Author, activist, and journalist Bianca Mugyenyi’s application to be a candidate in the NDP leadership race has been rejected by the party’s anonymous three person leadership committee.
In a statement to rabble.ca the party accused Mugyenyi of not being an independent candidate.
“After reviewing the application submitted by Bianca Mugyenyi, the Leadership Vote Committee determined that it did not meet the eligibility standards that apply to every applicant, including the requirement that candidates run independently and that allowing it to proceed would undermine the fairness, integrity, and credibility of the leadership race,” the statement reads.
rabble asked the NDP for specific evidence that Mugyenyi was not an independent candidate.
In a statement, the NDP said:
“In this case, the Committee determined that the application constituted a proxy candidacy because it was publicly framed as contingent on the rejection of another applicant. That framing did not meet the standards of independence, integrity, and professionalism required of leadership applicants under the Rules.”
rabble asked the party to cite the specific rules under which Mugyenyi was disqualified and have not received a response.
Mugyenyi is the wife of activist, author, and journalist Yves Engler, who himself ran for, and was disqualified from, the NDP leadership race late last year.
Mugyenyi announced her intent to run for the NDP leadership after Engler was disqualified, explaining that there were issues in the leadership race that no other candidates were talking about that needed a voice.
“I stepped forward to carry a shared vision, a shared platform that was built collectively, and that is democracy,” Mugyenyi said.
“I am my own candidate”
In a press conference held on Thursday, January 29, Mugyenyi explained that the rejection of her candidacy application on the grounds that she was not “independent” was insulting.
She said that the NDP leadership committee had implied that she was merely a proxy for Engler as a way for him to continue his own campaign.
“They say that I’ve run because I’m a proxy. It is so false. It’s so insulting. I am my own candidate,” she said.
Mugyenyi blasted the leadership committee, characterizing their rationale for her disqualification as racist and sexist.
“It’s misogyny and in this case, misogynoire; the assumption that our voices aren’t fully ours, that our leadership must belong to somebody else,” she said. “I reject that completely. I stand here on my own record, on my own work, on my own convictions, and I stepped forward because this race was never about a personality. It was about ideas. We’ve said that over and over and over again. It was about a direction and it was about trusting members to choose, and I think that belief is stronger than ever, and I think that’s what we’ve built.”
For years Mugyenyi has been involved in activism and organizing on the left.
“I spent more than two decades organizing social movements in this country. I’m a journalist. I’m an author, co-founded the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute and directed it,” she said. “I co-founded the LEAP, which many who are involved in this race are very familiar … I helped launch the LEAP manifesto and got it prominent across this country,” she said.
Issues will be carried forward to the convention
Despite launching her campaign much later than any other candidate in the race, Mugyenyi had been able to raise the $100,000 entry fee.
Engler had raised the $100,000 entry fee himself before his candidacy was disqualified. Mugyenyi’s entrance fee was raised again separately after she announced her candidacy.
Engler said that this was clear evidence of the grassroots support that was out there for the ideas their campaign was running on.
“Whether we would have won this race, I don’t know, but there we would definitely have been in the top three in this NDP leadership race,” he said.
Despite not being allowed to run, Mugyenyi, Engler, and other members of the movement they have helped lead said that they will be at the NDP party convention in March.
“This fight is far from over. We are going to continue this fight right to the convention. We will be there in numbers. We will be on the convention floor. We will be at the mics. We will be fighting for democracy in this party at every step,” said Mike Palecek, a former president of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers who has been a vocal supporter of both Mugyenyi and Engler.
Palecek added that the fight is also continuing behind closed doors. He alluded to a letter that was allegedly sent to the NDP federal council about Mugyenyi that he characterized as libelous, but he would not disclose who the author of that letter was.
“There was a letter sent to the federal council yesterday by a certain individual. I won’t name that individual because I’d like to give the council a chance to deal with this themselves, but that in that letter was frankly libelous,” said Palecek.
“They accused us of attempting to mislead the council and not playing fair with the facts,” he added. “I would just say that if this individual had an ounce of the integrity that Bianca does, they would have resigned the day after the election.”
