Jason Kenny stepped down as his party’s leader and prime minister of Alberta on Wednesday night after receiving a slight majority of his support in a review of the United Conservative Party’s leadership.
“While 51 percent of the vote exceeds the constitutional threshold of a majority, there is clearly not enough support for us to continue as leader,” Kenny told a crowd at Spruce Meadows in Calgary.
“I’m sorry, but friends, I really believe we need to move forward together. We need to leave the past behind, and a large number of our members have called for an opportunity to clear the air through leadership elections. “
Kenny congratulated his party on a balanced budget and said he had kept 90% of his promises as prime minister.
The party announced the results at 6:30 p.m., during a virtual address broadcast on the UCP website.
Exactly 34,298 members voted, party officials said, in a postal voting process that began on April 9th as part of a virtual special general meeting.
Ballots were sent to nearly 60,000 elected members of the party with the simple question: “Do you approve of the current leader? Yes or no?”
UCP officials said more than 14,000 people were involved in a live broadcast of the vote check amid concerns about legitimacy.
Some, including UCP MPs, complained about the process and questioned whether the vote would be fair or not.
Kenny’s 2017 leadership victory over rival Brian Jean is still under investigation by the RCMP.
Last week’s correspondence with The Canadian Press showed that the Alberta election was investigating allegations of possible illegal group buying of party membership in Wednesday’s vote.
Kenny set a goal of 50 percent plus one to remain the leader.
According to the party’s statutes, he could retain the post by a simple majority.
With files from Chelan Skulski from CTV News from Edmonton and The Canadian Press
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