Montreal voter turnout dropped again in 2025, third lowest since 1986

Apathy is Boring executive director Sam Reusch says a low voter turnout and dozens of wins by acclamation in municipal elections is a danger to democracy.

Voter turnout in the 2025 Montreal municipal election dropped to its lowest point in 20 years and was among the bottom three in the past 10 election cycles, according to Elections Montreal.

With 3,812 of 3,918 polling stations counted, Elections Montreal reported a voter turnout of 36.52 per cent.

For comparison, only 2005 (34.9 per cent) and 1990 (36.1 per cent) recorded lower turnouts.

Since that low in 2005, turnout rose to 39.4 per cent in 2009 and then steadily declined from 43 per cent in 2013 to 42 per cent four years later and 38 per cent in 2021.

• READ MORE: Only one-third of Montrealers voted in the last municipal election. Will 2025 be any different?

In the 19 Montreal boroughs, only Outremont had a voter turnout higher than 50 per cent and five were below 30. In Ville-Marie, just one in four voters cast a ballot.

*All numbers are valid as of Nov. 4, 2025, but may change due to recounts.

Advanced voter numbers rising

Though there was a lower turnout overall, more people took advantage of casting their ballot before election day.

The turnout rate for advanced polling was 11.8 per cent, down from 12.8 per cent in 2021.

However, that year, there were two days of early voting with longer hours due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Elections Montreal said that in 2017, advanced voter turnout was 5.63 per cent, and in 2013, it was 4.8 per cent.

The turnout mirrors similar patterns in the federal election, which saw a 25 per cent increase in advanced voting from 2021 to 2025. In Quebec elections, advanced voting went from 11.78 per cent in 2008 to almost a quarter (24.8 per cent) in 2022.

There were 450 polling locations on Sunday manned by 13,000 election staffers.

On Oct. 26, there were more than 200 stations with 3,200 staffers, according to Elections Montreal.

Your vote counts

While some races, like Laval and Longueuil, were handily won, Côte Saint-Luc incumbent mayor Mitchell Brownstein lost to David Tordjman by just one vote (after originally being reported a 50-vote win for Brownstein), and incumbent Hampstead Mayor Jeremy Levi won by just 26 votes over Jack Edery.

As of 11 a.m. on Monday, Elections Montreal is reporting that the following borough mayor races remain tight:

*All numbers are valid as of Nov. 4, 2025, but may change due to recounts.