Federalists beat Separatists in Quebec election in Canada
9/12/2008 16:44
The ruling Federalist Liberals are projected to win a majority government
in yesterday's election in Quebec, Canada's French-speaking province.
The
Liberals have won at least 63 seats in the provincial parliamentary elections,
the number needed to form a majority, both the public broadcaster CBC and the
private CTV predicted yesterday evening.
Preliminary results showed that the
Liberals had won 42 percent of the vote compared with 35 percent for Parti
Quebecois, the traditional separatist party that wants Quebec to break away from
the rest of Canada.
Charest, who called a snap election on Nov. 5 to seek a
strengthened mandate to deal with the economic crisis, won yesterday a third
term in office and has become the first premier to secure three consecutive
election victories in Quebec since 1952.
Charest's government had won only 48
of the 125-seat provincial legislature in the last election.
Support in
Quebec for independence from Canada has seen a sharp downturn since the
separatists failed in a crucial referendum in 1995.
Xinhua
|
