CBC’s Decision Desk has projected the Parti Québécois as the winner in Monday’s Chicoutimi byelection, making it the fourth consecutive byelection won by the party with less than eight months remaining before the province’s general election.
By 8:30 p.m., Marie-Karlynn Laflamme had more than 47 per cent of the votes, ahead of Catherine Morissette of the Conservative Party of Quebec, who had just over 24 per cent of the votes, after 34 out of 142 polling stations had reported.
Laflamme is the former vice-rector of the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, which is in her riding, more than 200 kilometres northwest of Quebec City.
The riding had been a PQ stronghold before Andrée Laforest captured it twice for the Coalition Avenir Québec, first in 2018 and again in 2022.
Chicoutimi has been vacant since Laforest, a former cabinet minister, left provincial politics in September for an unsuccessful bid at mayor in Saguenay.
Provincewide, the PQ is high in the polls ahead of the provincial election slated for October, and leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon promises to hold a sovereignty referendum by 2030 if he’s elected premier.
Francis Tremblay was attempting to keep the riding for the CAQ.
Jeanne Palardy ran with Québec Solidaire and Tricia Murray represented the Liberals.
The byelection took place with a leadership race underway for the CAQ, as Premier François Legault has announced he’s stepping down.
Meanwhile, the Quebec Liberals announced their new leader, Charles Milliard, on Feb. 13.
Polls were open between 9:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. and early data from the province’s elections office indicated 11.67 per cent of electors had cast advanced ballots.
