Liberal Democrats leadership election, 1999



Candidate	Charles Kennedy	Simon Hughes	Malcolm Bruce
1st Rd. Votes	22,724	16,233	4,643
1st Rd. %	44.6	31.8	9.1
2nd Rd. Votes	23,619	17,378	5,241
2nd Rd. %	46.5	34.2	10.3
3rd Rd. Votes	25,164	19,360	6.608
3rd Rd. %	49.7	38.3	12.0

Leader before election

Paddy Ashdown

Elected Leader

Charles Kennedy

The 1999 Liberal Democrats leadership election was called following the resignation of Paddy Ashdown as leader. There were five candidates and all members of the party were balloted using the Alternative Vote preference system. The election was won by Charles Kennedy, who served as leader until his resignation in 2006.

The chief issue in the election was whether the party should continue its partial collaboration with the Labour Party, which had seen Ashdown and other senior Liberal Democrats appointed to a joint Cabinet committee on electoral reform. Most of the candidates were to various degrees sceptical about this approach, with Simon Hughes the most hostile and Charles Kennedy the strongest defender of Ashdown. The campaign was almost entirely free of bitterness and outspoken comments. Kennedy was generally favoured by the press because of his name recognition, which derived from his frequent appearances on light-hearted panel games on television.

Charles Kennedy was elected as the Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

Simon Hughes was a candidate for the Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

Malcolm Bruce was a candidate for the Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

David Rendel was a candidate for the Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

Results

First round
Candidate		Change	Votes	%
	Charles Kennedy	-	22,724	44.6
	Simon Hughes	-	16,233	31.8
	Malcolm Bruce	-	4,643	9.1
	Jackie Ballard	-	3,978	7.8
	David Rendel	-	3,428	6.7
Turnout			51,006	62%

Second round
Candidate		Change	Votes	%
	Charles Kennedy	+895	23,619	46.5
	Simon Hughes	+1,145	17,378	34.2
	Malcolm Bruce	+598	5,241	10.3
	Jackie Ballard	+627	4,605	9.1
	David Rendel	-3,428	-	-
	Not transferable	+163	163	-

Third round
Candidate		Change	Votes	%
	Charles Kennedy	+1,545	25,164	49.7
	Simon Hughes	+1,982	19,360	38.3
	Malcolm Bruce	+827	6,068	12.0
	Jackie Ballard	-4,605	-	-
	Not transferable	+251	414	-

Final round
Candidate		Change	Votes	%
	Charles Kennedy	+3,261	28,425	56.6
	Simon Hughes	+2,473	21,833	43.4
	Malcolm Bruce	-6,068	-	-
	Not transferable	+334	748	-

References

Colin Rosenstiel. "All-member ballot results". Liberal Democrats' election results 1998-2004. Retrieved 2006-01-10.
David Boothroyd. "Liberal Party Leaders". United Kingdom Election Results. Retrieved 2006-01-11.

External links

Kennedy wins Lib Dem leadership (BBC News 'On this day')

Liberal, Social Democrat and Liberal Democrat leadership elections

Liberals	1967 1976

SDP	1982

Liberal Democrats	1988 1999 2006 2007 2015

Liberal Democrats

Leadership

Leaders	Steel (Liberal) Maclennan (SDP) Ashdown Kennedy Campbell Clegg Farron

Deputy Leaders	Johnston Beith Campbell Cable Hughes Bruce

Leaders in the Lords	Seear (Liberal) Diamond (SDP) Jenkins Rodgers Williams McNally Wallace

Presidents	Wrigglesworth Kennedy Maclennan Maddock Dholakia Hughes Scott Farron Brinton

Leadership elections

Leadership	1988 (Ashdown) 1999 (Kennedy) 2006 (Campbell) 2007 (Clegg) 2015 (Farron)

Deputy Leadership	2003 (Campbell) 2006 (Cable) 2010 (Hughes) 2014 (Bruce) 2015

Structure

MPs and Frontbench	Current Members of Parliament Frontbench Team Chief Whip

Frontbench in opposition	Frontbench Team of Paddy Ashdown (1997–1999) Frontbench Team of Charles Kennedy (1999–2006) Frontbench Team of Menzies Campbell (2006–2007) Frontbench Team of Vince Cable (2007) Frontbench Team of Nick Clegg (2007–2010)

State parties	English Liberal Democrats Scottish Liberal Democrats Welsh Liberal Democrats

Regional parties	London Liberal Democrats Northern Ireland Liberal Democrats

Committees	Federal Executive Federal Policy Committee Federal Conference Committee

SAOs	LGBT+ Liberal Democrats Liberal Youth (Liberal Youth England, Liberal Youth Scotland, IR Cymru (Liberal Youth Wales)) Women Liberal Democrats Association of Liberal Democrat Councillors Ethnic Minority Liberal Democrats Association of Liberal Democrat Engineers and Scientists Liberal Democrats Parliamentary Candidates Association

Related organisations

Alliance Party of Northern Ireland Beveridge Group Cambridge University (Presidents/Chairs) Christian Forum Friends of Israel Friends of Turkey History Group Liberal International British Group Oxford University (Presidents) Social Liberal Forum

History and related topics

List of MPs (past and present) General election manifestos Glee Club (British politics) The Land (song) Liberator (magazine) National Liberal Club Whig Party Peelites Liberal Party Social Democratic Party SDP–Liberal Alliance Lib–Lab pact Southport resolution Orange Book Conservative – Liberal Democrat coalition agreement

Liberal Democrats leadership election, 1999

Outgoing Leader: Paddy Ashdown

Jackie Ballard Malcolm Bruce Simon Hughes Charles Kennedy David Rendel

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