Conditions required

Various conditions must be met to form a political party.

Authorization form

You should first complete an application for authorization and provide the following information:

• the name of the party;
• the address to which party communications should be sent;
• the addresses where the books and accounts regarding contributions made to the party and its expenses are kept;
• the name, address and telephone number of the official representative of the party and its delegates, if any;
• the name, address and telephone number of the leader and two officials of the party;
• the address of at most two permanent offices of the party, if any.

Schedule and deposit

The application for authorization of a political party must also be accompanied with:

• a schedule containing the names, addresses, membership card numbers and expiry dates, as well as the signatures of at least 100 members of this party who are qualified electors and who are in favour of the application;
• a $500 deposit; this amount is refundable at the time of the filing of the first financial report or of the closing financial report.

Verification of the information provided

The information contained in the application is checked, from the Directeur général des élections du Québec, especially the members who support the application. To do this, a form is mailed to every member whose name appears on the appendix to the application for authorization. The time it takes to authorize a political party depends on how promptly members reply to our request for confirmation. The authorization could thus be granted when at least 100 electors have confirmed, to Directeur général des élections du Québec, that they are members of the party.

Transmission of the party by-laws

In the six months following the authorization, the party must send the Directeur général des élections du Québec a copy of its by-laws duly adopted by the members at a general meeting.

Particulars relating to the name of the party

The name of the political party must not contain the word “independent” and must not be likely to mislead electors as to which party they are supporting. Before choosing the name of the party, it is recommended that you consult the list of authorized provincial political parties and the list of reserved names (in French).

Application for authorization of entities

A party may also request an authorization for its entities by completing the appropriate form. Entities are party organizations at the level of the electoral division, a region or Québec as a whole. The following information is thus required:

• the name of the entity;
• the address to which communications for the entity are to be sent;
• the addresses where the books and accounts regarding contributions that will be made to the entity and expenses incurred by the entity will be kept;
• the name, address and telephone number of the official representative of the entity.