Montreal

Just 18 votes shy of victory, the Liberals request a recount on the Magdalen Islands

The Parti Québécois defeated the Liberals on the Magdalen Islands, and in Gaspé, the Liberals beat the PQ by 132 votes. Recounts are being sought in both ridings.

PQ, in turn, seeks recount in Gaspé, where Liberal's Alexandre Boulay won by 132 votes

Under Quebec electoral law, a party can request a recount if the number of votes between two parties is less than 1/1000 of the ballots cast, or if a person or party has 'a reasonable motive' to believe the final count was inaccurate. (Martin Thibault/Radio-Canada)

The outcome of the Oct. 1 election could still shift in eastern Quebec.

The Parti Québécois has filed a request in Quebec court seeking a recount in the Gaspé riding, where its candidate Méganne Perry Mélançon lost to the Liberal's Alexandre Boulay by 132 votes.

The PQ wants the ballots at polling station 61 to be recounted.

The party said at that polling station, Boulay garnered 194 votes, and not a single one went to the PQ, Coalition Avenir Québec or Québec Solidaire. Four ballots were rejected.

The party's lawyers said this doesn't match up with information party officials gathered on the ground.

Several citizens, as well as members of the PQ riding association in Gaspé, confirmed they voted for the PQ at that polling station, the PQ said.

The party is expecting to get a response from a judge next week.

If the Parti Québécois wins the seat on a recount, the party would have 10 seats at the National Assembly, the same number as Québec Solidaire.

It would still fall short of the 12 seats or 20 per cent of the popular vote needed to regain official party status.

The PQ's Joël Arseneau won the Îles-de-la-Madeleine riding, beating Liberal candidate Maryse Lapierre by 18 votes. (Radio-Canada)

The two parties are also battling for the riding of Îles-de-la-Madeleine.

The PQ's Joël Arseneau won the election by a margin of 18 votes, ahead of Maryse Lapierre, the Liberal candidate.

Lapierre filed a request for a recount on Thursday morning in Havre-Aubert.

Lapierre's campaign director, Guylain Cyr, said 152 ballots in the riding were rejected out of a total of 7,796 — "an abnormally high number," she said.

Ballot boxes also went missing for two hours after polls closed, Cyr said in her request to the court, obtained by Radio-Canada.

A poll clerk also testified under oath that her colleagues were "more or less focused on the task at hand," and were also "careless" during the ballot count for the advance polls.

A judge will hear that request on Friday morning in Havre-Aubert.

Coalition Avenir Québec said it is still considering whether it will ask for a recount in Duplessis, on Quebec's North Shore, where the PQ's Lorraine Richard was re-elected with 126 more votes than CAQ candidate Line Cloutier.

With files from Radio-Canada