NDP members vote for leadership review

Almost seven months after she lost her seat in the House of Assembly, provincial NDP leader Alison Coffin’s political future has become a bit murkier.

Over the weekend, members attending the party’s convention in St. John’s voted in favour of a leadership review. It was a relatively close result, with 56.6 per cent of members voting in favour of the review and 43.4 per cent voting against it. That vote took place Saturday, less than two hours after Coffin addressed attendees of the convention in a speech.

As a result of the vote, the party may soon find itself issuing a call for nominations for a new leader.

Coffin issued a statement Sunday afternoon that made clear she does not intend to resign from her role as of now.

“I have been humbled throughout my time as Leader of the NL NDP and will continue to act as Leader until this review process that will direct the future of our movement is complete,” she wrote.

The statement did not offer clarity on whether Coffin would continue to seek the support of party members when a leadership race is held.

Party president Kyle Rees, who earned the right to remain in that role by acclamation Sunday, told Saltwire Network what happens next is at the new party executive’s discretion and could play out in a couple of ways.

“The usual process would be there would be an interim leader named and then the executive would at some point — and it could be tomorrow, or it could be next year — would start a leadership nomination period, whereby individuals could submit their names to be considered as leader of the party. And that could include Alison Coffin. A leadership review isn’t the removal of the person as leader.”

Rees said there are merits to waiting a few months before calling for nominations, as there are to acting in a quick fashion. He expects conversations will begin shortly on that front.

“Part of that will have to be Alison Coffin deciding on whether she wants to reoffer her name as well,” he added.

VICTORY AND DEFEAT

Coffin, an economist, became the party’s leader by acclamation in March of 2019, taking over from Gerry Rogers.