Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith lost a provincial nomination race Saturday, failing to clear the first of several hurdles toward the leadership of the Ontario Liberals.

Ontario Liberal members in the riding of Scarborough Southwest selected business owner Ahsanul Hafiz as their candidate for an upcoming byelection.

Erskine-Smith, who represents the neighbouring federal riding of Beaches-East York, had indicated he was hoping to run in the provincial Scarborough Southwest byelection to secure a seat in the legislature ahead of a bid for the Ontario Liberal leadership.

While the future of that bid remains unclear, Erskine-Smith raised the possibility of challenging the results of Hafiz’s win.

“There was a ton of scrutineers in there, lots of stories about what’s happened inside, but I’ve got to debrief,” he said in the rainy parking lot of the school where the voting took place, after initially trying to dodge reporters.

“I’ve spoken to a few scrutineers already who said they’ve never seen anything like it, and it’s unreal what happened in there.”

He suggested there was a large number of voters with “ID issues,” though Erskine-Smith’s chief scrutineers signed off on all the results.

Hafiz said he doesn’t want to focus too much on Erskine-Smith’s allegations, noting that the hallways were filled with people wearing Hafiz badges.

“So that is the clear evidence of who is the real winner,” he said, adding he thought the process was fair and that the Ontario Liberal Party did “an excellent job.”

Some of Erskine-Smith’s fellow nomination contestants bristled at what they saw as a candidate trying to use their community as a springboard for the leadership, and Hafiz and Qadira Jackson agreed to put each other second on the nomination race’s ranked ballots.

Erskine-Smith posted an 11th-hour video to social media of him speaking to Prime Minister Mark Carney, who said he hopes to see Erskine-Smith working for the people of Scarborough.

A byelection is needed after former NDP MPP Doly Begum quit to run for the federal Liberals in the same riding last month.

Premier Doug Ford has yet to announce a date for the byelection, which must be held before August. The PCs have yet to nominate a candidate, while Fatima Shaban will look to keep the seat in the NDP’s hands.