The Conservative Party of Canada has chosen its next leader.
Veteran Conservative Pierre Poilievre, who ran a populist campaign around the theme of "freedom" in his bid to score the top prize, won on the first ballot with 68.15 per cent of the vote.
Jean Charest placed second with 16.07 per cent of the vote, while Leslyn Lewis came in third with 9.69 per cent. Roman Baber earned a fourth place finish with 5.03 per cent of the vote. Scott Aitchison came in last place with 1.06 per cent.
Poilievre is the first CPC leader to do so since Stephen Harper won in the first round in 2004 in the party's first leadership race.
The Conservatives are using a points system to count up the more than 400,000 votes that were cast before Tuesday's ballot deadline. Candidates are assigned points based on what share of the vote they receive in each of the country’s 338 electoral ridings and whoever scores more than 50 per cent of the points wins.
The party is also employing a ranked ballot where members mark their preferred choice for leader from first to last.
Back in 2020, it took three rounds of counting for former leader Erin O'Toole to be elected as the winner.
Poilievre was the clear frontrunner in the CPC’s latest contest. According to his campaign, he sold 300,000 memberships. Sixty-two of the party’s 118 members of Parliament also backed him.
-with files from Canadian Press
