Recount determines Sanirajak mayor wins by one vote

Sanirajak is mayor-less no more.

Philip Anguratsiaq is the hamlet’s new mayor after a recount of votes on Friday determined he had won by a single vote over second-place candidate Ammie H. Kipsigak, Elections Nunavut announced.

“Surreal, I think I’m dreaming,” Anguratsiaq said over Facebook messenger after the result was determined — 11 days after voters first cast their ballots.

The recount determined Anguratsiaq received 57 votes while Kipsigak, a former mayor from 2009 to 2011, actually got 56.

“My inside kept telling me to be confident so I waited very patiently,” Anguratsiaq said.

The recount, conducted by a justice of the peace, was needed because the community’s Oct. 23 municipal election ended in a tie between Anguratsiaq and Kipsigak, who each received 57 votes in the four-way race for mayor.

The tie prompted candidates to request a recount administered by a justice of the peace in order to determine a winner. That’s one of the options under Nunavut’s elections act.

That recount was originally set for Oct. 27 but was delayed because a cancelled flight meant the justice of the peace could not travel to the hamlet in time for the vote.

On Oct. 23, residents in Sanirajak cast 171 votes for mayor. Voter turnout was 43.2 per cent, according to Elections Nunavut’s website. Jason Kaernerk finished in third place with 33 votes, while fourth place’s David Curley had 24.

As mayor, Anguratsiaq succeeds Jaypeetee Audlakiak, who did not seek re-election.