Manitoba Liberal wants leader Rana Bokhari to resign at post-election meeting

A longtime Manitoba Liberal Party campaign managerwants leader Rana Bokharito resign when shereports to her party'sboard of directors Thursday evening, after coming in third in the Fort Rouge constituency in the 2016 provincial election.

The Liberals also failed to gain official party status,winning only threeseats. In Manitoba, a party needs to win four seats to become an official party and get all the associated perks.

"I would be exceptionally disappointed if that were to happen," said Andy Drummond,who was the campaign manager for theLiberal candidate in The Maples,if Bokhari choosesnot to step down as leader immediately.

The Liberal Party hasno mechanism to force a leader out, but under the party's constitution there will be an automatic leadership review at the next annual general meeting, which is scheduled for spring 2017.

"I don't think it would be good forthe party in any way, shape or form,"Drummondsaid about Bokhariremaining at the helm.

There's probably going to be a frank discussion about how the election went- Paul Hesse, president of the Manitoba Liberal Party

Drummondblames Bokhari for not performing better in the election and said he was surprised she didn't resign Tuesday evening.

"I think you have to lay it at the feet of the leader," he said about the party's failure to take more seats.

The Liberal campaign manager also said he wasdisappointed she didn't give a concession speech after her loss, whichis customary on election night and usually includes congratulations tothe winner and thanks tosupporters.

"There was no tone or tenure for what should follow for the provincial party, and that's not quite leadership," Drummondsaid. "You have to face the music at the end."

He would like to see one of the three Liberals elected to the legislature become the leader. Former Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard was re-elected in River Heights Tuesday evening. Cindy Lamoureux (Burrows) and Judy Klassen (Kewatinook) bothbeat out NDP cabinet ministers to become MLAs.

"The leader should come from inside the legislature, and now we're lucky enough to have three seats," Drummond said.

Mike Brown, the Manitoba Liberal Party's director of communications, said he was unaware there was a meeting of the board Tuesday night, but party president Paul Hesse confirmed the meeting will be at the party's provincial office at 7 p.m.

'Lessons learned'

"There's probably going to be a frank discussion about how the election went," said Hesse."We elected two new MLAs,two great new MLAs, so we're excited about that, but there were plenty of lessons learned from the election as well."

He pointed to the failure to run candidates in every constituency assomething they want to make sure doesn't happen again. However, he would not comment on who was at fault, nor what he thought Bokhari should do.

Corey Shefman, campaign director for the Manitoba Liberal Party, will make a presentation to the board of directors at the meeting.

"The fact that we doubled our vote countand tripled our seats will probably be talked about," Shefman said. "It's no small feat to go from one seat to three."

Shefman would not comment on what he would like to see happen with the Liberal leader, but applauded Bokhari's efforts both as a candidate in Fort Rouge and as the leader of the party.

"While the other party leaders were in safe ridings, the fact is that Ranachose to run in a riding where she felt she could represent the people the best, but because it was a tougher riding and because she had responsibilities outside of the riding, she was at a disadvantage," Shefman said.

The Liberals fought the election with substantially less financial resourcesthan the New Democrats and the Progressive Conservatives, he pointed out.