To date this is the last election where the Parti Québécois won a majority of seats in the Quebec Assembly, although not the last in which it formed a government.

Jean Charest had also left federal politics, where he had been leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.

In terms of the number of seats won by each of the two parties, the result was almost identical to the previous 1994 general election.

However, this time the Liberals won a slightly larger percentage of the popular vote, but nonetheless far fewer seats.

Mario Dumont, leader of the Action démocratique du Québec, repeated his success in winning his own seat, as he had done in the 1994 general election.