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1935 Quebec general election

The 1935 Quebec general election was held on November 25, 1935, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the province of Quebec, Canada. The incumbent Quebec Liberal Party led by Louis-Alexandre Taschereau was re-elected, defeating the Action libérale nationale, led by Paul Gouin, and the Quebec Conservative Party, led by Maurice Duplessis.

It was the fourth and final general election victory in a row for Taschereau, who had held office since 1920. He resigned less than seven months later due to a scandal.

The Action libérale nationale (ALN) was a newly formed party led by the son of former Liberal premier Lomer Gouin. It was established by former Liberals who had become dissatisfied with the party. The ALN and Conservatives formed an alliance, the Union Nationale, to contest this election. They merged after the election to become a single party, which soon became a dominant political force.

Campaign

Nominations

There were 208 candidates nominated, of which five subsequently withdrew:

* Wilfrid Bullock (Ind-Liberal, Shefford)
* Wilfrid Labelle (ALN, Iberville), thus allowing Lucien Lamoureux (Liberal) to be reelected by acclamation
* Roy Sasseville and René Mercier (Ind-Liberals, Gaspé-Nord)
* Arthur Arcand (Ind-Liberal, Montréal–Sainte-Marie), in favour of Gaspard Fauteux (Liberal)

All three candidates returned by acclamation were incumbents:

* Lucien Lamoureux (Lib, Iberville)
* Peter Bercovitch (Lib, Montréal–Saint-Louis)
* Avila Turcotte (Lib, Richelieu)

Distribution of candidates

Controversy in Terrebonne

In Terrebonne, the election of Athanase David was contested on the ground that the ballot papers were not printed in the form prescribed under the Election Act. At the subsequent hearing, the judge ruled that all cast ballots were declared void. Immediately afterwards, the returning officer announced that, as this resulted in a 0–0 tie, he cast his deciding vote in favour of David.

The returning officer's action was considered to have been without precedent anywhere in the world in countries with parliamentary-style legislatures. The Conservatives lodged an appeal, but the result was upheld by the Quebec Court of Appeal in April 1936. David would become the only member of the Assembly in Quebec history to be elected on only one cast vote.

Results

|- ! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party ! rowspan=2 | Party leader ! colspan=4 | MLAs ! colspan=4 | Votes |- ! Candidates !1931 !1935 !± !# ! ± !% ! ± (pp) |- |rowspan="3" |   |style="text-align:left;" colspan="10"|Government candidates |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|Louis-Alexandre Taschereau |90 |79 |47 |5 |249,586 |19,146 |46.53 |8.35 |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|– |3 |– |– |– |615 |2,172 |0.11 |0.46 |- |rowspan="3" |   |style="text-align:left;" colspan="10"|Union Nationale alliance |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|Paul Gouin |53 |– |26 |26 |162,205 | |30.24 | |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|Maurice Duplessis |33 |11 |16 |5 |97,469 |115,754 |18.17 |25.37 |- |rowspan="3" |   |style="text-align:left;" colspan="10"|Opposition candidates |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|– |1 |– |– |– |1,532 | |0.29 | |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|– |1 |– |– |– |94 |12 |0.02 |– |- |rowspan="5" |   |style="text-align:left;" colspan="10"|Other candidates |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|– |19 |– |1 |1 |21,587 |20,522 |4.02 |3.80 |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|– |2 |– |– |– |2,238 |1,757 |0.42 |0.32 |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|– |1 |– |– |– |998 | |0.19 | |- |style="text-align:left;" | |style="text-align:left;"|– |1 |– |– |– |37 |547 |– |0.12 |- ! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" | Total | 204 ! " colspan="3"| 90 ! " colspan="2"| 536,361 ! " colspan="2"| 100% |- | colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Rejected ballots | 15,232 | 11,042 | colspan="2"| |- | colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Voter turnout | 551,593 | 57,708 | 76.16 | 0.85 |- | colspan="7" style="text-align:left;" | Registered electors (contested ridings only) | 724,260 | 82,936 | colspan="2"| |- | colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" | Candidates returned by acclamation | 3 | 3 | colspan="4"|

Synopsis of results

= open seat
= turnout is above provincial average
= winning candidate was in previous Legislature
= incumbent had switched allegiance
= not incumbent; was previously elected to the Legislature
= incumbency arose from byelection gain
= previously incumbent in another riding
= other incumbents renominated
= previously an MP in the House of Commons of Canada
= multiple candidates

Analysis

See also

Further reading

Notes

References