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WATCH: Pauline Marois steps down as leader of the PQ during consolation speech

Pauline Marois has lost not only the premiership but her own seat in Charlevoix-Côte-de-Beaupré, as well.

Marois lost a tight race to Liberal candidate Caroline Simard. Simard took 35.1 per cent of the vote, and Marois 32.6 per cent.

Fewer than 1,000 votes separated the two, with 182 out of 186 polls reporting.

Marois, who became the province’s first female premier in 2012, has had a long career in Quebec politics. She was first elected to the Assemblée Nationale in 1981 and has been a constant presence there since 1989.

In her concession speech on Monday, she said that she would step down as premier and as leader of the PQ, and that she is grateful to the people of Quebec.

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“I love Quebec, I love Quebecers,” she said.

Simard is a professional researcher and marketing consultant.

The district of Charlevoix-Côte-de-Beaupré, which until a recent boundary adjustment was called Charlevoix, was Liberal from 1962 to 1989. It switched to the Parti Québecois in 1994, and has remained with that party ever since, until now.