BURST
Members of the B.C. Conservative Party received ballots Saturday to vote on a new leader.
The party’s executive director, Angelo Isidorou, says ballots went out at 8 a.m. and there are 26,000 eligible voters. They are due next Friday and results will be announced on May 30.
Isidorou said 93 ridings have up to 100 points. If fewer than 100 votes are cast, the total points are equal to the total vote count. So, for example, if there are 60 votes, it’ll be 60 points. If more than 100 votes are cast, it is still capped at 100 proportionally.
All but four ridings have fewer than 100 potential points but Isidorou would not disclose which four.
He added that results will be tabulated in the presence of scrutineers and a third-party independent auditor.
The five candidates vying for leadership are: Iain Black, a former B.C. Liberal cabinet minister and ex-head of the Vancouver Board of Trade, who is pushing hard for tax cuts; Caroline Elliott, a policy analyst who is outspoken in her opposition of DRIPA and wants to scrap Clean B.C.; Kerry-Lynne Findlay, a lawyer and former federal cabinet minister; Peter Milobar, an MLA and former Kamloops mayor who is the only candidate with a legislature seat; and Yuri Fulmer, a business leader who is pushing for economic growth and resource development.
The Conservatives have had past problems in the past , with allegations of ineligible voters being brought to last spring’s convention, and ineligible sign-ups in Kelowna during the subsequent summer’s leadership review, where supporters of then-leader John Rustad were accused of trying to pad his numbers.
University of B.C. political scientist Stewart Prest told Postmedia he thinks political parties should have their internal reviews and leadership races overseen by an independent third party, such as Elections B.C. or Elections Canada.
With files from Glenda Luymes, Vaughn Palmer and Alec Lazenby