Sean Smith elected chief of Kwanlin Dün First Nation in Yukon
Smith ousts 3-term chief Doris Bill, after losing to her in 2020
The Kwanlin Dün First Nation in Yukon has elected a new chief — Sean Smith.
Smith won Wednesday's vote in Whitehorse, ousting Doris Bill who has served three consecutive terms as chief.
According to results posted online by the First Nation on Thursday, Smith won with 289 votes compared to 205 for Bill.
Smith has been a past councillor for the First Nation and also ran for chief in 2020. He lost that election by 70 votes.
The First Nation has also posted preliminary results of the election for councillors, though the close results meant a recount was held Thursday afternoon.
The recount confirmed the election results, with Charlene Charlie, Charles Chief, Jesse Ryder and Ray Sydney re-elected to council. Linda Moen and Jolene Smarch have also won seats.
Charlie earned the most votes by a significant margin, while the other five were all within 12 votes of each other — with three of them exactly tied.
Judy Gingell was initially just four votes behind Ryder. That was a small enough margin to trigger an automatic recount.
After the recount, the margin between Gingell and Ryder had widened to five votes.
The final vote counts for council candidates are as follows:
- Charlene Charlie: 303
- Linda Moen: 201
- Charles Chief: 193
- Jolene Smarch: 193
- Ray Sydney: 193
- Jesse Ryder: 188
- Judy Gingell: 183
- Sarina Sydney: 178
- Jessie Dawson: 176
- Jacqueline Shorty: 176
- Jason Charlie: 167
- Allan Taylor: 159
- Judith Kuster: 157
- Ray Webb: 109
- Marion Fayant: 75