75th Senate of Europeia Elected
Six candidates beat two others in a close race
Written by Seva
(August 31, 2020) – The citizens of Europeia elected their new Senate on Friday, choosing six candidates who will serve in the legislative branch for the next 70 days.
Supreme Chancellor Lethen opened standing on August 22, accompanied by a speech. Originally, ten people stood, including three incumbent senators. However, Izzy and GraVandius later retracted their candidacies, the former citing loss of interest in a Discord conversation, and the latter due to real life issues.
The remaining eight candidates posted platforms that were all praised for high quality. A flash poll conducted by the EBC recorded most support for incumbent “legal eagle” Malashaan, former first minister Istillian, and Forilian, who had already lost two by-elections and one general election. Other candidates included incumbent Deputy Senate Speaker Darkslayer, seen as a natural candidate for the Speakership, experienced members Aexnidaral and Common-Sense Politics (CSP), as well as two candidates less likely to win – incumbent Lime, and Seva, a relative newcomer to the region.
Poll results were largely transferred to the election, opened by Vice Chancellor Drecq on August 28. The only notable changes were unexpectedly high support for Seva, Lime and CSP, and Istillian receiving fewer votes than expected. These shifts in support can likely be explained by low poll turnout – only 23 respondents – and strong get out the vote efforts by lower polling candidates. However, neither of those factors changed the results on a larger scale, and when polls closed, the final results were widely expected.
Lime and Seva lost with 21 and 22 votes respectively, with Seva 4 votes behind Istillian, who filled the last seat. CSP, Malashaan, Forilian, Aexnidaral, and Darkslayer filled the first five. Meanwhile, the Senate size poll, marked by the introduction of an approval voting system, saw six seats win comfortably.
Soon after the election, Darkslayer was nominated for Speaker and chosen unanimously. In the speaker selection thread he thanked fellow senators for "putting [their] faith in [him]". He has since posted an opening speech and appointed Malashaan as Deputy Speaker.
