Election disputed by president

Page 3

The Metis Association general election is being disputed by three candidates, one of whom is newly elected president Larry Desmeules.

Unsuccessful Zone 4 director candidate, Ron LaRocque filed his protest with the Chief Electoral Officer, John Sinclair Sept. 21 and unsuccessful presidential candidate, JoAnn Daniels says she is set to file her protest also. They are joined with Desmeules, who says he is unhappy about the irregularities in the Owl River local.

"There are only about 50 members there, yet about 150 people voted," he said. However, despite its flaws, Desmeules feels the election was 98 per cent "fair."

"Even if you take out the unfairness, the results would have been the same," eh said, adding he felt LaRocque was "hypocritical" because he had designed the system for the 1985 general election and any problems experienced in this election had already been built into the system.

"We were not happy with the election system either, but we beat them at their own game," he said.

Desmeules added that his office had not received an official complaint from Daniels and that the deadline for protest was Sept. 21. However, Daniels says she missed the deadline because she was unable to get any information from the election office.

"I never even heard the result for some days after the election," she complained. Daniels says she is protesting the election because of very serious discrepancies and incorrect procedures.

"I know what I saw," she said. "I saw one person who is white voting, people from another zone came to vote and even said they came from another zone. I saw too many people who did not have any identification and the election officer allowed receipts. Too many boundaries were broken ... our election was a laughing stock," she said.

However, Daniels is quick to deny her protest is "sour grapes" because of her loss, saying she took her defeat to former president Sam Sinclair in the 1985 election very well.

"It was a landslide," but I didn't complain. But this is a blatant abuse of the system," she said.

In his letter of protest addressed to Sinclair, LaRocque says many people who were not entitled to vote did so and that in Zone 4 "60 per cent of the people who voted at this poll were sworn in as 'new' members," yet LaRocque was not permitted to see the "Oaths of Electors."

LaRocque also says that "many of the people who voted at Local #44 ... were status Indians. This must be looked into and if so, the votes from this poll must also be disallowed," he adds.

"Because of these and other irregularities, it seems obvious to me that the election which I thought was so clearly set up to be fair to all candidates is a sham," says LaRocque who adds that if there is no response to the letter that "legal measures" will be taken.

The MAA general election took place Sept. 1.

MAA ELECTION RESULTS

The official results of the Metis Association general election were released this week. However, the election is being protested by three candidates, see story on Page 3.

PRESIDENT POLL: Larry Desmeules ? 1082, Jo-Ann Daniels ? 929, Stan Plante ? 519, Richard Tremblay ? 80, Paul Sinclair ? 78,

VICE PRESIDENT POLL: Zone 1, Gerald Thom ? 453, Joe Blyan ? 326. Zone 2, August Collins ? 108, Phyllis Collins ? 46. Zone 3, Peter Pelletier ? 126, Jim White ? 43, Joan Major-Malmas ? 41. Zone 4, Dan Martel ? 388, Ben Courtrille ? 304, Mike Woodward ? 272. Zone 5, Peter Campiou (acclamation). Zone 6, George Amato ? 180, Lawrence Laboucane ? 99, Florence Henry ? 50.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS POLL: Zone 1, Elvina Strasberg ? 302, Joe A. Tremblay ? 272, Lester Whitford ? 200. Zone 2, Roy Dumais ? 98, Violet Wells ? 55. Zone 3, Freda Martel ? 122, Greg Lavallee ? 84. Zone 4, Leonard Guathier ? 363, Ron LaRocque ? 288, Ed Karakonti ? 245, Bruce Gladue ? 70. Zone 5, Harry M. Laboucan ? 224, Clara Yellowknee ? 50. Zone 6, Dwight Carifelle ? 162, Stan Sewell Jr. ? 116, Edith Trump ? 47.