2015 Northwest Territories general election

Last updated
2015 Northwest Territories general election
Flag of the Northwest Territories.svg
←  2011 November 23, 2015 2019  →
19 seats in the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories
Turnout43.59% [1]
Northwest Territories Election 2015 Results Map.svg
Popular vote by riding. As Northwest Territories elections are on a non-partisan basis, all candidates run as independents. The Monfwi riding (black) was elected by acclamation due to the riding being uncontested.
Premier before election

Bob McLeod

Premier after election

Bob McLeod

The 2015 Northwest Territories general election was held November 23, 2015. Under the territory's fixed election date legislation, the election was supposed to be held on October 5, 2015, however, since the federal election date of October 19, 2015, overlapped with that date, the N.W.T. government moved the date of the territorial election. [2] The election selected 19 members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories.

Contents

Term extension debate

In March 2014 the current Legislative Assembly voted to extend its term from four years to five. The act will need to be approved by the federal government. [3] The reason given for postponing the election was to avoid voter fatigue, with municipal elections and the next federal election scheduled for October 2015. The decision by the assembly has prompted a petition calling for the Legislature to be dissolved early. [4]

Boundary changes

A new election map was implemented this election, the first since the territory was split in 1999. The report of the commission recommended three proposals calling for 18, 19 or 21 MLA's. [5] A 19-member proposal was adopted by the assembly in May 2014, under which the only major change was the dissolution of the former districts of Weledeh and Tu Nedhe; under the new boundaries, the urban Yellowknife portion of Weledeh was reconstituted as the district of Yellowknife North, while the rural communities in the riding were merged with Tu Nedhe to create the new district of Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh. [6] Apart from that change, all of the other 17 existing districts were retained with only minor boundary adjustments. [7]

The Yellowknife City Council objected to the changes since the city was allocated only seven of 19 districts, despite containing around half the NWT population. The council asked the NWT Minister of Justice Dave Ramsay to refer the issue to the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories for a constitutional opinion but this was rejected. [8]

Results

Official results by district are shown below. [9] Incumbents are indicated by an asterisk (*).

Turnout by riding Northwest Territories general election, 2015 results by riding - Voter turnout.svg
Turnout by riding
Deh Cho
Name Vote%
  Michael Nadli*19040.6
 Ronald Bonnetrouge17236.8
 Gregory Nyuli6614.1
 Lyle Fabian408.5
Total Valid Ballots468100%
Turnout61%
Frame Lake
Name Vote%
  Kevin O'Reilly 15628.6
 Jan Fullerton14125.8
 David Wasylciw13224.2
  Roy Erasmus 11721.4
Total Valid Ballots546100%
Turnout28%
Great Slave
Name Vote%
  Glen Abernethy*51179.1
 Chris Clarke13520.9
Total Valid Ballots646100%
Turnout27%
Hay River North
Name Vote%
  R. J. Simpson 37552.7
  Robert Bouchard*25235.4
 Karen Felker8411.8
Total Valid Ballots711100%
Turnout52%
Hay River South
Name Vote%
  Wally Schumann 37247.2
  Jane Groenewegen*27434.8
 Brian Willows14218.0
Total Valid Ballots788100%
Turnout57%
Inuvik Boot Lake
Name Vote%
  Alfred Moses*36688.6
 Desmond Z. Loreen4711.4
Total Valid Ballots413100%
Turnout43%
Inuvik Twin Lakes
Name Vote%
  Robert C. McLeod*26260.1
 Jimmy Kalinek17439.9
Total Valid Ballots436100%
Turnout43%
Kam Lake
Name Vote%
  Kieron Testart 28058.1
  Dave Ramsay*20241.9
Total Valid Ballots482100%
Turnout25%
Mackenzie Delta
Name Vote%
  Frederick Blake, Jr.*31348.0
 William Firth13721.0
 Norman Snowshoe11617.8
  David Krutko 8613.2
Total Valid Ballots652100%
Turnout66%
Monfwi
Lafferty elected by acclamation
Name Vote%
  Jackson Lafferty*N/AN/A
Total Valid BallotsN/AN/A
Nahendeh
Name Vote%
  Shane Thompson 29229.4
 Rosemary Gill20220.4
 Randy Sibbetson19820.0
  Kevin Menicoche*13713.8
 Deneze Nakehk'o12812.9
 Arnold Hope232.3
 Dennis Nelner121.2
Total Valid Ballots992100%
Turnout60%
Nunakput
Name Vote%
  Herbert Nakimayak 22930.8
  Jackie Jacobson*22530.2
 Ethel-Jean Gruben17423.4
 John Stuart Jr.8110.9
 Robert Kuptana354.7
Total Valid Ballots744100%
Turnout76%
Range Lake
Name Vote%
  Caroline Cochrane 33350.4
  Daryl Dolynny*32849.6
Total Valid Ballots661100%
Turnout32%
Sahtu
Name Vote%
  Daniel McNeely 27129.6
 Yvonne Doolittle24226.4
 Judy Tutcho22925.0
 Paul Andrew17519.1
Total Valid Ballots917100%
Turnout58%
Thebacha
Name Vote%
  Louis Sebert 40142.8
  Michael Miltenberger*36338.7
 Don Jaque17318.5
Total Valid Ballots937100%
Turnout51%
Tu Nedhé-Wiilideh
Name Vote%
  Tom Beaulieu**41071.1
 Richard Edjericon17728.9
Total Valid Ballots587100%
Turnout71%

