GATINEAU, Quebec (AP) -- Polls are open in Quebec as voters weigh returning a separatist party to power, potentially placing the French-speaking province on course for another referendum to break away from Canada.

Liberal leader Jean Charest, who has headed Quebec for nearly a decade, has consistently trailed in the polls to Pauline Marois' Parti Quebecois. But most polls indicate Marois -- who could become the province's first female premier -- will not have enough votes to obtain a majority of the seats in the Quebec Assembly, undermining efforts to quickly hold a referendum on separation.

Quebec has held two referendums to split from Canada, in 1980 and 1995, the last narrowly rejecting independence.

Polls show there's little appetite for a new referendum.