'We just made history': CDN-NDG elects Gracia Kasoki Katahwa as borough mayor in suspenseful race

Montreal -

Gracia Kasoki Katahwa spent Monday morning after the election just like how you might imagine — refreshing the Elections Montreal website constantly, for hours.

The night before, Ensemble Montreal’s Lionel Perez had been declared the winner of the race for borough mayor of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. However, things then became a little less clear.

It wasn't until just before noon Monday that the last few votes were counted, handing victory over to Kasoki Katahwa of Projet Montréal, in a major upset for Perez's party.

The first-time politician ended up beating Perez by just 83 votes.

• View the results of the Montreal municipal election here
• INTERACTIVE MAP: Montreal municipal election results 2021

“I yelled and then made a group call with all the team in Cote-des-Neiges because we were so proud,” she told reporters after her victory speech Monday afternoon.

“This means a lot to us. The people of Cote-des-Neiges-NDG elected the Projet Montreal administration, finally, and that means a lot to us. That is really important to be able to move forward with the work we have to do here.”

The night before, she had stayed up until about 1:30 a.m. to watch the votes coming in, but was told by her team to get some sleep and wait for the official results in the morning.

“My team, they told me, 'Hang in there. We’re not sure this is over yet,'” she said.

After the results came in, she took to Twitter to celebrate her victory: "We just made history," she tweeted. 

This is the first foray into politics for Kasoki Katahwa, who immigrated to Canada with her family from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

She had worked as a nurse in the past. Just before Montrealers elected her as borough mayor, she was working at the Montréal West Island Integrated University Health and Social Services Centre (CIUSSS) as a manager in the nursing department.

She captured 37.22 per cent support of voters with 11,940 votes. Perez trailed behind with 11,857 votes.

Results of the race for mayor of CDN-NDG. (Source: Elections Montreal)

Results of the race for mayor of CDN-NDG. (Source: Elections Montreal)

The borough’s former mayor, Sue Montgomery, came in a distant fourth place with 3,087 votes, after Mouvement Montreal’s Matthew Kerr, who captured 3,562 votes.

Perez’s office did not respond to requests from CTV News about whether he will request a recount.

It was the second big election-night surprise, after Quebec City mayoral candidate Marie-Josée Savard was initially declared the winner in that city Sunday night, but then the margin tightened and it was Quebec Forte leader Bruno Marchand who ended up winning the ballot.

• Thinnest of margins in some borough mayor races; CDN-NDG won by 83 votes, Outremont by 23

The voter turnout in CDN-NDG, Montreal’s largest borough, was extremely low as in other regions in the Nov. 7 election. Just 34 per cent of electors cast a ballot in the borough.

In her speech Monday, Kasoki Katahwa said she used to live in CDN-NDG for years but left when she returned to full-time studies because of the high cost of housing.

She told reporters she plans to move back and make affordable housing a priority.

She spoke about the importance of trust in politics and said she believes that idea resonated with voters in this election.

“Trust is something that is very important. In some parts, people in Cote-des-Neiges-NDG were taken for granted. I’m going to make sure that we don’t take them for granted anymore,” she said.

“I'm going to make sure that we consider the needs of the different types of population that we have here in Cote-des-Neiges-NDG.

One voter who spoke to CTV said she was “excited” about the borough getting a new mayor.

“I did vote for [Kasoki Katahwa] so I was disappointed when it was announced last night Perez had gotten in. I think she represents something new and I think she'll be great. I certainly hope so,” the woman said. “I think we need some new blood.”

With files from CTV News' Angela Mackenzie.