Thursday, October 20, 2022

David Eby to claim Premier's Office following dismissal of Anjali Appadurai challenge

NDP Leadership Candidate David Eby in Prince Rupert
earlier this month, as of today, Mr. Eby has a clear road to the
Premiership with details on the transfer to take place on Friday


The BC NDP will have a new leader and the Province a new Premier sooner rather than later now, that following a ruling by the BC NDP Leadership committee that has disqualified challenger Anjali Appadurai, leaving David Eby as the only candidate to succeed John Horgan.

To bring the contest to replace John Horgan to and end, the Executive Council of the NDP ruled last evening on the candidacy for Ms. Appadurai.

The fate of the would be challenger settled after BC NDP Leadership CEO Elizabeth Cullen conducted an investigation into the nature of the challengers campaign and the surge of NDP party applications.

Something which many in the party seem to believe was a form of an attempted coup by Environmental activists within the party and outside of it.

The main thrust of the Executive council decision one of how the challenger to Mr. Eby had not followed the rules and from that cannot move forward with her candidacy. 

A number of Victoria reporters and political pundits made note of the NDP announcement through social media last evening and again this morning.

Among them CHEK TV's Rob Shaw who seemed the fastest with the updates.



The decision to eliminate the social activist and her campaign now has the NDP on the fast road to putting Eby into the Premier's Chair with some indications that it will all be formalized tomorrow morning.

A short press conference  this afternoon with current leader John Horgan, offered up a glimpse as to how the NDP establishment is feeling about the insurgents and their campaign of the last few months.


Just mentioning the name of Ms. Appadurai lately seems to put the NDP executive and caucus into some cold sweats, something not lost on both the Opposition Liberals and Green Party members. 

The latter perhaps now best positioned to capture any disgruntled NDPers; while the Liberals will surely welcome the split vote that the controversial last few weeks is delivering among those who normally might vote for the NDP.

click to enlarge


The topic of the NDP leadership issues also made for some Question Period activity today, with the Opposition taking aim at the controversial end to the leadership race, as well as noting of some concerns over their dedication to democratic themes.

As for how the leadership race has come to an end, the nature of the differences between factions of the New Democrats make for a curious study.

North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice, as an elected member of the Legislature back in the days of the then NDP opposition of around 2015, might have recognized some of the Apparuari themes of today. 

Ms Rice having channelled the nature of many those environmental themes during her Opposition period when she was taking on the Governing Liberals.

However, in the current leadership quest, the North Coast member was onboard early with Mr. Eby.

The Parliamentary Secretary for Emergency Preparedness and MLA for the North Coast sharing her support just prior to his travels to the Northwest.


The current controversy for Mr. Eby, isn't the first time in recent years where a nomination battle has attracted come unwanted attention. 

Back in 2020,  the disqualification of Anita McPhee who had entered the NDP nomination process in Stikine put the NDP in the spotlight when it comes to their internal rules and how they are applied.

And as it seems in politics these days, everything old is new again.

As we noted on our political blog D'Arcy McGee last night, the media were already churning out the themes of last night with much foreshadowing of what was to come today.


The party executives must be in a hurry to put all the discord behind then, a click on the menu of the NDP website for the Leadership 2022 page, bounces you back to the main page and this greeting from Mr. Horgan.


There may yet be more to the story before the afternoon is over, the now spurned NDP challenger is hosting an event at the Legislature this afternoon, promising to speak to the issue as part of that gathering.


You can follow those developments from her social media feed.

We'll add to the media notes listed above later this evening, that as more updates come through as the NDP decision continues to reverberate on the political scene. 


Premier Designate David Eby says BC NDP leadership acclamation 'not how any of us expected this to end'
Anjali Appadurai says she will stick with NDP despite her disqualification from leadership race
Premier says Appadurai could've been 'welcome addition' to NDP race if not for campaign mistakes
David Eby set to become BC Premier after NDP rival disqualified 
BC Premier-to-be David Eby has 'mixed feelings' about end to leadership race 
Eby only pretended to be at arm's-length from DNP probe of Appadurai campaign
David Eby becomes BC Premier designate Friday after divisive leadership campaign
A quick sketch of David Eby who will be British Columbia's next premier
David Eby to be next BC Premier as NDP disqualifies Anjali Appadurai from leadership race 
BC Premier John Horgan throws support behind David Eby as next Premier
Eby plans to lay out 100 day plan; Horgan defends NDP party leadership 
NDP bars Appadurai's Leadership Bid
With Appadurai Out, Can Eby rest easy?
BC's Next Premier has 'mixed feelings' about end of BC NDP leadership race


Further items of interest from Victoria can be followed through our D'Arcy McGee archive here.  

Notes of interest from the Legislature can be explored through our archive page here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.

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