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. The election selected 19 members of the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories.
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. 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.
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. 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."MLAs vote to merge Tu Nedhe and Weledeh, despite opposition" . Northern Journal, June 2, 2014. Apart from that change, all of the other 17 existing districts were retained with only minor boundary adjustments.
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.
Results Official results by district are shown below. Incumbents are indicated by an asterisk (*).
Deh ChoName Vote%Michael Nadli*19040.6Ronald Bonnetrouge17236.8Gregory Nyuli6614.1Lyle Fabian408.5Total Valid Ballots468100%Turnout61%
Frame LakeName Vote%Kevin O'Reilly15628.6Jan Fullerton14125.8David Wasylciw13224.2Roy Erasmus11721.4Total Valid Ballots546100%Turnout28%
Great SlaveName Vote%Glen Abernethy*51179.1Chris Clarke13520.9Total Valid Ballots646100%Turnout27%
Hay River NorthName Vote%R. J. Simpson37552.7Robert Bouchard*25235.4Karen Felker8411.8Total Valid Ballots711100%Turnout52%
Hay River SouthName Vote%Wally Schumann37247.2Jane Groenewegen*27434.8Brian Willows14218.0Total Valid Ballots788100%Turnout57%
Inuvik Boot LakeName Vote%Alfred Moses*36688.6Desmond Z. Loreen4711.4Total Valid Ballots413100%Turnout43%
Inuvik Twin LakesName Vote%Robert C. McLeod*26260.1Jimmy Kalinek17439.9Total Valid Ballots436100%Turnout43%
Kam LakeName Vote%Kieron Testart28058.1Dave Ramsay*20241.9Total Valid Ballots482100%Turnout25%
Mackenzie DeltaName Vote%Frederick Blake, Jr.*31348.0William Firth13721.0Norman Snowshoe11617.8David Krutko8613.2Total Valid Ballots652100%Turnout66%
MonfwiLafferty elected by acclamationName Vote%Jackson Lafferty*N/AN/ATotal Valid BallotsN/AN/A
NahendehName Vote%Shane Thompson29229.4Rosemary Gill20220.4Randy Sibbetson19820.0Kevin Menicoche*13713.8Deneze Nakehk'o12812.9Arnold Hope232.3Dennis Nelner121.2Total Valid Ballots992100%Turnout60%
NunakputName Vote%Herbert Nakimayak22930.8Jackie Jacobson*22530.2Ethel-Jean Gruben17423.4John Stuart Jr.8110.9Robert Kuptana354.7Total Valid Ballots744100%Turnout76%
Range LakeName Vote%Caroline Cochrane33350.4Daryl Dolynny*32849.6Total Valid Ballots661100%Turnout32%
SahtuName Vote%Daniel McNeely27129.6Yvonne Doolittle24226.4Judy Tutcho22925.0Paul Andrew17519.1Total Valid Ballots917100%Turnout58%
ThebachaName Vote%Louis Sebert40142.8Michael Miltenberger*36338.7Don Jaque17318.5Total Valid Ballots937100%Turnout51%
Tu Nedhé-WiilidehName Vote%Tom Beaulieu**41071.1Richard Edjericon17728.9Total Valid Ballots587100%Turnout71% **Beaulieu was previously member for the abolished district of Weledeh
Yellowknife CentreName Vote%Julie Green47054.7Robert Hawkins*38945.3Total Valid Ballots859100%Turnout38%
Yellowknife NorthName Vote%Cory Vanthuyne39235.8Dan Wong37634.3Ben Nind18917.2Edwin Castillo12711.6Sean Erasmus121.1Total Valid Ballots1,096100%Turnout45%
Yellowknife SouthName Vote%Bob McLeod*48570.0Nigit'stil Jessica Norbert17925.8Samuel Roland294.2Total 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.Chris Windeyer, "Voters deliver a blunt demand for change," CBC News, Nov. 24, 2015, URL accessed Nov. 24, 2015. 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."
References
External links Elections NWT