Europeia Elects the 83rd Senate
A fresh crop of faces new and old take the Senate as no incumbents return
Written by Maowi
(Europeia, March 13) Europeians headed to the polls on March 11 to elect the region’s 83rd Senate. Supreme Chancellor Lethen opened standing for the election on March 6 with a love letter to Europeia entitled A Reconciliation. With the standing period having the shortest allowed length under the Elections Act, concerns were raised in the Grand Hall that such a brief campaign period would make meaningful discussion and debate of the candidates' platforms impossible during the run-up to the election. As a result, a bill was drafted by the incumbent Senate to prolong the minimum standing period. However, fears of an uncompetitive election were eventually allayed with eight citizens joining the race. Recurring points of discussion in the candidates’ platforms included legal education (debated throughout the 82nd Senate’s term, resulting in the passage of the Legal Education Act 2022), legislative style (also discussed by the outgoing senators and eventually tabled out of a desire not to make legal research more difficult), freedom of information (an idea originally proposed by Olde Delaware to make protected and classified information public after an extended period of time), the Frontier/Stronghold update, executive oversight, and the Gameside Act in light of a recent judicial review filed by Malashaan and presided over by Justice Lloenflys.
In advance of the election, the Europeian media scene rose to the occasion, with President Common-Sense Politics generating excitement in the latest issue of his outlet The Europeian Citizen’s “Flashin’ Poll” series - the poll results were later discussed on Europeian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) Radio. Closer to election day itself, EBC Radio also produced a Senate speculation show with in-depth reviews of the platforms and candidates.
Once voting opened last Friday, citizens were faced with two separate choices: their preferred candidates and their preferred number of seats for the next Senate. A size of five senators ultimately won out over the alternative option of six seats, so that Sincluda, Malashaan, Olde Delaware, Cove, and Gem were each elected, while Hezekon, Pathoal, and Turbiatop missed out on Senate spots. Cove and Gem are both first-time senators in Europeia, while this is Sincluda’s third term, Olde Delaware’s fifth, and Malashaan’s eighteenth (cementing their tenure as Europeia's second longest-serving senator, exceeded only by Drecq).
Upon taking office, the Senate chose Olde Delaware to be Speaker by four votes to Malashaan’s one. Launching into his first term in the role, Speaker Olde Delaware published an opening address in which he expressed hope for the seventy days ahead, saying that this Senate has "the drive and passion to make this term memorable for the right reasons." He also announced that Malashaan would serve as Deputy Speaker and SkyGreen would take on the newly created role of Legal Education Overseer.
The next election in Europeia will be the Presidential election due to be held on April 15.
