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April 1 Souvenir Edition
December 12, 1995
After a sometimes bitter campaign between
Iqaluit and Rankin Inlet, 60 per cent of Nunavut voters cast ballots in favour
of Iqaluit as the capital of Nunavut. The decade-old dispute over where to put
Nunavut's capital was finally put to rest.
Iqaluit wins capital vote
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT It wasn't
even close.
Analysts and capital campaign
workers had predicted a nail-biter, but in the end Iqaluit took 60 per cent
of the vote to 39 per cent for Rankin Inlet in the December 11 public vote for
Nunavut's capital.
"We did it,"
said Lazarus Arreak, an Iqaluit campaign worker, moments after the results were
broadcast over CBC radio on Tuesday afternoon.
Many Iqaluit supporters
they were surprised Iqaluit got almost 2,000 more votes than Rankin Inlet.
On Sunday, Rankin Inlet
Mayor Keith Sharp predicted his community would win by a margin of 52 per cent
to 48 per cent.
Although community-by-community
vote counts will never be released, it appears that high voter turnout in the
Baffin and low turnouts in the Keewatin and Kitikmeot made the difference.
Iqaluit Mayor Joe Kunuk
says he was humbled by the support for Iqaluit, and he called on Nunavut's leaders
to hold a meeting to promote unity.
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