EDMONTON—Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley reiterated Friday that the party will not release the names of two members accused of sexual misconduct in order to protect the privacy of the complainants.

The premier’s office announced last November that two sitting MLAs had been accused of sexual misconduct since 2015, in incidents that happened outside the workplace.

The NDP caucus brought in Janice Rubin of Rubin Thomlinson in Toronto and Ayla Akgungor of Field Law in Edmonton to investigate the allegations and file a report.

The issue has resurfaced on social media during the election campaign, with some asking why the party did not release the names of the accused.

“In both cases, the claimants that raised the concerns wanted to maintain their privacy,” Notley said Friday.

“In so doing, we must also then maintain the privacy of those who were the respondents in the case.”

She added the party has followed the recommendations of the independent investigators, though she did not elaborate on what the discipline entailed.

“We know that both of the complainants were made aware of what those recommendations were and we thought that they were satisfactory,” Notley said.

NDP spokesperson Cheryl Oates said in an emailed statement that the reports cannot be released publicly because they would jeopardize the privacy of the complainants, who both requested the reports not be released.

“We take all of these matters — whether they involve staff or elected officials — very seriously,” Oates said. “Our policy for investigating these is very similar to that used by the Legislatively Assembly Office — and we followed that policy in both of these matters.”

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