The election was caused by the departure of founder René Lévesque, and was conducted while the party was in power.

The election finds its historical importance in the fact that, in the first era of said "Post-Referendum Syndrome", the election of Pierre-Marc Johnson secured the party's past decision of putting the independence project, the first raison d'être of the PQ, on the back burner.

This decision had caused a crisis within party ranks, which was influential in the departure of René Lévesque.

Bernard Landry, future leader from 2001 to 2005, also entered the race of 1985, only to drop out midway.

Guy Bertrand's campaign tended to represent the sovereigntist pur et dur stream of the party, clashing with his later ideological shift.