Based on an analysis of the voting power of each riding in the province, the coalition — which includes members of the Action Démocratique, the Green Party, Québec Solidaire and other smaller political parties — says it has serious questions concerning the legitimacy of the electoral results of the March 26 election.

The coalition's view is that the Quebec electoral system does not conform to two fundamental principles of democracy — majority rule and equality of voters — and that the holding of free and popular elections is not the sole requirement for democratic rule.

Quebec's electoral act stipulates that the number of voters in each electoral division cannot deviate more than 25 per cent from the provincial quotient. However, the coalition has determined that there are 12 ridings where the deviation is more than that and that it is likely to increase, further casting doubt on the legitimacy of provincial elections.

If compensatory seats were added, the coalition maintains that a repartition of the results of the popular vote would uphold the principle of each elector being of equal weight. They argue that this would effectively counterbalance inequalities of voting power between electoral divisions.

According to Patrick Daoust, who came in second for the Green Party in Westmount-St. Louis just behind the Liberals, a reform of the electoral system that the Liberal government has proposed would be inadequate.

"It's not fair enough," he said. "It's a system that I believe personally is partisan. It would be to their advantage … It would bring a certain amount of proportionality into the system that would advantage them and that's it."

In addition to a seat for each riding as is now the case, the system the coalition envisions would allocate a certain number of compensatory seats. Parties receiving a sufficient percentage of the popular vote across the province would be get a corresponding number of seats. When casting ballots, electors could be asked to vote for a local riding representative, and again for a party.

Daoust believes the reform could help reverse low voter turnout. "In ridings like Westmount where people don't bother to go out an vote because they feel like they know what's going to happen in advance … a lot of Liberal voters probably don't even bother," he said.

"When you change the electoral system, you know that when you go out and vote your vote really has an effect on the final makeup of the legislative assembly and that you're contributing meaningfully."

Nadia Alexan, who ran for Québec Solidaire in Westmount-St. Louis, said she favours the coalition's proposed reform. "A lot of people vote now and their votes are not counted," she said.

"A lot of people now — especially young people — don't vote at all because they think that nothing will change if they vote. Instead of always voting for the least evil, you would be voting for something that you want."