This is a list of territorial elections in the Northwest Territories, Canada, since 1870. The Northwest Territories operates on a consensus government using the First Past the Post electoral system. The territory does not presently recognize political parties.
The last election was held on November 14, 2023.
Voting and consensus government
Northwest Territories elects members to the Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories under a non-partisan system known as consensus government. The election only decides who represents each district. The newly elected members of the assembly convene after the election to vote amongst themselves to decide which members become part of the Executive Council. This system of government has evolved in the Northwest Territories since 1870.
The voting method to elect members is the first-past-the-post electoral system. Voters under this system pick the top candidate by the number of votes cast regardless of the percent of votes earned by a candidate. With a few historical exceptions all electoral districts in the Northwest Territories are represented by a single member. First Past the Post has been used since the first election in 1881. Elections NWT is the independent regulatory body in charge of overseeing elections.
History of elections
The Northwest Territories has been through a number of distinct changes in how the territory is governed and how government has been selected. These changes have coincided with several major boundary changes since the Government of Canada acquired the territory in 1870. From 1870 to 1876 the North-West Territories was run by an interim government, first led by lieutenant-governor William McDougall, and a council appointed by Ottawa. This council was governed under the Temporary Government of Rupert's Land Act, 1869 and the Manitoba Act, 1870 The council itself sat in Manitoba and was made up of Members of the Manitoba Legislative Assembly.
In 1876 the Temporary Council was dissolved and a new council was appointed under the North-West Territories Act. Members could be elected to join the council if an area of had 1,000 inhabitants. The first such electoral districts were created in 1881. According to the Act, when the council reached twenty members, it would gain control of territorial affairs from the crown. The Council achieved this requirement in 1886. The council was renamed to an assembly and was dissolved in 1888. Twelve elections to rotate and elect members to new districts were held during the period between 1876 and 1888.
Five general elections would occur between 1888 and 1905, as the territories underwent significant growth. In 1897 after an amendment to the North-West Territories Act, the territories experienced a short-lived period of partisan politics that led to the North-West Territories Liberal-Conservative Party being elected in the fourth and fifth elections until 1905. The government in this period was made of members from the populated regions in the south. No members from the Arctic region would sit in government until 1947. In 1905, Alberta and Saskatchewan were carved out of the North-West Territories. As a result, the population dropped from approx 160,000 to 17,000, of which 16,000 were aboriginal and had no right to vote under Canadian law.
|rowspan=12|1st Council
|colspan=2 align=center|1
|rowspan=5|Battleford
|-
|May 29, 1883
|Edmonton by-election
|colspan=2 align=center|1
|-
|June 5, 1883
|Lorne by-election
|colspan=2 align=center|1
|-
|August 13, 1883
|Moose Jaw by-election<br />Regina by-election<br />Qu'Appelle by-election
|colspan=2 align=center|3
|-
|August 31, 1883
|Broadview by-election
|colspan=2 align=center|1
|-
|June 28, 1884
|Calgary by-election<br />Moose Mountain by-election
|colspan=2 align=center|2
|rowspan=19|Regina
|-
|September 15, 1885
|1885 election
|colspan=2 align=center|11
|-
|July 8, 1886
|Moose Mountain by-election
|colspan=2 align=center|1
|-
|July 14, 1886
|Calgary by-election
|colspan=2 align=center|2
|-
|October 14, 1886
|Qu'Appelle by-election
|colspan=2 align=center|1
|-
|May 24, 1887
|Qu'Appelle by-election
|colspan=2 align=center|2
|-
|September 5, 1887
|Macleod by-election
|colspan=2 align=center|1
|-
|June 30, 1888
|1st general election
|1st N-W Assembly
|colspan=2 align=center|22
|Chairman: Robert Brett
|-
|November 7, 1891
|2nd general election
|2nd N-W Assembly
|colspan=2 align=center|25
|rowspan=2|Chairman: Frederick Haultain
|-
|October 31, 1894
|3rd general election
|3rd N-W Assembly
|colspan=2 align=center|28
|-
|rowspan=5|November 4, 1898
|rowspan=5|4th general election
|rowspan=5|4th N-W Assembly
||
|Lib-Con. 7
|rowspan=5|Premier: Frederick Haultain<br />Opposition: Robert Brett
|-
||
|Liberal 2
|-
||
|Ind. 18
|-
||
|Ind. Lib. 3
|-
||
|Ind. POI 1
|-
|rowspan=4|May 21, 1902
|rowspan=4|5th general election