As contentious PC leadership race draws to a close, it's uncertain whether both candidates will accept results

As Progressive Conservatives prepare to name their new leader — and Manitoba's next premier — it's unclear whether both candidates in the leadership contest will accept the results.

Candidate Shelly Glover, former PC cabinet minister Len Derkach and some members of the party called for an extension of the voting period beyond a deadline that passed on Friday afternoon, on the grounds hundreds of members did not receive their ballots in the mail.

The party declined those calls and also did not acknowledge some members did not get a chance to vote.

"This is the first election our party has conducted solely by mail-in ballot. We mailed over 25,000 ballots with time for those ballots to be returned by the deadline," the party said Friday in a statement.

Nonetheless, the party set up ballot pick-up and drop-off stations on Friday in Winnipeg, Brandon, Dauphin, Carman, Gimli and Oakbank. They each operated for four hours.

Candidate Heather Stefanson said she is satisfied by the party's effort and will accept the result of a ballot count expected to be completed on Saturday afternoon.

"When we recognized there is a challenge with getting the ballots, we made sure that they get their ballots. So obviously, I believe in our campaign team. I believe in what our volunteers have been working hard doing. So we'll accept the results as they come out tomorrow," Stefanson said.

Glover was less definitive when asked whether she will accept the results when they are announced in a ballroom at Winnipeg's Victoria Inn.

"I'm going to stand there and I'm going to accept the fact that we're in a room that's supposed to be a legitimate answer to a new leader and a new start, but frankly, I don't have faith that that's what we're going to have on Saturday," she said.

University of Manitoba political studies professor Royce Koop said voters and candidates can overlook glitches in elections as long as it appears those problems do not favour a particular candidate.

"If people think the party is responding in an even-handed way, they're willing to accept these things, and certainly they're willing to accept losing a fair fight," he said.

At the same time, Koop said there would have been no harm in delaying the vote until all party members had a chance to cast their ballots.

Kelvin Goertzen could continue to serve as premier for two more weeks instead of resigning, Koop said.

"I think they should try to get it right and not only should they get it right, but they should remove any sense that they didn't get it right," he said.

"They ought to be extra cautious, super cautious and reassure the people that actually bought these memberships that they had a say and they haven't been cheated."

The Official Opposition is already capitalizing on the uncertainty surrounding the PC leadership vote.

"I think a political organization that doesn't know how to put a stamp on an envelope and put that envelope in the mailbox shouldn't be trusted to manage our health-care system," NDP Leader Wab Kinew said.