Iqaluit West election probe ends

Nunavut RCMP have finished a 17-month investigation of voter irregularities in the Iqaluit West constituency in the 2008 territorial election but the candidate who lost said the probe raises more questions.

The RCMP received a complaint shortly after the Oct. 27, 2008, election about the race in Iqaluit West, where incumbent MLA and then-premier Paul Okalik was challenged by Iqaluit Mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik.

Okalik edgedout Sheutiapik by 44 votes. Afterward, Sheutiapik alleged that some voters were not eligible to cast ballots in that constituency.

In a letter to Sheutiapik, dated April 19, RCMP Cpl. Paul Robinsonwrote thatthere is "some validity" to Sheutiapik's claim that some people had voted in the wrong constituency.

The RCMP letter also indicated that several voters, who were living temporarily in Iqaluit, voted in Iqaluit West but were only eligible to vote in their home communities.

No actual numbers given

"However, it would not have affected the outcome of the October 2008 Nunavut general election for Iqaluit West," Robinson wrote, although he did not disclose specific numbers.

Sheutiapik, who returned to her job as mayor after she lost to Okalik, said she believes at least 22 people cast ballots in Iqaluit West but were not eligible to vote there.

"They've confirmed there's numbers there. What are they? We don't know yet," Sheutiapik told CBC News on Thursday.

"But [it's] one number too many, as far as I'm concerned."

The Nunavut capital has three constituencies Iqaluit West, Iqaluit East and Iqaluit Centre and the RCMP investigation could not determine whether the voter irregularities "were fraudulent in nature or honest mistakes," Robinson wrote.

Time to move on: Okalik

While Okalik was re-elected in Iqaluit West, he lost his bid for a third term as Nunavut's premier shortly after the election. He has since been serving purely as anMLA.

"I hope that nobody has to go through this experience. It creates a cloud for everyone," Okalik said of the voter irregularity issue.

"I'm glad that this matter is resolved and dealt with and so that we can move on."

But Sheutiapik said she plans to respond to the RCMP's findings.

"It's just, for us, more questions, unfortunately," she said.

"It's confirmed that we had legitimate complaints, concerns, but yet it's not detailed enough to say what kind of an investigation it was. There's no numbers there."

The RCMP say it is up to Elections Nunavut to verify the eligibility of voters.

Officials with Elections Nunavut told CBC News they are reviewing the RCMP's findings and formulating a response.