Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 24/02) - Tongola Sandy of Rankin Inlet is the new president of the Kivalliq Inuit Association.

Tongola Sandy gets comfortable in his new surroundings after being elected president of the Kivalliq Inuit Association earlier this month. - Darrell Greer/NNSL photo

Sandy won the April 15 election in convincing fashion, finishing 209 votes ahead of second-place finisher Paul Pemik, who garnered 285 votes.

Peter Kritaqliluk finished third in the presidential election with 264 votes. Danny Kowmak placed fourth with a total of 250 votes.

Sandy has been working with the KIA for the past 13 years, and has held the office of the KIA's chief land administrator.

The new president says he's feeling good and excited over his election win.

"I know pretty well -- through 13 years experience with the KIA -- the workings of the office, what to do and what's expected of me," says Sandy.

"I'm quite excited to be assuming the role of president and have my own ideas on what direction I want to take the KIA in. I'm still working on that, but first I'll talk with the executive and our board members and get to know each other better before setting our final direction."

Sandy says in some aspects he has big shoes to fill, stepping in behind former KIA president Paul Kaludjak, who was a popular figure among Kivalliq beneficiaries.

Sandy campaigned hard for the election and estimates he visited about 80 per cent of the eligible voters in the region.

"I made sure people were able to put a face to my name. If campaigners don't show their faces, it's hard to tell who you should vote for."

The KIA presidential election only brought out 36 per cent of the region's eligible voters, with 1,293 out of a possible 3,547 voters casting their ballots. Sandy, however, says he's not discouraged by the low turnout at the polls.

"We had a blizzard on election day across our region and I'm sure that had a lot to do with the low number of voters. But when you look at the final numbers, I'm confident had the voter turnout been higher, the final result would have been the same."