Back in the summer, before the Montreal municipal election campaign officially began, Valérie Plante and her party, Projet Montréal, were trailing in the polls.
A Léger poll in June, commissioned by the official opposition party, showed that 43 per cent of voters intended to vote for incumbent Mayor Denis Coderre.
That changed by election day – with Plante taking home 51 per cent of the vote to Coderre’s 46 per cent in early results, and becoming Montreal’s first female mayor.
Voters’ attitudes were turning by the last week of the campaign.
A Léger poll released Oct. 25 showed both candidates neck-and-neck, with a projected 38 per cent of the vote apiece.
A few days later, on Oct. 30, a CROP poll commissioned by Radio-Canada gave Plante a slight edge – with 39 per cent to Coderre’s 37 per cent of the vote.
Global News municipal politics analyst Karim Boulos said, at the time, this was partly due to a third prominent candidate, Jean Fortier, dropping out of the race and making it a two-way fight.
Boulos also believes that people weren’t necessarily supporting Plante, they were voting against Coderre.
“I honestly didn’t expect this,” he said.
“[Montrealers] don’t love or hate anybody, we go against the grain and this is a reflection of her rallying votes under one message: he’s not doing enough.”
Plante’s ultimate success was “about getting the vote out,” he said.
“There’s always people who hate the mayor, but won’t get off their couch. This is a reflection of her getting her people to go out.”
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