April 29, 1970 1973 → 72 17 1,304,341 564,544 Date 29 April 1970 | 50 seats, 47.29% 56 seats, 40.82% 22 39 45.40% 19.65% | |
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Winner Robert Bourassa | ||
The Quebec general election of 1970 was held on April 29, 1970, to elect members of the National Assembly of Quebec, Canada. The former Legislative Assembly had been renamed the "National Assembly" in 1968. The Quebec Liberal Party, led by Robert Bourassa, defeated the incumbent Union Nationale, led by Jean-Jacques Bertrand.
This election marked the first appearance by a new party, the sovereigntist Parti Québécois, led by former Liberal cabinet minister René Lévesque. The PQ won a modest seven seats, although Lévesque was defeated in his own riding.
Only a few months after the election, Quebec faced a severe test with the October Crisis, in which Liberal cabinet minister Pierre Laporte was kidnapped and assassinated by the Front de libération du Québec, a violent pro-independence group.
The Union Nationale, which had governed Quebec through most of the 1940s and 1950s, would never come close to winning power again. This was partly because a significant number of the Union Nationale's younger supporters had embraced sovereigntism, and shifted their support to the PQ.
Results
Note:
* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.
1 including results of Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale and Ralliement national from previous election.