NDP House Leader Kevin Yates said today that the process of choosing a permanent Chief Electoral Officer in Saskatchewan continues to be delayed by inappropriate political interference by Brad Wall.

Yates noted that current acting Chief Electoral Officer Dave Wilkie was approved by a Sask Party-dominated selection panel - a subcommittee of the Legislature's all-party Board of Internal Economy - made up of Yates, Speaker of the Legislature Don Toth, Justice Minister Don Morgan, and Gavin Semple acting as an independent third party. Wilkie was chosen as the permanent replacement but was later rejected by the Sask Party caucus for reasons yet unknown. Yates said in the NDP's view, after taxpayers' money and time has been spent on the selection process, Wilkie remains the proper choice and said the NDP will continue to stand by the panel's original recommendation.

Yates said that Wall's rejection of Wilkie as the permanent head of Elections Saskatchewan underlines the fact that he has no confidence in the Speaker or his handpicked Sask Party members of the selection panel.

"There's an important and fundamental issue of principle at stake here," Yates said. "Members of both the NDP and the Sask Party conducted a search and sat down and agreed that Mr. Wilkie was the best person for the job. The only thing holding up the appointment of this qualified individual is political interference by Wall. Why do we need another extensive, costly search when both parties have already agreed on this?"

Yates said Wall is directly interfering with the process and has effectively provided himself with a veto vote while he refuses to disclose reasons for the rejection to members of the Legislature, the Board of Internal Economy, the selection panel subcommittee, or the general public.

"Choosing an independent officer of the Legislature should be, by definition, a non-political process," Yates said. "And it was until Wall interfered.