CALGARY—The United Conservative Party has enlisted a retired judge to conduct an “independent” inquiry after a Calgary constituency meeting was shut down over allegations of ballot-stuffing Saturday.

The retired judge, Ted Carruthers, is a former Progressive Conservative party president. Members of the UCP who live in the riding of Calgary-North East had gathered Saturday afternoon to elect a board for the constituency association, but the results were voided amid “irregularities,” said party executive director Janice Harrington.

“Party staff immediately suspended the meeting once credible concerns of irregularities came to light,” said Harrington in an email.

“The results in question have been voided, and it is anticipated a new vote will happen at a later time.”

The UCP, led by Jason Kenney, didn’t give details on what exactly happened at the vote, but allegations of ballot-stuffing circulated on social media, and in a YouTube video.

“We take these allegations very seriously,” said Harrington in an email. “As such, retired judge Ted Carruthers has been engaged to conduct an independent review.”

Constituency associations are volunteer organizations endorsed by parties or MLAs. They typically handle fundraising, or collecting and reporting campaign contributions. The meeting on Saturday was meant to establish a president, secretary, chief financial officer and up to 27 directors for the UCP’s constituency association in the new riding of Calgary-North East.

Another such meeting in the riding of Chestermere-Strathmore last month went sour after a dispute between two candidates who were vying for the UCP nomination in the constituency.

Disputes over candidate and riding association board nominations are not unusual and flare up more often — and with more intensity — when a party is perceived as the government-in-waiting, said Mount Royal University political scientist Duane Bratt.

“Usually these episodes were primarily with the Progressive Conservative party because they were ‘you win the nomination and you form government,’” said Bratt.

“There’s a similar belief around the UCP now that the real fight you’ve got is winning a nomination battle,” he said. “That’s why these become very heated and can be very vicious.”

Internal party squabbles rarely make significant waves outside of partisan circles, but occasionally gain traction among the general electorate, Bratt said.

He pointed to the 2015 dispute in Chestermere-Rocky View when PC party establishment disqualified Jamie Lall to run as a candidate and acclaimed Wildrose-turned-PC MLA Bruce McAllister.

Several constituency association executives resigned in protest as the controversy dragged on. McAllister would ultimately lose his seat in the general election.

“I’ve always said the dirtiest politics are during the nomination phase,” said Bratt.

“We’ll have to see how often this crops up, whether this is just an isolated incident or whether there’s more here,” Bratt said. “But I would expect that this isn’t a one-off and that there’s going to be accusations of dirty tricks in nomination battles.”

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A spokesperson for Elections Alberta said the agency is aware of the incident, but votes within constituency associations are out of its purview and would be handled within the party.

The UCP didn’t say when the new vote will be held.

Emma McIntosh is an environment, justice and investigative reporter with StarMetro Calgary. Follow her on Twitter at @EmmaMci

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