Quebec election: Judge rejects request by Conservatives for recount in Beauce-Nord

A Quebec Superior Court judge has rejected a request by the Conservative Party of Quebec to have a recount in a Quebec City-area riding it lost by a slim margin to the Coalition Avenir Quebec on Oct. 3.

With the ruling, Luc Provencal of the CAQ has officially won the Beauce-Nord seat, beating out Conservative candidate Olivier Dumais by 202 votes, winning a second mandate in the riding south of the provincial capital.

The decision from Justice Nathalie Vaillant today comes as all members of the legislature are to be sworn in next week.

In her ruling, Vaillant found the Conservatives failed to demonstrate that there were errors in the counting of the votes on election night and their filing was lacking a sworn statement that would have explained the irregularities.

The CAQ won 90 seats in the provincial election, followed by the Quebec Liberals with 21, Quebec solidaire with 11 and the Parti Quebecois with three seats in the legislature.

The Quebec Conservatives received 12.9 per cent of the vote but won no seats.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 14, 2022.