The municipal elections aroused little interest in Montreal: barely 34.84% of citizens went to the polls after the poll on Sunday.
In 2017, 42.5% of Montrealers had exercised their right to vote. In 2013, 43.3% of registered voters went to the voting booth to tick a box on their ballot.
At the time of publication, 3,653 polling stations had been counted out of a total of 3,930, bringing Montrealers’ turnout to 34.84% in the elections.
“When a rate is below 50%, it’s still a bit disappointing, when you consider all the efforts that have been put forward by the teams from Elections Montreal and elsewhere,” says André. Chapleau, spokesperson for Elections Montreal.
It is rare that the participation rate in municipal elections exceeds 50%, underlines Mr. Chapleau.
This is a finding that we are making in all of Quebec’s municipalities as well. What is unfortunate, because the municipal election is the one that concerns us the most as citizens.
André Chapleau, spokesperson for Elections Montreal
Among the voters who expressed themselves during these municipal elections, 21.8% voted in advance.
The participation rate also fell in Quebec. In total, 44.89% of the citizens of the municipality exercised their right to vote, against 50.86% in 2017, according to figures released at the end of the evening on Sunday.
Little traffic in polling stations
Calm reigned in the Montreal polling stations on Sunday, until a few minutes before they closed, set at 8 p.m. Amid Ahmed did not have to wait before going to the voting booth of a polling station in the Saint-Henri sector, around 7:40 p.m.
“To get what you want, you have to vote for the right person,” says the man, at the end of Victor-Rousselot school. “If there are regulations that are put in place negatively, it would be our fault [si] we did not vote, ”he continues.
Severine Giroux and her spouse Ronald Pierre-Charles were also able to vote in a few minutes Sunday afternoon at Sainte-Anne school, in the borough of Rosemont – La Petite-Patrie. For the couple, accompanied by their two children, it was essential to exercise their right to vote, he tells Press, at the exit of the polling station.
“Since I was old enough to vote, I have always voted,” says Pierre-Charles. He emphasizes having given his support to the head of Projet Montréal, Valérie Plante. “I can’t say that I adhere to the program 100%, but if I had the two programs to compare, it was Projet Montréal. [que je préférais] He continues.