Gatineau voters head to the polls Sunday to elect new mayor

Gatineau residents will head to the polls on Sunday to elect a new mayor.

Seven candidates have stepped up to run Quebec's third-largest city. In addition, voters in the district of Carrefour-de- l'Hôpital will vote for a new city councillor.

The June 9 byelection was called after former mayor France Bélisle abruptly stepped down from the position in February, citing a "hostile" climate in municipal politics.

Maude Marquis-Bissonnette is running as the candidate for the municipal political party Action Gatineau and Olive Kamanyana currently serves as the independent city councillor for Carrefour de l'Hôpital.

Yves Ducharme previously served as the Mayor of Gatineau from 2002 to 2005.

Independent candidate Rémi Bergeron, former president of the Gatineau Chamber of Commerce Stéphane Bisson, marketing executive Daniel Feeny and former People's Party of Canada candidate Mathieu Saint-Jean, have also thrown their hat in the ring for the top job.

In addition, there are three candidates in the running to replace Kamanyana for the seat of Carrefour de l'Hopital.

• Catherine Craig-St-Louis – Action Gatineau
• Marie-Pier Lacroix – Independent
• Kethlande Pierre – Independent

Candidate Frédéric Castonguay withdrew from the race.

According to Élections Québec, there are just over 203,000 registered voters in Gatineau and 9,305 eligible voters in Carrefour-de-l'Hopital.

Polls will open at 10 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Sunday

Here are the candidates for the mayoral race:

• Rémi Bergeron – Independent
• Stéphane Bisson – Independent
• Yves Ducharme – Independent
• Daniel Feeny – Independent
• Olive Kamanyana – Indépendante
• Maude Marquis-Bissonnette – Action Gatineau
• Mathieu Saint-Jean – Independent