The campaign of B.C. New Democratic Party leadership hopeful Anjali Appadurai says an NDP report recommends she be disqualified from the race, a decision that would make David Eby the sole contender to become the next premier.
Campaign spokesman Erik Olesen says they received the report from the NDP’s chief electoral officer Elizabeth Cull, but confidentiality requirements prevent Appadurai from releasing it.
A statement from Appadurai says she is “disappointed but not surprised” by the finding that disqualification is the best response to alleged breaches of contest rules, such as an alliance with an environmental group or the wooing of former B.C. Green Party members.
She says the recommendation results from a “biased and unlevel playing field,” and an attempt to “control a situation in which an underdog candidate out-organized the front-runner, signing up many more members in just 25 days.”
The NDP’s provincial executive is scheduled to consider Cull’s recommendation tonight and a statement from the party says it will have no comment until then.
If Appadurai is disqualified, Eby is left as the only leadership contender and will become the head of the B.C. New Democrats and the next premier of the province, replacing John Horgan, who announced in June he will step down.
