He may not have been elected Quebec premier, but Mario Dumont was clearly the big winner of Monday's provincial election.

The leader of the Action democratique du Quebec elevated his party from a mere five seats to an impressive 41 -- a stunning achievement for the party that itself had predicted it would win about 15 seats, or just enough for official party status.

"Officially, Jean Charest is still premier. But starting today, the real boss is Mario Dumont," wrote columnist Vincent Marissal in La Presse Tuesday morning.

Analysts seem to agree that Dumont was successful because he offered an alternative to Quebec voters who were tired of the old dichotomy of federalists and separatists. The ADQ presented a third option: "autonomism," a platform that seeks greater powers for the province without separation from the rest of the country.

The idea resonated with the majority of Quebecers who told pollsters they didn't want another referendum, as the Parti Quebecois was promising.

"Voters were fed up with the old debate that has been going on for the last 30 years in Quebec where you had a choice between a sovereigntist party and a federalist party; there really was no passion left in that debate," says CTV's Jed Kahane.

"And along come Mario Dumont with a pitch straight to the heart of Quebecers, a nationalist pitch about their identity as Quebecers, and a little more conservative that the typical leftist Quebec model. That really played with voters a lot more than anyone could have predicted."

Dumont, who founded the ADQ 14 years ago, had struggled for support during three previous elections. Each time, his party polled well at the beginning of the race, but would see its support evaporate, as many voters worried whether the young leader would make a good premier.

After the 2003 election, the party ended up with only four seats after an encouraging start to the campaign.

This time, says Marcel Martel, a history professor at York University in Toronto, Dumont offered a clear populist platform that appealed to middle-class families.

"There is a perception in Quebec, like in the other parts of the country, that people feel they are paying too much taxes, that they would like the state to maybe cut services, et cetera. Mario Dumont was clever enough to put forward what many Quebecers wanted to hear," Martel said.

Dumont promised a $100 payment to families for each child under six not enrolled in a government subsidized day-care program. He promised to abolish school boards and municipal agglomeration councils as a way to reduce Quebec's bureaucratic overload. And he vowed to significantly reduce the welfare rolls while also reducing the province's $122 billion of debt.

"They were sick and tired of the old parties. They had other priorities, like family values ... and taxes. They felt the other two parties weren't listening to them," Jean Lapierre, a former federal Quebec politician-turned-commentator, told CTV.

Federalist forces in Ottawa were eager to paint the ADQ's surge, combined with the Liberals' minority win, as a victory for national unity.

While Dumont has made clear that he has no interest in another referendum on separation, he warned federalists not to consider him as one of their own.

"I hope that's not how they perceive me," he told a news conference Tuesday. "That would be a mistake."

Dumont has so far refused to give details about what his ambiguous stand means for Quebec in Canada. But he promised it would be "based on the philosophy that we want Quebec to gain more autonomy."

Speaking to his supporters Monday night, Dumont described his winning campaign as a battle of ideas.

"Whether it was about health, schools, the future of the regions -- it was the ADQ's ideas that set the pace for the passionate exchange between Quebecers," he said.

Dumont also struck a chord with many Quebecers when he took a hard stand on the debate over "reasonable accommodation" -- the question about how far to accommodate religious minorities and immigrants in Quebec.

While Liberal leader Jean Charest sidestepped the issue, and Parti Québécois leader André Boisclair insisted Quebec wouldn't stand for xenophobia, Dumont declared: "We can't defend the Quebecois identity with one knee on the ground."

He insisted that Quebec should quit bending over backwards to accommodate minorities and draft a Quebec constitution that would set out "reasonable compromises" to religious and ethnic groups.

While two of Dumont's candidates went too far in their remarks about immigrants and women and were fired, the ADQ's popularity soared, particularly in rural Quebec.

"Dumont was very clever," says Martel. "We might disagree with his ideas, but it was very clever as a politician."

In his speech to supporters Monday night, Dumont said the challenge now is to take the massive vote of confidence his party has received to bring about change in the National Assembly.

"My friends, today the ADQ crossed a historic threshold, and you all know the next step," Dumont said at his campaign rally in Riviere-du-Loup, referring to his party's ambition to form a government in the next election.

"This is a cry from the heart from the people that we heard tonight."