1985 Quebec general election

← 1981 December 2, 1985 1989 →
← outgoing members
122 seats in the 33rd National Assembly of Quebec 62 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	75.69% (6.83%)
First party Second party   Leader Robert Bourassa Pierre-Marc Johnson Party Liberal Parti Québécois Leader since October 15, 1983 September 29, 1985 Leader's seat Bertrand (lost re-election) Anjou Last election 42 seats, 46.07% 80 seats, 49.26% Seats won 99 23 Seat change 57 57 Popular vote 1,910,307 1,320,008 Percentage 55.99% 38.69% Swing 9.92% 10.57%
Popular vote by riding. As this is an FPTP election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote, but instead via results by each riding. Click the map for more details.
Premier before election Pierre-Marc Johnson Parti Québécois Premier after election Robert Bourassa Liberal

The 1985 Quebec general election was held on December 2, 1985, to elect members of the National Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. The Quebec Liberal Party, led by former premier Robert Bourassa, defeated the incumbent Parti Québécois, led by Premier Pierre-Marc Johnson.

This election marked the comeback of Robert Bourassa, whose political career had been thought to be over after losing the 1976 general election and resigning as Liberal leader. However, Bourassa personally failed to win his own seat in the Bertrand electoral district, and had to run in a by-election one month later in the safe Saint-Laurent electoral district. The 1985 Quebec general election result produced by far the largest majority of any Canadian legislative election (in terms of the number of seats) by a winning party whose leader failed to win his own seat.

Johnson, son of former Union Nationale premier Daniel Johnson Sr. was unable to revive the PQ's fortune after he succeeded René Lévesque as party leader and premier. Pierre-Marc's brother, Daniel Johnson Jr., later became leader of the Liberal Party and briefly served as premier.

This election was the last contested by the Union Nationale. It only ran candidates in 19 ridings, none of whom came close to being elected. The party would be wound up by election authorities in 1989. It is also the last Quebec general election to date where the largest party won a majority government while also getting over 50% of the popular vote.

Results

Elections to the National Assembly of Quebec (1985)^[1]

Political party		Party leader	MNAs				Votes
			Candidates	1981	1985	±	#	±	%	± (pp)
	Liberal	Robert Bourassa	122	42	99	57	1,910,307	251,554	55.99%	9.91
	Parti Québécois	Pierre-Marc Johnson	122	80	23	57	1,320,008	453,229	38.69%	10.57
	New Democratic	Jean-Paul Harney	90	–	–	–	82,588	82,588	2.42%	New
	Progressive Conservative	André Asselin	48	–	–	–	35,210	35,210	1.03%	New
	Parti indépendantiste	Denis Monière	39	–	–	–	15,423	15,423	0.45%	New
	Christian Socialist	Jacques Paquette	103	–	–	–	11,712	11,712	0.34%	New
	Independent		28	–	–	–	7,855	3,483	0.23%	0.11
	Union Nationale		19	–	–	–	7,759	136,311	0.23%	3.77
	Green		10	–	–	–	4,613	4,613	0.14%	New
	Independent Liberal		1	–	–	–	4,001	4,001	0.12%	New
	Humanist		17	–	–	–	3,050	3,050	0.09%	New
	Commonwealth of Canada		28	–	–	–	2,240	2,240	0.07%	New
	Regroupement autonome des jeunes		3	–	–	–	2,161	2,161	0.06%	New
	Socialist Movement	Roger Deslauriers	10	–	–	–	1,809	1,809	0.05%	New
	United Social Credit	Jean-Paul Poulin	12	–	–	–	1,650	366	0.05%	0.01
	Communist	Sam Walsh	10	–	–	–	834	66	0.02%	–
	Workers		4	–	–	–	387	640	0.01%	0.02
Total			666	122	122		3,411,607		100.00%
Rejected ballots							52,625	14,102
Voter turnout							3,464,232	174,388	75.69	6.83
Registered electors							4,576,600	170,324

Synopsis of results