The opposition PC’s are questioning the motivation of John Abbott, who stepped down after a 2021 election settlement involving alleged voting errors within special ballots.
MHA Barry Petten says he wouldn’t walk away from the party if he was innocent.
“Why are you walking away if you’ve done nothing wrong?” he remarked to reporters. “If I thought I was innocent, I would go to my last straw to clear my name.”
He believes the NDP would have won the seat had the process been followed further.
Petten says the Liberals “cut their losses” on the seat, risking the loss of other seats that were in contention.
Meanwhile, Elections NL believes Abbott is guilty of no wrongdoing in the 2021 election but it admitted that there were errors in the administration of some special ballots.
