TRURO, N.S. (CP) - Nova Scotia's third-place Liberal party will switch to a delegate system when members elect a new leader next year.
Party members met Saturday to decide how to replace Francis MacKenzie, who stepped down after he failed to win a seat in the June 13 provincial election.
The party has given each member a vote since former premier John Savage's leadership win in 1992.
"It was the overall consensus that we need to try a different method," said party president Derek Wells.
"We're now a third-place party, our base is not as strong or broad as it has been. We have challenges and one of the things we must do is strengthen some of our smaller constituencies."
Wells said the campaign committee will meet next month to draft rules and decide the number of delegates each riding association will send to the convention, expected in Halifax before the end of June 2007.
After their most recent election loss, party members indicated a leadership race would begin after the federal Liberals were finished picking a leader at their December convention, said Wells.
Candidate spending will be capped at $150,000, up from the $125,000 limit in the 2004 leadership race.
Nova Scotia's Liberals hope a new leader - and the accompanying leadership race - will help rebuild the party's profile and restore their political fortunes.
Under the leadership of MacKenzie, who did not hold a seat in the legislature, the party dropped to a milestone low of 23 per cent of popular support in the recent election.
The vote left the Liberals with nine seats in the 52-seat House of Assembly - one less than at dissolution.
There are no officially declared leadership candidates, but interim leader Michel Samson and caucus colleagues Diana Whalen and Stephen McNeil have been suggested as possibilities.
The Liberals were last elected to govern in 1993, a year after Savage took over as leader.
Savage resigned in 1997 under pressure from party members and was replaced by Russell MacLellan, whose minority government was defeated two years later by former Tory premier John Hamm.
The Liberals waited three years to choose Danny Graham as their leader in 2002.
Graham stepped down in December 2003 to care for his sick wife, and was replaced by MacKenzie the following year.
