David Eby was declared the leader of British Columbia’s governing New Democrats Friday amid controversy around a leadership race where his only rival was disqualified.
Eby says he shares the mixed feelings and sadness of party members about how the leadership race ended.
Anjali Appadurai was removed from the race by the party executive after a report found a third party solicited fraudulent memberships on her behalf.
Eby says he hopes Appadurai and her supporters can find a home with the New Democrats because they bring a lot of energy to the party.
There’s no word on when Eby will be sworn in as premier, but outgoing Premier John Horgan says he fully supports him and accused Appadurai’s campaign of resorting to tactics of “thuggery.”
Eby, the former B.C. attorney general and housing minister, says he will also lay out plans today for his first 100 days in office.
Appadurai says she will remain a member of the NDP and has no plans to stop her political activism.
“I categorically reject I am an outsider to this party,” she says.
Appadurai says her campaign represented the start of a grassroots movement to drive social change and revitalize the party structure of the NDP.