Electoral System

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Although widely inspired by the British electoral system, Quebec knew how to develop, thorough the years, an electoral system corresponding to its values and answering the problems which it had to face. This electoral system can be described according to several aspects, among others:

Current Laws
Directeur Général des Élections (Chief Electoral Officer)
Method of Votation
Electoral System
Electoral Representation
Right to Vote
Right of Eligibility
List of Electors
Political Financing and Electoral Expenses

Current Laws

In Quebec, the electoral process is governed by three acts adopted by the National Assembly: the Loi électorale [Election Act] (L.R.Q., c. E-3.3) and the Loi sur la consultation populaire [Referendum Act] (L.R.Q., c. C-64.1), which apply to provincial ballots, and the Loi sur les élections et les référendums dans les municipalités [Act Respecting Elections and Referendums in Municipalities] (L.R.Q., c. C-2.2), which provide for municipal elections.

Notice that the federal and provincial electoral law are different. In such context, the federal government as well as every single province possesses its own electoral legislation, and so they can not legislate on the other level of government; the federal government can not adopt bills providing for elections in a province, and vice versa.

The Directeur général des élections (Chief Electoral Officer)

The Chief Electoral Officer (D.G.E.) of Quebec is a person designated (persona designata) by the National Assembly to administer electoral process in Quebec, with the exception of federal elections. In the British parliamentary tradition, the "designated person" is appointed by a parliament to exercise some of his powers, not as deputy but in a autonomous way. Consequently, the D.G.E. is exclusively acountable to the legislative power, and so is independent from executive power. Thus, only the National Assembly can exercise a control on the D.G.E., including the expenses which it makes, and it by means of a parliamentary committee.

The Chief Election Officer is appointed for a seven years mandate by a motion approved by the two-thirds (2/3) of the Members of the National Assembly. However, after the mandate is expired, he remains in office until his successor is appointed. He is responsible for the application of the Election Act, the Referendum Act and the Act Respecting Elections and Referendums in Municipalities. Furthermore, he is the president of the Commission de la représentation électorale [Committee of Electoral Representation], which is in charge for the process of redistricting the constituencies, which occurs regularly.

More precisely, the D.G.E. is responsible for the administration of provincial ballots (general elections and by-elections), for the Permanent Electoral List, for the control of electoral expenses and the financing of the political parties. He has powers of inquiry and pursuit and has the obligation to inform the voters and the candidates. He executes any mandate which confides to him the National Assembly and can, if need be, offer to other countries its assistance and  collaboration in electoral matters. The office of Chief Election Officer is exercised by Mr. Marcel Blanchet since May 3, 2000.

From 1867 to 1945, the general administration of elections recovered from the executive power in the person of the Lieutenant Governor and was confided to the most high-ranking servant of the government, the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery (today, the General Secretary of the Executive Council is the highest ranking civil servant of the Quebec Government). It is in 1945 that was created the office of Président général des élections [General President of Elections], which became in 1978 the Chief Election Officer.

Method of Votation

Secret votation by means of a ballot was used for the first time in Quebec during the 1878 General Election, which was a short time after that this principle was adopted by the Parliament of Westminster (in 1873). Previously, the voters casted their vote in the poll book of their constituency. The choice of the voter could not be kept secret, which led to inconvenient pressures (threats, intimidation, abusive use of physical force, bribery, etc.) by canvassors.

Electoral System

Heir of the parliamentary government of British type, Quebec also inherited from Great Britain the voting system which it also popularized in most of its former colonies: the first past the post system of election.

Election on a majority basis was implemented as early as the first parliamentary elections held in Lower Canada in 1792. However, at that time, the territory was divided into districts electing from one to six members, according to the population, and every voter had as many votes as seats to be filled, which is the "block vote". However, by 1867 , multi-seat districts were abandoned and the electoral system used in Quebec, since that time, is the fist past the post system.

In spite of some (aborpted) attempts to introduce proportional representation during the René Lévesque Cabinet (1976-1985), the first past the post system was always widely used in Quebec. In fact,   proportional representation have never been used for any election of a public body in Quebec.

Electoral Representation

The territory of Quebec is divided into 125 constituencies, each being represented by a representative or MNA. Constituencies are bounded according to the principle of the "effective representation of the voters", according to the principle "one person, one vote".

