'Historic breakthrough': Quebec solidaire squeezes out a victory in Verdun

Verdun goes orange after lifetime in red Quebec Solidaire pulled off a huge upset, winning in the traditional Liberal stronghold of Verdun.

It was a close call, but Quebec solidaire (QS) scored a win in the Montreal electoral district of Verdun, a Liberal stronghold since riding lines were reconfigured in 1965.

The race was neck-and-neck between QS and the Quebec Liberal Party (PLQ), with the former scoring 30.8 per cent (9,562) of votes and the latter 29.3 per cent (9,101).

The Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) trailed not-too-far behind with 23 per cent of the vote (7,150).

The candidate who will represent the riding is Alejandra Zaga Mendez, party president since 2021.

Consistent with the QS party's values on climate, Mendez holds a Ph.D. in sustainable development and conservation from the Universite du Quebec.

The candidate, who immigrated to Quebec from Peru at age 14, unseated the Liberal party's Isabelle Melancon, the riding's representative in the National Assembly since 2016.

QS called Mendez's win a "historic breakthrough" on Twitter in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

"The citizens of Verdun, like those and all of Quebec, can count on his environmental expertise at the National Assembly!" the Tweet reads.

As for the rest of the party, results were mixed. While QS received the second-highest number of votes (633,292) next to the CAQ

(1,681,997), it will not form the official opposition.

At 589,801 votes, the Liberals will have 21 candidates representing them in Quebec City, while QS will have 11.