Valerie Plante's successor to be chosen in March 2025

Montreal mayor Valerie Plante looks to her colleagues as she announces to the media that she will not run for a third term in next year's municipal elections in Montreal, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press)

The successor to Valérie Plante will be announced next spring.

Projet Montreal said the party's call for nominations for candidates will open on Dec. 9 and run through Jan. 31, 2025.

Feb. 3 will mark the official start of the leadership race before a vote for a new leader is held on March 15.

The party announced the rules of the leadership race Friday following Plante's announcement last month that she will not be seeking reelection in the municipal election.

To be eligible to run for the position, candidates will have to collect 200 signatures from members in seven boroughs, with a minimum of 10 signatures in each borough. They will also have to make a personal contribution of $1,000 to the party and collect $7,500 in donations to the party from the launch of their campaign, according to the rules.

Those wishing to vote in the election have until Feb. 13, 2025 to become a Projet Montreal member.

Some names have already been put forward as potential successors. Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve councillor Alia Hassan-Cournol and Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension borough mayor Laurence Lalonde Lavigne have publicly expressed interest in running.

On the opposition side, the leadership race has already been ongoing for a month.

Ensemble Montreal appears to have disqualified the only candidate to come forward, real estate broker Younes El Moustir. After rejecting his candidacy, the party's board of directors confirmed in an email last Sunday that it had rejected his appeal of the decision.