Mayors in Kirkland, Hampstead, Mount Royal among those acclaimed after running unopposed
A total of 298 candidates are running for the City of Montreal's 103 elected positions
The deadline to hand in candidate nomination papers in Quebec's municipal elections has passed, and that means those who ran unopposed are now acclaimed.
On the Island of Montreal, the lone candidates for mayor in three independent cities got the job without challenge.
Kirkland Mayor Michel Gibson found himself with no competition and returns in that position.
It was the same for Hampstead's William Steinberg and Mount Royal's Philippe Roy.
This is Steinberg's fourth mandate as mayor, but his first time running unopposed. Roy, who is going into a third mandate, has never faced a challenger.
In Senneville, only one person ran for each city council position other than mayor, meaning they were all acclaimed Friday afternoon.
Almost 300 run in City of Montreal
It's a different story in the City of Montreal's 19 boroughs, where a total of 298 candidates are vying for the 103 election positions available.
No candidate is running unopposed, ensuring a race for each position until election day on Nov. 5.
The field of 298 candidates, however, is a drop from the 2013 election, when 485 candidates took part.
This time around, only two parties — Équipe Denis Coderre and Projet Montréal — ran candidates in every position.
Eight candidates run for mayor of Montreal
Aside from Équipe Denis Coderre's Denis Coderre, Projet Montréal's Valerie Plante and Coalition Montréal's Jean Fortier, there are five independent candidates for mayor of Montreal.
They are Bernie Gurberg, Tyler Lemco, Fabrice Ntompa Illunga, Philippe Tessier and Gilbert Thibodeau.
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The three candidates running with party backing also have "stand-ins" should they lose.
Fortier and Plante both chose to have stand-ins in the Ville-Marie borough while Coderre's is in Montreal North.
Should the stand-in win and the mayoral candidate lose, the stand-in will step aside.
What about the rest of Quebec?
Many municipalities across the province won't be going to the polls to vote for certain candidates. In Saint-Jérôme, a town with a population of about 77,000, outgoing mayor Stéphane Maher has been acclaimed.
Saint-Jérôme is the most populous municipality in the province to have a mayor elected by acclamation.
Others include the mayors of Drummondville, Val-d'Or, Sainte-Georges, Alma, Sainte-Julie, Montebello and Varennes.
In the province's Estrie region, a total of 43 mayors were elected by acclamation.
In the Outaouais region, at least 20 mayors have been acclaimed, with 50 elected officials running unopposed in total.
In the Lower Saint-Lawrence area, at least 45 mayors won their seats by acclamation.
These numbers are subject to change as some municipalities could have yet to update their lists of candidates on the Quebec's Chief Electoral Officer's website.
Voters in 1,136 municipalities across Quebec are set to vote on Nov. 5.
With files from Radio-Canada