This is a breaking news story that will be updated.

Chalyee Éesh Richard Peterson was resoundingly elected to a seventh two-year term as the president of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska on Thursday, getting 68.1% of the vote in a five-way race in which the runner-up finished with 11.6%.

However, a shakeup in top leadership occurred as First Vice President Ku.seen Jacqueline Pata, who finished fourth in the presidential vote, then lost her current position to Clinton Cook Sr., the council’s second vice president. Pata has served as the council’s second-in-command since 2021.

The decisive presidential vote by 69 delegates at the council’s 91st annual Tribal Assembly drew applause throughout Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall when the results were displayed. Peterson, the council’s president since 2014, was in a contested race this year after facing abuse accusations from a former romantic partner last year, with a council review resulting in no finding as to whether the accusations had merit.

Peterson, in an interview after Thursday’s vote, said it was the most contested election he has faced since the four-candidate race when he was initially elected in 2014.

“Really just my heart’s full of appreciation,” he said. “I wasn’t running against anything or anybody, and I applaud everybody who stood up. I think that’s actually a wonderful thing. I think we’re supposed to stand up and make our case.”

The top challenger was Shkaadul.aat Lisa Gassman with 11.6%, followed by Melissa Kookesh with 10.1%, Pata at 7.2% and Jáx Kóoste Tasha Hotch at 2.9%.

The votes for first vice president were Cook with 56.5%, Kookesh 17.4%, Pata 15.9%, Gassman 8.7% and Hitch 1.4%.

While Alaska uses ranked-choice voting to reach majority votes in statewide and legislative races, the Tlingit and Haida elections require an outright majority. To get there, various groups of delegates meet in closed-door caucus meetings to hash out differences.

Before the first official vote, for instance, separate requests were made for caucuses of Juneau delegates, new delegates and small Southeast village delegates. An initial 15-minute period for those meetings in different parts of the building was extended to 20 minutes, and the delegates reconvened a few minutes past that.

The vote reelecting Peterson was cast shortly afterward.

This story was originally published by the Juneau Independent.