Outgoing mayor Maja Vodanovic has been defeated in a closely contested municipal election in Montreal’s Lachine borough by a margin of 26 votes, reflecting the trend of several races in the city being decided by very narrow differences. The race for mayor in Lachine saw all 125 polling stations in the borough accounted for, with Ensemble Montréal’s Julie-Pascale Provost emerging victorious with 5,056 votes, as per the final results from Élections Montréal. Vodanovic received 5,030 votes in the election.
Similarly, the competition for the borough’s single city councillor position was exceptionally tight. Dominic Roussel of Ensemble Montréal secured the victory by a mere eight votes over Myriam Grondin from Projet Montréal.
In Parc-Extension, the battle for city councillor was decided by a slim margin of six votes, with Elvira Carhuallanqui of Projet Montréal prevailing over the longstanding city councillor Mary Deros. Another closely contested race, this time for the city councillor role in Côte-des-Neiges, ended in victory for Projet Montréal’s Émilie Brière, who outpaced Ensemble Montréal’s Yvonne Nguyen by just six votes.
Elsewhere, in Côte Saint-Luc, Mitchell Brownstein was narrowly defeated by David Tordjman by a single vote, while Hampstead witnessed the incumbent Mayor Jeremy Levi securing a win over Jack Edery by a margin of only 26 votes.
According to a spokesperson from Élections Québec, there is no automatic recount mechanism for tight races, but candidates have the option to request a recount within four days of the official certification of election results.
In a significant shift, Montrealers opted for change in the recent election, electing Ensemble Montréal’s Soraya Martinez Ferrada as the new mayor of the city following eight years of governance by Projet Montréal.