Voters head to polls in Quebec City area provincial byelection

The Crown prosecutor’s office in Quebec called Tuesday for a criminal inquiry into corruption allegations made by the head of Montreal’s police union against the Quebec Liberal party. (Photo: mararie/Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)

QUEBEC — Voters in the Quebec City riding of Louis-Hebert will choose a new member of the legislature in a provincial byelection today.

Ten candidates are in the running to fill the riding, left empty after the departure of longtime Liberal Sam Hamad in April.

They include former political attache Ihssane El Ghernati for the Liberals and ex-coroner’s office spokeswoman Genevieve Guilbeaut, who is running for the Coalition for Quebec’s Future.

Biologist Norman Beauregard will run for the Parti Quebecois, while lawyer Guillaume Boivin will represent Quebec Solidaire.

The campaign got off to a rocky start when both the Liberals and the Coalition had to find new candidates after their previous choices pulled out of the race over allegations of psychological harassment dating back to their former jobs.

The governing Liberals currently have 68 of the 125 seats in the legislature, compared with 28 for the PQ, 20 for the Coalition, and three for Quebec solidaire. There are five Independent members.