Criticism Flies As Election Heats Up
By McEntire
(Europeia - March 20, 2018) - With four days left until the polls open, the candidates for President have faced sharp criticism, with allegations ranging from unreliability to lack of empathy for victims of sexual assault. With such varying platforms, it's little wonder that the campaigns have found strong points of contrast. But criticisms have gone beyond policy in some cases and tended towards questioning candidates' fitness for office.
Both HEM and Festavo have had to defend their platforms from voters who labeled them inadequate. Particularly at issue is Festavo's Europeia of Tomorrow project, a wide-ranging survey of discussion upon which he intends to base possible government reforms. Le Libertie has been vocal in his criticisms stating that "vision is so crucial for being a leader, and it is lacking" in the Europeia of Tomorrow Project. Le Libertie continued that "[vision is] not something that can just be given away to the citizens."
Festavo has defended himself, saying he wants the "input from people" to guide decision-making, and that regardless, "if you strip away the Europeia of Tomorrow entirely you will find that my platform still has a plan."
HEM/Sopo's graphic-heavy platform has been hailed by some as different and visionary, but others thought parts of it were hard to understand and that some of the graphics may have been unnecessary. Hyanyago commented that he didn't "understand what the height of the wave is supposed to be. Nor do I really understand why the poaitions [sic] are in that order." Former President Rach later added that the HEM/Sopo team had her support, but that they should "relax on the management fads."
Minister Punchwood has been particularly harsh in his criticism. In responding to the campaign's dearth of specific plans for each Ministry, he stated that "frankly the lack of detail from this campaign is shocking," and that citizens deserve more.
In addition to platform criticism, HEM has seen old reliability issues resurface. Vac brought up a 2015 speech in which then-Speaker HEM said of his own activity "HEM returns, promises to be active, then fails to meet expectations."
Both HEM and Sopo dismissed the criticisms as old news, noting that the quote in question was nearly three years old and that HEM has consistently lived up to expectations since that time.
The issue that has drawn the most post activity is Kuramia's condemnation of Festavo's comments regarding the sexual harassment allegations against actor Kevin Spacey. Last month, in response to Spacey's firing from the TV show House of Cards, Festavo said "All I wish is that [Spacey's accuser] Anthony Rapp would have kept his trap shut until they wrapped season six." Several citizens took issue with the sentiment, questioning whether Festavo was fit to lead Europeia, especially given that the region has had its own problems with online sexual harassment.
Festavo, for his part, said that "the things I said in that thread were not right" and that he was "glad Anthony Rapp spoke out and that his speaking out encouraged others to speak out about Spacey." He then cited a friend of his that had experienced sexual assault, and that her experience colored his reaction to the Spacey allegations.
The EBC reached out to Kuramia for her opinion on Festavo's response. When asked if Festavo understands the issue, Kuramia said "I don't believe he understands the issue given his fallacy in his original reply to me using the Friend Argument... No story like that should come off seeming like a tool being used solely for defense."
When asked for a reply to Kuramia's comment, Festavo said "I think I've adequately explained my perspective in my posts on the matter." The fallout was not yet over for Festavo, though. At time of print, his running mate, incumbent President Malashaan, announced that he would be stepping down from the ticket, primarily over the continuing scandal. The question now remains, will Europeian voters be more forgiving to Festavo than his running mate was? We will find out in a few short days.
Correction: A previous version of this story cited the opinions of r3naissanc3r, who felt that the story did not correctly state his viewpoint. The paragraph that previously contained his quote has been rewritten
