Jackson Lafferty will serve a second four-year term as Tłı̨chǫ grand chief after defeating challenger Clifford Daniels in Monday’s election.
Lafferty received 962 votes to Daniels’ 689 according to results published to Meta’s channels by the Tłı̨chǫ Government early on Tuesday morning.
Turnout was 60 percent, down slightly on the 2021 election. Lafferty took 58 percent of votes cast.
Daniels convincingly won the poll in Gamètì while the result from Whatì was split narrowly in his favour. All other communities gave more votes to Lafferty, a breakdown showed.
Bertha Rabesca Zoe, the Behchokǫ̀ chief, said a drum dance to mark Lafferty’s re-election will take place from 6pm on Tuesday at the community’s cultural centre.
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“We are Tłı̨chǫ strong,” Lafferty told a crowd of supporters in Behchokǫ̀ to cheers after the results came in. The election period had proved divisive and vitriolic, with numerous residents appealing for calm online in recent days.
“From today on, we’ve got to move forward together in unity as a nation, nation-building,” Lafferty said.
“It’s a huge victory for the Tłı̨chǫ Nation. We must stand united. We’ve been separated, we’ve been divided, but now we’ve conquered it. We won.
“We won our victory here tonight, but we must reunite our nation.”
