• Montreal Gazette^[41]

Pairing off the top three parties,swings were calculated to be:

• PQ to Liberal: 8.45%
• CAQ to Liberal: 7.16%
• PQ to CAQ: 1.29%

Notes:

^† The party designates David and Fontecilla as co-spokespeople. The party's power is held by the general meetings of the members and a board of 16 directors; thede jure leader recognized by theChief Electoral Officer of Quebec (DGE) is Pierre-Paul St-Onge.^[43]

^†† Party contested the 2012 election under the name Coalition pour la constituante.

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

  = open seat

  = turnout is above provincial average

  = winning candidate was in previous Legislature

  = incumbent had switched allegiance

  = previously incumbent in another riding

  = not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature

  = incumbency arose from byelection gain

  = other incumbents renominated

  = previously an MP in theHouse of Commons of Canada

  = multiple candidates