Quebec separatists vowing independence vote win an election but fall short of majority

TORONTO (AP) — The separatist Parti Québécois won Quebec’s provincial election Monday but fell short of enough seats to govern alone, returning to power with a promise to hold another referendum on independence from Canada.

The result returns Paul St-Pierre Plamondon’s party to power for the first time in more than a decade but denies it the majority it sought, forcing the separatists to rely on opposition parties even as they try to revive Quebec’s independence debate.

The party was on track to win nearly 60 seats as the final votes were counted, falling short of the 64 needed for a majority in Quebec’s 127-member National Assembly, the provincial legislature. A minority government means PQ will need support from opposition lawmakers to pass key legislation and survive confidence votes.

St-Pierre Plamondon acknowledged that voters had denied his party a majority. “Quebecers elected the Parti Québécois asking it to work with the other parties, and I heard that message,” he said.

He has pledged to hold another referendum on independence, though he has said he would wait until U.S. President Donald Trump is no longer in office.

St-Pierre Plamondon framed independence as essential to preserving Quebec’s French-speaking identity, saying it was a “question of survival” for a French-speaking population that represents only a small fraction of North America. He said Quebec “just wants to exist on its own like other countries of the world.”

He said a referendum would allow Quebecers to decide their own future.

“I continue to dream and visualize that country,” St-Pierre Plamondon said in his victory speech. “That dream will be realized one day.”

He also sought to reassure Canadians outside Quebec. “The project for independence is not about excluding you,” he said. “Quebec will never change its geographical position, so we have an interest in working together.”

Coalition Avenir Québec leader Christine Fréchette conceded defeat, saying voters had made their choice and that she took full responsibility for the “difficult result." The CAQ, which held 79 seats before the election, was at risk of losing every seat in the legislature.

But the PQ's victory does not mean most Quebecers support leaving Canada.

“This was not an election about independence, which is not popular in Quebec right now, but about getting rid of the CAQ, the party in power since 2018,” said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.

Support for independence remains at about 30%, low by historical standards, he said. Béland said the minority result is likely welcome news for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government because it could make it harder for the PQ to prepare for and eventually call an independence referendum.

Carney congratulated St-Pierre Plamondon and signaled that Ottawa would work with the incoming separatist government. “Building a stronger Québec is core to our mission of building a stronger Canada,” Carney said. He said the two governments would work together to support businesses and workers affected by U.S. tariffs, create jobs and build housing.

Still, Béland said a separatist government in Quebec poses a new national-unity challenge for Carney, particularly with another independence-related vote approaching elsewhere in Canada.

The Quebec result comes two weeks before Albertans vote Oct. 19 on whether to hold a referendum on separation from Canada.

“Seeing that a pro-independence party won in Quebec barely two weeks before an independence-related referendum takes place in Alberta might suggest to the Trump administration that national unity remains a major issue in Canada despite the popularity of Mark Carney,” Béland said.

Quebec voters have twice rejected sovereignty, most recently by a razor-thin margin in a 1995 referendum.

Quebec, which is about 80% French-speaking, already has significant autonomy. The province of 9.1 million collects its own income tax, has immigration policies favoring French speakers and has laws giving the French language priority over English.

Even with the PQ victory, Trump’s tariffs and 51st-state rhetoric have complicated the separatist argument by stirring Canadian nationalism and giving some French-speaking Quebecers another reason to value remaining part of Canada.

Trump’s tariffs and repeated threats against Canada became a defining issue in the 2025 federal election, helping lift Carney’s Liberals to victory after the party had trailed badly before Trump returned to office.

Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney rises during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)

Coalition Avenir Quebec Leader Christine Frechette casts her ballot at the polling office in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press via AP)

Québec Solidaire co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal votes in her Montreal riding of Mercier, in the Quebec provincial general election on Monday Oct. 5, 2026. (Peter McCabe/The Canadian Press via AP)

Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon casts his ballot on election day in Montreal, Quebec, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)

TOKYO (AP) — The arrest of a U.S. Marine on suspicion of robbing and killing a local woman on Okinawa has drawn condemnation from Japan's leaders and renewed protests against the heavy American military presence on the southern island.

The alleged killing could complicate Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s push to strengthen Japanese military on the island and to work more closely with the U.S. military to deter China in the region.

