Liberal leadership candidate Joyce Murray predicts at least two ballots

Most analysts and pundits are predicting a Justin Trudeau first ballot landslide victory in the Liberal leadership race.

Candidate Joyce Murray doesn't think that will happen.

The MP from B.C. made those remarks after the party's national leadership showcase held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre on Saturday.

"I don't think that Justin will win on a first ballot," she told Yahoo! Canada News.

"I don't think that I'll win on a first ballot either."

Murray, who many consider to be second place in the race to replace interim leader Bob Rae is this contest's 'cooperation candidate': the MP from B.C. is proposing one time cooperation — in 2015 — with the other progressive parties in a scheme to defeat the Stephen Harper Conservatives. According to reports, her campaign numbers have been buoyed by electoral co-operation organizations such as Leadnow.ca.

Interestingly, Trudeau spent a fair bit of his speech attacking the idea of cooperation.

[ Related: Justin Trudeau calls for Liberal leadership, ready to fight back against Conservatives ]

Murray wouldn't say if she thought she could pull off an upset and win the leadership.

"I'm not going to be thinking about numbers," she said.

"I'm going to be working over the next week to make sure everyone that is supporting me gets out to vote. I'm privileged to have some very committed support [and] that's why my number of registered voters were so high."

The 127,000 registered Liberal Party voters will have the opportunity to vote online or by telephone between 12:01 a.m. (EST) April 7 and 3:00 p.m. on April 14.

[ Related: How the federal Liberals will elect their next leader ]

The Liberals will announce their new leader at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa on April 14 at 5:00 p.m..

The 'announcement' will be a two-hour-long event concluding with the new leader giving his — or her — acceptance speech.

(Photo courtesy of Reuters)

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