SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Edward Sangris will return as the Yellowknives Dene First Nation chief for Dettah for a second term after beating challenger Nuni Sanspariel by a more than two to one margin in Monday's vote.

The preliminary count, released Monday night, showed Sangris with 237 votes and Sanspariel with 104.

"I think people saw how we work together, chief and council, and we've done fairly well over the last four years," Sangris said after his win.

Sangris said he feels more confident now than ever to tackle the issues that are important to people in the community.

"The first four years have been a learning experience. Now that I've got that behind me, I can spend more time on the major issues that face our members," said Sangris. "Many of the things they said were important in 2007 have been worked out, but there are a lot of other issues that we have to deal with still. Things like devolution, the caribou (population decline) issue and (land claims) negotiations," Sangris said.

"I'd like to thank all my supporters, my family - I consider the First Nation to be my family. And the people who didn't support me, they are still my friends and I will work for them," said Sangris.

He said he believes part of the reason he faired better than Sanspariel was his challenger's inexperience. The issue was raised a number of times at the all-candidates forum in Dettah on June 5, and Sangris said he'd heard it brought up by other members of the community during the course of the election.

Sanspariel, stated during the election he didn't think his age should be an issue, arguing that the traditional age for a person to become Dene chief is 24 years old - Sanspariel is 30.

Sanspariel could not be reached for comment by press time.

Weledeh MLA Bob Bromley said he is looking forward to working with Sangris again.

"I've had a very good working relationship with the Yellowknives Dene, and Edward's been a big part of that, so I am very pleased, very happy to continue working with him," said Bromley. "That's not a slight against Nuni - I've never worked with him and I would be happy to work with him too," said Bromley.

He said part of the reason he thinks members re-elected Sangris is because of his affection for the people.

"He's got a very deep and personal feeling for the people and care for their welfare and for their vision of how they would like to settle their claim and move on," said Bromley.

An election to decide the Yellokwknives Dene band council will be held on June 27.

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