Voters in Nunavut’s neighbour, Greenland, go to the polls today

Markus Hansen, left, gets a bag of ballots for today’s election in Greenland from Peter Lillie, Air Greenland’s station manager in Pituffik, near the United States base at Thule. Lillie drove 35 kilometres to the US Camp Tuto to meet with Hansen, who drove his dog team 150 km over the ice so that voters in the northern villlage of Savissivik could vote, Tele-Post said. (PHOTO COURTESY OF TELE-POST/FACEBOOK)

Greenland’s top leaders square off in a televised debate on April 21, two days before the island’s general election this Tuesday, April 24: Kim Kielsen, leader of the social democratic Siumut party, and Sara Olsvig of the left-wing Inuit Ataqatigiit party. Both are expected to win seats in the assembly. (PHOTO BY LEIFF JOSEFSEN/SERMITSIAQ AG)

Today, roughly 40,000 voters in Greenland will cast their votes in an election to choose members for their 31-seat Inatsisartut assembly, Greenland’s parliament, a process that may or may not lead to the formation of a new government.

Voters have big choices before them: there are more than 200 candidates to choose from—232 in total, 71 women and 161 men—who represent seven parties, from the left to the right of the political spectrum.

The main issue during this election, which was called last month, has been fairly clear-cut: Greenland needs money to loosen its dependence on Denmark and move ahead with major infrastructure projects such as major, multi-million-dollar major airport improvements to expand tourism.

One of the policy debates among the candidates is Greenland’s new Fisheries Act, which will be among the new government’s top legislative priorities when the Inatsisartut reconvenes.

Focusing on fisheries as an election issue was a logical choice, said Mikaa Mered, professor of Arctic economics and geopolitics at the Free Institute of International Relations Studies in Paris.

“Indeed, oil and gas hopes are gone,” he told Nunatsiaq News.

Mining was the main issue in the 2013 and 2014 elections, he said. But this time, it’s the management of maritime resources, because they are Greenland’s dominant industry.

With respect to mining, candidates have tried to come up with ways of managing mining development and the revenue it generates, Mered said.

“In other words, they’re having the exact same debate now as they were having back in 2013 and 2014 around ‘how to make the most of our mineral resources.’

“But now, instead of fighting for resources that haven’t materialized yet, they’re focusing on actual resources that do exist and are profitable,” Mered said.

In the background: the independence issue. But Greenland needs money and the state needs new revenues, about US$600 million a year, to end its reliance on Denmark.

Greenland’s premier, Kim Kielsen of the social democratic Siumut party, said he called the election seven months early so the new government can move ahead on important legislation.

But Kielsen is unlikely to win a clear majority.

That’s because elections in Greenland are complicated: seats are first distributed proportionally according to the percentage of votes received by the parties.

So if Kielsen’s Siumut party gets 40 per cent of the total vote, it will get 13 or 14 of the assembly’s 31 seats. These will be given to the 13 to 14 Siumut candidates who receive the most votes.

But even if the party gets 40 per cent of the vote, that won’t be enough to form a government without finding a coalition partner first from among smaller parties.

And the minority parties, which may account for 60 per cent of the votes and seats, could band together to form the government.

This means the new government could, in fact, be composed of every party but the party with the greatest number of seats.

It’s a system that’s much different than what’s found in Nunavut, where there are no political parties represented in the territorial legislature, and a first-past-the-post system in each electoral district.

Greenland’s premier and other cabinet members are chosen by the assembly after the government is formed, either by holding majority or seats or through a coalition. That can take more than a day or two to work out.

The party, or coalition of parties who will form the government are those that manage to control at least 16 seats.

Likely to lead the new government are either Kielsen or Sara Olsvig of the left wing Inuit Ataqatigiit party. In 2014, only 325 votes separated these two parties.

Mered said an IA coalition with the less dominant Demokratiit and Atassut parties could emerge, because they might come up with a shared political platform on the independence issue.

“But they’re not fully aligned when it comes to mining (uranium) and fishing, for instance,” Mered said.

The former IA premier, Kuupik Kleist, who has been analyzing the election for the Sermitsiaq A/G newspaper, said the party leaders are guaranteed to win their seats.

But Kleist said in Sermitsiaq that whoever wins, “basically, all candidates and parties must relate to how the future of Greenland can be economically self-sustaining.

“There must be much stronger focus on social conditions, the very unequal living conditions, the poorly functioning families, and the many forms of abuses,” Kleist.