| Date | October 22, 2016 |
|---|---|
| Convention | Aitken Centre, Fredericton, New Brunswick |
| Resigning leader | David Alward |
| Won by | Blaine Higgs |
| Ballots | 3 |
| Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick leadership elections 1966 · 1969 · 1989 · 1991 · 1995 · 1997 · 2008 · 2016 | |
The Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick held a leadership election on October 22, 2016, as a result of the resignation of David Alward on September 23, 2014, following his government's defeat in the 2014 provincial election. The Conservatives last had a leadership election in 2008.
On September 23, 2014, then-Progressive Conservative leader David Alward announced his resignation after his party's government was defeated by the Liberal Party led by Brian Gallant in the 2014 provincial election, which had been held the previous day.[1][2]
Interest in leadership came almost immediately after Alward's announcement. The following day, Brian Macdonald, the legislative member for Fredericton West-Hanwell made a proposal to serve as interim leader, though he was disinterested in seeking leadership.[3] Don Desserud, a political scientist at the University of Prince Edward Island, considered Trevor Holder as being a strong leadership candidate.[4] It was scheduled for an interim leader to be appointed within weeks, with a leadership convention being held at an unspecified date in the future.[5]
Chose not to endorse: Bruce Fitch, Madeleine Dubé, Bruce Northrup, Stewart Fairgrieve[14]
All members who have paid the $40 membership fee were eligible to vote on October 22 at the Aitken Centre or at one of several satellite locations around the province.[13] The election used a one member, one vote process. Balloting continued until one candidate received 50% + 1 of ballots cast. A maximum of four candidates were allowed to proceed to the second ballot. As there was no victor on the second ballot, the lowest placed candidate was dropped from the third and subsequent ballots until one candidate received the required level of support.[15]
Up to four candidates with more than 15% is required to move to the second ballot; more than 50% of the vote is required to win the election.[16]
| 2016 PCNB leadership ballot[17][18] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | First ballot | Second ballot | Third ballot | ||||||
| Votes | % | Votes | % | +/- | Votes | % | +/- | ||
| Blaine Higgs | 1,228 | 22.37 | 1,417 | 34.56 | +12.19 | 1,563 | 57.21 | +22.65 | |
| Mel Norton | 1,078 | 19.64 | 993 | 24.22 | +4.58 | 1,169 | 42.79 | +18.57 | |
| Monica Barley | 948 | 17.27 | 861 | 21.00 | +3.73 | Endorsed Norton | |||
| Mike Allen | 892 | 16.25 | 829 | 20.22 | +3.97 | Endorsed Higgs | |||
| Jake Stewart | 700 | 12.75 | Endorsed Barley | ||||||
| Brian Macdonald | 605 | 11.02 | |||||||
| Jean F. Dubé | 39 | 0.71 | Endorsed Higgs | ||||||
