having the fewest votes, was forced to withdraw. Clement and Witmer announced their withdrawal to support Eves, however, their announcement came too late to remove their names from the ballot. Second ballot: Ernie Eves 5,623 points (54.6%) Jim Flaherty 3,898 points (37.8%) Tony Clement 561 points (5.4%) Elizabeth Witmer 216 points (2.1%) (44,188 party members voted on the first ballot, 34,608 on the second.) One problem with the procedure was that voters were expected to remain in voting centres throughout the province for hours if they wanted to cast ballots in both rounds of voting. Many did not wish to do so, or could not do so, and left after casting their first ballot vote. As a result, in the 2004 PC leadership election, voters voted only once using a preferential ballot, in which they ranked the candidates by preference, rather than vote in separate rounds. See also Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership elections 1985 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership elections 2004 Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership election References 2002 2002 elections in Canada 2002 in Ontario Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leadership election