Battle-weary B.C. New Democrat Leader Carole James has survived a crucial vote over the question of her leadership.
Delegates at the party's provincial council meeting have rejected a plan to hold a leadership convention next year by a count of 97 to 18.
The vote came after James pleaded with party members to stop fighting with each other and start working together to form the next government.
She addressed a crowded room of die-hard New Democrats Saturday who are in Victoria for two days of meetings.
At least four NDP constituencies are openly questioning James's leadership and she admitted that as many as 13 members of her caucus are unhappy with the way she governs their party.
With the convention vote behind her, James now says it's clear the party wants to get on with the job of defeating the Liberals.
When she addressed delegates before the vote, James said the NDP can't make changes in British Columbia if they don't win the May 2013 election.
"People are wondering if the NDP has what it takes to govern," she said. "We only have ourselves to blame if we let this opportunity slip away. Now is the time to unite and move forward on behalf of the people we serve."
She said British Columbians are seeing the Opposition New Democrats scrapping among themselves rather than taking on Premier Gordon Campbell's three-term Liberal government.
The troubles within the NDP mirror the infighting within the ranks of the governing Liberals, which boiled over this week despite Campbell's decision to step down next year.
Former energy minister Bill Bennett was ejected from cabinet for repeatedly calling for Campbell to leave office sooner than later.
His cabinet expulsion prompted Bennett to launch a 35-minute diatribe where he accused Campbell of regularly bullying members of the Liberal government and reducing some people to tears.
Campbell countered that he wouldn't have been able to lead the party for 17 years if he was a bully who never listened to his caucus.
Bennett was expelled from the party caucus Friday and has now returned to his Cranbrook area riding where he now will sit as an independent.
James said the NDP will lose the opportunities to fight child poverty, protect public health care and raise the minimum wage if it continues to wage internal battles at the peril of losing voter support.
"This isn't about me," she said. "This isn't about the party. This is about the people who aren't being served by this kind of infighting in our party. Those people are depending on us."
Several members of James's caucus, including former leadership candidate Leonard Krog and former caucus chairman Norm Macdonald did not stand when James entered the room to a standing ovation.
Everybody was standing at the conclusion of her speech.
Many New Democrats were wearing yellow scarves that were being handed to delegates as part of the meetings.
But several New Democrats, including Krog, Macdonald and Katrine Conroy -- who quit her post as caucus whip Friday -- were noticeably not wearing the yellow scarves of support.
Several New Democrats suggested Friday their anger with James revolve around her expulsion from caucus earlier this fall of Quesnel-area New Democrat Bob Simpson.
Simpson, a former Liberal and the party's former forestry and aboriginal affairs critic, publicly criticized James after her speech to municipal leaders last September in Whistler.
James decided to turf Simpson from caucus for his remarks, prompting the outspoken politician to say he didn't believe James has what it takes to lead the party or become the next premier.
James has said she will allow Simpson back into caucus if he apologizes for his remarks, but there has been no apology while the tensions continue to simmer.
