The 2012 New Democratic Party leadership election (NDP), was held March 24, 2012, in order to elect a permanent successor to Jack Layton who had died the previous summer.
The New Democratic Party's executive and caucus set the rules for the campaign at a series of meetings in September 2011. The election took place in Toronto and on the Internet. At the Leadership Convention, held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Thomas Mulcair was declared to be the new leader of the party. The convention was to be held at Exhibition Place's Allstream Centre, but it was moved to the larger venue due to a greater than expected number of delegates registering for the event.
The vote was open to all NDP members in a combination of exhaustive ballot and instant-runoff voting with one member, one vote (OMOV); each member voted by preferential ballot in advance, or with a single ballot for each round on the day of the election. The entrance fee was set at $15,000 and each candidate's spending limit was capped at $500,000.
Mulcair was the NDP's seventh leader elected since its founding in 1961. Because the NDP was the Official Opposition in the 41st Canadian Parliament, he also assumed the position of Leader of the Official Opposition in the House of Commons of Canada.
Convention timing
In a letter written days before his death, Layton recommended that a leadership election be held as early as possible in 2012 on approximately the same time lines as in 2003, and that Nycole Turmel, who had been appointed interim leader because of his illness, continue in that role until the election of a permanent leader. Turmel initially said that the party intended to hold the leadership election in January 2012. Others, including party president Brian Topp and Deputy Leader Thomas Mulcair—both prospective candidates—called for a longer race. Topp agreed with calls for a vote later in the year, such as February or March. Mulcair said he would not run if the convention is held too early. Like Topp, he suggests a convention in "late winter or early spring". He also pointed out that such a time frame would be consistent with the last leadership election, which took 7.5 months (June 6, 2002 – January 23, 2003). On September 9, the NDP federal council set the election for March 24, 2012, in Toronto.
The longer timeline was to allow more members to be recruited in Quebec, which had low numbers of NDP members but, following the "Orange Crush" in the recent election, the bulk of the party's MPs.
Election rules
The leadership election was open to all members during a convention in a combination of exhaustive ballot and instant-runoff voting. Votes mailed in advance were cast by instant-runoff voting, but votes on the day, either at the convention or online, were for one round only. Candidates could withdraw before being formally eliminated and release preferences to lower down candidates who stay in. In the 2003 leadership election, members were able to vote in person at the convention, by mail, or online. Also in that election, affiliated organizations (such as trade unions) were allotted a minimum of 25 percent of the vote, with the remainder held by individual party members. The party's federal executive ruled in September 2011 that a 2006 change to the party constitution mandating one member, one vote precluded a carve-out for affiliated groups.
Party president and leadership candidate Brian Topp supported retaining the carve-out as did former MP Dawn Black, while MPs Thomas Mulcair, Peter Stoffer, and Pat Martin opposed it. In previous leadership elections, a union's delegates would normally vote as a block making union endorsements an important factor in the outcome.
Candidates in the campaign had a $500,000 spending limit.
On September 14, 2011, interim party leader Nycole Turmel announced rules for candidates from the federal caucus that would have members of the caucus executive, e.g., deputy leaders, to stay in their posts, but would require critics and committee chairs and vice chairs to step down if they chose to join the race.
All those who were party members by February 18, 2012, were eligible to vote and could do so in one of three ways: mail-in preferential ballot; by internet either by casting a preferential ballot prior to March 24, 2012, or by voting ballot-by-ballot in real time on March 24; or in person as a delegate at the convention.