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Clark accused of dawdling on byelection
Clark accused of dawdling on byelection
B.C. may get general election in the fall instead, analyst says
Premier Christy Clark's delay in calling a byelection in Vancouver-Point Grey has critics on the attack for perceived foot-dragging and pundits wondering if she is holding out for a full-blown general election in the fall.
Clark said this week she will seek the Liberal party's nomination for a race in Vancouver-Point Grey, but stopped short of setting a byelection date.
Under the law, Clark has to declare a byelection before Sept. 15 — six months after former premier Gordon Campbell vacated his seat in the riding.
Clark has faced repeated questions about when she will run for election, since winning her party's leadership race Feb. 26. She was only the second person to become B.C. premier without holding a seat in the legislature.
"Ms. Clark was elected [Liberal leader] almost two months ago, she should stop this cat-and-mouse game," said interim NDP leader Dawn Black. "Tell the people of British Columbia when she's running."
Clark's seeming reluctance to face voters is "incredibly odd" and "seems rather silly," said Black.
Veteran political scientist Norman Ruff said he was surprised Clark did not call a byelection immediately after Campbell quit in March.
If she had, she would potentially have won a seat before the start of the legislative session April 27. Instead, she will be unable to sit with her own government in the legislature. Clark had said previously she wanted to get back into the house as quickly as possible.
"I think that was a big missed opportunity for her," said Ruff. "If she moved right away in March, she could have been over and done with it."
The byelection would typically be a 28-day campaign.
"She seems to have shown an unusual amount of dilly-dallying and procrastination in making her mind up when to go," said Ruff, professor emeritus at the University of Victoria.
Further complicating the byelection timing is voter fatigue over the referendum on the harmonized sales tax and the ongoing federal election. The mail-in referendum vote runs June 13 to July 22, with full results expected in August. The federal election date is May 2.
Clark, who has stated a preference to call a general election before the next fixed date in 2013, may still be trying to figure out how the HST referendum results would affect a general election call.
"I'm starting to think the warmest option for them would be win the HST [referendum], and then if it's a big win you go to a general election at the beginning of October," said Ruff. |
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發表於 2011-4-13 07:54
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