1962 Quebec general election

The Quebec general election of 1962 was held on November 14, 1962, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. The incumbent Quebec Liberal Party, led by Jean Lesage, won re-election, defeating the Union Nationale (UN) led by Daniel Johnson, Sr..

In an unusual move, the election was called just two years after the previous 1960 general election. Lesage sought a mandate for the nationalization of the electricity industry, declaring this single issue important enough to stake his political career on it.

A few days before the election, the Union Nationale's chief organizer André Lagarde was arrested for fraud. The Liberals claimed this was proof of lingering corruption dating from the Maurice Duplessis era, but the UN cried foul, and were vindicated after the election. However, the incident may well have contributed to the UN's defeat.

The Liberal Party won an increased number of seats and a higher percentage of the popular vote, and the nationalization program was carried out. Future Parti Québécois founder René Lévesque served as a cabinet minister in the Lesage government and spearheaded the nationalization of power utilities to greatly expand Hydro-Québec.

Results

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
				1960	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change
	Liberal	Jean Lesage	97	51	63	+23.5%	1,205,253	56.40%	+5.0%
	Union Nationale	Daniel Johnson, Sr.	95	43	31	-27.9%	900,817	42.15%	-4.5%
	Other		32	1	1	-	30,897	1.45%	-0.6%
Total			224	95	95	-	2,136,967	100%

Vote share
PLQ			56.40%
Union Nationale			42.15%
Others			1.45%

See also

• List of Quebec premiers
• Politics of Quebec
• Timeline of Quebec history
• List of Quebec political parties
• Quiet Revolution
• 27th Legislative Assembly of Quebec

External links

• CBC TV video clip