More than 100 candidates — most in Canadian history — to run against Poilievre in byelection

Next month's byelection in Alberta's Battle River-Crowfoot will break the record for the most candidates on a federal ballot in Canadian history.

As of Friday, 102 candidates — mostly associated with a group of electoral reform advocates known as the Long Ballot Committee — have registered to run for the seat.

The byelection was called after its recently re-elected MP, Damien Kurek, resigned to allow Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to run for a new seat in the House of Commons. Poilievre lost in his longtime riding of Carleton in April.

The Longest Ballot Committee has been organizing dozens of candidates to run in byelections in recent years, resulting in metre-long ballots that have caused delays in vote counting and confounded some voters.

The group wants to put a citizens' assembly in charge of electoral reform and says political parties are too reluctant to make the government more representative of the electorate.

The previous record of 91 candidates occurred twice in the past year: during a byelection in LaSalle-Emard-Verdun last September and Carleton during the general election this past spring.

The Longest Ballot Committee says it is aiming to sign up 200 candidates in Battle River-Crowfoot. The deadline to register as a candidate is July 28.