Quebec Election Results

Evidence that First-Past-the-Post System Called a Representative Democracy Is a Fraud

The outcome of the October 3 Quebec election shows above all else that the system said to be a representative democracy is a fraud. The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) of François Legault can claim victory because the first-past-the-post system of counting ballots is designed to bring to power whoever the ruling elite has championed by skewing all the power and privilege in its direction.

The voting system is designed to bring political parties, not Quebeckers, to power. It favours the leader and party which the narrow private interests which dominate the economy and the decision-making power champion on the basis that they think it will best serve their interests. Through their media, these narrow private interests decide "the issues" and limit the discourse to where all the parties and the electorate stand on these "issues," thereby not giving the people a voice to set the agenda for the economy and the policies on any front.

The result is that the CAQ received what is called a "mandate" to rule for the next four years on the basis of the slogan of "continuity" and "stability" despite the fact that 73.3 per cent of electors did not vote for the CAQ. The CAQ nevertheless won an absolute majority of the seats in the National Assembly, 90 of the 125 seats, with the votes of only 27 per cent of eligible voters.

The four other so-called main parties garnered 57.31 per cent of the vote but the number of seats they received is not comparable or representative. Of these parties, the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ) received 590,171 votes, 43,243 votes less than Quebec Solidaire (QS) which received 633,414 votes, but the PLQ now has 21 Members of the National Assembly (MNA) while Quebec Solidaire has only 11. Similarly, the Parti Québécois received 599,678 votes, 9,507 more than the Liberal Party but only has three MNAs. Then comes the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) that garnered 530,804 votes, 59,367 less than the Liberal Party, but has no MNA.

PLQ -- 14.37 per cent of votes cast -- 21 MNAs
QS -- 15.42 per cent of votes cast -- 11 MNAs
PQ -- 14.60 per cent of votes cast -- 3 MNAs
PCQ -- 12.92 per cent of votes cast -- no MNA.

In an electoral system which does not guarantee an informed vote, the votes received by the Green Party, the PMLQ and other emerging parties and independent candidates do not count. This election makes it as clear as clear can be that the votes of Quebeckers as a whole have no weight when it comes to the distribution of seats in the National Assembly. Each CAQ seat is "worth" 18,772 votes; each Liberal Party seat, 28,103 votes; each QS seat, 57,583 votes and each PQ seat, 199,893 votes.

With 21 seats, the PLQ will now form the Official Opposition in the National Assembly. It remains to be seen whether a majority CAQ government will give QS official party status with the privileges that confers, since it reached neither the threshold of 12 seats or 20 per cent of the votes cast.

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This article was published in

Volume 52 Number 25 - October 4, 2022

Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmld2022/Articles/D520251.HTM

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