Europeia's Weekly Update (May 9, 2019)





May 9 Update
Please help, we're drowning in elections.

Written by Rand








Lloenflys Wins First Minister
(Europeia - May 9, 2019) - This week, the people of Europeia voted and elected then-Minister of Culture Lloenflys to the office of first minister, beating out incumbent Rand by a margin of 35.9 percentage points. When polling closed, Lloenflys/Sopo had 25 votes, Rand/Pichtonia had 11 votes, and cuddlebuns/Vlaska had 3 votes. In his opening address, Lloenflys thanked his opponents, and spoke to concerns about the staffing issues faced by the regional government.

Cabinet Nominations
In his opening address, First Minister Lloenflys also announced his Cabinet line-up. He presented the following nominations to the Senate:
  • For the Ministry of the Interior, he nominated outgoing Minister of Employment Whitmark, who was also Senior Deputy Minister of the Interior.
  • For the Ministry of Communications, he nominated Hezekon, who has been one of the Ministry's leading writers.
  • For the Ministry of Radio, he renominated long-time incumbent Pichtonia.
  • For the Ministry of Culture, he nominated shufordbrian, who held the office years before and recently returned to the region.
  • For the Ministry of Employment, he nominated his Deputy, Sopo, in a nod to recent Constitutional amendment dictating the Deputy First Minister be nominated to a Cabinet post.
Overall, the nominations were well received, and all passed the Senate unanimously.

Kuramia Reelected Chief of State
In Europeia's first election for the new office of Chief of State (with the incumbent serving due to her election as President), in an uncontested race, incumbent Chief Kuramia was reelected, with World Assembly Delegate and Speaker Aexnidaral on the ticket as deputy. In her platform, Chief Kuramia discussed her motivation for seeking reelection, explaining "I still feel excitement for serving this region in a place I've always loved."

Following her selection, she announced her nomination of Senator Prim to head the Council of World Assembly Affairs, and further nominated her deputy, Aexnidaral, to head the Council of Foreign Affairs. Additionally, the First Minister and Chief of State jointly nominated Associate Justice and former President Darcness to become the next Attorney General, taking over from the veteran incumbent, Drecq, one of the region's leading legal minds.

Senate By-Elections
With his election to first minister, Lloenfly's Senate seat was vacated, and elections subsequently opened, and on 7 May, polling began. The candidates are former First Minister Rand, Associate Justice Vlaska, and Deputy Minister Astrellan. This election finished with 18 votes for Rand, 7 for Astrellan, 4 for Vlaska, and 8 to reopen elections. Since Rand received only 48.6% of the vote, short of the 50% majority required by law, the election moved to a runoff. In the end, Rand won 17-15 over Astrellan, taking the seat.

In a separate byelection, the region saw a surprise usurp, with promising newcomer UnitedPeoplesOfCentrism pushing his way into a separate runoff election with veteran former Senator Izzy. This run-off in turn tied 18-18, and was turned to the Senate to make a decision, as dictated by law. The Senate, citing concerns that a quoroum of 3 members was insufficient to decide the outcome of an election, unanimously voted to restart the by-election.

Standing is now open for that reopened by-election, with new polls set to open on 13 May. At press time, Pierce, the former Deputy Chief of State who withdrew from the original by-election, and Astrellan, who narrowly lost his by-election against Rand, had filed to run.
 
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