Six Montreal elected officials will miss the swearing-in ceremony scheduled for Thursday because of requests for judicial recounts filed by Ensemble Montreal and Projet Montreal.
On Wednesday, a judge of the Court of Quebec authorized the holding of judicial recounts requested by Ensemble Montréal for four positions in the boroughs of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Rivière-des-Prairies-Pointe- in aux-Trembles. The recount procedure will begin next Monday.
Four elected members of Projet Montréal will therefore not be able to participate in the official swearing-in ceremony. This is the case of Gracia Kasoki Katahwa, who caused a surprise on November 7 by beating Lionel Perez at CDN-NDG mayor by 212 votes, and Caroline Bourgeois, who defeated Lyne Laperrière by 303 votes at mayor of RDP-PAT. They will have to wait for the results of the recounts before being sworn in.
Lisa Christensen, narrowly elected in Pointe-aux Prairies with a narrow gap of 13 votes, and Despina Sourias, who won in Loyola with an advantage of 97 votes will also be absent Thursday during the ceremony.
The applications submitted by Projet Montréal for two positions have still not received the approval of the Court. Julien Hénault-Ratelle, from Ensemble Montréal, who won in Tétreaultville with a gap of 42 votes, and Laurent Desbois, who defeated the outgoing mayor of Outremont, Philipe Tomlinson, by 23 votes, will also have to wait before find out if they can be sworn in.
Majority women
The swearing-in ceremony will take place at 6 p.m. at the Palais des congrès de Montréal on Thursday. Projet Montréal had 52 candidates elected and Ensemble Montréal 38, while Équipe LaSalle has seven elected representatives and Équipe Anjou has five. Craig Sauvé, who had withdrawn from the Project Montreal team a few days before the poll due to allegations of sexual assault, is the only independent elected.
Women will be in the majority among elected Montrealers. Of the 103 positions available, 61 will be filled by women and 42 by men. This is an increase from 2017 when there were 53 women.