Losing NDP nomination in The Pas by a coin toss ‘deeply unfair’: Duncan

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/03/2015 (4215 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The losing candidate in this past weekend’s NDP nomination in The Pas is sitting by her phone waiting to find out if a coin toss was the proper way to decide her fate.

Florence Duncan said today she expects to get an answer from the NDP’s head office in Winnipeg on her complaint that the process was “deeply unfair.”

Duncan lost the nomination to Amanda Lathlin on Saturday after both received 295 votes in a second ballot, according to a media report. Nominee Derek Dyck fell off after the first ballot.

The Opasquia Times reported the NDP executive in The Pas elected to go to a coin toss, a loonie, to determine a winner. Lathin won it when it came up tails.

The local paper also reported both Duncan and Lathin had requested to not to do the coin flip.

In a March 18 letter from Duncan to NDP provincial secretary Nanci Morrison, provided to a Winnipeg media outlet, Duncan writes that that she feels betrayed.

“For my candidacy, to be so dismissed as to flip a coin to determine a winner, is not only undemocratic and wrong, but disrespectful of both myself and Amanda, as nomination candidates and ambassadors of the Manitoba NDP,” the letter said.

Duncan said this morning she believes one of her supporters leaked the letter of complaint.

She is appealing to the NDP’s executive to reverse the result of the coin toss. The executive meets today to discuss the matter, a party spokesman said.

“My people are deeply upset by their time, effort, and money that went into this party, being disrespected in such a way as for a coin to be flipped to determine a winner,” Duncan said in the letter.

“My suggestion as a solution to this matter, is for this process to be corrected and to be conducted in a democratic way by calling on the membership of The Pas to fairly and ethically elect the nominee. A run-off vote is the only solution to this matter, in a modern-day democracy.

“I ask the party accommodate 10 more days to rectify this situation. I anticipate a response within 24 hours, as I have been putting off responding to media outlets until I have a response and we can find a solution together on this matter.”

Lathlin is the daughter of former NDP MLA and cabinet minister Oscar Lathlin, who died Nov. 2, 2008.

In a Facebook post, Lathlin said the coin-toss result is a “great example to prove that every vote counts. Thanks to everyone who helped out with the nomination process.”

The Pas has been without a provincial representative since NDP MLA Frank Whitehead resigned almost a year ago.

A date for the by-election has not been set. According to provincial law, Premier Greg Selinger must fill the seat by May 16. The minimum campaign period is 33 days.

The Manitoba government presents its new budget, and spending priorities for the coming year, on April 30.

The Progressive Conservative candidate is Jacob Nasekapow. The Liberal candidate is Inez Vystrcil-Spence.

A spokesman for Selinger said today the premier would not comment on the coin toss as it’s a party matter and before the party executive.

NDP spokesman Ben Johnson said the party executive is holding a special meeting Thursday evening to address the matter. He would not speculate on whether the executive might call for a re-vote in The Pas.

Johnson said that normally in the case of a tie at a nomination meeting, the party returning officer casts the deciding ballot.

“Because this was a highly competitive race, a returning officer was brought in from outside of the constituency. So that person wasn’t a member of the constituency and, thus, couldn’t decide by (voting),” he said.

That’s when officials opted for the coin toss.

Johnson noted that there are precedents across North America and in the United Kingdom for deciding political contests in this way.

Opposition Leader Brian Pallister said today the coin toss further highlights problems within the governing NDP.

“There are other processes that might show a little bit more respect for the importance of the members who were actually there and decided to vote,” Pallister said. “A coin toss kind of belittles the outcome, I think, and it’s too bad because I understand there was good participation.”

Pallister said in the event of deciding a tie in an Tory nomination vote, the president of the riding association votes in advance and that ballot is set aside. To break the tie that ballot is opened.

“It’s not based on whether a schooner appears or a beaver or something like that,” he said.