Boisclair wins PQ leadership on first ballot

Boisclair wins PQ leadership on first ballot
Last updated Nov 15 2005 09:01 PM EST
CBC News

André Boisclair has been voted the new leader of the sovereigntist Parti Québécois. The announcement was made at 9:00.

Just over 75 per cent of party members made their choice by telephone voting, after the longest leadership campaign in PQ history. The campaign lasted 149 days.

The polling system closed at 5 p.m. Tuesday, with 104,577 ballots cast. Almost 2,000 of the party faithful gathered at the Centre de Foire in Quebec City as the results were made public.

One by one, the candidates marched on to the stage at 8:30 p.m. and then headed into the crowd before Boisclair was named as the winner of the vote.

http://www.cbc.ca/montreal/story/qc-pq20051115.html

Certainly an intriguing concept but how could you keep that honest? Thanks in advance for explaining.

Doggy voter was a plant by satirist
Long-haired chihuahua, 'Gilbert Laplante' eligible for poll


A TV satirist was reportedly the mastermind of a scheme to get a dog and a plant registered as Parti Quebecois members who cast ballots in the party's leadership vote.

The vote was conducted with an electronic balloting system in which PQ members cast their vote using a touch-tone phone.

Each card-carrying member has a registration number and recently received a personal identification number by mail. When voting, the member had to key in his registration number and PIN.

"The system is riddled with potential fraudulent practices that are difficult to monitor," the Globe quoted the source as saying.

http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/specials/pqleadership/story.html?id=3658bb48-d476-4c1f-a8d6-018a75fa37c2