Quebecers headed to the polls Monday in what's turned out to be a neck-and-neck race.
During the nasty campaign, opinion polls gave Philippe Couillard's Liberal party the edge through most of the race, but by last weekend polls were describing a three-way race with no way of telling who would win - perhaps even another minority government.
When Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois asked the lieutenant-governor to dissolve the legislature, triggering a provincial election, the PQ held 54 seats, the Liberals 49, the CAQ 18 and Québec solidaire two.
In all, about 6 million people in 125 ridings are eligible to cast ballots Monday. Many have already.
More than 19% of registered voters - that's one in five - took advantage of advance polls to mark their X. That's up from the September 2012 numbers on advance voting, which was 16.61%.
Marois was the first of the main leaders to vote Monday.
'It is a beautiful day,' Marois told reporters after she cast her ballot in the riding of Charlevoix-Cote-de-Beaupre, northeast of Quebec City. 'I am inviting all Quebecers to vote. I am very serene at this moment. I trust Quebecers will choose a good government to lead them and I am confident about tonight.'
Coalition Avenir Quebec leader François Legault voted later in his riding of L'Assomption, northeast of Montreal, and also used the word 'serene' to describe his mood.
'It's an important day, obviously,' he told reporters. 'During 33 days, I offered a choice that was different from that of the other parties. I put forward ideas. Now it's up to Quebecers to decide.'
Couillard, who trained as a neurosurgeon, was asked whether it was more stressful performing neurosurgery or trying to become Quebec premier.
'They're pretty different but in some ways they're quite alike,' he replied after voting in his riding of Roberval, a few hours north of Quebec City.
'We are fortunate to live in a democracy where we vote for our government every four years _ or sometimes more often...I'm happy about the campaign we had. I'm confident about the result but it's now time for citizens to speak. Politicians have spoken enough.'
Post By http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/04/07/quebec-election-2014-results-a-live-riding-by-riding-breakdown-of-the-vote/
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