Liberal candidate named in Glace Bay byelection

AGlace Bay woman is angry with the Nova Scotia Liberals for changing the way it sought a candidate for an upcoming byelection.

Edna Lee withdrew her nameFriday from the race to represent the Liberals after the party announced it would hold a vote on Monday in advance of a scheduled nominating meeting.

She said she quit because she feels the process wasundemocratic.

"It's taking the grassroots Liberals' rights away to listen to a candidate, to see what they have to offer and to make a voting decision based upon that," she said.

A nominating meeting had been scheduled for May 29 to select between Lee and her opponent,Geoff MacLellan. But Lee said she was notified on Thursday that the party would hold a vote on May 10 to choose a preferred candidate.

Provincial Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil defended the party's decision to hold the hastily scheduled vote.

"Both candidates were told when I met them that the leader has a right to appoint a candidate," McNeil said.

"I didn't want to do that, but if this byelection was going to be called quickly we would try to find a mechanism that worked and the best democratic mechanism that was at my disposal was to have a meeting that would allow those members to vote to have a say on who they wanted to be their candidate."

The seat was vacated when Liberal MLA Dave Wilson resigned without explanation in the midst of the provincialauditor general's investigation into possible irregularities in MLA expense account spending.

MacLellan was named as the official candidate on Friday. Healso defended the process.

"They had to make a very precise and swift decision," he said. "This is the decision. We'll live with it, and now that I'm the candidate, I look forward to battling for the seat."

Lee said she is exploring other options for running in the byelection.

The New Democrats have nominated Myrtle Campbell as their candidate and the Progressive Conservatives are expected to announce a candidate within the next few weeks.

No date has been set for the byelection.