The Ontario Liberal Party has dismissed the appeal of MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith concerning his nomination contest loss earlier this month. Erskine-Smith had been seeking the provincial Liberals’ nomination in the upcoming Scarborough Southwest byelection as a possible launchpad for a party leadership bid, but lost the contest to businessman Ahsanul Hafiz on May 9. The Toronto-area MP told reporters later that day that he had been defeated by a narrow margin of 19 votes. He appealed to the party’s arbitration panel on May 12, alleging irregularities in the vote, including claims that 34 more ballots were counted than the number of recorded voters and that some people who could not provide their address or said they lost their driver’s licence were allowed to vote.