First Minister Election
An Overview
Written by Xecrio
The First Minister election recently arrived at its conclusion, the Europeian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) shall take readers on a recap of all the election events and drama, over the 9 days of campaigning. The election was one of the most hotly contested in Europeia, with the winners McEntire and Monkey garnering the most votes in a first minister election ever. The boom in population was also seen in effect as 65 citizens turned out to vote, the highest total ever.
On June 12, Supreme Chancellor Lethen opened standing for the First Minister election. Much speculation had been made on the discord server about who was going to stand, with names such as Xecrio, Istillian, and Lime circulating. Peeps was the first to announce his candidacy, alongside his running mate, Forilian. Peeps had served the majority of the term as councillor of coordination and served in Europeia’s Senate. Sometime later, Xecrio and Ervald stated their decision to run, officially setting the tone for the election, or so many thought, as a third candidate would enter, shaking up the race. Both candidates released their platforms and awaited questions from the electorate. The first day of campaigning was filled with each candidate answering questions from voters on each of their platforms respectively. The Europeian News Network (ENN) had conducted a preliminary election poll to see where voters stood at the time and to begin building a picture of how the election may play out. Xecrio held a small lead over Peeps in this poll, with 53.6 percent, compared to Peeps’ 46.4 percent. In regards to the ENN poll, speculation was circulating that a third candidate might be about to stand. McEntire received a high level of support in the first poll of the election, as 15 citizens stated that they would like to see McEntire run, paving the way to his decision to announce his candidacy.
On June 15, EuroWeekly held its first poll of the election, the poll was released with results only catering for Xecrio and Peeps, despite McEntire and his running mate Monkey, announcing their candidacy the previous day. The results of this poll showed the Xecrio had a sizeable lead over Peeps, garnering 65 percent in comparison to the 25 percent that Peeps’ gained. Since the poll did not account for the third candidate, EuroWeekly held another poll, with the results of that poll being released the next day. The introduction of a new candidate didn’t shake things up as many had expected. Xecrio still maintained his stance as a frontrunner with 61.9 percent, while McEntire positioned himself in second place with 28.6 percent, taking votes off Peeps, who now polled at 9.5 percent. Concluding the results of the poll, Peeps and Forilian relaunched a revamped version of their platform, after comments stated that it was “too short” and didn't “go into enough detail." Their decision to re-write their platform was met with significant controversy in that thread.
The First Minister debate was scheduled for Tuesday, June 16, and this time it would take place on radio. Common-Sense Politics moderated the debate which took place at 11:00 am EDT. CSP made the questions personal, centring them around each candidates platform. Candidates were also given three generic questions to answer. The day of the debate also saw the fourth edition of Chasing Gold released. The model initially gave Xecrio a 76 percent chance of winning, but this was about to change. A post-debate transcript was released shortly after, written by Astrellan and CSP.
Two days later, second minister candidates Ervald, Monkey, and Forilian engaged in a second minister debate moderated by Calvin Coolidge on discord. The EBC conducted a poll shortly afterwards to see whether the debates had had any impact on election polling. Xecrios poor performance in the first minister debate, as analysed here, proved a catalyst for McEntire to emerge as the frontrunner in the election with 61.3 percent. By this point, Peeps and Forilian had dropped out of the race due to consistently poor polling.
The first minister election took place on June 19. McEntire was predicted to have won in the first round, marginally, but a run-off was not expected according to polls. McEntire managed to garner 31 votes, 50 percent of the 62 votes cast, while Xecrio received 48.4 percent or 30 votes. Re-open election received the support of one citizen. Xecrio was able to pull off an upset and perform beyond expectations in the first round, forcing a run-off.
Each candidate went to get out the vote for a second day running, attempting to take some votes from their opponent. The ENN held a flash exit poll to discuss what the most likely outcome of the election would be. HEM, Calvin Coolidge, and Pichtonia announced and discussed the results on radio, stating that McEntire would be Europeia’s next first minister. The poll predicted a seismic shift in the number of votes for each candidate. 25 percent of Xecrio’s voters said they would switch to voting for McEntire in the run-off. The run-off was held with results hidden until the polls closed, as per the Elections Act.
65 citizens voted in the run-off, three more than in the first round. McEntire gained 3 more votes than the first round, taking his vote total up to 34, whilst Xecrio managed to secure 31 votes. The election will be remembered as one the most hotly contested elections in Europeian history, bringing back similarities to the first minister election in November last year.
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