2018 United Conservative Party of Superior leadership election
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The 2018 United Conservative Party leadership election was a leadership election held to elect the next leader of the United Conservative Party. As the party was the largest opposition party, the election was also held to select the next Leader of the Opposition. The leadership election was held from September 10 to 12, 2018, with Isaac Dillon of Arrowhead securing the majority of the vote during an unprecedented second round of voting. He assumed the role as Leader of the Opposition two days after his victory.
After leading the party for three years, Christina Walker announced her intentions to step down as party leader on July 4, 2018, citing the rise of factionalism and party infight since taking control. A total of six candidates ran for the party leadership, though Joe Maude would step out of the race a two weeks before the election after suffering from a stroke. Although the race was viewed competitive, House Delegates Isaac Dillon of Arrowhead and Elizabeth Chamberlain of Wyoming were considered the front runners of the race. For the first time in the party's history, no candidate secured a majority of votes in the first round, with the closest being Isaac Dillon with 41%. As a result, a runoff between Dillon and Chamberlain, who secured second-place in the first round, occurred on September 16, with Dillon coming out on top with 55%, while Chamberlain receive 45%.
The 2018 leadership election had the highest turnout of any United Conservative leadership election, with 67% of party membership participating. Following his election, Dillon served as Leader of the Opposition until 2022, where he was secure a historic victory in a snap election and became the 19th President of Superior. Chamberlain would also find later success, serving as leader of the Conservative Study Conference from 2019 to 2022 and as leader of the cross-party National Monarchist Conference beginning in 2022.
Background
President Alexander Harper announced his resignation on June 24 four months before the 2015 Superian federal election held in October and was succeeded by Christina Walker. Harper's resignation came at a shock as he retained popular support amongst the United Conservative base, however he had suffered from low approval ratings in general as his third term as president garnered major controversy since 2010 which led to a sever underpeformance in the 2011 federal election. Walker was chosen by Harper to serve as leader of the United Conservative Party while Harper continued to serve as president until after the 2015 federal election as his resignation as party leader was also an informal announcement that he would resign as president which took place on October 6 when Jennifer Granholm of the Liberal Democratic Party was sworn in as president.
Christina Walker would be elected to a fullterm as party leader later that year and would lead the party as the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament. Her tenure as party leader would be marked with its own controversy as factionalism and party in-fighting would emerge and worsen throughout her tenure as the party's leader. Walker faced internal opposition from national and populist conservatives while moderate factions of the UCP backed Walker, though many were critical of her leadership and concerns of her ability to lead the party and the opposition against Granholm and her government.