Canada

Montreal will pick an interim mayor on Nov. 16 to replace the one who has resigned in the midst of a corruption scandal.

The winner will serve as interim mayor for just under a year, until the next general election.

The city has announced that the selection process will last four days next week, starting Tuesday when members from the municipal council can announce their candidacy.

Unless a winner is chosen by acclamation there will be a vote on Friday, the 16th.

The vote will be held by members of city council, which is controlled by the scandal-plagued party of departed Mayor Gerald Tremblay. His party, Union Montreal, holds about 55 per cent of the seats on council while the rest are split among opposition parties and independents.

Tremblay announced his resignation this week, several days after politically devastating testimony at the province's corruption inquiry.

A former aide testified that the mayor had, and ignored, information that his party used illegal donations and falsified its books. Tremblay had spent three years denying knowledge of wrongdoing within his administration, and he continues to deny the testimony at the inquiry.

However, the city had found itself politically paralyzed and the mayor's legitimacy was under attack. He said he was quitting for the greater good of Montreal.