British Columbia New Democratic Party leadership elections

This page covers the results of leadership elections in the British Columbia New Democratic Party (known as the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation before 1961).

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Early developments

On July 5, 1936, CCF parliamentary leader Robert Connell survived a leadership challenge, 138 votes to 76. It was also determined, at this meeting, that the party's future leadership would be decided by delegated conventions.

Leadership convention, 1939

(Held June 26, 1939)

• WINCH, Harold elected 56-11

Leadership convention, 1953

(Held April 10, 1953)

• WEBSTER, Arnold accl.

Leadership convention, 1956

(Held April 6, 1956)

• STRACHAN, Robert 72
• NIMSICK, Leo Thomas 35
• TURNER, Arthur James 19

Leadership convention, 1961

(Held October 28, 1961)

• STRACHAN, Robert accl.

Leadership challenge, 1967

(Held on June 4, 1967 in Burnaby, British Columbia.)

• STRACHAN, Robert 278
• BERGER, Tom 177

Leadership convention, 1969

(Held on April 12, 1969.)

First ballot:

• BERGER, Tom 364
• BARRETT, Dave 249
• WILLIAMS, Bob 130
• CONWAY, John 44

Second ballot:

• BERGER, Tom 411
• BARRETT, Dave 375

Berger stepped down as party leader after the NDP lost the provincial election of 1969. Barrett was subsequently chosen as interim party leader.

Leadership convention, 1970

(Held June 6, 1970)

• BARRETT, Dave accl.

Leadership convention, 1984

(Held on May 20, 1984.)

First ballot:

• VICKERS, David 269
• KING, Bill 240
• SKELLY, Robert 171
• BIRRELL, Margaret 141
• STUPICH, David 132
• LEA, Graham 101

Lea was eliminated, and endorsed Stupich.

Second ballot:

• VICKERS, David 308
• KING, Bill 263
• SKELLY, Robert 218
• STUPICH, David 147
• BIRRELL, Margaret 134

Birrell was eliminated. She initially declined to endorse another candidate, but later supported Robert Skelly.

Third ballot:

• VICKERS, David 339
• SKELLY, Robert 313
• KING, Bill 292
• STUPICH, David 114

Stupich was eliminated. He declined to endorse another candidate.

Fourth ballot:

• VICKERS, David 383
• SKELLY, Robert 349
• KING, Bill 333

King was eliminated, and endorsed Skelly.

Fifth ballot:

• SKELLY, Bob 606
• VICKERS, David 452

Leadership convention, 1987

(Held on April 12, 1987.)

• HARCOURT, Michael accl.

Leadership convention, 1996

(Held on February 18, 1996.)

• CLARK, Glen 802
• EVANS, Corky 234
• SMALLWOOD, Joan 67
• KUEHN, Donovan 23
• MCDONALD, Jack 6

Leadership convention, 2000

(Held on February 20, 2000.)

• DOSANJH, Ujjal 769
• EVANS, Corky 549

(Gordon Wilson had been a candidate but withdrew an hour before voting began and endorsed Corky Evans. Labour activist Len Werden had withdrawn the day before the convention. Joy MacPhail had also been a candidate but she dropped out on January 8, 2000 and threw her support to Ujjal Dosanjh. MacPhail became interim leader after Dosanjh lost his seat in the 2001 provincial election and resigned. On June 4, 2003 she announced her intention to resign as interim leader.)

Leadership convention, 2003

(Held on November 23, 2003.)

First ballot:

• JAMES, Carole 325
• JENSEN, Nils 169
• KROG, Leonard 150
• ORCHERTON, Steve 87
• NAJARI, Mehdi 32
• DIMITROV, Peter 12

Second ballot:

• JAMES, Carole 395
• KROG, Leonard 219
• JENSEN, Nils 162

Leadership convention, 2011

See British Columbia New Democratic Party leadership election, 2011

(Held on April 17, 2011.)

Candidate	First ballot		Second ballot		Third ballot
	Votes	Percent	Votes	Percent	Votes	Percent
Adrian Dix	7,638	38.2%	7,748	39.3%	9,772	51.8%
Mike Farnworth	6,979	34.9%	6,951	35.2%	9,095	48.2%
John Horgan	4,844	24.2%	5,034	25.5%
Dana Larsen	531	2.7%

See also

• List of British Columbia general elections
• Leader of the Opposition (British Columbia)