Okinawa prefectural police said they arrested Lance Cpl. Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, who is stationed at Futenma Air Station, on suspicion of strangling Anna Yagi, 39, at a hotel in the island’s capital city of Naha early Saturday and stealing her wallet and backpack. He has denied the allegations, according to Japanese media.

Security camera footage showed a man entering the hotel with the woman and later leaving alone.

Ballard was arrested when a patrolling officer saw him walking later Saturday in an entertainment district in Okinawa City, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) northeast of Naha. His shaved head and the tattoos on his arms matched those of the man in security footage, Kyodo News agency reported.

“I’m outraged and flabbergasted to hear that a suspect came to the (entertainment area) after committing a murder,” Kenji Higa, who lives in Okinawa City, told the Okinawa Times.

People in Okinawa have long opposed the heavy U.S. military presence on the island, but some have come to see its strategic value due to what is widely viewed as a growing threat from China.

Okinawa was under U.S. occupation from World War II until 1972. Today it hosts 70% of America’s military facilities and most of the 50,000 U.S. troops based in Japan today.

There has been anger over increasing crime linked to the U.S. military on the island. The number of U.S. military-related criminal cases rose to 101 last year from about 40 in 2020, according to prefectural police.

After the 1995 rape of a 12-year-old girl by three U.S. service members, huge crowds protested the heavy U.S. troop presence on Okinawa. There was also anger over the rape of a teenage girl by a U.S. service member in 2024 and the delayed disclosure of the crime.

About 160 people gathered at a protest Sunday in Naha, condemning the crime and renewing demands that U.S. military bases be removed from the island.

One sign read: “We’ve had enough of this!”

“The case deals a major shock and adds fear to the Okinawans who have already been forced to live next to U.S. bases,” newly elected Okinawa Gov. Genta Koja told reporters Sunday night in Naha. “It is absolutely unforgivable and we are outraged.”

Koja said the case underscored the ineffectiveness of past disciplinary measures taken by the U.S. military following similar crimes.

“I’m enraged by the loss of a precious life of an Okinawan resident,” Koja told Lt. Gen. Benjamin Watson, commander of III Marine Expeditionary Force, and U.S. Consul General in Naha, Andrew Ou on Monday when he summoned them to the prefectural government. He demanded that U.S. officials take effective preventive measures.

Watson replied: “I recognize the serious incident caused significant concern and anxiety among the residents of Okinawa, our neighbors” and that “we are committed to being good neighbors … and earning the trust of the Okinawan people.”

In Tokyo, Takaichi condemned the crime and demanded full cooperation and tougher disciplinary and preventive measures by the United States.

Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi also summoned U.S. Forces Japan Commander Lt. Gen. Stephen Jost to his ministry, while Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi expressed his outrage to the U.S. ambassador to Japan, George Glass.

Glass, on X, expressed his condolences Sunday to the victim's family and said the United States is cooperating with Japanese authorities.

On Monday, he said he is telling U.S. military commanders of the need “to hold our American service members to the very highest levels of discipline and integrity" and that he and Watson discussed the “next steps in strengthening that bond of trust with our Japanese partners and base-hosting communities.”

Under a bilateral status of forces agreement, the case is being handled by the Japanese authorities because the suspect was not on duty and was arrested off base.

Japanese prosecutors started examining the suspect's case on Monday to determine whether to press formal charges in coming weeks.

If convicted, he could face life in prison or the death penalty.

Okinawa Gov. Genta Koja, right, hands a letter of protest to U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Benjamin T. Watson at Okinawa prefectural office in Naha, Okinawa Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, after Japanese police arrested a U.S. Marine accused of robbing and killing a woman. (Kotaro Ueda/Kyodo News via AP)

Japan's Prime Minsiter Sanae Takaichi mentions a murder in Okinawa at the outset of her policy speech in Tokyo Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (Keisuke Hosojima/Kyodo News via AP)

Okinawa Gov. Genta Koja, left, speaks to the media at his prefectural building in Naha, Okinawa, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026, after a U.S. Marine was arrested in alleged murder of a woman on Okinawa. (Kyodo News via AP)

FILE - U.S. MV-22 Osprey transport aircraft are parked at the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, on the main island of the Okinawa archipelago, southern Japan, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)

Devin Jacob Ballard, a U.S. Marine who has been in custody in an alleged robbery and murder of a woman on Japan's southern island of Okinawa, is sent over to the Naha prosecutors' office in Japan, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (Kotaro Ueda/Kyodo News via AP)