2026 candidates: why the official list keeps changing

The list of candidates for Quebec's 2026 election keeps growing, but it is not yet the final list for the vote. Since July 1, Élections Québec has been posting nomination papers as they are accepted. The official page lets users filter candidates by riding and shows, among other things, the name, political affiliation and official agent. Three situations must be distinguished. A person may be announced by a party, may have won a nomination race, or may have filed a nomination paper that has been officially accepted. Only the last situation appears as an accepted candidacy in the Élections Québec register. The nomination period ends at 2 p.m. on the eighteenth day before the vote. If the election is held on October 5 as planned, that marker would fall on September 17. This date remains conditional until the election writ. Élections Québec indicates that the final list is normally released about two weeks before voting day. LeQuébecVote.ca keeps the party's source and the Élections Québec confirmation separate. A party announcement is therefore not automatically presented as an official acceptance, and a withdrawal or replacement must be documented without erasing the relevant history.