Political parties hold leadership contests to elect their party leader. When a person is actively seeking election as a party leader, they must register with Elections Ontario as a leadership contestant.



This section provides detailed information about how to register as a contestant, how to follow the filing requirements, and key dates. For complete details, please refer to our CFO Handbook for Leadership Contestants.

A party that wants to hold a leadership contest must file with Elections Ontario. The party also needs to tell us the start date of the contest and the fixed date of the contest vote; however, political parties run their own leadership contests according to their own rules. We do not regulate how a party runs a leadership contest.

If you are looking for information on eligible contributors and other relevant guidelines, please see the CFO Handbook for Leadership Contestants.