This article was featured on CBC, read the original article here.
A defeated candidate in last October’s Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations election has forced a new vote for first vice-chief.
Kimberly Jonathan beat her only rival, Sheldon Wuttunee, by nine votes. Wuttunee appealed, and a tribunal found a number of problems. Among them, a glitch in the automated vote counting system.
“There was nine that were cast that the machine deemed null and void if you will,” said FSIN chief Perry Bellegarde. “But upon manual recount it was only five. So that was a grey area for the committee, for the tribunal.”
The tribunal declared the election null and void and ordered a new one. There is more than 18 months left in the term, so under the FSIN’s rules a new election must be held. It’s the first time in the FSIN’s history an appeal has led to a by-election.