After Eby, the NDP Cannot Afford Another Coronation

The BC NDP’s next leader should have to win in public. Not be passed a crown. Not be waved through by insiders. Not inherit the wreckage of David Eby’s snap-election gamble without first answering members, voters and the people the party says it represents.

The current problem is not abstract process theatre. The Tyee’s post-election analysis says Eby’s leadership is over after a disastrous election call, with the NDP falling from 47 seats to 27 while the Conservatives moved from 29 to 64. It also says the party has lost touch with many progressive voters. That is precisely why another closed leadership moment would be indefensible.

The record is plain. The Tyee notes the NDP has not had a real leadership competition since 2011, when Adrian Dix won. CityNews’ 2011 report shows that contest was not ceremonial: Dix defeated Mike Farnworth by 677 votes, with John Horgan also in the field. A contested race forced candidates to make arguments, test support and show members what kind of party they wanted to be.

After that, the pattern changed. CityNews reported in 2014 that Horgan was acclaimed after Farnworth dropped out and no other contenders came forward before the deadline, cancelling the planned leadership convention. That may have produced a popular leader, but it was still an acclamation, not a membership choice among competing visions.

Then came 2022. Elections BC’s official financing notice says the BC NDP announced its leadership contest in July 2022 and that David Eby was acclaimed leader on October 21, 2022. Elections BC also recorded that Eby was the only contestant required to file a financing report, because approved leadership contestants must file even if acclaimed.

The Appadurai episode remains central to the public trust issue. Elections BC’s October 20, 2022 notice says it closed its review into possible Dogwood BC contributions after the BC NDP disqualified Anjali Appadurai and did not approve her as a leadership contestant. The regulator also said Appadurai did not become an approved contestant, so the Election Act’s leadership-contest finance rules did not apply to her campaign.

Those facts do not require speculation. They show a party whose last three leadership outcomes were one contested race, then an acclamation, then another acclamation after the only challenger was removed from the race. Now the leader produced by that process has led the party into Opposition after an early election voters did not need.

That should settle the standard for what comes next. If the NDP wants to claim renewal, the next leader must face a real contest with real opponents, real debates, real membership scrutiny and real public accountability. A party cannot ask British Columbians to trust its judgment again while treating leadership as an appointment to be managed behind a locked door.