Just under 14K N.L. Liberals eligible to vote in Abbott-Hogan leadership contest

CBC News

· Posted: Apr 22, 2025 1:30 PM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

Just nether 14,000 Liberals volition person a accidental successful selecting the party's adjacent leader, and Newfoundland and Labrador's 15th premier, arsenic the contention to regenerate outgoing Premier Andrew Furey enters the location stretch.

Party officials confirmed connected Tuesday that 13,844 radical signed up by the March 31 deadline to ballot for either John Abbott oregon John Hogan, with voting by telephone oregon electronically done a machine oregon smartphone acceptable to statesman connected Thursday.

The enactment normal is scheduled for May 2 and 3 astatine the JAG Soundhouse successful St. John's.

Voting ends astatine noon connected Saturday, May 3, with the victor to beryllium announced astir mid-afternoon, according to Judy Murrow, who chairs the enactment predetermination committee.

"Things person gone smoothly. The candidates person been great," said Murrow.

The fig of eligible voters is considerably little than the 2 erstwhile enactment contests. 

In 2013, astir 24,000 Liberals voted successful a contention that saw Dwight Ball look victorious among a tract of 5 candidates, portion successful 2020, conscionable implicit 21,000 Liberals voted successful a contention that saw Andrew Furey decision Abbott.

Murrow pointed to respective reasons for the little numbers successful 2025, including a "significantly" shortened registration period. She said the enactment wanted to enactment swiftly to elite a caller person pursuing Furey's astonishment announcement successful precocious February due to the fact that a provincial predetermination indispensable beryllium held earlier mid-October.

She says law changes besides required the enactment had to commencement from scratch successful bid to make a roster of registered members.

In past enactment contests, registered Liberals and a class called "supporters" were eligible to vote. The protagonist class was removed aft the 2020 enactment contest, Murrow explained.

The enactment contention is besides being overshadowed by a precise consequential national predetermination run that began connected March 23, with predetermination time acceptable for April 28.

Abbott and Hogan were some elected arsenic MHAs successful 2021, and person been waging a enactment run since aboriginal March. They each paid a $50,000 information fee, and abstracted from this fee, are restricted to a run spending bounds of $200,000.

Eleven Liberal MHAs person publically sided with Hogan, portion six person endorsed Abbott.

Murrow says the voting process volition guarantee that each 40 districts person an adjacent accidental successful the outcome, careless of however galore radical registered from each district.

The ballot to prime a person volition beryllium a preferential one-person, one-vote system, weighted by district, with 1,000 points up for grabs successful each district.

For example, if a campaigner receives 75 per cent of the archetypal spot votes successful a district, that campaigner volition person 750 points, portion the different campaigner volition person 250 points.

The archetypal campaigner to person 20,001 points oregon much volition triumph the contest.

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