The Liberals were trying to save three ridings in Montérégie from the assaults of the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ), late Monday evening. Close battles took place in the red fortresses of Vaudreuil, La Pinière and Laporte.
Liberal Linda Caron was elected in La Pinière, which includes the city of Brossard, on the South Shore. This riding was previously represented by Gaétan Barrette. The astronomical majorities of the Liberal Party in this region belong to the past: at the time when these lines were written, the elected Liberal held a lead of 2000 votes against Dr. Samuel Gatien, of the CAQ.
Outgoing Liberal MP Marie-Claude Nichols seemed in a good position to keep the riding of Vaudreuil, with an 800-vote lead against CAQ candidate Ève Bélec. Some 204 of the 208 polling stations had been counted.
The other liberal stronghold of Laporte, in Saint-Lambert, seemed on the way to escaping the PLQ: the singer and comedian Mathieu Gratton trailed by 600 votes against the CAQ candidate Isabelle Poulet, after the counting of 175 of the 187 polling stations.
François Legault’s party also won an unequivocal victory in the riding of Iberville, left vacant by the departure of defector Claire Samson, who had moved from the CAQ to the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ). Late Monday evening, caquiste Audrey Bogemans was ahead of her PQ opponent, Jean-Alexandre Côté, by more than 11,000 votes.
Conservative candidate Anne Casabonne was in fourth place in Iberville with 11.6% of the vote, more than 13,000 votes from the winner.
The CAQ kept the 18 ridings (out of 22) it held in Montérégie, including the former PQ castle of Marie-Victorin, in Vieux-Longueuil. At the time these lines were written, caquiste Shirley Dorismond held a majority of 2,200 votes over Pierre Nantel, of the PQ. Solidarity Shophika Vaithyanathasarma followed in third place. The PQ and Québec solidaire together totaled 46.7% of the vote in Marie-Victorin, far ahead of the CAQ, which won 33.1% of the vote.