**Beaulieu was previously member for the abolished district of Weledeh

Yellowknife Centre
Name Vote%
  Julie Green 47054.7
  Robert Hawkins*38945.3
Total Valid Ballots859100%
Turnout38%
Yellowknife North
Name Vote%
  Cory Vanthuyne 39235.8
 Dan Wong37634.3
 Ben Nind18917.2
 Edwin Castillo12711.6
 Sean Erasmus121.1
Total Valid Ballots1,096100%
Turnout45%
Yellowknife South
Name Vote%
  Bob McLeod*48570.0
 Nigit'stil Jessica Norbert17925.8
 Samuel Roland294.2
Total Valid Ballots693100%
Turnout33%

Analysis

Chris Windeyer, writing for CBC News, wrote that the defeat of eight incumbents in a 19-seat legislature could be seen as reflecting a strong desire for change, particularly pointing to the defeat of Finance Minister Michael Miltenberger, who unsuccessfully tried to win a sixth term. [10] Windeyer also noted there was no increase in female MLAs in this election, with only two winning, and wrote that the re-election of Michael Nadli, who broke his wife's wrist during his last term, "does not say great things about the place of women in N.W.T. politics." [10]

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References

  1. ↑ "Voter Turnout for 2015 Territorial General Election". Elections NWT. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  2. ↑ "Territorial Election Date Set for November 23, 2015".
  3. ↑ "Term Extension Debate". Elections NWT. March 10, 2014. Archived from the original on March 13, 2014. Retrieved March 13, 2014.
  4. ↑ "N.W.T. MLAs vote to ask for authority to postpone election". CBC News. March 11, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Final Report of the NWT Electoral Boundaries Commission" (PDF). Northwest Territories Electoral Boundaries Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-03-13. Retrieved 2014-03-13.
  6. ↑ "MLAs vote to merge Tu Nedhe and Weledeh, despite opposition". Northern Journal, June 2, 2014.
  7. ↑ "2015 Territorial General Election Districts". Elections NWT. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
  8. ↑ Rendell, Mark. "COUNCIL BRIEFS: OCT. 20 – CITY SET FOR LEGAL CHALLENGE OVER ELECTORAL BOUNDARIES". www.edgeyk.com. EdgeYK.
  9. ↑ "Official Voting Results" (PDF). Elections NWT. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 January 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  10. 1 2 Chris Windeyer, "Voters deliver a blunt demand for change," CBC News, Nov. 24, 2015, URL accessed Nov. 24, 2015.
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