1981 Quebec election

Quebec general election, 1981

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April 13, 1981

1985 →

← outgoing members

122 seats in the 32nd National Assembly of Quebec
62 seats were needed for a majority

Turnout

82.52%

	First party	Second party	Third party
			UN
Leader	René Lévesque	Claude Ryan	Roch LaSalle
Party	Parti Québécois	Liberal	Union Nationale
Leader since	October 14, 1968	April 15, 1978	January 9, 1981
Leader's seat	Taillon	Argenteuil	Ran in Berthier (lost)
Last election	71 seats, 41.37%	26 seats, 33.78%	11 seats, 18.20%
Seats won	80	42	0
Seat change	9	16	11
Popular vote	1,773,237	1,658,753	144,070
Percentage	49.26%	46.07%	4.00%
Swing	7.89%	12.29%	14.20%

Premier before election

René Lévesque
Parti Québécois

Premier-designate

René Lévesque
Parti Québécois

The Quebec general election of 1981 was held on April 13, 1981, to elect members of the National Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. The incumbent Parti Québécois, led by René Lévesque, won re-election, defeating the Quebec Liberal Party, led by Claude Ryan.

The PQ won re-election despite having lost the 1980 Quebec referendum on sovereignty-association, the party's proposal for political independence for Quebec in an economic union with the rest of Canada. To some extent, they were helped by Claude Ryan's old-fashioned campaign style: he refused to tailor sound bites for the evening news and ran a campaign generally unsuited for television coverage. Despite finishing only three percent behind the PQ, the Liberals still finished a distant second, with 42 seats to the PQ's 80.

The Union Nationale, which had won 11 seats in a modest comeback in the 1976 general election, was reduced to five seats at dissolution by numerous floor crossings, retirements and resignations. Among the departures was that of its leader in the 1976 election, Rodrigue Biron, who crossed the floor to the PQ. The once-proud party lost all of its remaining seats, never to return. The party essentially ended at this point, though it lingered in desultory fashion until 1989.

The overall results were:

Note:

* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election or information not available.

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