SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Kevin O'Reilly has been elected as the new MLA for Frame Lake, a seat vacated by Wendy Bisaro after two terms in the legislative assembly.

Kevin O'Reilly celebrates his Frame Lake victory at Twist with outgoing MLA Wendy Bisaro, left. - James Goldie/NNSL photo

According to unofficial results posted on Elections NWT's website at press time, O'Reilly won the district with a 15-vote lead over Jan Fullerton, one of three other candidates vying for the position. The final tally was 156 votes O'Reilly, 141 for Fullerton, 132 for David Wasylciw and 117 for Roy Erasmus Sr.

"It was a very tight race in Frame Lake," he said. "I want to thank the other candidates who put their names forward. It sure was a lot of hard work."

O'Reilly described the campaign as "collegial," with candidates sometimes working together "putting up each other's signs and so on."

O'Reilly is no stranger to public office, having served on Yellowknife city council from 1997 to 2006. He is the executive director of the Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency and is known for his work as an advocate for environmental causes in the territory.

Cost of living and energy issues were the issues he heard about most during his campaign. He previously told Yellowknifer that renewable energy can reduce the cost of living in the North and create jobs.

O'Reilly did not say whether or not he would put his name forward for a cabinet position.

"Too early to say that," he said. "I guess I'm trying to wind up a number of things and looking forward to moving to a new position and I'll have to see who else is interested."

Although it was a long campaign and O'Reilly said he was "a little bleary eyed" the day after the election, he said he is thrilled. "I was obviously happy with the results," he said.

"There's certainly big change that voters across the NWT wanted to see take place and I'm looking forward to being part of that."

- with files from Shane Magee

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.