The return of the Leader of the Opposition, Pierre Poilievre, to the House of Commons appears imminent, as electors in the Conservative stronghold of Battle River–Crowfoot will write the name of their candidate of choice from among 214 contestants on Monday.

If the advanced polls in the riding held last week were any indication, low to moderate polling is expected to clear the way for Pierre Poilievre to make amends for his loss in the April 2025 general elections in his favorite riding, Carleton, in the capital region of Ottawa. It was three-time MP from Battle River–Crowfoot, Damien Kurek, who, after recording a thumping victory in the April elections by polling 82.8 percent of the votes, decided to bow out to make room for his party leader to return to the lower House of Parliament.

The byelection has failed to create the hype expected of an electoral contest featuring the Leader of the Opposition. In this riding, in the last three elections, Conservatives have polled 70 percent or more of the total votes.

This byelection will go down in the history annals, as it has an unprecedented number of contestants—214—in the run for the lone House of Commons seat. Though all major political parties, including Conservatives, Liberals, NDP, Greens, and the People’s Party, have put up their candidates, the Longest Ballot Paper campaign committee, too, has kept its promise of fielding 200 candidates to seek changes to the election process in the country.

In the previous election in 2021, Damien Kurek had polled 71.29 percent of the votes, and he increased the tally to 82.8 percent in April this year in the general elections.

Because of the concerted campaign of the Longest Ballot Paper committee, Elections Canada worked out a novel solution other than printing several feet of long ballot paper with 214 names on it. Instead, Elections Canada decided to opt for an “adapted ballot paper,” wherein the electors would be given a list along with a “blanket ballot” (adapted ballot) on which they would be required to write the name of the candidate they want to vote for.

This unique and unprecedented “adapted ballot paper” would facilitate not only electors casting their votes but also the election agents supervising the polling and subsequent counting of votes.

Interestingly, the response to the three-day advance polling was moderate, as only one in six voters turned up to vote in advance. There are 85,736 voters in the riding, with a population of 110,212. Before the actual polling day, only 15 percent of electors opted for advance polling. Elections Canada, while releasing unofficial figures, stated that 14,454 voters cast their votes in advance polling.

Though the election of Pierre Poilievre is a foregone conclusion, the eyes of the world will remain focused on Battle River–Crowfoot for creating a record of sorts by witnessing the longest list of candidates in an election for a single seat anywhere in the world.

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