\u00c9lections Qu\u00e9bec confirmed the recount results<\/a> in the riding located in the Mont\u00e9r\u00e9gie region, saying that Fogaing had 30 votes fewer than in the original count, putting him at 10,023.<\/p>\nLwalalika, on the other hand, had 10,020 votes after the recount \u2014 43 fewer than the original count.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur action goes beyond the result of an election: it raises a fundamental question about respecting the right to vote of every citizen,\u201d Lwalalika said in a social media post Monday.<\/p>\n
Ballots should be valid, PLQ says<\/p>\n
Lwalalika said several ballots judged valid on election night were rejected during the judicial recount because one or more pencil marks, mostly minor and sometimes very faint, appeared outside the designated circle, even when the circle also contained a clearly marked “X” or checkmark inside it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that the intention of these voters was unequivocal and that these ballots should be declared valid following a new judicial review,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
Lwalalika said the Election Act provides specific rules regarding how to mark a ballot. However, after consulting with the party\u2019s lawyers, the PLQ believes \u201cthe voter’s intention must take priority,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is why we are not conceding victory to the PQ in Vachon and intend to exercise the legal recourses provided by law,\u201d Lwalalika said.<\/p>\n
The PQ, meanwhile, took to social media last week to congratulate Fogaing and thank the electorate in Vachon. Fogaing said he will get to work as soon as he is sworn in, which should happen in the coming days, so he can defend “the interests of the people in his riding.”<\/p>\n
From 588 to 730 rejected ballots<\/p>\n
In an emailed statement, \u00c9lections Qu\u00e9bec said polling station officers are instructed to accept a ballot on election night as long as the voter\u2019s intent is clear. However, the agency noted that during a judicial recount, a judge rules on the validity of the ballots and may have their own interpretation of the grounds for rejection.<\/p>\n
The number of rejected ballots in Vachon jumped from 588 during the initial count to 730 following the recount, the agency said. Across the province, rejected ballots accounted for 1.46 per cent of all votes cast in the 2026 general election, up slightly from 1.35 per cent in 2022.<\/p>\n
Since 2000, there have been seven judicial recounts during provincial elections, according to \u00c9lections Qu\u00e9bec. However, recounts rarely change the outcome of an election in a riding.<\/p>\n
In 2018, a recount overturned the election result in the Gasp\u00e9 riding. This situation was due to a transcription error of the results on the statement of the vote from a single polling station, the agency said.<\/p>\n
Prior to 2018, the last judicial recounts that changed an election outcome took place in the Hull and Papineau ridings during the 1976 general election.<\/p>\n
Two judicial recounts have resulted in ties \u2014 in 2003, in the Champlain riding, and in 1994, in the Saint-Jean riding. These results led to the holding of new elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":947555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-947554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=947554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/947555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=947554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=947554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=947554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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