Quebecers are casting their ballots today in a provincial election that polls suggest may give Liberal Leader Jean Charest a coveted majority government.
Recent surveys show Charest is positioned to win the majority following a campaign in which the economy has overshadowed the issue of sovereignty.
A CROP survey released last week showed Liberal support at 45 per cent, Parti Quebecois at 29 per cent and 15 per cent for the Action democratique du Quebec.
University of Montreal political scientist Bruce Hicks said there is a tight race outside of Montreal between the Liberals and the PQ.
But he said the Liberals are likely to come away with a win.
"Especially in Quebec, Liberals poll worse in advance polling than they do on election day," Hicks said, adding that voters will likely deliver a majority.
Earlier on Monday, Charest voted in his riding of Sherbrooke, while Parti Quebecois Leader Pauline Marois voted in her Charlevoix riding, northeast of Quebec City. Mario Dumont cast his ballot in Cacouna in the riding of Riviere-du-Loup.
Dumont, whose party had a strong showing in the last provincial election, promised he would fight for every vote before polls close. Hicks noted that the swing towards the Liberals in the polls has come at the expense of Dumont's Action democratique du Quebec. He said support for the party "has pretty much collapsed."
Antonia Maioni, a political science professor at McGill University, said Charest has run an effective campaign.
"Mr. Charest did what Mr. Harper did earlier this fall and said he needs a majority government to steer Quebec's ship of state through these economic hard times," Maioni told CTV's Canada AM on Monday.
"He was in a minority government and he was tired of having too many hands on the wheel."
Meanwhile, speculation that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recent remarks against separatists will create a last-minute surge for the Parti Quebecois is unlikely, Maioni said.
"The Parti Quebecois has not really run a campaign on the national unity question, on sovereignty, on the identity questions, so there wasn't much of a flame to burst into fire," she said.
Maioni agreed that Dumont has been in a "freefall" this campaign.
Dumont, who has been accused of offering up few new ideas this campaign, led the official opposition before the election was called.
Despite the cold weather Monday, many Quebecers still made the effort to cast their ballot.
"I always vote," a woman from Westmount told CTV Montreal. "Not everybody has the privilege and I've got it and I'm using it."
At dissolution, the Liberals held 48 seats, the ADQ 39, the PQ 36 and there were two vacancies in Quebec's 125-seat national assembly.
Charest, 50, first became premier in April 2003 and has led the Quebec Liberals for the past 10 years.
Polls opened at 9:30 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. with the winner expected to be announced around 10 p.m.
With files from The Canadian Press
