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This fellow is the first political candidate in Canada's history to receive zero votes in a federal election [1]

['Allan Rose Hill']

Date: 2024-07-01  

Félix-Antoine Hamel, 45, was on the ballot in Canada's recent by-election in Toronto-St. Paul, Ontario. He was one of dozens of independent candidates who were listed as part of a protest against the country's "first-past-the-post" voting system where the candidate with the most votes in a constituency wins, regardless of whether they achieve an absolute majority. Hamel's candidacy will go down in history—not because he won but because he's the first candidate ever in the country to get no votes at all in a contested federal election. He couldn't even vote for himself because he doesn't live in Toronto-St. Paul's.

"When I saw the result, I was like: 'Well, I am the true unity candidate," Hamel told CBC News. "Everyone agrees not to vote for me."

With 84 candidates, it was the longest ballot presented for a federal election. Makes sense, given the protest was organized by a group called the Longest Ballot Committee. The ballot was 30 centimeters by 90 centimeters.

Previously:

• Supreme Court not interested in Kari Lake's voting machine conspiracy theories

• Ebay is full of used voting machines full of real electoral data and riddled with security defects

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[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2024/07/01/this-fellow-is-the-first-political-candidate-in-canadas-history-to-receive-zero-votes-in-a-federal-election.html

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