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The NDP's Dennis Bevington will be heading back to Ottawa for a second term as MP for the Western Arctic.

Despite a resurgent Conservative Party represented by Brendan Bell, Bevington won the Western Arctic seat on Tuesday night, taking 5,669 votes.

Dennis and Joan Bevington celebrate victory at the Elks Hall in Yellowknife. The incumbent NDP MP was declared the winner in the federal election Tuesday night. --Cara Loverock/NNSL photo

Bell, his closest challenger, captured 5,146 votes - 37.6 per cent of the total ballots cast and 3.8 per cent back of Bevington. Bell had hoped to become the first Conservative candidate to win the Western Arctic seat since 1984.

The Conservatives will continue nationally as a minority government, winning 143 seats in the general election. The Liberals dropped from 95 to 76 seats while the NDP climbed to 37 from 30 after the writ was dropped Sept. 7.

On Wednesday morning, Fort Simpson resident Pat Rowe said he is happy with the Conservative win nationally.

"I hope that with a Conservative government we will still get a pipeline," he said, referring to the Mackenzie Valley natural gas pipeline.

Wayne Newbury, mayor of Fort Liard, said he was quite surprised to see no change in the North, considering the way voting went in Alberta and around the west.

"I was expecting a change," he said. "I'm glad Mr. Bevington is still with us. With all the changes going on in the North, he's probably the better man to take care of things and keep everything on track rather than dealing with a group of new people."

Cheers erupted from NDP supporters as Bevington was declared the winner at the Yellowknife Elks Club late Tuesday night.

"I'm so pleased we've had the result here we've had tonight," said Bevington in a speech to the crowd. "It was very close. I want to congratulate my worthy opponents who put up a heck of a fight."

Bevington called the win a "victory for the North" and that his second time in office will be "even better this time."

"The North is Canada. The North is what Canada is all about," said Bevington.

Bell made a brief appearance at the Top Knight around 10:45 p.m. to thank his supporters and all those who volunteered for his campaign.

"It's certainly a disappointment," he said, referring to his loss. "I'm most disappointed because there are so many people in this room and around the territory who gave it there all and put their lives on hold ... and they did such a job for me. I'm mostly disappointed that we didn't quite get it done for them."

While Bell didn't win the seat, he said he's not out of politics yet.

"I'll stay involved in politics on some level, one or another, I'm just not sure exactly where we go from here, but we'll sit down and figure it out," he said.

Liberal Gabrielle Mackenzie-Scott finished a distant third in this race - taking just 1,858 votes and 13.6 per cent of the ballots cast. Before Bevington's win in 2006, the Liberals held the seat for 18 years under Ethel Blondin-Andrew.

The Green Party's Sam Gamble improved on the party's past results - finishing the night with a best ever 752 votes cast in the Western Arctic. Noeline Villebrun with the First Peoples National Party of Canada finished last with 246 votes.

Voter turnout was weak in the Western Arctic. Only 48.6 per cent out 28,162 eligible voters cast ballots compared to 58.3 per cent nationally. Fifty-eight per cent of Western Arctic voters turned out in 2006.