Monthly Archives: August 2012  Election Preview: Quebec 2012
Provincial elections will be held in Quebec (Canada) on
September 4, 2012. All 125 members of the provincial
legislature, the National Assembly (Assemblée nationale), are
elected in single-member constituencies (often known as ridings
in Canadian English, or comtés/circonscriptions in French).
Quebec’s political system, like that of every other province in
Canada, is built on the Westminster system. The Premier of
Quebec (called Prime Minister in French) and his government are
responsible to the National Assembly and must retain its
confidence in order to govern. With only two exceptions since
1867, all provincial elections in Quebec have resulted in
majority governments, allowing the leader of the largest party
to form a stable government.  These elections will be disputed
on a new map, following a provincial redistribution in 2011.
While the National Assembly retained 125 seats, there were
changes in the regional distribution of seats with the el