Judge rules Alberta Party leader Stephen Mandel can run in spring election

EDMONTON – Alberta Party Leader Stephen Mandel is again free to run as a candidate in the province’s spring election.

Elections Alberta notified Mandel a month ago that he was banned from running for five years because he had missed a deadline to file nomination expenses when he ran to become his party’s candidate in Edmonton McClung.

Mandel took the matter to court.

A Court of Queen’s Bench judge ruled late Monday that Mandel had a reasonable excuse for missing the deadline last year because his chief financial officer took ill.