OTTAWA-
The next leader of the Conservative Party will be chosen by nearly 418,000 members.
The party released the final figure today, after a deadline came earlier this week for party members to return their mail-in ballots.
More than 430,000 ballots were returned, but some were discarded because members failed to provide proper identification, which is required to vote.
The number of votes set a new record for the party, which announced its next leader on Saturday.
The Conservative statement says tens of thousands of new memberships were purchased during the leadership campaign and the updated voters list now contains more than 678,700 names.
This means that the next leader of the party will be chosen thanks to a voter turnout of almost 62%.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on September 8, 2022