Nunavut election result not validated as ballot box held up in cargo by blizzard
By Nick Murray
Final box from the community of Naujaat has not made it to Iqaluit to be tallied
The federal election result in Nunavut still has not been validated by Elections Canada, because one final ballot box has been delayed by a blizzard.
NDP incumbent Lori Idlout won the unofficial result by 77 votes over Liberal candidate Kilikvak Kabloona.
Elections Canada has a validation process to confirm the unofficial count completed on election night, but the final box from the community of Naujaat has not made it to Iqaluit to be tallied.
Returning officer Jean-Claude Nguyen confirmed to The Canadian Press the box is stuck at the airline cargo facility in Rankin Inlet.
Iqaluit was hit by a rare late-spring blizzard on Thursday, cancelling flights into the capital and leaving the community without power for about seven hours.
Nguyen said there are fewer than 100 votes in the ballot box, however, and hopes to validate the result by the end of the week.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: ‘I work for the people,’ says Mandy Gull-Masty, Canada’s new Indigenous Services minister, CBC News
Denmark: Denmark takes over rotating Arctic Council chairship from Norway, Eye on the Arctic
Greenland: EU reaffirms Greenland’s right to decide its future amid rising Arctic tensions, Eye on the Arctic
Finland: Finland leaves Ottawa mine ban treaty, citing geopolitical security concerns, Eye on the Arctic
Iceland: Iceland’s FM announces defence review, calls revamped security policy ‘urgent’, Eye on the Arctic
Norway: NATO launches largest live-fire exercise at sea in Europe this year, The Independent Barents Observer
Russia: Call for Arctic Council to include Russian Indigenous groups in exile in working groups, The Independent Barents Observer
Sweden: Swedish defence working on developing military drone force, Radio Sweden
United States: Senators, including Alaska’s, sound alarm on cuts impacting Indigenous health care agency, Eye on the Arctic
