(Quebec) The mainstream media declared him the loser at 8:30 p.m. and his rival even gave his victory speech, but that did not prevent Bruno Marchand from taking the lead in the race for mayor of Quebec on Sunday evening.
The polls had predicted a close fight between Marie-Josée Savard and Bruno Marchand. They weren’t mistaken. At 10:45 p.m., the 48-year-old had collected 32.24% of the vote, against 32.16% for the runner-up to Régis Labeaume. There were 89 boxes left out of 1502.
The first ballot boxes opened on Sunday evening, however, gave Mr.me Savard. Early in the evening, around 8:30 p.m., Radio-Canada gave the victory to Mr.me Savard. The other mainstream media followed.
She then had 37% of the votes, against 26% for Mr. Marchand. At one point, she had a lead of over 4,000 votes.
At 9:20 p.m., Mme Savard delivered a victory speech.
But the picture began to change. The gap began to narrow with each ballot box opened. At the Imperial Bell, a downtown performance venue where Team Marie-Josée Savard met, the initially over-charged atmosphere died down.
At the armory, the guests invited to Mr. Marchand’s gathering experienced a real roller coaster ride. They barely had time to take off their coats when Radio-Canada declared Mr.me Savard winner in the early evening. But they have been delighted since the comeback of their favorite.