The 2017 Nunavut general election was held on October 30, 2017 to return the members of the 5th Nunavut Legislature.[2] The fifth general election held since the creation of the territory in 1999, it was the first election held under Nunavut's new fixed election dates law, which requires elections to be held no more than four years after the prior election.[3]
In one district, Cambridge Bay, formal declaration of the winner was not made until November 5, with the initial results undergoing an automatic recount due to a margin of less than two per cent between the top two finishers.[6] The recount confirmed that the original count was correct.[7]
Followup
A record number of women were elected to the legislature;[8] in addition to Kamingoak's acclamation, four more women were declared elected on election night, and a woman won the recount in Cambridge Bay.[8] These six women, representing 27 per cent of the legislature, represent the first time in the territory's history that it has ranked higher than last or second-last among Canada's provinces and territories for female membership in the legislature.
Following the election, only three of the eight incumbent cabinet ministers had been reelected: three were defeated and two, including Premier Peter Taptuna, chose not to run again. Overall, half of the legislature's 22 incumbents were reelected.
In 2018, however, Quassa lost a confidence vote in the legislature, and was succeeded as premier by Savikataaq.[10]
Results
The Legislative Assembly is run on a consensus government system, in which all MLAs sit as independents and are not organized into political parties. Note, accordingly, that colours in the following charts are used solely to indicate candidate status, not political party affiliations.
