The NDP’s riding president in the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo says at least one person has stepped forward to formally seek the party’s nomination.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Bill Sundhu says he can’t comment specifically on anyone seeking the candidacy unless they are approved at the end of the vetting process.

“It could be one candidate, it could be a contested nomination, but we are endeavoring to have the vetting expedited and a meeting held as soon as possible so that we can be ready when the writ’s dropped. We’re not that concerned right now, and whoever ends up being our candidate, I know they’re going to be strong,” Sundhu says.

“I think in with Ottawa regularly, there are a large number of ridings, some of them with multiple candidates seeking the nomination so they have to vet a lot of people. We are trying to get extra attention, jump the queue a bit, but we’ll see how that works out. But we’re hoping that will be fairly soon so we can make a public announcement.”

The riding has been without a candidate since August 6th when Gina-Myhill Jones stepped down.

Sundhu is making one thing clear, that a newly-named candidate in the riding will not be him.

“I’m not a career or professional politician, I have a good career. The reason I ran in 2015 and if I ever were to run again, it’s because of a concern for the direction of our country. So I made that decision and I’m sticking by it, not to run.”

In 2015, Sundhu garnered just over 30 per cent of the vote in the riding and finished second on the ballot.

He says name recognition in an election is a factor but says it’s exaggerated.

“Mr. Lake and Ms. McLeod will have to run on their records, and they’ll say they have experience but you can have the wrong kind of experience. And there’s some pretty significant problems with Mr. Lake’s record with the BC Liberals. And Ms. McLeod, nice person, but rather unremarkable record in 11 years. If you can’t make your mark by now you’re never going to really make it.”