1985 Quebec general election

Quebec general election, 1985

December 2, 1985
122 seats in the 33rd National Assembly of Quebec 62 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	75.69%
First party Second party   PQ Leader Robert Bourassa Pierre-Marc Johnson Party Liberal Parti Québécois Leader since October 15, 1983 September 29, 1985 Leader's seat Bertrand (lost re-election) Anjou Last election 42 seats, 46.07% 80 seats, 49.26% Seats won 99 23 Seat change +57 -57 Popular vote 1,910,307 1,320,008 Percentage 55.99% 38.69% Swing +9.92% -10.57%
Premier before election Pierre-Marc Johnson Parti Québécois Premier-designate Robert Bourassa Liberal

The Quebec general election of 1985 was held on December 2, 1985, to elect members of the National Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. The Quebec Liberal Party, led by former premier Robert Bourassa, defeated the incumbent Parti Québécois, led by premier Pierre-Marc Johnson.

This election marked the comeback of Robert Bourassa, whose political career had been thought to be over after losing the 1976 general election and resigning as Liberal leader. However, Bourassa personally failed to win his own seat in the Bertrand electoral district, and had to run in a by-election one month later in the safe Saint-Laurent electoral district. The 1985 Quebec general election result produced by far the largest majority of any Canadian legislative election (both in terms of the number of seats and percentage of seats) by a winning party whose leader failed to win his own seat.

Johnson, son of former Union Nationale premier Daniel Johnson, Sr. was unable to revive the PQ's fortune after he succeeded René Lévesque as party leader and premier. Pierre-Marc's brother, Daniel Johnson, Jr, later became leader of the Liberal Party and briefly served as premier.

This election was the last contested by the Union Nationale. It only ran candidates in 19 ridings, none of whom came close to being elected. The party would be wound up by election authorities in 1989.

Results

The overall results were:

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1981	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change
	Liberal	Robert Bourassa	122	42	99	+135.7%	1,910,307	55.99%	+9.92%
	Parti Québécois	Pierre-Marc Johnson	122	80	23	-71.3%	1,320,008	38.69%	-10.57%
	New Democratic	Jean-Paul Harney	90	*	-	*	82,588	2.42%	*
	Progressive Conservative	André Asselin	48	*	-	*	35,210	1.03%	*
	Parti indépendantiste	Denis Monière	39	*	-	*	15,423	0.45%	*
	Christian Socialist	Jacques Paquette	103	*	-	*	11,712	0.34%	*
	Union Nationale	André Léveillé	19	-	-	-	7,759	0.23%	-3.77%
	Green		10	*	-	*	4,613	0.14%	*
	Humanist		17	*	-	*	3,050	0.09%	*
	Commonwealth of Canada		28	*	-	*	2,240	0.07%	*
	Socialist Movement	Roger Deslauriers	10	*	-	*	1,809	0.05%	*
	United Social Credit	Jean-Paul Poulin	12	-	-	-	1,650	0.05%	+0.01%
	Communist	Sam Walsh	10	-	-	-	834	0.02%	-
	Independents		22	-	-	-	9,380	0.28%	+0.16%
	No designation		14	-	-	-	5,024	0.15%
Total			666	122	122	-	3,411,607	100%

Note:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

Vote share
PLQ			55.99%
PQ			38.69%
NDP			2.42%
PC			1.03%
Others			1.86%

See also

• List of Quebec premiers
• Politics of Quebec
• Timeline of Quebec history
• 33rd National Assembly of Quebec

External links

• CBC TV video clip
• Results by party (total votes and seats won)
• Results for all ridings