Canada: The Parti Québécois won the Quebec election / Separatists return to power after 12 years and promise a referendum

The Parti Québécois (PQ), the pro-independence party of Quebec, won Monday’s provincial election and is returning to power after 12 years. The victory reopens the prospect of a third referendum on the province’s separation from Canada and poses a new challenge to federal Premier Mark Carney.

After more than 92% of the votes had been counted, the PQ had secured 27% of the vote, ahead of the Quebec Liberal Party, with 24%, and the Conservative Party of Quebec, with 21%. The Coalition avenir Québec, which has been in power since 2018, fell to 14%. PQ leader Paul Saint-Pierre Plamondon, 49, is set to become premier of the province, most likely heading a minority government.

The party promised an independence referendum, but Plamondon said he would not force one before January 2029, at the end of Donald Trump’s term. The referendums in 1980 and 1995 were won by federalists, the latter by a very narrow margin.