Halifax — Green Party Leader Elizabeth May has leaked nude photos of herself that were taken while she attended Dalhousie University in 1981.

The photos were made public by May herself, and were taken by May’s friend and art school dropout Nigel Andrews. May had agreed to model for Nigel as part of a photography assignment he was working on at the time.

May delightedly held a press conference at the Halifax Commons in front of a large media contingent and enthusiastic Green Party supporters to address the leak. She responded to questions about why she would release potentially damaging photos so close to an election.

“This election, we have focused on sound policy and have produced the strongest platform of any party, but the media have barely reported on policy announcements, so we looked at how other parties were getting noticed. Andrew Scheer made headlines for comments he made in 2005 regarding same-sex marriage, Justin Trudeau recently made the news for brownface photos and blackface videos that were taken decades ago.

“We knew that if we wanted to stay relevant in this campaign that we would need to have our own scandal to grab media attention.”

A reporter asked May how the photos remained out of the public eye for so long.

“When I first entered politics, I was terrified that these photos would surface and ruin me. I would get especially anxious when an election was imminent. But with all the attention other party leaders have received for their past indiscretions, we couldn’t wait for these photos to surface organically! We realized that to compete in 2019 we would have to release them ourselves.”

The Manatee asked UNB political science professor Philip Edwards what he thought of the leaked photos.

“They’re all right I guess. I wish they showed a little more skin, but overall I’m impressed! I’d rate her a 7/10 and will probably keep them saved to my personal computer,” he said.

“…Oh, you mean what do I think of the scandal? I think it’s a bold move but given the current climate I think it could pay off…you’re not going to publish the first thing I said, are you?”

Since the photos have been released, the Green Party has seen an increase in the polls and have specifically seen a large spike coming from the thirsty old man demographic.