New Democratic Party leadership conventions

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NDP leadership conventions are the process by which the Canadian New Democratic Party elects its leader.

Before 2003, when a modified one member, one vote (OMOV) system was adopted, every biennial convention of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and its successor, the New Democratic Party, was a leadership convention.

However, in practice, contested elections were held only when there was a declared leadership race. In 2001, a rare exception to this occurred when Socialist Caucus member Marcel Hatch challenged Alexa McDonough from the floor of the convention; however, McDonough easily retained the leadership in the resulting vote. It also seems that in 1973 Douglas Campbell unsuccessfully challenged David Lewis' leadership.

CCF leaders J.S. Woodsworth in 1933, M.J. Coldwell in 1942 and Hazen Argue in 1960 were all elected by acclamation.

In 1961, the CCF and the Canadian Labour Congress joined to form the New Democratic Party . Trade unions were allowed to directly affiliate to the party, and a system was arranged so that up to one-third of all delegates to NDP conventions were selected by labour and the other two-thirds by NDP riding associations. This was also the case at leadership conventions, giving the labour movement a significant say in determining the party's leadership.

Contents 1 1961 leadership convention results 2 1971 leadership convention results 3 1975 leadership convention results 4 1989 leadership convention results 5 1995 leadership convention results 6 2001 leadership challenge results 7 2003 leadership election results 8 References and notes

[edit] 1961 leadership convention results

Held in Ottawa, Ontario on August 3, 1961.

First Ballot

Candidate	Delegate Support	Percentage
Tommy Douglas	1,391	78.5%
Hazen Argue	380	21.5%
Total	1,771	100%

[edit] 1971 leadership convention results

Held in Ottawa, Ontario on April 24, 1971.

First Ballot

Candidate	Delegate Support	Percentage
David Lewis	661	38.9%
James Laxer	378	22.3%
John Paul Harney	299	17.6%
Ed Broadbent	236	13.9%
Frank Howard	124	7.3%
Total	1,698	100%

Second Ballot

Candidate	Delegate Support	Percentage
David Lewis	715	42.5%
James Laxer	407	24.1%
John Paul Harney	347	20.5%
Ed Broadbent	223	13.1%
Total	1,692	100%

Third Ballot

Candidate	Delegate Support	Percentage
David Lewis	742	44.1%
James Laxer	508	30.2%
John Paul Harney	431	25.6%
Total	1,681	100%

Fourth Ballot

Candidate	Delegate Support	Percentage
David Lewis	1046	63.1%
James Laxer	612	36.9%
Total	1,658	100%

[edit] 1975 leadership convention results

Held in Winnipeg, Manitoba on July 7, 1975.

First Ballot

Candidate	Delegate Support	Percentage
Ed Broadbent	536	33.1%
Rosemary Brown	413	23.5%
Lorne Nystrom	345	21.3%
John Paul Harney	313	19.4%
Douglas Campbell	11	0.6%
Total	1,618	100%

Second Ballot

Candidate	Delegate Support	Percentage
Ed Broadbent	586	36.1%
Rosemary Brown	397	24.5%
Lorne Nystrom	342	21.1%
John Paul Harney	299	18.4%
Total	1,624	100%

Third Ballot

Candidate	Delegate Support	Percentage
Ed Broadbent	694	43.4%
Rosemary Brown	494	30.9%
Lorne Nystrom	413	25.8%
Total	1,601	100%

Fourth Ballot

Candidate	Delegate Support	Percentage
Ed Broadbent	984	61.5%
Rosemary Brown	658	41.1%
Total	1,601	100%

[edit] 1989 leadership convention results

Held in Winnipeg, Manitoba on December 2, 1989.

First Ballot

Candidate	Delegate Support	Percentage
Audrey McLaughlin	646	26.9%
Dave Barrett	566	23.6%
Steven Langdon	351	14.6%
Simon De Jong	315	13.1%
Howard McCurdy	256	10.7%
Ian Waddell	213	8.9%
Roger Lagasse	53	2.2%
Total	2,400	100%

Second Ballot

Candidate	Delegate Support	Percentage
Audrey McLaughlin	829	34.3%
Dave Barrett	780	32.3%
Steven Langdon	519	21.5%
Simon De Jong	289	12.0%
Total	2,417	100%

Third Ballot

Candidate	Delegate Support	Percentage
Audrey McLaughlin	1072	44.4%
Dave Barrett	947	39.3%
Steven Langdon	393	16.3%
Total	2,412	100%

Fourth Ballot

Candidate	Delegate Support	Percentage
Audrey McLaughlin	1,316	55.1%
Dave Barrett	1,072	44.9%
Total	2,388	100%

[edit] 1995 leadership convention results

Held in Ottawa, Ontario on October 14, 1995.

First Ballot

Candidate	Delegate Support	Percentage
Svend Robinson	655	37.8%
Alexa McDonough	566	32.6%
Lorne Nystrom	545	31.5%
Total	1,735	100%

As the last place finisher on the first ballot, Nystrom was dropped. However, Robinson determined that he could not win on the second ballot if Nystrom's supporters moved to McDonough, as they were expected to, thus he withdrew and McDonough was declared the winner.

Prior to this leadership contest, the NDP held a series of regional and labour "caucus votes" prior to the national convention. A fourth candidate, Herschel Hardin, also participated in the regional caucuses, but did not win sufficient delegate support to qualify for the convention. These "primaries" were OMOV.

Primaries

Candidate	Percentage
Lorne Nystrom	44.69%
Svend Robinson	32.06%
Alexa McDonough	18.47%
Herschel Hardin	4.78%
Total	100%

[edit] 2001 leadership challenge results

Held in Winnipeg, Manitoba on Sunday, November 25, 2001

^[1]

First Ballot

Candidate	Delegate Support	Percentage
Alexa McDonough	645	82.2%
Marcel Hatch	120	15.3%
Total	785	100%

[edit] 2003 leadership election results

Held in Toronto, Ontario on January 25, 2003.

First Ballot

Candidate	Delegate Support	Percentage
Jack Layton	31,150	53.5%
Bill Blaikie	14,365	24.7%
Lorne Nystrom	5,397	9.3%
Joe Comartin	4,490	7.7%
Pierre Ducasse	2,155	3.7%
Bev Meslo	645	1.1%
Total	58,202	100%

Starting with the 2003 leadership election, the NDP instituted a modified one member one vote system in which the vote is calculated so that ballots cast by labour delegates have 25% weight in the total result, while votes cast by party members have 75%.

[edit] References and notes

1. ^ "McDonough fends off leadership challenge", Online Edition, The Globe and Mail Newspaper, 2001-11-25. Retrieved on 2007-05-11. (English)