Québec solidaire explores judicial recount in Montreal riding lost by 39 votes

Québec solidaire is exploring a judicial recount in the Saint-Henri—Sainte-Anne riding after its incumbent, Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, lost by 39 votes to Liberal Benoit Clermont in Monday's provincial election.

Clermont won with 13,340 votes to Cliche-Rivard's 13,301—a margin of 0.11% of the total vote. The riding saw 36,097 valid ballots cast, with 460 rejected. Ruba Ghazal, QS co-spokesperson, said Tuesday: "Guillaume Cliche-Rivard is one of the best MNAs in the National Assembly of Quebec, and it's heartbreaking to lose him. But we are going to see all the opportunities to do another counting of the vote. People in Saint-Henri—Sainte-Anne, they deserve to have the real result, that the difference is too small. So we are evaluating all the possibilities that we can have to do this recount."

Under Quebec's electoral law, a judicial recount can be requested if the second-place candidate lost by one-thousandth of the valid ballots cast. The threshold in Saint-Henri—Sainte-Anne was 36 votes, making Cliche-Rivard's 39-vote loss eligible. Cliche-Rivard posted on social media election night: "After several hours of vote counting, fewer than 40 votes separate me from my Liberal opponent, Benoît Clermont. Given this uncertainty, we are currently evaluating all legal avenues that ensure the full expression of democracy, including a request for a judicial recount."

The razor-thin margins were not unique to Montreal. In the Vachon riding on the South Shore, Liberal Affine Lwalalika defeated PQ Stephan Fogaing by just 10 votes—0.02% of valid votes cast in that riding.