Pauline Marois has led her Parti Quebecois to victory as the separatist party has won enough seats to win a minority government. The Liberals were defeated but not as badly as pundits suggested and the largest surprise was the underperformance of Francois Legault’s CAQ. The Quebec Solidaire gained a seat, co-leader Francoise David, and the Option Nationale lost the only riding it had.
Pauline Marois will be the first female Premier in Quebec history and will lead through a minority government that will more than certainly be an interesting one to watch. Despite the win of this sovereignty party, support for separation is at all time lows and it is clear that the Parti Quebecois was elected for more progressive stances on policy rather than her views on Quebec as a country and Quebec identity which are both controversial and the latter downright discriminatory. Never the less, time will tell what a Marois government will do for Quebec and given a minority, the electorate will be able to hold the government and its opposition to account on their word.
In related news, Liberal leader Jean Charest was ousted from his riding of Sherbrooke where the PQ picked up the seat.
For a full and up to date seat distribution in the new National Assembly, see our Current Standings Page but for an idea of how the election broke down, here is a table.
| Party | Seats | Trend | Seat Change | Dec. '08 |
 | 54 |  | 5 | 49 |
 | 50 |  | 15 | 65 |
 | 19 | | 10 | 9 |
 | 2 | | 1 | 1 |
 | 0 | | 1 | 1 |
| IND | 0 | | 2 | 2 |
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