1962 Quebec general election
The 1962 Quebec general election was held on November 14, 1962, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Quebec, Canada. The incumbent Quebec Liberal Party, led by Jean Lesage, was re-elected, defeating the led by Daniel Johnson, Sr.
In an unusual move, the election was called just two years after the previous 1960 [Quebec general election|1960 general election]. Lesage sought a mandate for the nationalization of the electrical power industry, using the slogan, and declaring it to be the single issue on which he was ready to stake his political career.
A few days before the election, the 's chief organizer, André Lagarde, was arrested for fraud. The Liberals claimed this was proof of lingering corruption dating from the Maurice Duplessis era, but the UN cried foul. While the courts eventually acquitted Lagarde after the election, the incident may well have contributed to the UN's defeat.
The Liberal Party won an increased number of seats and a higher percentage of the popular vote compared to the previous election. Their majority government allowed them to pursue their campaign promise of electricity nationalization, spearheaded by future founder René Lévesque, who at the time served as a cabinet minister in the Lesage government.
, a new group founded by Hertel Larocque, fielded 11 candidates in the election but failed to gather a significant number of votes. Johnson opted not to have the UN join forces with it, keeping in mind the failure the Liberals had had in attempting the same manoeuvre with the in 1956. However, Social Credit was still a force to reckon with even while not campaigning on the provincial scene, and Johnson did not hesitate to use its vocabulary in his speeches while on the campaign trail.
| Candidates | Lib | UN | Ind | I-Lib | I-UN | AP | Con | Comm | Total |
| 2 | 67 | 67 | 134 | ||||||
| 3 | 24 | 24 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 72 |
| 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 | ||||
| 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | ||
| Total | 95 | 95 | 9 | 10 | 2 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 224 |
Results
! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Political party! rowspan=2 | Party leader
! colspan=4 | MPPs
! colspan=4 | Votes
! Candidates
!1960
!1962
!±
!#
! ±
!%
! ±
! colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" | Total
! " colspan="2"|95
! " colspan="2"|2,136,967
! " colspan="2"| 100%
Analysis
| Parties | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
| 63 | 62 | 2 | |||
| 31 | 52 | 1 | |||
| 1 | 7 | 1 | |||
| 1 | |||||
| 9 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 8 | 2 | ||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||
| 1 |