The band council of a Nova Scotia First Nation has voted to stop a convicted sex offender from becoming chief.

Wilbert Marshall won the election to lead the Chapel Island First Nation in July by only five votes over outgoing chief Kenny Basques.

Marshall was found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in a Dartmouth hotel room in the spring of 2006.

In a special meeting Tuesday, the six-member band council passed a resolution preventing anyone convicted of an indictable offence from seeking elected office.

Kenny Basques is working to block his rival, Wilbert Marshall, from taking over as chief of the Chapel Island First Nation. (CBC) Basques said he has appealed the election results and is willing to do whatever it takes to keep Marshall from becoming chief.

"We just can't have a leader like this," he said. "It's very shameful, embarrassing. It's a black eye to our community, and the council, they don't want to work with him."

Basques said some community members are calling him a sore loser, but he said that's not the case.

"They can get someone else in there if they want, I'll step aside. It don't matter to me at all, if they find a clean man, clean slate, clean record."

A spokesperson for the Office of Aboriginal Affairs said the band's resolution will be reviewed, but that under the Indian Act, an elected council does not have the authority to approve or disapprove of the results of an election.

Marshall declined to comment Thursday, but he is set to take office Friday. Supporters in the community of about 400 people say he deserves to be leader.

"The majority of Chapel Island believes that Wilbert will be a better person than Kenny Basque," said Zoe Nicholas. She said the voters have spoken and she and other supporters believe Marshall has paid his dues for his crime.

"He's a leader," said Laura Levi. "He's our leader and he is always going to be our leader. If you are stuck, he never says no, he's the type of person that will get up and do it for you. He has helped so many people even when he wasn't chief."