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Anwar said he was never told why he was disqualified; the email does not go into detail about the reason he was barred from running.

After that, he decided to run as a Liberal and made the calculated decision to run in Broten’s riding.

“I can’t say he deserves to lose it, but the reality is what it is. I knew this would be the outcome. I told hundreds of people within the party that this would be the outcome,” he said.

It’s hard to measure the impact Anwar had on the riding.

Photo by Liam Richards / Saskatoon StarPhoenix

No Liberal candidate ran in Saskatoon Massey Place in 2011, when Broten won by more than 700 votes. The redrawing of the riding’s boundaries — which produced the new Saskatoon Westview constituency — hurt Broten, who lost a portion of the riding that had strong NDP support.

Anwar ran as an NDP candidate in Saskatoon Sutherland in 2011, but was defeated by Paul Merriman. Broten backed his nomination and his campaign that year, he said. For a time, Anwar was competing for the Sutherland nomination against Ryan Meili, Broten’s eventual rival for the NDP leadership. Meili dropped out of the Sutherland race, and Broten narrowly beat him in the party’s leadership bid in 2012.

Anwar said while he still considers Broten a friend, he no longer supports him as the leader of the NDP.

“If you can’t get the trust of the people of one of 60 ridings, how can you represent 61 ridings as leader?” Anwar said.

On Friday, Regina MLAs chose not to comment or did not respond to requests for interviews on the future of the party. There has been no indication of whether or not Broten will remain as party leader.

cthamiton@postmedia.com