The Navajo Nation presidential election of 2010 was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. Ben Shelly won the election.^[1]

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Navajo Nation presidential election, 2010

← 2006 November 2, 2010 2015 →

Nominee Ben Shelly Lynda Lovejoy Primary election 7,715 16.02% 17,399 36.13% General election 33,734 52.50% 30,520 47.50%

President before election Joe Shirley, Jr. Elected President Ben Shelly

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The general election was held between New Mexico State Senator Lynda Lovejoy and outgoing Navajo Nation Vice President Ben Shelly.

The primary election was held on August 3, 2010. Lynda Lovejoy won a plurality of the vote, becoming the first woman to do so. Ben Shelly came in second place. The primary election included nine other candidates. This was the first Navajo Nation presidential election in which both candidates, Lovejoy and Shelly, were residents of the Eastern part of the Navajo Nation.^[2]

Ben Shelly became the first Vice President of the Navajo Nation to be elected president.^[3] Had she been elected, Lynda Lovejoy would have become the first female president of the Navajo Nation.^[4]

Previously, during the 2006 presidential election Joe Shirley Jr. had been re-elected to a second term over challenger Lynda Lovejoy. On July 9, 2010, the Navajo Nation Supreme Court ruled that Shirley could not seek a third consecutive term as president.^[5]

State Senator Lynda Lovejoy, who unsuccessfully sought the presidency in 2006, easily defeated eleven other candidates with 17,137 votes, becoming the first woman to win a Navajo Nation presidential primary.^[2] Navajo Nation Vice President Ben Shelly came in second place and qualified for the general election with 7,763 votes. Donald Benally of Shiprock placed third followed by the rest of the candidates.^[2]

Voter turnout was relatively low, at just 43.84% of registered voters.^[2] An estimated 48,511 of the 110,645 registered voters participated in the primary election.^[2]

With 109 of the 110 chapters reporting, Ben Shelly was ahead of Linda Lovejoy with 52.7% vs. 47.3% of all counted votes. Shelly claimed victory and promised voters in the Gorman Hall at the Window Rock Sports Center that "I will work with you. We will work together." Lovejoy demanded a recount.^[9]