Chisasibi has a new chief, Violet Pachanos. Pachanos took 309 out of the total 900 votes cast, or about a third, according to reports.
We could not get the official results from the band office before press time. In second place was the incumbent chief, Charles Bobbish, with 247 votes, according to our information. James Bobbish was third (116 votes), followed by Margaret Fireman (114). In total, seven candidates ran for the chief position.
No word as to whether Pachanos will resign from her position as Deputy Grand Chief. She didn’t return several phone calls, but according to one report, she has hinted she intends to stay on in the other job, too.
Already, questions are arising about election procedures and whether Pachanos should keep both jobs at the same time.
In the days before the election, Pachanos herself reportedly raised questions about why some residents were allowed to nominate more than one candidate in the elections. We couldn’t reach electoral officer Larry Wash for his comments.
Outgoing chief Charles Bobbish wished Pachanos good luck in her new position and said he’d like to remain active politically if the people will have him. i
“I didn’t lose by much. Only 62 votes. If I had a choice I would like to stay in politics.” Asked what he learned during his term, he replied, “I learned a lot of people can be very supportive and a lot of people can be totally against anything you decide to do. A lot of times you never know if someone is really your friend until you go into politics.” One candidate for chief who asked to remain anonymous said there are dissatisfied rumblings in Chisasibi about the election. “I’ve had a lot of calls from people who said they weren’t too happy with the way the choice was made.
“The Elders were not consulted and they were very vocal afterwards (about that).”The community’s vote was apparently split between those whose families are from coastaltraplines and inlanders. Pachanos, as an inlander, apparently benefitted from the factthat only one other candidate of the seven was an inlander.
