The New Democrats have tapped Ontario politician Jagmeet Singh to take over for Tom Mulcair and lead the embattled party into the next federal election.
Singh romped to a first-ballot win with 35,266 votes, easily outstripping his three rivals: northern Ontario MP Charlie Angus, Manitoba MP Niki Ashton and Quebec MP Guy Caron.
Angus came in second with 12,705 votes, followed by Niki Ashton with 11,374 and Guy Caron with 6,164.
With its long-haul leadership race now over, the party _ which has just 44 of the 338 seats in the House of Commons _ is now free to focus on presenting a unified front to battle Justin Trudeau's Liberals in the 2019 federal election.
Insiders and political observers alike say it's high time the NDP regrouped, put the disappointment of the 2015 election result in the past and start laying the foundation for a strong showing in two years.
More than 124,000 card-carrying members were eligible to take part in the vote, which was conducted online and by mail by way of a ranked ballot _ voters were able to rank the candidates in order of preference.