Ignatieff The Frontrunner In Lib. Leadership Race After Delegate Selection

Members spent the weekend electing delegates to send to the party convention in Montreal in December and after two days of voting Friday and Saturday, Ignatieff’s share of the delegates hovered around 32 percent.

Party members also voted Sunday and those results could change these standings slightly.

While Ignatieff still holds the lead, he’s still vulnerable to be overtaken by another candidate, chiefly Bob Rae or Stephane Dion, during the multiple rounds of balloting at the winter convention.

“Does anyone have this thing wrapped up? Absolutely not. This will be a good scrap right to the final ballot,” Ignatieff spokesman Bob Richardson admitted.

According to recent polls of Liberal members, Dion and Rae have the best chance to increase their support after the first ballot, when other candidates begin to drop out.

The 4,500 delegates heading to the convention have to support the candidate for whom they were elected on the first ballot. After that they can back whoever they want. So the results of this weekend’s delegate elections provide a pretty good snapshot of what the first ballot results will be in December.

Liberal insiders claims Ignatieff will need at least 35 per cent on the first ballot to avoid being overtaken.

According to the unofficial delegate election results released Saturday night, Rae is in second with 19 percent of delegates and Dion is close behind with 18 percent.

Former Ontario Education Minister Gerard Kennedy is in fourth with 14 percent. He was pretty much shut out of Quebec.

“People don’t know me in Quebec. Where I have got recognition, I’ve got support,” he said.

He’s also struggling to master French.

The remaining candidates Scott Brison, Ken Dryden, Joe Volpe and Martha Hall Findlay all have less than five percent.

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