Northwest Territories, Canada Municipal elections 2026 — Results

Two polling days in the Northwest Territories

Municipal voting in the Northwest Territories in 2026 falls on two separate dates, because the territory's communities are not all on the same cycle. Yellowknife, the capital and the territory's only city, votes on Monday 19 October 2026. The hamlets vote on Monday 14 December 2026, the second Monday of December, which is when territorial hamlet general elections are held.

This page covers both, because they are one municipal cycle even though they are seven weeks apart.

Yellowknife on 19 October

Yellowknife voters elect a mayor and eight city councillors, for a four-year term running from 2 November 2026 to 4 November 2030. The last election was on 17 October 2022. Nominations opened at 9 a.m. on 8 September 2026 and closed at 3 p.m. on 21 September; MACA's list of candidates has two names for mayor, Garett Cochrane and Melissa Syer, and twenty-one for the eight council seats. One thing is new this time: the city appointed the Chief Electoral Officer of Elections NWT to conduct the enumeration and update the voters' list, work the city had previously done itself. The vote is still run by the city's own returning officer, Eve Erasmus. The five voting stations are open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mountain time — the default set by section 67(1)(a) of the Local Authorities Elections Act — and candidates have until 7 p.m. on 22 October to request a recount.

The city has roughly 20,000 residents — close to half the territory's population — and its council decides on matters that in a larger jurisdiction would be split across several levels of government: municipal taxation, water and utilities in a subarctic climate, land use as the diamond-mining economy that built the modern city winds down, and the relationship with the surrounding Yellowknives Dene First Nation.

The hamlets on 14 December

Hamlet general elections are scheduled for 14 December 2026 in communities including Aklavik, Fort McPherson, Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour, Tsiigehtchic, Tuktoyaktuk, Tulita and Ulukhaktok. These are small communities — several have populations in the hundreds — spread across the Mackenzie Delta, the Sahtu and the Beaufort Sea coast, and their councils are the whole of local government there.

Hamlet elections run under the Local Authorities Elections Act, which allows a council to appoint a returning officer and registrar by motion at any time after 1 January of an election year. The Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA) publishes the countdown calendar and supports communities through the process; on it, hamlet nominations close at 3 p.m. on 16 November 2026. Section 67(1) of the Act keeps voting stations open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. unless the local authority fixes some other span of nine to twelve hours, and none of the eight hamlets has published hours of its own, so the times on this page are the statutory default.

How municipal voting works in the territory

Municipal elections in the Northwest Territories are non-partisan: candidates stand as individuals, there are no municipal parties, and in the smaller communities seats are quite often filled by acclamation when the number of candidates does not exceed the number of places. Mayors are elected directly by plurality; councillors are elected at large by plurality block voting, each voter marking as many names as there are seats.

What ElectioMap will show

This page carries the Yellowknife mayoral and council result after 19 October, and adds the hamlet results after 14 December, from the municipalities and from MACA. Under section 76(1) of the Local Authorities Elections Act the returning officer declares the winners publicly at the conclusion of the vote, so each community's figures arrive the same evening rather than from a single territorial count; there is no machine-readable feed covering the territory, and this page promises none. Figures are published with their source and, where the returning officer reports it, turnout. In communities where an office is filled by acclamation, that is stated rather than shown as a vote.

Frequently asked questions

When do the Northwest Territories vote in 2026?

On two dates. Yellowknife, the territory's only city, elects a mayor and eight city councillors on Monday 19 October 2026, with voting from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mountain time. Hamlet general elections follow on Monday 14 December 2026, the second Monday of December, in communities including Aklavik, Fort McPherson, Paulatuk, Sachs Harbour, Tsiigehtchic, Tuktoyaktuk, Tulita and Ulukhaktok.

Why are there two polling days?

Yellowknife and the hamlets sit on different statutory cycles. Yellowknife's last election was 17 October 2022 and its terms run four years; hamlet general elections are held in December under the Local Authorities Elections Act.

What is new about the Yellowknife election this time?

The city appointed the Chief Electoral Officer of Elections NWT to conduct the enumeration and update the voters' list, which the city had previously done itself; the vote is still run by the city's own returning officer, Eve Erasmus. Nominations opened at 9 a.m. on 8 September 2026 and closed at 3 p.m. on 21 September.

How does municipal voting work in the territory?

Elections are non-partisan — candidates stand as individuals and there are no municipal parties. Mayors are elected directly by plurality; councillors are elected at large by plurality block voting, each voter marking as many names as there are seats. In smaller communities seats are quite often filled by acclamation when candidates do not outnumber places.

Who administers these elections?

Each municipality appoints its own returning officer and registrar, with support from the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA), whose Chief Municipal Electoral Officer publishes the countdown calendars and collects the results. In 2026 Yellowknife also brought in the Chief Electoral Officer of Elections NWT, but only to run the enumeration and update the voters' list.

Who is standing in Yellowknife?

MACA's list of candidates for the 19 October election has two names for mayor — Garett Cochrane and Melissa Syer — and twenty-one for the eight council seats: Nazim Awan, Adrian Bell, Keneisha Buddoo, Roberta Marie Campbell, Yanik D'Aigle, Donna Lee Demarcke, Cody Drygeese, Ryan Fequet, Jeremy Flatt, Rob Foote, Fraser Fuite, Rylund Johnson, Roland Laufer, Stephen Payne, Skye Plowman, Tammy Soanes-White, Vibhesh Tripathi, Rob Warburton, Gerri Whiteford, Simon Whitehouse and Andy Young. The elections are non-partisan, so no candidate appears under a party label. Hamlet nominations do not close until 3 p.m. on 16 November 2026.

What do these councils do?

In Yellowknife, a city of roughly 20,000 people — close to half the territory's population — the council handles municipal taxation, water and utilities in a subarctic climate, land use as the diamond-mining economy winds down, and the relationship with the surrounding Yellowknives Dene First Nation. In the hamlets, several of which have populations in the hundreds, the council is the whole of local government.

When will results be available?

Each community declares its own result, usually the same evening. This page carries the Yellowknife figures after 19 October and adds the hamlet results after 14 December, each with its source and, where the returning officer reports it, turnout.

Compiled and reviewed from official results by ElectioMap. See our data methodology.