Lime/SkyGreen24 Ticket Comes Out On The Top
Two rounds of the voting result in a deadlock, leaving it up to the Senate to decide the occupant of the Goldenblock
Written by ICH
Lime and SkyGreen24 have been elected as the President and Vice President of the Republic respectively after the Senate, by a vote of 3-2, handed the election to the Lime/Sky campaign, thus bringing an end to a hard-fought election which failed to deliver a clear mandate even after two rounds of voting concluded.
As the 70-day tenure of the Calvin Coolidge Administration was nearing its completion, Supreme Chancellor Lethen announced that the Presidential Election was to be held on the 17th of September and immediately opened the standing for the elections, starting the politically aware citizens' speculation on who would challenge a popular sitting President if Calvin Coolidge were to seek re-election.
Lime was the first major presidential candidate to announce their candidacy, as they stood for the election, this being their fifth attempt at the Presidency, with SkyGreen24 as their running mate. What surprised some was HEM's announcement that they'll be contesting for the post of Vice President, with the Presidential Candidate of their ticket yet to be decided. Later, that candidate was discovered to be none other than President Calvin Coolidge, who should have been flying high with a 90%+ approval rating in a satisfaction poll conducted by this same news outlet days before the election was declared open. However, one other pair of citizens added an element of surprise to the election with their candidacy, that being the ticket of Hell's Soldier/Gaudosia, which set itself apart from the other tickets, as the candidates on the ticket were just days old in Europeia and despite never serving in any departments of the Executive Branch, managed to put together a platform, which some say was solid enough given their relative inexperience.
However, President Calvin Coolidge later had to drop out, stating that, "I simply wouldn't be able to commit to any extraordinary circumstances that arise during the term, and there's a very high chance they occur. I'd get burned out and leave this game once more in a way that I don't want to leave," when providing a reason for their shock withdrawal. Calvin Coolidge was replaced by Speaker of the Senate Lloenflys (Lloen) on the top of the ticket, and this set the stage for a Lime vs Lloen showdown in the election.
The discourse of the election platforms largely centred around Europeia's plan for Frontier/Stronghold, an update that is most certainly going to shake the gaming scenario of NationStates up. While both of the major candidates, Lime and Lloen, had declared their intent to have Europeia as a stronghold, they differed in their plan for the frontier regions associated with Europeia. The Lime/SkyGreen24 campaign pledged that the frontier regions would mainly aim to "capture new nations and guide them towards Europeia" while the Lloen/HEM campaign, picking up from the Calvin/HEM Frontier/Stronghold plan, planned for a network of provinces that would serve as Europeia's Frontier regions, and these provinces would have a unique on-site culture and would be overseen by a Governor, appointed by the President directly, and share Europeia's off-site infrastructure.
Flash polls conducted by private media outlets early into the election season, had both candidates on a neck-and-neck fight, with Lloenflys and Lime tied when the respondents of the flash poll were asked to pick a side, a foreshadowing of what the actual election was going to have in store for Europeians.
Both candidates notched up some important endorsements, with Lloen securing the endorsement of former Presidents Kuramia and Darcness, but Lime quickly seized the momentum in the last lap, with the endorsements of former Presidents Peeps, Kazaman, Ervald, and World Assembly Affairs Minister Greater Cesnica, which gave the Lime/Sky campaign a much-needed boost of confidence. However, the election was far from showing any indication of who was leading as Lime stated to the EBC, "We knew it was going to be very closed. We felt confident that we'd have a good showing but weren't sure on exact numbers."
Lime/SkyGreen24 picked up an early lead on Election Day, notching up a lead of 6-7 votes in the first 2 hours of the election, providing an early blow to the Lloenflys/HEM campaign. However, fast forward a few hours, and the Lloenflys/HEM campaign began to cut down on the Lime/Sky's lead, until a point where both candidates were below 50% was reached with no side gaining a decisive lead ahead. The first round ended with Lime/Sky and Lloen/HEM tied with 28 votes, and the 4 votes gained by Hell's Solder/Gaudosia were enough to advance the race to a second round.
Lime/SkyGreen24 supporters cheer as they see the ticket notch up a lead early into the election
Lime/SkyGreen24 had the momentum going into the second round of the elections, with the endorsement of the Hell's Soldier/Gaudosia ticket. Exit polls conducted by private media outlets had Lime leading by a really good margin and even forecasted that at least one of Lloen/HEM voters had shifted to Lime/Sky campaign, presenting a gloomy outlook for the Lloen/HEM campaign. But the beauty of democracy threw up another tied result, with both candidates attaining 33 votes.
According to the Election Act (2021), the President and Vice President of the Republic would now have to be decided by the Senate. And with 4 of the Senators giving endorsements to the candidates, with both the campaigns gaining two endorsements from the Senators each, first-time Senator Sincluda was left as the ultimate kingmaker. Sincluda decided to vote for the Lime/Sky ticket, thus handing the election to Lime and bringing an end to what was one of the tightest elections in recent Europeian history.
Public gathering before the Senate Hall as the Senate casts the decisive vote on who is to occupy the Goldenblock for the next two months
