Quebec Liberals will field full slate of candidates on election day following court ruling

The Quebec Superior Courthas overturned a decision by the chief electoral officer, allowing Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ) candidateHarley Lounsbury to be on the ballot on election dayin the riding of Matane-Matapdiain the Bas-Saint-Laurent region.

Justice Clment Samson handed down the decision Wednesday evening. The rulingstates that the court "orders the returning officer of the electoral district of Matane-Matapdia to issue a notice of compliance of Mr. Lounsbury's candidacy."

Following the ruling, Liberal Leader Dominique Anglade quicklytook to Twitter to say she was "happy with the decision."

"We have indeed submitted 125 compliant applications. This isa great victory for democracy," she said.

Samson's14-page decision revealed thatreturning officerJeannot Michaud's reasonfor rejectingthe Liberal candidacy in the riding was based on the absence of signatures and initials in two very specific boxes in the official documents.

Faced with this justification for refusal, the PLQand its candidate argued that "the need for a representative who recruits voters [...]to affix his signature twice and, in addition, his initials, is not provided for in the law." They added that rejecting a nomination on this basis alone was "unreasonable" in relation toLounsbury's constitutional rights.

Samson sided with the plaintiffs and determined that the rejection ofLounsbury's candidacy "on the basis that his three agents had failed to sign the declaration of candidacy" is unreasonable.