Melanie Joly has been chosen as the Liberal candidate in the Montreal riding of Ahuntsic-Cartierville.
The fight for the Liberal Party of Canada nomination in the riding was a tight one, going all the way to a third vote.
Four candidates ran in total, while several others withdrew their bids in recent months.
"I'm very proud of all the work of all the teams here and all the candidates. they were very impressive," said Joly in her acceptance speech.
Joly, a close friend of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, first came into the public eye in Montreal’s last municipal elections, finishing in second place at the city hall behind Denis Coderre.
In this federal race, the star candidate faced opponents Grace Batchoun, a project manager, engineer Viken Attarian and Elie Kassissia, who works in business.
Many of the other candidates for the riding were upset that Joly had official support from their party's leader, but accept that the voting was fair.
"There was favouritism, absolutely there was favouritism but it's the people of Ahuntsic-Cartierville who voted, and they decided to vote for madame Joly," said Batchoun.
Attarian acknowledged that Joly is good at what she does.
"I think she's a very capable woman, so I think people will rally when they see a sincere effort to be able to win," he said.
A total of 2065 Liberal supporters voted in Ahuntsic-Cartierville Sunday evening, which took three hours longer to tally than anticipated.
The race won’t end here for Joly – she must now face off against stiff competition from other parties, including the former Bloc MP Maria Mourani, who will now run as an NDP, after leaving the separatist party.
