(Quebec) Member of Parliament Haroun Bouazzi, of Quebec solidaire (QS), has denied allegations of irregularities in his inauguration.
Quebecor newspapers report that party members accused Mr. Bouazzi of paying members cards to get more nomination votes in the riding of Maurice-Richard, thereby breaking the law.
In a Friday morning press scrum in parliament, Bouazzi maintained that neither he nor his team had paid membership fees.
Mr. Bouazzi’s victory at the nomination meeting last spring sparked an internal controversy.
He had won by a narrow margin of five votes over his opponent, Raphaël Rebelo, out of nearly 600 votes cast.
Mr. Rebelo then emptied his heart in a Facebook post.
On April 21, he wrote that the investiture meeting had been the scene of serious breaches of ethics, respect, transparency, neutrality and solidarity.
Mr. Bouazzi for his part assured that the party had carried out a due diligence process.