Quebec general election, 1966

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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 Liberals' 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 pro-independence Rassemblement pour l'indépendance nationale and Ralliement national obtained a combined total of just under 9% of the popular vote (but no seats).

This was the last election 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.

[edit] Results

Party		Party leader	# of candidates	Seats			Popular vote
Party		Party leader	# of candidates	1962	Elected	% Change	#	%	% Change
	Union Nationale	Daniel Johnson, Sr.	108	31	56	+80.6%	948,928	40.82%	-1.3%
	Liberal	Jean Lesage	108	63	50	-20.6%	1,099,435	47.29%	-9.1%
	Independant/Other		39	1	2	+100%	72,751	3.13%	+1.7%
	RIN	Pierre Bourgault	73	*	-	*	129,045	5.55%	*
	Ralliement national	Gilles Grégoire	90	*	-	*	74,670	3.21%	*
Total			418	95	108	+13.7%	2,324,829	100%