Final election results – Women make big gains in the Pontiac

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Allyson Beauregard

MRC PONTIAC ET MUNICIPALITÉ DE  PONTIAC – After receiving tallies from each municipality, the MRC Pontiac released its official election results, November 7. Bernard Roy, president of the elections and MRC Director General, confirmed Jane Toller won the warden’s position with 2,231 more votes than

Allyson Beauregard

MRC PONTIAC ET MUNICIPALITÉ DE  PONTIAC – After receiving tallies from each municipality, the MRC Pontiac released its official election results, November 7. Bernard Roy, president of the elections and MRC Director General, confirmed Jane Toller won the warden’s position with 2,231 more votes than
former warden Raymond Durocher (1,366).
Linda Davis placed third with 1,045 votes, Charlotte L’Ecuyer fourth with 828, and Pierre Frechette in fifth with 817. Of the 12,919 registered voters, 7,756
visited the polling stations on either October 29 or November 5 for a 60%
participation rate. Turnout at the advance polls alone was around 27%. A total of 103 warden candidate ballots were rejected.
Fifty-six percent of the 125 seats in the MRC Pontiac were contested, and the majority (72%) of mayors from last term were re-elected.  The average age of elected officials in the region is now 55 years old.
In the Municipality of Pontiac, the overall participation rate was 45.6% (compared to 42.7% in 2013), with 11.2% (9.1% in 2013) at the advance polls.
More women
After the 2013 election, 17.3% of the MRC Pontiac’s mayors and 33% of councillors were women; this was a 12.4% increase in female candidates and an 8.7% increase in the number of elected officials compared to the 2009 election. In the MRC Pontiac’s recent election, 37% of all candidates were women, who now make up 37% of the Council of Mayors.
In the Municipality of Pontiac, five of the seven elected council members
are now women, compared to two in the previous administration.