Update, 7 October 2026: Élections Québec’s results file now flags all 127 divisions as final (updated 7 October, 2:12 a.m. ET), after the addition of the votes. Seats are unchanged: PQ 59, Liberals 40, Conservatives 19, Québec solidaire 9, CAQ 0. Vote shares moved by a few hundredths: PQ 1,200,434 (28.02%), Liberals 1,037,998 (24.23%), Conservatives 885,379 (20.66%), CAQ 572,027 (13.35%), Québec solidaire 532,095 (12.42%). Turnout is now 66.92%, with 4,347,739 ballots cast. Close ridings shifted. Vachon is Liberal by 10 votes (10,063 to 10,053). Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne widened from 39 to 275 (13,341 to 13,066). Champlain is unchanged at 191. Maurice-Richard moved from 307 to 309 and Montarville from 341 to 336. Rejected ballots now total 63,246. A judicial recount, if one is held, could still change Vachon. It could not change who governs. The preliminary figures below are kept as first published.

Québec’s 5 October 2026 general election produced a Parti Québécois minority government, according to Élections Québec’s preliminary results. By 2:23 a.m. ET on 6 October, all 20,704 polling stations in all 127 electoral divisions had reported. The PQ leads or has won 59 seats. A majority in the National Assembly takes 64. Élections Québec says results become official after the addition of the votes, which takes place the day after the election in most divisions, so the figures below are preliminary and can still move in close ridings.

The PQ’s 35,000 permanent-admission pledge is now a governing party’s promise. It becomes a provincial threshold only when a PQ government tables an immigration plan.
Citizen impact: Québec selects most of its own economic immigrants and sets its own annual permanent-admission plan inside a federal-provincial agreement. The PQ campaigned on 35,000 new permanent residents a year, roughly halving temporary immigration with sector carve-outs, and a moratorium on permanent immigration from abroad until the temporary-stock target is met. Housing queues, school space, and French-language services are where households feel those numbers. A minority means the PQ needs at least one other party to pass budgets and survive confidence votes.

The preliminary count

  • Parti Québécois: 59 seats, 1,199,925 votes (28.02%).
  • Quebec Liberal Party: 40 seats, 1,037,051 votes (24.22%).
  • Parti conservateur du Québec: 19 seats, 885,164 votes (20.67%).
  • Québec solidaire: 9 seats, 532,176 votes (12.43%).
  • Équipe Christine Fréchette – Coalition avenir Québec: 0 seats, 571,520 votes (13.35%).

Turnout was 66.89%: 4,345,857 ballots cast out of 6,495,984 registered electors, with 63,306 rejected. For comparison, Élections Québec’s own table shows the CAQ won 90 seats on 40.98% of the vote in 2022, with 66.15% turnout. The CAQ outpolled Québec solidaire this time and still won no seats.

Leaders’ ridings

PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon won Camille-Laurin with 12,229 votes (39.66%). Liberal leader Charles Milliard won Orford with 13,080 votes (37.8%). Conservative leader Éric Duhaime won Bellechasse with 22,525 votes (63.84%). CAQ leader Christine Fréchette lost Trois-Rivières to the PQ’s Jean Pellerin, 10,107 votes to 9,608.

Ridings to watch in the official count

Several seats were decided by a few hundred votes or less in the preliminary numbers. In Vachon, the Liberal candidate leads the PQ by 14 votes (10,064 to 10,050). In Saint-Henri–Sainte-Anne, the Liberal leads Québec solidaire by 39. Champlain (Conservative over PQ by 191), Maurice-Richard (Liberal over QS by 307) and Montarville (Liberal over PQ by 341) are also close. None of these would change who forms the government. They could change how far short of 64 the PQ falls.

What the result does and does not do on immigration

The PQ’s 29 August platform release set out the 35,000 permanent-residence target, the temporary-immigration cut, and the moratorium design. That is a campaign document. Until a PQ government tables a plan in the National Assembly, Québec’s thresholds are whatever the outgoing government last set, and the federal government still controls asylum and most temporary-resident programs. Juno News reported that St-Pierre Plamondon has pledged a third sovereignty referendum after U.S. President Donald Trump leaves office in 2029. That is a reported campaign commitment, not something these results decide.

What this piece refuses

Do not call the result a mandate for independence: voters elected a minority legislature, and the PQ took 28% of the vote. Do not treat election-night seat counts from broadcasters or social media as final; we use Élections Québec’s preliminary file, which can still change after the addition of the votes and any judicial recounts. Do not treat the PQ’s 35,000 figure as a provincial threshold yet.

Contested: PQ supporters read the result as a demand for lower immigration and stronger protection of French. Federalists point out that the Liberals and Conservatives together won more votes than the PQ, and that a minority government must win support from at least one other party. Both readings fit the numbers. The verified record is the preliminary count.

Bottom line

Verified as of 6 October 2026 (Élections Québec preliminary results, all polling stations reported): PQ 59, Liberals 40, Conservatives 19, Québec solidaire 9, CAQ 0, with 66.89% turnout. That is a PQ minority, five seats short of a majority. Update, 7 October: the official addition of the votes left the seats unchanged, and Vachon is now decided by 10 votes. Watch for any judicial recount in Vachon, the swearing-in, and whether a PQ government tables a new immigration plan.