When Yukon New Democratic Party (NDP) Leader Liz Hanson cast her ballot in the federal NDP leadership contest, Jagmeet Singh was not her first choice.

However, Hanson told the Star Monday, she’s “very happy” that Singh was elected leader of her party’s federal counterpart Sunday, and she’s looking forward to a Yukon visit from him in the future.

Singh is a 38-year-old Ontario MPP and a former lawyer. He was voted into his party’s top job by a majority of NDP members on the vote’s first ballot – a result Hanson said she hadn’t expected.

The NDP leadership election process sees registered party members rank candidates in preferential order on their ballots. If a candidate receives at least 50 per cent plus one of the vote, he or she is elected.

If no one receives the majority of votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated from the ballot, and a subsequent vote using the same ranking system is held.

This continues until a candidate receives the majority of votes.

On her ballot, Hanson said, she put leadership candidate Charlie Angus as her first choice out of “loyalty and really strong respect” for the Timmins-James Bay (Ont.) MP.

While Angus has dedicated much of his political career to northern and Indigenous issues, Hanson said she believes Singh, a practising Sikh born to Indian parents, has something unique to offer the Yukon and other northern territories as federal NDP leader.

“He comes with the experience of being the outsider and often times, Indigenous people have been treated as outsiders in their own land. You start with that principle of empathy, and you’ve got a strong lead,” said Hanson.

She noted Singh has MPs in the NDP caucus like Angus and former leadership candidate Niki Ashton who have considerable experience with northern affairs and social justice issues, respectively. They will be strong assets for the new leader to rely on, Hanson said.

Singh also champions many of the same issues the Yukon New Democrats have dedicated themselves to, like “the absolute imperative of reconciliation,” and the idea that Canada should be “a country where no one is left behind,” she said.

Singh is not an MP, meaning he will not be able to participate in political activity like question period or committee debates of the House of Commons. This isn’t unique in the history of NDP leadership.

Tommy Douglas, Alexa McDonough, and Jack Layton have all led the federal NDP without holding a seat in the House of Commons at the time of their election.

Hanson herself was in a similar position when she became leader of the Yukon NDP in 2009.

She wasn’t elected to the legislative assembly until a byelection in December 2010 in her riding of Whitehorse Centre.

She argues it wasn’t a disadvantage for her and she doesn’t expect it to be for Singh or his party either.

“I don’t think there’s any major rush for him to become a member of Parliament,” Hanson said.

She added that she hopes Singh devotes his time to getting acquainted with Canadians and different parts of the country “from coast to coast to coast.”

“I’m looking forward to the opportunity for him to come to the Yukon.”

Singh succeeds Tom Mulcair, who lost a leadership review in April 2016 in Edmonton and who opted not to challenge for the leadership again.