More precisely, every constituency, besides corresponding to a natural community, has to have a number of voters either superior, or lower in 25 % of the quotient obtained by the division of the total number of voters by the number of constituencies. And so after the next redistricting (in 2001), the ideal constituency should have 42 036 electors (5 254 482 electors divided by 125 constituencies) or between 31 527 and 52 545 electors. It is to be noticed however that the Îles-de-la-Madeleine constituency is not subjected to the rule of the 25 % because of its insular and remote character.

The Commission de la représentation électorale du Québec is the body in charge of redistricing the constituencies of the National Assembly as well as those of the municipal districts. It is made of the Chief Election Officer, who chairs the Committee, as well as of two commissionneers appointed by the National Assembly among the electors. The C.R.E. is a standing committee and enjoys a decision-making power, that is that it decides on demarcations of constituencies by itself without the MNAs can intervene, although they are consulted. The purpose aimed by granting a decision-making power to the C.R.E. is to avoid that partisan considerations get precedence over the good representation of the electors, as well as to avoid the phenomenon of gerrymandering, which is the redistricting of constituencies to the advantage of those that made it: the party holding the executive power.

The demarcations of constituencies are revised after the second general election which follows the last redistricting. Consequently, the Commission de la représentation électorale is curruntly in works, because the last demarcation occured in 1992, and because there were two general elections since (in 1994 and 1998).

Right to Vote

Democratic process in Quebec is held, just like most of the contemporary democratic societies, according to the principle of universal suffrage, without any discrimination based on sex, religion,language, origin, sexual orientation, etc.

According to the Election Act, have the right to vote in elections to the National Assembly the persons registered on the electoral list and filling three criteria, which are:

There are two categories of citizens that have no right to vote: those having been deprived of election rights, pursuant to the Election Act or the Referendum Act (in the five years preceding the election day) and the persons under curatorship (an unfit recognized person in a permanent way, following a judgment of court, to take care of himself and to administer its possessions is subjected to the regime of public curatorship in Quebec). On the other hand, the persons having left Quebec in a temporary way (that is who left Quebec for less than two years with the intention to return there) can use the postal vote.

It is to be noticed that approximately 70 % of the population of Quebec is registered on the electoral list, which represents almost all the adult population of Quebec.

Right of Eligibility

In Quebec and in Canada, the right of eligibility have always been strictly bound with the right to vote. And so by virtue of the Election Act, the only qualification required to be a candidate for a General Election is to be an elector and to put deposit a statement of  candidature including the signature of 100 electors of the constituency there the person is candidate.

However, the following categories of persons are ineligible: the judges of judicial courts, the Chief Election Officer, the Commissionneers of the C.R.E. and the Election Officers, the Members of Parliament of Canada, the official agent of a political party or a candidate and the persons declared guilty and condemned of detention for two years or more. Furthermore, a person can not be candidate at the same time in more than one constituency.

List of Electors

Quebec is one of the first Occidental societies having adopted a Permanent List of Electors. It was introduced by the bill 40 (An Act to establish the permanent list of electors), which was adopted by the National Assembly on June 15, 1995, and came into effect on June 1, 1997. This list is used during elections to the National Assembly, City Councils as well as School Boards.

The Permanent List of Electors was made from the electoral roll used during the first ballot following the adoption of the Bill 40, the referendum held on October 30, 1995. Since this time, personal information about the electors is recut with the file of the R.A.M.Q. (Régie de l'assurance-maladie du Québec, public regime of health insurance or Medicare) to ensure the update of information contained in the list (moves, death, new citizens, doubles registrations, persons having reached the age of 18, etc.), in the cases when a voter would not have informed the D.G.E. of such changes himself.

It is to be notticed that registration on the Permanent List of Electors is not compulsory. So, an elector wishing to withdraw from the List of Electors (and so not to exercice his right to vote) can make it any time by informing the Chied Election Officer. He can also register again any time.

Political Financing and Electoral Expenses

The purification of the financing of the political parties and of electoral expenses was one of the hobbyhorses of the partisans of an in depth electoral reform during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. And so the Act to Govern the Financing of Political Parties, passed in 1977, based on three main principles, pluralism, equity and transparency, made of Quebec one of the most advanced societies in the world in electoral financing and in electoral expenses.

