First Minister Election
A Recap
Written by Xecrio and Cookiespagientland
You couldn't describe this as a two-horse race; the first minister election of February 2020 was dominated by the citizen who now finds herself in the top position. That, however, does not mean that this election was easy, for the journey from how we began to where we are now is full of twists and turns. In what was characterised by radio shows, debate, and confusion, the Europeian Broadcasting Corporation presents you with this special to enlighten you with how we got here.
To really get a grip of what happened, we have to go back to Calvin Coolidge's (Calvin) first minister address. This was the address that would ultimately set the precedent for who would run. Calvin announced, quite simply, that he would not run. This opened up a window of opportunity for many new citizens who were eyeing up the big prize. In a "Get to Know Your Executive" radio show, Xecrio revealed he would run in the election, while others kept quiet for the time being. It was also interesting to note that Calvin mentioned in a different radio show that the candidates who were standing had revealed to him prior to the show that they would not stand if he stood.
Standing opened on January 20, with Xecrio/GraVandius being the first ticket to declare their candidacy. Not long after, the ticket of Sopo/Maowi came through followed by Dax/Bowzin. It had barely been a day, and already this was shaping up to be an exciting race. A day later, on January 21, newcomer cookiespaigentland (cookies) entered the race with her running mate cuddles. This ignited a whole new flame in the election: could the newcomer take on some of the region's most recognised citizens? The race was on.
Not long after standing opened, the Europeian News Network conducted the election's first opinion poll. The poll, that at that time, did not include the cookies/cuddles ticket as they had not stood yet. The poll put Sopo and Maowi well in the lead, when undecided voters were forced to make a decision, with Dax and Bowzin just behind them. Xecrio found himself in a much worse position than cuddles, Calvin, and HEM had predicted in a First Minister Candidate discussion the day before. Now, here's where things start to get interesting. The ticket of Dax/Bowzin withdrew due to time constraints and the ticket of Sopo/Maowi reversed itself. Now there were three candidates in the race; Maowi, Xecrio, and cookies would spend the next week battling it out in debate to see who would come out on top.
Candidates were quick to get their platforms out, with Maowi and Xecrio both releasing theirs on January 22. A day later, on January 23 cookies released her platform. Then, on January 27, a new poll was released, this time including cookies/cuddles, Maowi/Sopo, and Xecrio/GraVandius. Maowi led by 10 points, with 50 percent, whilst Xecrio had 40 percent. Cookies was far behind with 10 percent. However, interestingly, it seemed as though the majority of Xecrio's supporters did not think he would win - he only polled at 10 percent when participants were asked who they thought would win. Cookies was at 15 percent, and, unsurprisingly, Maowi was at 75 percent.
The candidates went on to answer questions asked of their platforms. Then, on January 28, the second ministerial candidates Sopo, cuddles, and GraVandius participated in a second minister debate over radio. This allowed all Europeians to hear from all candidates, one of whom would eventually go on to become second minister.
On January 29, all three first ministerial candidates participated on a debate over Discord text. The debate covered many topics - from the EuroChoice Awards, to the Ministry of the Interior, to dispatches. The Panda's Pen released an article in which Calvin, Pichtonia, and Common-Sense Politics rated the performance of each candidate; overall, Maowi came out on top, although all three of the debaters had weaker and stronger moments.
Just three days later, on January 31, the election was officially held. The results were not too surprising, with Maowi officially being elected as first minister after racking up 24 votes, which gave her 68.6 percent of the vote share. Xecrio came second, with 17.1 percent, and cookies was in a distant third with just 5.7 percent
Overall, this was an extremely eventful and interesting race, with many unexpected twists and turns. We are happy to congratulate Maowi and Sopo for their election victory, and look forward to many more in the future!
