ADQ Leader Dumont keeps seat in Rivière-du-Loup
Last Updated: Monday, December 8, 2008 | 10:38 PM ET
CBC News
Action Démocratique de Quebec Leader Mario Dumont will hang on to his seat in Rivière-du-Loup on Monday night, despite his party's wide defeat, CBC News projects.
Dumont won more than 50 per cent of the vote, handily beating Liberal Jean-Pierre Rioux, who had more than 25 per cent, and the Parti Québécois's Stephan Shields, who won about 15 per cent.
Dumont's ADQ had 39 seats going into the election, but is poised to only take seven this time around. Soon after the results emerged Monday, Dumont conceded defeat.
Dumont, 38, has held the Rivière-du-Loup riding since 1994, the year he and Jean Allaire broke from the Liberal party to found the populist, conservative-leaning ADQ.
Dumont was re-elected in 1998, 2003 and 2007, easily defeating both Liberal and PQ rivals.
Dumont was born in the rural riding, which lies on the south shore of the St. Lawrence, halfway between Quebec City and the Gaspé Peninsula. The riding, which is almost completely francophone, was held by the Liberals in the decade leading up to Dumont's 1994 victory.
The Liberals seized power from the PQ, who held the riding from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s.
