Municipal elections | “We don’t just take care of the sewers! “

The municipal world has trouble understanding the low participation rates

Gabriel Beland
Press

(Quebec) Ballot after ballot, the municipal world is distinguished by starving participation rates. The UMQ and Quebec are calling on voters to vote, but this year could be particularly difficult.

The mayor of Gaspé and president of the Union of Quebec municipalities (UMQ) admits it straight away: he finds it difficult to explain the low voter turnout.

“Municipalities have gained a lot of responsibility in recent years. We no longer just take care of the water distribution network, sewers and garbage collection, ”notes Daniel Côté.

“We are in the economy, transport, leisure, culture, sport, the outdoors. We are in everything that governs the life of Monsieur, Madame Tout-le-Monde. Everyone should be interested in the municipal, ”he said.

Year in and year out, around 45% of voters vote to elect their mayors and councilors. It is much less than at other levels of government.

In the last federal election, the turnout was 62%. In the 2018 Quebec provincial election, 66% of voters exercised their right to vote (this was the penultimate turnout in history since 1927).

The Minister of Municipal Affairs, Andrée Laforest, said in an interview that she wanted “a good turnout, despite the pandemic”.

But a “very, very high” participation rate would be surprising this year. Several elements let fear the worst, admits Daniel Côté.

“We are coming out of a federal campaign. So it may be that there is a certain fatigue, ”notes the president of the UMQ.

Another important element: the mobile voting, where the tellers move for example in residences for the elderly, was suspended this year because of the pandemic. However, mobile voting shows high participation rates, between 90 and 100%, notes Daniel Côté.

“These astronomical rates there, we will not have them this year. Postal voting is preferred, but it is heavier and more complicated. I do not expect there will be much success for mail-in voting. ”

This is without counting voters still fearful of going to the polling station because of COVID-19.

Reasons to hope

But the portrait of municipal democracy is not all black. Quebec has tackled the intimidation of elected officials, who will be better supervised on this central issue.

“The government is behind them. We want candidates ”, launches M^me Laforest.

The Minister of Municipal Affairs also notes that the portrait of candidates is more diverse than before.

“This year, we have more women. We have 35.5% of female candidates. In 2017, we had 31%. We have also increased the number of young people, ”explains M^me Laforest.

Several media have reported a decline in candidate interest in municipal politics. But the UMQ has studied the statistics and they point more towards the status quo.

“We’re going to undo a myth. It’s similar to the past, ”says Daniel Côté.

However, the president of the UMQ says he is aware of the work to be done to give its letters of nobility to municipal politics. It starts by getting citizens interested in municipal affairs.

“Go vote. The stakes are extremely high. Public transport, intercity transport, economic development, climate change, labor shortage, he says. Municipalities have a front row seat. ”