Recount flips Quebec riding to the Parti Québécois, Liberals refuse to concede

MONTRÉAL – A judicial recount has flipped a riding in the Montérégie region of Quebec from the Liberal Party to the Parti Québécois by a three-vote margin.

However, the Quebec Liberal Party is refusing to concede victory to its rival for now. 

Liberal candidate Affine Lwalalika had initially been declared the winner of the Vachon riding by a margin of ten votes.

A recount was triggered and ended on Wednesday.

Quebec’s election authority says the recount gave the upper hand to PQ candidate Stephan Fogaing by three votes.

The Liberal Party says it acknowledges the results of the recount but that its lawyers are reviewing the situation. 

“All options are on the table, and we will make a decision quickly on how to proceed,” the party wrote on its social media accounts.

Data from the election authority, Élections Québec, shows more ballots were rejected in the recount than on election day, going from 588 to 730 rejected ballots.

The incumbent for Vachon, former Coalition Avenir Québec cabinet minister Ian Lafrenière, congratulated Fogaing. 

“The judicial recount declared him the winner by three votes in Vachon. The phrase ‘every vote counts’ takes on its full meaning,” wrote the former domestic security minister on X. 

Lafrenière had finished third with just under 21 per cent of the vote on election day. 

The PQ has also requested a judicial recount in Champlain, in the Mauricie region, where its candidate lost by 191 votes to Conservative candidate Adriana Szalontai. 

The Court of Quebec confirmed the recount on Tuesday. It is set to begin Thursday at the Trois-Rivières courthouse.

In its press release, the election authority says there have been seven judicial recounts after a provincial election since 2000. Recounts in 2003 and 1994 led to ties, which triggered byelections. 

— With files from Frédéric Lacroix-Couture

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 22, 2026.