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The president of the Papineau New Democratic Party association has stepped down, citing “anti-democratic practices” in selecting a candidate for the riding during the federal election.

Gaël Chantrel takes issue with the fact that the NDP selected candidate Anne Lagacé Dowson without holding a nomination period. Lagacé Dowson, a former journalist, ran for the NDP in 2008 in the riding of Westmount–Ville-Marie but lost to Liberal Marc Garneau.

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“Unfortunately, the heads of the NDP finally decided to not account of the choice of the members, preferring to unilaterally impose a candidate, so I would like to disassociate myself from these antidemocratic practices,” Chantrel wrote in a letter to members.

Chantrel hoped that the membership would be able to nominate the next candidate in the riding of Papineau after NDP candidate Béatrice Zako withdrew her name from the race in July. Since the election was called in early August, Chantrel has been tweeting that he was ready to face off against Liberal leader Justin Trudeau.