The Court of Quebec rejected on Friday afternoon the request for a judicial recount made by the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) in the riding of Beauce-Nord, thereby extinguishing the party’s last hope of entering the ‘National Assembly.
Caquiste Luc Provençal had beaten his conservative opponent Olivier Dumais by only 202 votes in the ballot on October 3. The PCQ argued that the 372 ballots deemed invalid during the counting could tip the balance in its favor.
The Electoral Law indicates that “the candidate who is classified second may, in the event of a majority not exceeding one thousandth of the votes cast, request a judicial recount”. In the case of Beauce-Nord, the advance held by the CAQ greatly exceeds one thousandth of the 33,963 votes cast at the ballot box. However, the law also states that “a person who has reasonable grounds to believe that a deputy returning officer or returning officer has unlawfully counted or rejected ballots […] may request a judicial recount of the votes”.
In her decision, Judge Nathalie Vaillant explains that the PCQ failed to demonstrate that there were errors during the counting of the votes on election night.
The defeated Conservative candidate Olivier Dumais claimed to have observed these irregularities himself. However, the legal claim had been filed by Patrice Raza, the official representative of the party. Mr. Raza therefore had to file a sworn application on his own behalf to accompany the request, which was not done — he instead presented the statements of the people who allegedly noticed the counting errors.
After the CAQ team raised this error, the PCQ submitted a new affidavit from Mr. Dumais, in which he confirmed the accuracy of the information contained in the initial request. However, the court did not consider this declaration sufficient. “It does not constitute a statement allowing the Court to conclude that Mr. Dumais has personal knowledge of the facts alleged on the request”, can we read in the judgment.
The judge therefore ruled out the need for a second recount.
“It is true that statements […] make it possible to highlight certain irregularities that occurred during the counting of the votes, she notes. However, in light of all of the evidence presented, the percentage of votes rejected in the riding (1.10%) compared to the percentage of votes rejected in Quebec (1.35%), the difference of 202 votes that separates the candidates, the Tribunal cannot conclude that a reasonable person placed in the same situation has reasonable grounds to conclude that a judicial recount is necessary on the strength of these isolated events. »
It was in Beauce-Nord that Éric Duhaime’s troops obtained their best electoral result, winning nearly 43% of the vote. The PCQ also fought hard in the riding of Beauce-Sud, which the CAQ only won by 428 votes. The party did not, however, request a judicial recount.
With The Canadian Press