Joe Anglin resigned from the Wildrose Party on Nov. 2 to sit as an independent MLA.
Earlier this year, Jason Nixon defeated Anglin in the Wildrose Party nomination contest to be the party's candidate for Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre in the next provincial election.
Anglin was shocked to face a nomination battle against Nixon, who is his former riding association president.
Anglin lost an appeal to the party to have his opponent's candidacy declared invalid. He argued that Nixon was still the association president when he filed nomination papers in the Rimbey-Rocky Mountain House-Sundre riding, although he did not officially resign the post until a week later.
The party ruled that Nixon's nomination challenge could go forward.
Nixon believes he is the right person for the job.
“Originally why I stepped forward to take on the position was 400 people within the constituency came forward with a nomination petition for me to run,” Nixon said after winning the contest in July.
“They were looking for an alternative. There was a lot of frustration about the current representation as far as focus on constituency issues, so I stepped forward because I intend to be more active within our community and more focused on our constituency.”
Wildrose leader Danielle Smith thanked Anglin for his service to Albertans in a press release on Nov. 2.
