The Quebec general election of 1966 was held on June 5, 1966, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Quebec, Canada. The Union Nationale (UN), led by Daniel Johnson, Sr., defeated the incumbent Quebec Liberal Party, led by Jean Lesage.
In terms of the number of seats won, the election was one of the closest in recent history, with the UN winning 56 seats to the Liberal's 50. Generally, Quebec's first past the post electoral system tends to produce strong disparities in the number of seats won even if the popular vote is fairly close. The Liberals won a greater share of the popular vote (6.5 percentage points more) but still won fewer seats.
The victory of the UN over the popular Lesage government was a surprise to many observers. Johnson's campaign was likely helped by his position that Quebec should get a better deal within the Canadian confederation, or should separate if it is unable to do so. In this sense, the forces of Quebec nationalism unleashed by the Quiet Revolution begun by Lesage may have contributed to his defeat.
The 1966 election saw the pro-independence Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale and Ralliement national obtain a combined total of just under 9% of the popular vote (but no seats).
This was the last election of for the Legislative Assembly of Quebec. In 1968, legislation was passed to replace the bicameral system of Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council of Quebec with a single National Assembly of Quebec.
Daniel Johnson died in office in 1968, and was succeeded by Jean-Jacques Bertrand. Johnson's sons, Pierre-Marc and Daniel Jr each later served as Premier of Quebec.
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Last updated: 05-22-2005 00:27:33
