2013 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election
The 2013 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election was triggered by Michael Ignatieff's announcement on May 3, 2011, of his intention to resign as leader following the party's defeat in the 2011 federal election. On May 25, 2011, Bob Rae was appointed by Liberal caucus as interim leader. The party announced Justin Trudeau as its new leader on April 14, 2013, in Ottawa, Ontario.[1][2]
Justin Trudeau would go on to become the 23rd prime minister of Canada in the 2015 Canadian federal election in which the Liberal Party won 184 seats, an increase of 150 seats from 34 seats in the 2011 election, the largest-ever numerical increase by a party in a Canadian election.
Leadership election timing[edit]
Michael Ignatieff declared on May 3, 2011, that he intended to resign as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, but his statement was worded so as not to be an actual resignation to avoid immediately triggering a leadership vote under party rules; he tendered a letter of resignation to the party's National Board of Directors on May 11.[3][4] Under the provisions of the party's constitution, the Board was required to set a date for a leadership vote to be held within five months thereafter.[5] However several MPs expressed their reluctance to hold a third leadership election in eight years and instead wanted to take the four years of electoral stability provided by a majority parliament as an opportunity to rebuild under an interim leader for as much as two years before selecting a permanent leader.
The Board met as required on May 19 and set the election for October 28 and 29, 2011, but adopted a proposed constitutional amendment allowing this leadership election to be held between March 1 and June 30, 2013, with the exact date to be announced no sooner than five months in advance.[6] The next convention of the party adopted the amendment on June 18, 2011.[7] On June 13, 2012, the Board decided to call the leadership vote for April 2013 with a specific date to be confirmed during the summer.[8] The Board subsequently established April 14, 2013, as the date the leadership election winner is to be announced and November 14, 2012, as the official start of the race. It also set a spending limit of $950,000 and a debt limit of $75,000, both considerably lower figures than allowed in 2006.[1]
Process[edit]
130,774 Liberal Party members and supporters registered to vote in the election[17] of almost 300,000 who were eligible.[18] General voting took place from April 7 to April 14, 2013, by preferential ballot online and by phone. Each electoral district was allocated 100 points with points in a district allocated in proportion to each candidate by the number of first preference votes received. All points were then aggregated nationally for a "national count". If no candidate received 15,401 points on the first count, then the candidate with the fewest points would be eliminated and his/her votes are distributed in each electoral district among the remaining leadership contestants according to the next preference indicated. This process would then continue until one candidate has more than 15,401 points.[19] Trudeau was selected on the first ballot.