As of Friday, the only declared candidate in the federal riding of Nunavut was incumbent Conservative MP Leona Aglukkaq, the current federal minister of health.

A column in Nunatsiaq Online this week noted the Liberals and Greens were still searching for candidates.

Columnist Chris Windeyer told Yahoo! Canada News he expects the NDP will have a nominee in place by Monday.

"Part of the difficulty has been that both the Liberals and NDP have experienced turn over in their riding associations," says Windeyer. "A lot of their people have left the territory."

Aglukkaq was first elected to Parliament in 2008 and Windeyer believes her federal prominence as a cabinet minister has helped her local popularity.

"Leona (Aglukkaq) is a pretty strong candidate," he says. "Folks aren't seeing a good chance to beat her."

The electoral district of Nunavut has a population of 29,474 with 17,089 registered voters.

In the last election, Aglukkaq beat the Liberal candidate, Kirt Ejisak, by only 466 votes. Ejisak has chosen not to run this time and is directing his political efforts on developing a university in the Arctic.

If and when the other parties secure new candidates, they will have some catching up to do. The Aglukkaq election team has opened its campaign office and is active on the hustings.

(CP Photo)