While municipal officials in the metropolis must be sworn in on Thursday, doubts remain in several districts, where judicial recounts have been requested. The electoral process may have “lacked rigor”, according to experts.
Articles from Journal of Montreal and everyday Montreal Gazette have reported, in recent days, “major errors” or “anomalies” when counting certain ballots.
The mayor of Rivière-des-Prairies – Pointe-aux-Trembles, for example, where the outgoing mayor and Project Montreal candidate, Caroline Bourgeois, was re-elected by just over 300 votes, is the subject of questions. A polling station would have notably “rejected 73% of the ballots that were cast for the mayor of Montreal”, while another rejected 64% and declared the same number of votes for each candidate. A judicial recount has already been requested by Ensemble Montreal.
Other complaints have been made. Projet Montréal asked for a count at the town hall of Outremont and another in the district of Tétreaultville. In addition to Rivière-des-Prairies – Pointe-aux-Trembles, the ex-party of Denis Coderre has requested counts from the mayor of Côte-des-Neiges – Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. The districts of Pointe-aux-Prairies and Loyola were also targeted. All elected officials who are the subject of a count will not be able to attend the swearing-in ceremony, scheduled for Thursday evening.
“It lacked rigor”
According to the professor of municipal management at UQAM Danielle Pilette, it seems obvious that the problems will have to be corrected. “It sometimes lacked rigor in the electoral process. As everywhere, the offices were understaffed. We wonder if these people were trained so seriously, ”she observes.
“The main consequence, it will be a serious warning to the City, and probably an inspection report”, persists Mr.me Pilette, who recalls that in 2005, electronic voting had also caused a real “mess” in the metropolis.
According to political observer Justine McIntyre, former leader of the True Change for Montreal party, the job of scrutineer is exercised in difficult conditions.
When it comes to counting, you can’t be behind each employee’s shoulder. Normally there are two of them, so they are able to validate, but there may well have been some errors.
Justine McIntyre, political observer
The “attentive” DGEQ
Elections Montreal spokesperson Mathilde St-Vincent said her group “took notice” of the list of possible anomalies. “The counting process is governed by the Act respecting elections and referendums in municipalities, which we apply to the letter, ”she pleads, however.
Julie St-Arnaud, spokesperson for the Chief Electoral Officer of Quebec (DGEQ), affirms that the organization “is attentive to the situation of Montreal, or any other potential irregularity in the municipalities”. “It is the returning officers who are responsible. They have to do checks, but we continue to support them if they have questions about the application of the law, ”she explains.
The DGEQ also promises to “take a spin with the municipalities, in the context where there were new voting methods introduced in the context of the pandemic”, in particular postal voting. “We are going to see what the problems were. What may be misunderstood in the field may lead us to clarify procedures in the future, ”says Mme St-Arnaud.
Where did the elections take place?
The 19 boroughs of Montreal are divided into 58 electoral districts. The breakdown of these districts in 2021 is the same as in 2017, which makes it possible to compare the two elections. In total, Valérie Plante won the vote in eight districts where Denis Coderre had the upper hand in 2017. Conversely, Mr. Coderre was only able to subtract two districts from Mr.me Plant.
In Ahuntsic-Cartierville, three of the four districts won in 2017 by Mr. Coderre with short majorities went to the camp of Mr.me Plant. Valérie Plante also had plenty of votes in the central districts, with gains in Verdun and L’Île-des-Sœurs in particular. Its support, however, declined in the eastern and western ends of the island.
Meanwhile, Denis Coderre experienced his biggest drop in support in the central districts. However, he saw a slight increase in his support in Lachine, Saint-Léonard, Anjou, Montreal-North and in a district of Rivière-des-Prairies.
Thomas de Lorimier, Press