Leader of the Liberal Party (UK) election) party members argued for a wider franchise. Before the leadership election of 1976, all members were given a vote in an electoral college based on allocating electoral votes to constituency associations (which were then divided proportionately to the votes of the members of the association). The candidates were required to be members of the House of Commons, nominated by a quarter of the MPs. The electoral college system was only used once, when David Steel was elected leader. Leader of the Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was formally established in 1859 and existed until merging with the Social
British Columbia Liberal Party and provincial counterparts in 1987. After the 1991 provincial election, the BC Liberals displaced the British Columbia Social Credit Party as the province's centre-right conservative party opposed to the centre-left British Columbia New Democratic Party. According to polls, BC Liberal supporters predominantly vote Liberal and Conservative in federal elections. The party commonly describes itself as a "free enterprise coalition". The divided Conservatives faced the Liberals in the election of 1916 and lost. The Liberals formed a government under Harlan Carey Brewster. Brewster had become leader of the opposition, and was elected party leader in March 1912. He lost his seat