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Batchoun also has problems with the fact the vote was carried out at two different venues – the Armenian Community Centre and Collège André-Grasset – despite earlier requests from the three losing candidates to have the voting take place at a single venue. Yesterday Batchoun told The Montreal Gazette her party wasn’t obliged to hear her appeal but hoped nevertheless it would send her the final list to clear things up.

And if the Liberals are as smart as they’ll need to be when it comes to handling the Quebec end of this federal election, they’ll send off that list lickety-split, because it has to be said that anyone who’s been following the events leading up to and following Joly’s being named candidate pretty well had a feeling something like this was going to happen.

That sense of foreboding began to coalesce last Friday, when Radio-Canada reported on allegations the party had delayed the nomination process to allow Joly to catch up with her opponents and that two candidates dropped out to give Joly an easier shot. Then there was the fact it took what seemed an eternity (in fact about six hours) to tabulate three rounds of votes on Sunday, which did little to smooth frayed nerves or still the muttering from some of the riding membership over the fact Joly had been parachuted into the riding by the party brass. And finally there was the decision by at least one defeated candidate not to participate in the traditional, ostensibly enthusiastic endorsement of the winner once the result had been announced.