TORONTO, ON — Thousands of Ontario Liberals are gathering today to announce the results of the 2023 Leadership Election Votes (LEVs) that took place on Saturday, November 25 and Sunday, November 26, and rally around the new Ontario Liberal Leader.
To win the Leadership Election, a candidate must secure over 50% of the available points, which are awarded on a proportional basis and distributed across the 124 constituency associations, 10 student clubs, and 8 women’s clubs.
The results of the second round of counting of the ranked ballots are:
BONNIE CROMBIE
6,047 points (46.7%)
NATE ERSKINE-SMITH
3,792 points (29.3%)
YASIR NAQVI
3,101 points (24.0%)
In the second round of counting, no candidate received enough votes to win the Leadership. As the candidate with the fewest points, Yasir Naqvi is now eliminated, and their first-place votes will be recounted using second-place choices.
The Chief Returning Officer will now proceed to the third round of counting and the Ontario Liberal Party will announce the results when they are available.
For the first time in Ontario Liberal history, the new Leader is being elected directly by party members across Ontario, with an equal voice given to all 124 ridings. In this race, 22,827 Ontario Liberals cast ballots in last weekend’s Leadership Election Votes — more than any other leadership election in the party’s history.
This is nearly double the 12,988 Ontario Liberals who cast leadership ballots in 2020 and more than the 19,438 Ontario Liberals who cast leadership ballots in 2013.