The 2004 Nunavut general election was held on February 16, 2004, to elect the 19 members of the
2nd Legislative Assembly of Nunavut.
Premier
Paul Okalik asked for the five-year-old territory's first parliament to be dissolved on January 16.
The territory operates on a
consensus government system with no
political parties
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
; the
premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of govern ...
is subsequently chosen by and from the MLAs. There were 11,285 registered voters at the time of the election call.
Issues
Issues at the election included:
*the size of the civil service;
*the territory's Human Rights Act;
*education;
*language and culture.
Results
Elections were held in 18 of the 19 electoral districts.
Rankin Inlet North acclaimed its MLA. The following is a list of the districts with their candidates.
Source
Results (CBC News)
In the main, Nunavummiut decided to stay with their present legislature. The premier, four cabinet ministers, and three other MLAs were re-elected; five incumbents were defeated, including former speaker of the house Kevin O'Brien. Only two women were elected to the 19-seat legislature.
Premier Paul Okalik was given a firm endorsement by the voters in his riding. He faced a strong challenge for the premier's job from Tagak Curley, who was acclaimed to his seat. However, Okalik was returned to the premiership on March 5, 2004, by the new legislature
Miscellaneous
For the first time, residents of several tiny, isolated communities were able to vote by satellite phone.
Voter turnout
In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...
was nearly 90%; in 8 of the 18 ridings it was higher than 100% (as high as 134% in Kugluktuk) since there was no door-to-door enumeration and voter registration is permitted at the polling station.
References
External links
Elections NunavutCBC: Nunavut Votes 2004Nunavut Legislative AssemblyAbout Nunavut
(Government of the Northwest Territories)
{{NU-ED
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
Nunavut general
2004 in Nunavut
February 2004 in Canada