page_title: Pauline Marois
section_title: Third leadership race
hierarchical_section_title: Pauline Marois / Leader of the Parti Québécois / Third leadership race
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Pauline Marois au Cégep de Chicoutimi
context_page_description: Pauline Marois is a Canadian politician from Quebec, who served as the 30th Premier of Quebec and was leader of the Parti Québécois. On September 4, 2012, Marois led her party to minority victory in the Quebec general election, thus becoming the first female premier in the province's history. However, her party was defeated 19 months later in the 2014 Quebec general election, an election that she herself had called. Marois was personally defeated in the riding of Charlevoix–Côte-de-Beaupré and announced her resignation as PQ leader. Her electoral defeat marked the shortest stay of any Quebec provincial government since the Canadian Confederation and the lowest showing for the PQ since its first general election in 1970.
  Born in a working-class family, Marois studied social work at Université Laval, married businessman Claude Blanchet and became an activist in grassroots organizations and in the Parti Québécois. After accepting political jobs in ministerial offices, she was first elected as a member of the National Assembly in 1981. At age 32, she was appointed to the cabinet for the first time as a junior minister in the René Lévesque government.
context_section_description: In the March 26, 2007, Quebec provincial election, the Parti Québécois was reduced to third place in the National Assembly, behind both the governing Quebec Liberal Party and the opposition Action démocratique du Québec. Following this disappointing result, PQ leader André Boisclair announced his resignation as leader on May 8, 2007. Marois was considered a leading candidate to replace Boisclair, especially following federal Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe's withdrawal from the race.
  On May 11, 2007, Marois announced that she would run again for leader of the PQ for the third time.
  No other candidate stepped forward to contest the election, and Marois was acclaimed leader on June 27, 2007. She led the party from outside the National Assembly until winning the Charlevoix by-election on September 24.
caption: Pauline Marois, August 30, 2011
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