QUEBEC -- The only Muslim woman in the Quebec national assembly is confirming she will run as an Independent in the provincial election.

Fatima Houda-Pepin said today she will seek re-election in the Montreal-area riding of La Piniere.

Parti Quebecois Premier Pauline Marois is widely expected to call an April 7 vote on Wednesday.

Houda-Pepin represented La Piniere for the Liberals from 1994 until earlier this year when she parted company with the party over its position on the government's proposed secularism charter.

Her Liberal opponent will be Gaetan Barrette, the outgoing president of the federation that represents specialist doctors in Quebec.