Conservative Marty Morantz wins by 24 votes in Charleswood riding, triggering recount

Conservative Marty Morantz has been re-elected in Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley, the lone Manitoba riding left to be called days after the Monday federal election, Elections Canada says.

Morantz edged outLiberal challenger Doug Eyolfsonby 24 votes. More than 44,000 total votes were cast in the western Winnipeg riding.

The pair traded the lead on election night, but Morantzmaintained a slight advantage in the following days as moremail-in ballots were counted.

The final result will trigger an automatic judicial recount, which is donein races where the winning marginis less than one one-thousandth of the total votes cast in the riding, according to Elections Canada. The threshold in this case is 44 votes

Michael Kowalson, Morantz's campaign manager, said on Friday the judicial recount process is expected to last several weeks.He hopes a final result will be determined before Thanksgiving.

Special ballots sent in by voters living within the Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia-Headingley electoral districthad to be verified after the election, which delayed the final count in the tight race.

There were3,630 mail-in ballots returned in the riding in this year's race, Elections Canada said.

That includes 3,107 from people living in the riding and 454 from people living or travelling elsewhere in Canada.

Another 69 mail-in ballots came from people outside the country.

Morantz, a former Winnipeg city councillor, racked up a total of 17,336 votes in this election.

Eyolfson, a doctor and former MPwho lost the riding to Morantz in 2019, finished with 17,312 votes.

None of Manitoba's ridings changed hands in Monday's election.

Recount process

Judicial recounts are overseen by a superior court judge of the province or territory where the process happens, Elections Canada says.

Thelist of who's allowed to be in the room when it happensincludes the candidates and some of their representatives.

There are three ways a recount can happen, the government agency says.

The judge can add up the number of votes reported in the statements of the vote, recount the valid ballots, or recount all the ballots, including those that were rejected.

Once the recount is finished, the judge delivers a certificate that states the results.

Unless there's a tie, the returning officer writes the winner's name on the election writ and returns it to the chief electoral officer. The results are final.