Presidential candidate Michael Manning has withdrawn from the election.
The announcement came during his campaign speech earlier today. He said he made the decision because because he was attending a Model United Nations conference in Boston, Massachusetts and was unable to get his ideas out to the student body.
“I tried to run an efficient and effective campaign while being out of the country and unfortunately it was harder than I anticipated,” he said. “Unfortunately, I don’t feel that the students were able to hear my views as they should.
“I feel that [students] need to know all the information before making an educated vote and unfortunately in the amount of time left in this campaign I don’t think they have that.”
Manning left for Boston Wednesday and only returned to Fredericton early this morning.
Manning tried to keep his decision quiet until the candidate speeches began today in James Dunn Hall at noon.
Sarah Bulman, the chief returning officer, said Manning gave her a letter before speeches began that said he was removing himself from the campaign. She said rumours had already started about Manning leaving the race before he made his speech.
“I really respect his decision,” said Bulman. “I think he ran a great campaign considering that he was away in Boston.”
In his speech Manning threw his support behind another presidential candidate, Mark Livingstone.
“The two candidates remaining in this race have strong differing views, so I ask you to look closely at the candidates. At this time I give my full-fledged support for Mark Livingstone for president and I ask you to do the same in choosing who is right to lead.”
Livingstone said he was surprised by Manning’s decision. Manning approached him at noon today to tell him about his decision and that he would put his support behind Livingstone.
“He said that he thought it was important that he get on with his life and that he felt as though I would be his preferred choice for president,” Livingstone said.
Current STUSU president Ella Henry said she wasn’t informed of Manning’s decision until he spoke today.
Last year, Henry was away during the run-off election so she understands what Manning was going through.
“I do understand that it is really difficult to campaign if you can’t talk to students.”
Voting for all candidates will take place on Feb. 23 and 24.
Mark Livingstone and Ella Henry will be participating in a presidential debate webcast.
Visit www.theaq.net tomorrow for full coverage.
