Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo UCP candidate won't run in election due to legal matters

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Zulkifl Mujahid in October 2022. (Source: Zulkifl Mujahid Fort McMurray/Facebook)

FORT MCMURRAY -

A United Conservative Party candidate in northern Alberta will no longer run in the provincial election set for this spring.

Zulkifl Mujahid, who works in the automotive industry, won the nomination in Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo in December 2022.

UCP officials confirmed in a statement Wednesday that he's out as the party's candidate.

“Mr. Mujahid has been named in legal matters that will be ongoing during the writ period. These matters arose after his nomination process,” reads the statement. “To allow him the ability to focus on addressing these issues, Mr. Mujahid will no longer be our candidate in Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo.”

The party hasn't provided any details about those legal matters and Mujahid could not immediately be reached for comment.

He's the latest in a series of UCP candidates who have left the race in the past month.

Two government cabinet ministers, Travis Toews and Sonya Savage, announced on March 24 that they wouldn't be seeking re-election in Grande Prairie-Wapiti and Calgary-North West.

In late March, the UCP candidate for Lethbridge-West resigned after claiming in a video that children are exposed to pornography in schools and teachers help them change their gender identity.

Tunde Obasan, who had planned to run in Edmonton-South, withdrew on April 2 for personal reasons.

New UCP candidates have since been named in each of the four constituencies.

The party said a new candidate in Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo will be appointed following consultations with local riding officials. It noted that the provincial board has given the leader the authority to fill any vacancy that arises before the general election.

The writ is scheduled to be dropped on May 1 for a May 29 polling day.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 19, 2023.