NDP voter turnout could be sign of political engagement
‘He energized a group ... who really felt it was time for a change in the party’
Ryan Meili’s 1,100-vote margin of victory in the Saskatchewan NDP leadership race sends a strong signal about the resurgence of the left-wing party’s activist wing, which has historically struggled to topple establishment candidates, according to a University of Regina political scientist.
“He’s mobilized people who want change,” Jim Farney said of the soft-spoken physician, who collected 5,973 votes to Regina Rosemont MLA Trent Wotherspoon’s 4,860 in a race that insiders and experts said was too close to call until the ballots were counted.
“Policy-wise, they’re pretty close — there’s some differences, but I think he energized a group of party members and activists who really felt it was time for a change in the party, wanted to see something distinct,” Farney added, moments after the results were announced on Saturday.
Sally Housser, a veteran NDP strategist and senior consultant with the public relations firm Navigator Ltd., said little daylight between the two camps’ policy positions meant the race ultimately came down to which candidate’s style party members preferred.
“A lot of people, particularly some younger people in the party, viewed (Meili) as having just a little more vision for the future,” Housser said of the Saskatoon Meewasin MLA, who based his campaign on the notion that viewing policy through the prism of health was the best way to improve conditions for people across the province.
“It’s blowing pretty hard out there today, and I think those might be the winds of change,” Meili said in his victory speech, which concluded a campaign during which he had few qualms about positioning himself as the best way to end the party ’s decade-long stint in Opposition.
The desire for change appears to have translated into a high turnout. Of the 13,414 NDP members eligible to vote, 10,837, or 81 per cent, cast ballots — including four who abstained — at a convention in Regina, which ended a gruelling campaign dominated by discussion about how to end the party’s recent political struggles.
By comparison, 17,139 of 27,125 eligible Saskatchewan Party members, or 63 per cent, voted in its leadership race, which concluded on Jan. 27 with the election of Scott Moe. That turnout exceeded the party ’s expectation that about 55 per cent of members would vote in the hotly contested race.
The NDP’s last leadership convention, in 2013, featured a similarly high turnout as 8,179 of about 11,000 eligible members — roughly 79 per cent — cast ballots. Cam Broten won that race on the second ballot, edging Meili, who also lost the 2009 race, by 46 votes. Wotherspoon was dropped after the first ballot.
Housser said the 81 per cent figure is a sign that the party is not only growing, but that its members are politically engaged. Farney agreed, but pointed out that the NDP failed to attract as many new members as the Sask. Party did during its much shorter leadership race.
Wotherspoon received endorsements from most of the NDP’s sitting MLAs. Farney said that while the first caucus meeting could be awkward, the decisive result will likely make it easy for the party to mend divisions. Housser, meanwhile, said party members are simply eager to get to work.
The Saskatchewan Legislature is scheduled to resume sitting on March 12.