Gilles Duceppe, leader of the federal-level sovereigntist political party, the Bloc Québécois, was expected to be a strong candidate if he had decided to run.

Soon, Boisclair emerged as a favorite in the polls, with Pauline Marois second, Richard Legendre a close third and Louis Bernard fourth.

The validity of these polls, much touted by the media, was however challenged by some candidate organizations since they were conducted on the whole population of Quebec, rather than the actual voter pool, the legal members of the Parti Québécois.

The later were much less discussed and their opening monologues were even cut for pundit commentary in LCN live broadcastings of the official candidates' debates.

The left-wing SPQ-Libre faction of the party asked the Dubuc supporters to vote for Marois as second choice, as did Ouimet.

Amongst others, André Boisclair expounded a debt reduction plan and spoke of free higher education provided by the state.

Pauline Marois spoke of water nationalization in an eventual Eau-Québec, like what was created with Hydro-Québec for electricity during the Quiet Revolution.

As part of the struggle against poverty, Dubuc, Marois, Ouimet and Paquette supported a guaranteed minimum income system.

However, his more conservative political beliefs made him a black sheep in the midst of the largely progressive slate of candidates.

St-André defended the ideas of the pur et dur party stream, notably that of making gestures of rupture with the rest of Canada, which were sovereign state actions before sovereignty contrary to the Canadian constitution.

A fierce confrontation occurred between St-André and Boisclair when the former repeatedly challenged the latter to engage himself in fighting corporate tax evasion, which he finally did.

Most candidates focused on public transportation and wind power, with Marois promising water nationalization in the form of an "Eau-Québec" Crown corporation.

Since the method and pace of attaining independence was usually hotly debated in the party, media commentators predicted that it would be the most tumultuous of the seven.

In order of official candidacy, they were: Former Minister André Boisclair was elected leader of the Parti Québécois at the first round ballot.