The future leader of the Conservative Party of Canada is to be chosen today.
13 candidates are vying to lead the party, with polls suggesting the frontrunners are Maxime Bernier, Erin O’Toole and Andrew Scheer.
The winning candidate must get 50% of the votes plus one (for a total of 16,901) to be declared the winner.
Each of Canada’s 338 federal ridings is worth 100 points, and party members cast their ballots ranking their top ten choices of leader in their ridings.
Points are awarded to each candidate based on the percentage of votes they won in each riding.
The Conservative Party uses a preferential ballot system, so if there isn’t a winner at first, the person with the fewest points is dropped.
Those points are then redistributed among the remaining candidates according to the preferred ranking by voters.
This system continues until there is a clear winner – with results being announced starting at 5 o’clock Eastern (6 o’clock Atlantic time).
The newly chosen leader will take over from interim leader Rona Ambrose, who recently announced her retirement from politics.
