Nunavummiut head to the polls Monday in 6th general election

It's election day in Nunavut, the final day for roughly 14,000 eligible voters to go to polling stations throughout the territory to elect new members of the legislature for 17 constituencies.

In five other Nunavut constituencies, no elections will take place because the candidates, including former premier Joe Savikataaq, were acclaimed.

The results will be broadcast in our live election special on CBC-TV hosted by Joanna Awa in English and Inuktitut. The show starts at 9 p.m., when the polls close in western Nunavut.

Watch the special live on CBCNews.ca, on our CBC Nunavut Facebook page or on CBC Gem. You can also tune in on CBC North Radio One, or follow us on Twitter, @CBCNorth.

In Iqaluit, with about 4,000 of the territory's voters, Elections Nunavut hopes eligible voters will come out to cast ballots.

"We understand that people might have other priorities right now like the water situation," said Nunavut's chief electoral officer, Dustin Fredlund, speaking of the current crisis in Iqaluit.

Fuel-contaminated drinking water led city officials to declare tap water unsafe to drink on Oct. 10. Since then, hundreds of thousands of litres of bottled water have been flown to the city. 

"We hope that people can still find time in their daily lives to source and secure drinking water to go out and vote as well," Fredlund said.  

"It's not as important to the body as water, but I think it's important to our local democracy to have everyone who's able to be eligible to vote."

The city has four seats at stake in the election, two of which are sure to result in a new member of the legislature after the incumbents, Pat Angnakak and Elisapee Sheutiapik, declined to run again. In two other races, incumbents are fighting to regain their position. 

In Rankin Inlet North-Chesterfield Inlet, veteran Nunavut politician Cathy Towtongie, who was the first female president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., is aiming to keep her seat from two challengers. 

In Rankin Inlet South, another veteran politician, Tagak Curley, is hoping to unseat the incumbent, Lorne Kusugak. Curley was the first president of Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, now Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, but has not served in the territorial legislature since 2013. Kusugak, a former mayor of Rankin Inlet, was most recently Nunavut's health minister. 

Pond Inlet presents another heated race, with two challengers taking on the incumbent, David Qamaniq. Former mayor and Anglican priest Joshua Arreak has been outspoken in the face of the Baffinland Iron Mine's Mary River project. Karen Nutarak, meanwhile, was a recipient of the $1-million Arctic Inspiration Prize in 2015 for the Pirurvik Preschool, which she co-founded. 

Meanwhile, in Cambridge Bay, Peter Ohokak, an administrative manager with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc., and former mayor Pamela Hakongak Gross are challenging the incumbent Jeannie Hakongak Ehaloak.