WINNIPEG - The Manitoba Liberal Party has lost yet another candidate in advance of the April 19 election.
The party says its candidate in Gimli, Joanne Levy, has been disqualified by Elections Manitoba because she worked as an enumerator earlier this year. The Elections Act prohibits an enumerator from being nominated as a candidate.
“I want to apologize to the voters of the Gimli Electoral District. I was anxious to give them the choice of a Manitoba Liberal and I will not be able to do so,” said Levy in a statement released Wednesday afternoon.
The NDP filed a complaint about Levy earlier this week, saying her partisan activity broke the rules governing non-partisan enumerators.
“Although I believed I ceased to be an enumerator once my duties were complete and my oath returned on February 28 that is not how Elections Manitoba interprets and enforces The Elections Act,” said Levy.
Elections Manitoba has also rejected nomination forms from four other rural Liberal candidates because they didn't have proper addresses for some people who signed the forms.
The decision means the Liberals will not have a full slate of 57 candidates for the first time since 1999.
Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari says she is disappointed with the decisions, and says she feels candidates are being disqualified on technical grounds.
- With files from CTV Winnipeg
