Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump lashed out at what he called the party’s “rigged” delegate selection rules on Monday after rival Ted Cruz swept all of Colorado’s 34 delegates over the weekend.
The New York billionaire, who has been outmanoeuvred by Mr. Cruz in a series of recent State meetings to select national convention delegates, said the process was set up to protect party insiders and shut out insurgent candidates.
“The system is rigged, it’s crooked,” Mr. Trump said on Fox News on Monday, alleging the Colorado convention results showed voters were being denied a voice in the process.
Both Mr. Trump and Mr. Cruz are at risk of not acquiring enough delegates for a first-ballot victory, having many free to switch their votes on later ballots. That has set off a fierce scramble by Republican candidates to get their supporters chosen as convention delegates and brought new scrutiny to the selection rules, which vary by State.
Mr. Trump complained about Mr. Cruz’s recent success at local and State party meetings where activists pick the actual delegates who will attend the national convention. Guy Short, a Cruz backer in Colorado who was elected as a Republican national convention delegate for the sixth time, disputed Mr. Trump’s allegations.
Republican National Committee spokesman Sean Spicer says the process for choosing delegates had been set by States for more than a year and was no secret.
