TAHLEQUAH, OKLA. ? The current chief of the Cherokee Nation and the man he defeated four years ago are in the final week of their campaigns to head up the nation’s second-largest American Indian tribe.

The ballot for Saturday’s general election includes Chief Chad Smith and former Chief Joe Byrd, along with lesser-known candidates L.S. Fields and Robin Mayes. A runoff would be held July 26 if needed.

Byrd said he and his deputy chief candidate, Gary Chapman, are running on a platform that stresses “integrity, prosperity, heritage and unity.”

Unity is most important, Byrd said.

Smith said the tribe was deeply divided when Byrd was chief from 1995 until 1999 and he charged that Byrd is trying to “run away from his past.”

The difference in the records as chief of the two leading candidates “is very clear,” Smith said. “The last four years we have brought peace and pride back to the tribe.”

Smith noted that the tribe’s judicial, administrative and legislative branches were sharply divided when the former Byrd administration took over the judicial wing.

A justice on the tribe’s court had authorized Cherokee marshals to raid Byrd’s headquarters in search of evidence of misuse of funds. Byrd reacted by closing down the tribal courthouse.

A federal investigation resulted in the Byrd administration returning more than $80,000 in federal dollars. Joel Thompson, the director of the tribe’s housing authority, was sent to prison on a federal jury trial conviction of embezzlement.

Byrd wasn’t convicted of any wrongdoing. However, the turmoil played a role in Smith becoming chief in 1999 when he ousted Byrd in a runoff.

The Cherokee Nation has more than 220,000 members.