L’infortune politique de la droite québécoise après 1960

This study focuses on the difficulty of right-wing parties to gain support in Quebec after 1960. Two factors have been identified. The first is the effect of the electoral system on the number of parties and on their behaviour once in power : it favours a two-party system, made of “catch-all parties” that govern close to the center of the political spectrum. The striking similarities of the policies of the last two governments disappointed many right-wing voters who deserted the Liberal Party in 2007. The second is the effect of the constitutional debate. For many years, the right-leaning voters were forced to choose between the federalist Liberal Party and the sovereignist Parti Québécois. Therefore, the diminished constitutional tension also accounts for the recent surge of the Action démocratique du Québec. That party was able to tap into the pool of nationalist voters tied to the Parti Québécois since the disappearance of the Union nationale