Quebec separatists set for election win

Voters in Canada's Quebec province cast ballots in elections expected to bring separatists to power, amid rising frustration with the current leadership and months of student protests. But the province's split from the rest of Canada is unlikely in the foreseeable future as most voters appear more intent on putting an end to nine years of Liberal rule than Quebec independence. Nearly six million voters in the country's only majority French-speaking province were to choose 125 lawmakers on Tuesday. The outcome was expected to be known by day's end, after voting booths closed at 8:00 pm (0000 GMT Wednesday). Voter turnout was strong and although the race was too close to call in about 40 electoral districts, pre-election polls point to the Parti Quebecois (PQ) coming out on top -- though without a full majority. "I hope that we'll get rid of the old (Liberal) government, it's about time," said Daniel Peterkin as he headed to cast his ballot in Montreal. Others expressed mixed feelings about the election outcome. The PQ has been in the opposition benches in Quebec's National Assembly since its 2003 defeat by the Liberals, led by Jean Charest, who is only the second Quebec premier since the 1950s to have served three terms. Pauline Marois's PQ enjoys 33 percent support, putting it well ahead of Francois Legault's upstart middle ground Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) at 28 percent, and the Liberals at 27 percent, according to a poll Sunday by Leger Marketing. If those numbers hold true at the ballot boxes, Marois will become Quebec's first female leader, but her prospects of pushing through a referendum on independence for the province are slim. Voters -- tired of the status quo after nearly a decade of Liberal rule marked by corruption scandals and recent nightly student protests over a planned tuition hike -- are seen to be looking for change. In an odd twist, Canada's largest public sector union, The Public Service Alliance of Canada, endorsed the Parti Québécois, saying it best represents the interests of the union's 22,000 members who live and vote in the Quebec side of the capital region. PSAC's regional executive vice president Larry Rousseau said the PQ was the most "progressive" party on the ballot, based on "their positions on workers' and citizens' rights, public services and unions." The Liberals ranked third. Polls indicate the Parti Quebecois's support is as much anti-Charest as it is pro-independence. The CAQ meanwhile surged into second place in pre-election polls, with a message of "change" and an end to the decades-old feuds between separatists and federalists. In the final hours of a month-long campaign that saw leaders spar over jobs and the economy, healthcare and other social matters, Charest was still struggling to court voters by fanning fears of independence. The premier may have triggered the election to put down the student unrest and avoid the scrutiny of a commission of inquiry into accusations of political corruption linked to the construction industry. But his main call to arms has been to stop the separatists' rise. The separatists aim "to pick fights... to demonstrate that it is necessary to hold a referendum as soon as possible to separate Quebec from the rest of Canada," Charest warned Monday. Charest said a renewed push for independence would create economic uncertainty, scare away investment in the province as it seeks to develop its rich resources in the vast north, and could even lead the National Hockey League to reject a proposal for a team in Quebec City. Quebec twice rejected independence in 1980 and 1995 but the federalists only narrowly won the last referendum. Marois, however, has said she will only hold a third referendum on independence if a win is assured, which is unlikely, given that barely one in three Quebecers currently support secession.