With federal elections just around the corner, the NDP is facing a blow to candidates after all New Brunswick NDP candidates just announced that they will be joining the Green Party this year. This means, that as of Tuesday, there will be no NDP candidates running throughout the entire province. This comes as a blow to the NDP this close to elections.

UPDATE: As of September 5, 2019, the NDP has stated to Narcity that they have spoken directly with some of their former candidates who have confirmed that they are still supporting Jagmeet Singh and the NDP this election.

The NDP media team reports, "It appears many of these individuals were named by Jonathan Richardson and the Green Party without their consent." The NDP state that four New Brunswick NDP candidates were added to the list without their consent and still support the New Brunswick NDP.

Earlier: According to CBC, the former NDP candidate Jonathan Richardson announced that 14 former New Brunswick NDP candidates will not be running for the NDP party this upcoming election and will be joining the Green Party instead. While none of these candidates have actually joined the Green Party, it was announced to CBC that they would be submitting their applications late Tuesday afternoon.

These former New Democrats state that they "encourage all New Democrats, New Brunswickers, and, indeed, all Canadians in voting for the Green Party of Canada this election."

With several* former candidates not joining their NDP ridings in New Brunswick, according to CBC, this leaves Jagmeet Singh and his party with an empty province for the time being. However, it is possible that more NDP candidates will come forward in the following weeks.

One of the reasons for this shift in political views from the NDP candidates could be due to the fact that NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has not visited New Brunswick since 2017. However, Elizabeth May from the Green Party has visited their province this year.

Another reason for the candidates banning together and making the switch to the Green Party is because "The Green Party of Canada has been steadfast in their beliefs, never flip-flopping on achieving their goal." Jonathan Richardson, a former NDP candidate told CBC.

However, after reportedly losing several* candidates NDP candidates in New Brunswick join the Green Party, they are also encouraging all other New Brunswick candidates around Canada to do the same, yet so far, it looks like no other candidates have followed.

However, after reportedly losing several* candidates this close to the federal elections, it comes as a low blow for the NDPs. Especially since the NDP has the lowest amount of candidates across the country.

On Thursday, it was reported that the NDPs were in the last place when it came to the number of candidates that they currently have running in the ridings around Canada.

Out of the 338 ridings, the NDP only had 148 candidates, over 100 less than the Liberals, and nearly 200 less than the Conservatives.

Now, it seems that their numbers won't be rising as these former candidates make the switch to the Green Party.

However, last week, the NDP announced that they will have candidates in all ridings in time for election day. Whether or not that statement still stands after the reported loss of several* candidates is unknown.

*This article has been updated.