Sudbury byelection advance voters increase in number over 2014

Advance poll numbers for this Thursday's Ontario byelection in Sudbury show turnout is up slightly from the early polling in last year's general election.

Elections Ontario says 4,383 people have cast ballots since advance polling opened on Jan. 24, compared with 4,021 votes cast in advance polls for the June 12 election last year.

• Sudbury Ontario byelection 2015

The New Democrats took Sudbury from the Liberals in the general election, but rookie MPP Joe Cimino resigned suddenly in November, forcing Premier Kathleen Wynne to call the byelection.

Wynne decided to appoint former New Democrat MP GlennThibeault as the Liberal candidate in the byelection, rejecting Andrew Olivier, the Liberal candidate who lost to Cimino by less than 1,000 votes in June.

Elections Ontario is investigating allegations raised by Olivier that Wynne and her top advisers offered him a job or appointment to step aside as the Liberal candidate in the byelection.

Wynne has denied the allegations and repeated Monday that she was only trying to keep Olivier in the Liberal family.