MONTREAL, Oct. 19 -- The party that governed Quebec for eight years now has no seat in the National Assembly, and on Sunday it handed its leadership, for the time being, to a man who lost his own riding.

The Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) said its national executive council had designated Mathieu Levesque as interim leader, effective immediately. The party's release, dated October 18, describes him as a founding member who has been involved since 2012, and its official account on X carried the announcement the same morning.

The backdrop is the October 5 election. According to CTV Montreal, the CAQ held 79 seats when the Assembly was dissolved in August and failed to win a single one in the vote. Leader Christine Frechette resigned the ne...