Quebec byelection: Voters head to polls in former Liberal leader’s Montreal riding

A byelection is being held today in a Montreal riding to choose a new member of the provincial legislature to replace the former Quebec Liberal leader.

Voters are heading to the polls in Saint-Henri-Sainte-Anne after Dominique Anglade resigned as leader when her Liberals won less than 15 per cent of the vote in the October general election.

The riding has historically been a Liberal stronghold but is now being hotly contested by left-leaning Québec solidaire, which won a pair of Montreal ridings from the Liberals in October.

Guillaume Cliche-Rivard of Québec solidaire lost to Anglade by 2,700 votes in October and is running again, this timeQueb against Christopher Baenninger of the Liberals, who heads a marketing agency and also lost in October in a neighbouring riding.

The Coalition Avenir Québec is running Victor Pelletier, president of the party’s youth wing, while the Parti Québécois candidate is Andréanne Fiola, who also ran for the party in October.

The Coalition Avenir Quebec holds 89 of the legislature’s 125 seats, followed by the Liberals with 19, Québec solidaire with 11 and the PQ with three seats as well as two Independents.

According to Élections Québec, just under 13 per cent of people have already cast a vote during advance polling.