Veteran Parc Ex city councillor says she’s ‘not going out without a fight’
Veteran Parc Extension city councillor Mary Deros, who was hoping to win a record-setting eighth term, says she will be asking for a vote recount after falling to the Projet Montréal candidate by a narrow margin of just six votes of more than 6,600 ballots local voters cast in the November 2 municipal elections.
In an interview with Newsfirst Multimedia last Monday, the day after the election in which Deros suffered her first defeat since joining Montreal City Council in 1998, she was stoic, while still vowing to contest the razor-thin outcome.
A virtual dead heat
“I’m a very realistic person,” said Deros, who ran with Ensemble Montréal. “If it’s meant to be that I retire now, then it’s meant to be. But at the same time, I’m not going out without a fight.”
Out of six candidates in Parc Extension representing five municipal parties and one independent, Deros and Projet Montréal’s Elvira Carhuallanqui were in a virtual dead heat at the end, having polled 37 and 37.1 per cent each respectively in ballots cast.
None of the four other candidates managed to win more than 11.2 per cent, with independent Mostafa Ben Kirane finishing last after receiving just 28 votes, representing less than half of one percent.
“There’s absolutely going to be a recount,” said Deros, adding that she had spoken about it with newly-elected Montreal mayor and Ensemble Montréal leader Soraya Martinez Ferrada who agreed the outcome should be contested.
Focus on spoiled ballots
As part of the results contestation, according to Deros, around 200 spoiled ballots will be closely scrutinized to see whether they might actually be recovered and treated as valid. “We feel that out of those 200, we should be able to recuperate some votes to bring us to a victory,” she said.
While Deros has seen her share of election results decline over the past 27 years, this was the first time she was defeated and the first time the result was so close. She won in 2021 by more than 300 votes.
She blames her poor showing this time around on a number of factors, including the Canada Post strike which hindered the distribution of voter information cards, as well as allegedly incorrect information Deros said was provided to some voters who were told their voting stations were at 415 instead of 419 Saint-Roch.
“So, they went, they saw the doors closed and they left,” she said, maintaining that the chief electoral officer of Élections Montréal was responsible for the error.
Challenges were faced
Deros also complained that the William Hingston community centre was inappropriate as a venue for voting as it is not well-adapted for elderly voters with mobility limitations. It’s also worth noting that Deros was struggling with a health issue during the campaign and underwent surgery just days before the election.
In her victory speech last Sunday, Soraya Martinez Ferrada thanked her opponents, saying they all love Montreal. She also thanked former Projet Montréal mayor Valérie Plante for being the city’s first female mayor.
Before and during the campaign, the outgoing Projet Montréal administration was criticized for controversial measures, which included the planned closing of Camillien Houde Rd. over Mount Royal, and the widescale implementation of bicycle path networks with reduced car parking. The latter measure got an especially angry response in Parc Extension, where the streets are narrow and there was already a shortage of parking space.
Montrealers won, said new mayor
“Tonight it’s you who have won,” Martinez Ferrada said. “Tonight Montreal chose courage and ambition. It’s with a great deal of humility and feeling that I speak to you as your new mayor of Montreal. You have chosen to agree that together we can do things another way.”
According to Élections Montréal results, Soraya Martinez Ferrada won the mayoralty with 43.33 per cent voter support, compared to 34.99 per cent for Projet Montréal mayoralty candidate Luc Rabouin.
Action Montréal mayoralty hopeful Gilbert Thibodeau finished in a distant third-place with 10.16 support, with Transition Montréal mayoralty aspirant Craig Sauvé not far behind with 8.54 per cent and Futur Montréal’s Jean-François Kacou with 2.12 per cent.
