A little more than a year after their former leader resigned following a crushing election defeat, voting has begun to determine who will succeed Pauline Marois as head of the Parti Quebecois.

Starting Wednesday morning, party members will vote online or by phone to determine whether perceived frontrunner Pierre Karl Peladeau, Alexandre Cloutier or Martine Ouellet will be the next leader of the official opposition.

The first glimpse of how the race may play out came the night of April 7, 2014, when Pauline Marois led the PQ to one of its worst defeats in decades and the Philippe Couillard’s Liberals won a majority government.

In an interesting twist, it was Pierre Karl Peladeau, Jean-Francois Lisee and Bernard Drainville, not Marois, who first emerged to address the dejected crowd in what was seen as a leadership race preview before the race had even officially began.

To no one's surprise, Marois resigned that night. It took no time at all for certain names to be floated as the best bets to turn the PQ’s political fortunes around.

Former Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Ducceppe and Jean-Martin Aussant, former leader of the separatist Option nationale party, were two of the higher profile ex-politicians who publicly stated they were not interested in leading the party.

When the race began in earnest, there were six people vying for the top job: Peladeau, Lisee, Drainville, Ouellet, Cloutier and author Pierre Cere.

In January, Lisee became the first to step down, saying he realized it was “inevitable” that Peladeau would win the race.

"It's not that I approve," said Lisee at the time, "but that I accept this political reality."

Drainville was the next to go, and after spending months trying to paint himself and the best alternative to Peladeau, he threw his support behind the media mogul in an effort to avoid creating discord in the party.

Cere withdrew from the race Sunday after he was unable to raise the $20,000 required to be listed on the ballot.

With just three candidates left, Cloutier and Ouellet both believe they can pull off surprise, come-from-behind wins against Peladeau, who has been seen as the favourite since the beginning of the race.

Stephane Bedard has been acting as the party’s interim leader since last April.

First ballot voting results will be revealed Friday night in Quebec City. If necessary, a runoff election will begin May 20.