Canada has a new opposition leader, despite cyber-attack on vote

[Evie]

Quebec MP Thomas Mulcair on Saturday won the contest to become the leader of Canada’s New Democrats, finally giving the party a permanent leader for the first time since Jack Layton died in August.

Mr. Mulcair’s victory, which makes him the Leader of the Official Opposition in Parliament, would have been routine but for several delays in online voting on Saturday caused by what the NDP first blamed on high volume and later said were the result of orchestrated cyber attacks.

Mr. Mulcair, the party’s Quebec lieutenant, took 57% of the vote on the fourth and final ballot. Long-time organizer Brian Topp, a senior advisor to Mr. Layton, had 42% support.

Meanwhile, the deadline to vote between first and second ballots was extended twice after the online system experienced slowdowns and crashes. The problems were repeated between the second and third ballots. Despite the fact that a two-hour window had been opened to vote, party president Rebecca Blaikie came on stage to announce that the last half-hour would be open only to members present at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Then online voting for those elsewhere in the country was opened for a full hour. Then end result of the technical glitches: a process that was supposed to see the second-ballot vote finished shortly after 12 ET instead saw the third-ballot voting not closed until almost 6 ET.

Party spokesman Brad Lavigne said the system had been hampered by an apparent cyber attack, but he said the votes had not been comprised and that the attack had only served to delay the process. NDP staff said all candidates had been aware of the voting problems and all had pledged to accept the result.

Voting for the fourth ballot was later extended by yet another hour, after complaints that members could not access the online system. Final results were not announced until after 9 ET. Party staff said the website that bit hit by a second denial-of-service attack, but it did not yet know who was behind them. Spokeswoman Sally Housser said the party would be investigating over the coming days.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/24/thomas-mulcair-elected-new-leader-of-ndp/

So, to Canadians (and other people interested in our politics): what do you think this means politically? Good for the NDP? Bad for the NDP? Good for Harper, or bad? And so on?

(In my view, it's bad for just about everyone. Bad for the Bloc because the NDP has much better odds of keeping a good chunk of their Quebec gains; bad for the Liberals because Mulcair has every intention of crowding them out of the Center Left, bad for the Tories because of both the above points, and because Mulcair is one hell of a political fighter)...and bad for the traditional NDP because their party is going to be a lot more center-left by the time Mulcair is done. Could be great for the average Canadians, though)

And who do you think was behind the alleged cyber-attacks? I mean, other than the ever-elusive Pierre Poutine.

 

[emzie]

It takes a lot of spin to say this is good for the NDP.

Seeing as it was 2 Quebecois in the final round, perhaps the party might hold onto Quebec next election? I hope this wasn't a flash-in-the-pan that the NDP can't match without Layton.

 

[Evie]

I don't know that Topp's Quebecerness would have really meant much. He's a Quebecer much in the same way as Mitt Romney is a Michiganer : grew up there, did a few things there, but hasn't really developed a noticeable popular association with the province. He was more involved in things in Ontario, Saskatchewan and BC (honestly, I thought he was Ontarian until you mentioned his being Quebecois)

Mulcair, on the other hand, is a long-standing public figure in Quebec, and fairly popular thanks to constructively slamming the door of Jean Charest' caucus a few years back.

(He's definitely the one who has the best odds of keeping Quebec)

 

[innonimatu]

It means that online voting is a stupid idea!

 

[emzie]

It means that online voting is a stupid idea!

I voted online in 2008, in the Democratic primary. Worked pretty well then.

 

[Taliesin]

Good for the NDP, good for Canada. Mulcair was the only choice to keep Quebec and its anti-neoliberal politics in the tent. I also think Canada's "left" needs to shed much of its dogmatic social-democratic baggage and find a way of occupying green and conservative political space that has gone unrepresented for some time now. Statism and labour unions are not the future, and it does ill for the conscientious side of Canadian politics to be bound to them.

Mulcair's views on Israel are unfortunate, but the issue isn't a shibboleth for me as it is for many on the left. In a nontrivial sense I think it really doesn't matter a fig what the Canadian prime minister thinks or doesn't think about Israel.

 

[Evie]

When you have a country the size of Canada and want to ensure everyone cast their own vote and everyone's vote count equally (eg, no primaries where the first few count a lot more than the last few, and no electing delegates), there are basically two options: online voting, or setting up voting booths everywhere.

The later really isn't practical for a party.

 

[Ayn Rand]

Party spokesman Brad Lavigne said the system had been hampered by an apparent cyber attack, but he said the votes had not been comprised and that the attack had only served to delay the process.

Hmm.. Canadians are obviously very trusting

 

[emzie]

Hmm.. Canadians are obviously very trusting

Part of online voting requires a non-electronic check to verify results.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I will reserve my opinion until I see more of what this guy intends to do, and how far he intends to stray from traditional NDP values. Right now I'm more concerned about the coming Alberta election. It's expected that the writ will be dropped on Monday.

 

[Renner]

Can't say I know much about Mulcair at all. Hopefully he has better luck than Dion/Iggy though, lest the NDP implode like the Liberals.