Recount flips Vachon to the PQ by three votes

A judicial recount has flipped the Quebec riding of Vachon, in the Montérégie region, from the Liberal Party to the Parti Québécois by three votes, Quebec’s election authority said, but the Liberals are refusing to concede for now.

Liberal candidate Affine Lwalalika had initially been declared the winner by 10 votes. The recount, which ended Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, gave PQ candidate Stephan Fogaing the edge by three votes, according to Élections Québec, The Canadian Press and CBC News reported.

More ballots were rejected in the recount than on election day, rising to 730 from 588, Élections Québec data show.

The Quebec Liberal Party said it acknowledges the recount results but that its lawyers are reviewing the situation. “All options are on the table, and we will make a decision quickly on how to proceed,” the party wrote on its social media accounts.

The riding’s outgoing member, former Coalition Avenir Québec cabinet minister Ian Lafrenière, congratulated Fogaing. “The judicial recount declared him the winner by three votes in Vachon. The phrase ‘every vote counts’ takes on its full meaning,” the former public security minister wrote on X. Lafrenière finished third on election day with just under 21 per cent of the vote.

A second recount is underway. The PQ requested a judicial recount in Champlain, in the Mauricie region, where its candidate lost by 191 votes to Conservative candidate Adriana Szalontai. The Court of Quebec confirmed that recount on Tuesday, and it was set to begin Thursday at the Trois-Rivières courthouse.

Élections Québec said there have been seven judicial recounts after a provincial election since 2000. Recounts in 1994 and 2003 ended in ties, which triggered byelections.

If the result stands, it would add a seat to the new PQ government, whose cabinet was sworn in on Wednesday. Elected PQ members had taken their oaths of office the week before.

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With files from The Canadian Press and CBC News.