Our poll results demonstrate support for electoral change at the AFN making it more inclusive of the diversity of Indigenous communities while also engaging traditional government systems.
The election for National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) took place in Winnipeg earlier this week on Wednesday December 10, 2014. Regional Chief for Saskatchewan, Perry Bellegarde was elected National Chief with 63 percent of the 464 first-ballot votes.
If you are not an elected Chief of a First Nation, you were not eligible to vote for the new leader, which is why on December 9th, MUSKRAT launched its own vote and survey asking who MUSKRAT readers would vote for and if they support electoral reform of the AFN. MUSKRAT readers also elected Perry Bellegarde as National Chief with 39.45% of the vote of the 119 votes.
A key point in this year’s debate is the relevancy of the AFN itself. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, message boards, and news feeds were abuzz on election day with many people calling for AFN reforms which would allow individual citizens to vote in the AFN elections and make the AFN more accountable to the community rather than the Feds. Our poll results demonstrate support for electoral change at the AFN, making it more inclusive of the diversity of Indigenous communities while also engaging traditional government systems.
The results are in! Survey says:
