Voters in the riding of Saint-Laurent are wondering, nearly two months after the general election, where their votes went. The duty was intrigued by the unusual results of the October 3 poll in polling division 144, where Bloc Montreal (BM) received 82 votes out of 178, compared to 4 votes for the Parti liberal du Québec (PLQ) . However, about fifteen voters met while going door to door swear hand on heart to have supported the candidate of the PLQ, Marwah Rizqy.
“It votes all liberal here, right? asks the young voter of an apartment building on Place Rodolphe-Bédard, in Vieux-Saint-Laurent, when The duty details the official results from the bottom of the stairs. ” That is rediculous ! he says, struck with astonishment. At his side, his mother, too, does not believe her eyes. The family “voted liberal”… and are convinced that they are not the only ones in the village to have done so.
According to Élections Québec, Bloc Montréal won 46% of the votes in section 144 of Saint-Laurent on October 3, compared to 21% for Québec solidaire, 15% for the Coalition avenir Québec, 11% for the Conservative Party of Quebec… and 2.2% for the PLQ.
Élections Québec certified the validity of the election results in polling division 144 twice after The duty revealed to him the fruits of his collection in the field. ” [Les] results broadcast correspond well to the official results as established during the counting of the votes, ”wrote the spokesperson for Elections Quebec, Gabriel Sauvé-Lesiège, by email.
“It surprises me”, “what is this party [Bloc Montréal] ? », « I did not even notice that he [Rizwan Muhammad Rajput] was a candidate”: the election results caused surprise all along Place Rodolphe-Bédard, but also along Rue Crevier, Hartenstein, Boudrias and Buchanan, not to mention a segment of Boulevard Marcel-Laurin. In a residence on rue Hartenstein, at least four people made a check next to the name of the liberal candidate, according to a young woman, who replied after exchanging a few words with her father. Her sister voted for “a candidate whose name meant nothing to her”, so “perhaps” Rizwan Muhammad Rajput, who was running for the vote under the banner of BM, she adds.
“I’m surprised, because Bloc Montreal isn’t a well-known party,” said Shauna McGee from the top of the stairwell of her triplex. She and her sister moved to Place Rodolphe-Bédard six months earlier. “In this corner, people are older and they have lived here for a very long time… I would be surprised if they changed their vote from one election to another! she exclaims, admitting at the same time that she herself voted for the PLQ in order to tie herself in with her neighbours. Indeed, even if the division of the polls has changed somewhat since the 2018 election, it was the Liberals who had obtained the plurality of votes in the sector.
In 2022, the PLQ bit the dust in polling division 144 (2.2%), but won with scores of 31% (section 110) to 64% (section 149) in neighboring sections, according to Élections Québec . On the other hand, in section 144, The duty fell on three times more voters (15) claiming to have voted for the PLQ on polling day than the number of votes counted by Élections Québec, that is to say four. Only two BM sympathizers were unearthed in the process of understanding these results, not without effort. However, there should be 82.
Bloc Montreal also surprised
The candidate of Saint-Laurent Rizwan Muhammad Rajput, reached by telephone, said he was also very surprised. “It’s not the neighborhood where I live, so I’m very surprised to learn that,” he said in English. Made aware of the results of Elections Quebec in section 144 of Saint-Laurent, he recalled a key moment in his campaign that occurred nearby, in front of the salon Le Barbu, which overlooks boulevard Décarie. “There was a group of young people gathered in front of the living room and they told me that they were not interested in politics because nothing changes and the liberals always win anyway,” he says. . After telling them about his party’s platform, he recalls feeling that “there was a momentum “: young people tried to register on the electoral list and others called relatives and friends to encourage them to vote for him.
Issam Khelfi, the owner of the salon, witnessed the event. “When he started talking to them, they gathered around him and they were around 20, 30 even. He was talking about the importance of Montreal in the province. He said that veiled women could no longer work [à cause de la loi 21]. It spoke to young people. »
The day after the election, young Ali, back at the barbershop, told Issam he voted for Bloc Montreal and convinced his mother to do the same. The duty was able to confirm that they were indeed voters of section 144 thanks to their postal code. “He’s a guy who looks like us. He said that English should be accepted everywhere and that veiled women should have more freedom”, says the young person by telephone.
During his two door-to-door sessions—for a total of six hours—never The duty met a Bloc Montreal supporter in the flesh. Only a handful of people we met had heard of the party before. Never, however, had they met the candidate or received a leaflet bearing his image in their mailbox.
With 82 votes, Section 144 is where Bloc Montreal won the most support in the entire province, according to Elections Quebec. The second most successful section for the party (also in Saint-Laurent) had only 28 votes. The party, founded last spring by former football player Balarama Holness, advocates greater financial autonomy for the metropolis and opposes the Quebec State Secularism Act (Bill 21) and the the official and common language of Quebec, French (law 96), deemed “anti-Montreal”. Reached by telephone, Mr. Holness had no line of thought to explain these results, having himself campaigned in another riding, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
“Not a priority”
On the side of the PLQ, the results in section 144 are “surprising”, according to the president of the association of Saint-Laurent, Carmine Pollice, given the voting history of the district. Liberal MP Marwah Rizqy was re-elected more than 10,000 votes ahead of her main opponent. Dispelling the mystery of this surprising result “is not a very high priority” since the political party won its elections “quite comfortably”.
During the counting of the votes, all the candidates of the constituency (or their representatives) as well as the electors may be present. However, no one was there to represent the PLQ and BM. The returning officer then opens each ballot box to retrieve the original copy of the statement of votes. The duty tried to speak with her, who was responsible for this task, without success.
Moreover, Élections Québec does not have the power to intervene to carry out a recount in order to validate the outcome of an election: this power belongs to the courts. To reopen the ballot box, an elector or a candidate from Saint-Laurent would have to submit a request to the Court of Québec by demonstrating “that the election or the related proclamation is irregular or that a fraudulent electoral maneuver has been committed and that this renders the election void”, adds Gabriel Sauvé-Lesiège.