Financing of Political Parties

By virtue of the Election Act, only a voter can contribute (contribution is defined as being a cash donation, a returned service or the good supplied free by an elector straight from its own possessions) to a political party, and it for a maximal sum 3 000 $ a year by party or independent candidate. It is so forbidden for one person moral, that it is a company, a trade union, a non-profit organization or other body, to contribute, and it with the aim of decreasing the risks of corruption, payoffs, promises of contracts in the exchange of a contribution of a company or quite other scheme against the principles of a modern democracy.

However, following a judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada in 1997, the concept of private intervenor (an elector or a group of electors not possessing the moral personality and not being member of a political party) was introduced into the electoral law. By virtue of this principle, an elector has the right to make or engage, during an election campaign, an expense of advertisement to make known his opinion on a subject of public interest or to obtain a support for such an opinion or still to laud abstinence or cancellation of the vote. This expense, of a maximum of 300 $ by election campaign and straight from the own possessions of the intervenor, can not favor or directly to discriminate a candidate or a party. It has to serve only to make known the opinion of the private intervenor on a subject of public interest. It has also to subject a report of expenses to the Chief Election Officer after the ballot.

In the same order of ideas, the State octroit every year an allowance to the political parties to pay off expenses relative to its common administration, to the distribution of the political program and to the coordination of the political action of the members. These allowances are granted straight from a budget corresponding to 0,50 $ by registered elector in Quebec and divided between the parties according to the percentage of votes obtained during the previous general election.

Finally, in a purpose of transparency, all the parties have to produce a report of their sources of financing, notably by revealing the name and address of the electors who contributed for more than 200 $ this year. This report is public and is published every year by the Chief Election Officer.

Electoral Expenses

Always by pursuing the objective of equity, law limits electoral expenses (defined by the Election Act as being "the cost of any good or service used during an electoral period to favor or to discriminate directly or indirectly the election of a candidate or that of the candidates of a party. This good or this service must be estimated at its just value."), getting so for all the candidates a chance to be elected. It is the principle of "A person = a vote", and not "A dollar = a vote".

This limitation applies, on one hand, the right to make an electoral expense. Only political parties or independent candidates, by means of the official agent (who is the only person having the power to authorize an expense in election campaign), can make an electoral expense paid straight from an electoral fund financed according to the Law.

Limitation applies, on the other hand , to the amount of expenses which a party or a candidate can make. During an election campaign (that is from the issuing of the writs to the closing of the ballot offices on voting day), depenses are limited, for a party, to 0,50 $ by elector altogether constituencies where this party has a candidate and, for a candidate, for 1,00 $ by elector in the constituency.

Besides, the State grants a refund of 50 % of expenses made during an election campaign, if they were engaged and settled according to the law, to a party which obtained at least 1 % of the valid ballots to a candidate who was proclaimed elected, to a candidate elected during the previous election or to a candidate who obtained at least 15 % of the valid ballots in its constituency.

Finally, a public report of   electoral expenses and incomes must be produced by every candidate (independent or not) or political party after every general election. This report is also made public by the Chief Election Officer.

Sources

Bernard, André. 1996. La vie politique au Québec et au Canada. Sainte-Foy : Presses de l'Université du Québec.

Bernard, André. 1995. Les institutions politiques au Québec et au Canada. Montréal : Boréal.

Directeur général des élections du Québec. 1999. Loi électorale. Règlements électoraux. L.R.Q., c. E-3,3. À jour le 15 novembre 1999. Sainte-Foy: Le Directeur.

Pageau, Gilles, et Jacques Laflamme. 1990. Le Système électoral québécois: Manuel des connaissances de base. Quatrième édition. Sainte-Foy: Le Directeur général des élections du Québec, 1999. Coll. Études électorales.

Perreault, Charlotte, et Madeleine Albert. 1996. Cinquante ans au coeur de la démocratie : le Directeur général des élections et l'évolution de la législation électorale de 1945 à 1995. Sainte-Foy: Le Directeur général des élections du Québec. Coll. Études électorales.

Thibault, Richard. 1993. Qu'est-ce que l'Assemblée nationale?. Édition mise à jour. Québec : Assemblée nationale du Québec, Direction générale de l'information, Direction des communications et de l'accueil.

Dernière mise à jour: 11 novembre 2004

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