Did ex-NDPer running as Liberal cause Cam Broten's loss?

A former NDP candidate running for the Liberals in the last provincial election may have receivedjust threeper cent of the votes inSaskatoonWestview,but he got nearly theexact numberof votes NDP leaderCamBrotenlost by.

Now Liberal candidateNaveed Anwar is talking about his role in Broten'sfailure to win his own seat.

"I knew that if Istand in any riding it would hurt the NDP," Anwar told CBC News.

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Anwar previously ran for the NDP in 2011. In 2015, he says, he did not getthe green light from the New Democrats to run in the riding of his choosing.

"I was OKall the way and approved, but the day I wanted to go ahead for the nomination I got an email saying that I no longer passed the screening, even though I had got the nomination before," he said.

Instead, he ended up running for the LiberalsinSaskatoonWestviewagainstBroten.

On election night, the Liberals collected about 235 votes inSaskatoonWestview almost the exact number of votes Broten lost by (232). The Saskatchewan Party'sDavid Buckingham was the winner of the close-fought race.

Anwar said he chose the Liberal party because they allowed him to run in a riding with a high density of new immigrants, the type of riding he feels he has the greatest connection with.

Anwar said he didn't purposely choose SaskatoonWestview because it wasBroten's riding.

"I was asked to represent the Liberal brand and I chose to run in SaskatoonWestview because it is dense with new Canadians and that's the reason I ran in that riding," he said.

Broten resigned as NDP leader on Monday.