[Inside Government] What Happened in the Chief of State Election






What Happened in the Chief of State Election
Written by Calvin Coolidge



In what was likely the final election for chief of state, Europeia’s lead foreign affairs officer, the Senate vote was 5-4, in favor of Malashaan/Dax over Sopo/Maowi. Malashaan is a former president, and current Justice, while Sopo is a former president, and recently resigned his Senate seat while campaigning for chief of state. This result was an interesting one, as it was one of the few contested elections for the chief of state position in Europeian history, with the only other one being a 5-2 vote (with two abstentions) back in November of last year. Furthermore, the process of the election was in question until the day before standing began, with a bill to move the election to a regionwide vote, as opposed to the current Senate only vote, almost moving ahead, until a last-minute compromise had the bill take effect only for future chief of state elections, not including the upcoming one.

Only three days from the beginning of standing, a motion to revive a tabled bill on the nature of public elections regarding chief of state elections was made, and quickly carried. After it was revived Speaker Lloenflys announced that the final vote on this bill would be held only 24 hours after it had been revived. By the next day, an op-ed from the prominent private media outlet E-News Network was published, decrying the timeline for the vote, in relation to the scope of the bill. Public outrage built from this point on, and the bill lost support from a few senators. After an initial request for a delay to the vote was denied, due to the timing of the upcoming chief of state election, a compromise proposal was reached to have the bill only affect elections after the current one. This compromise bill was later passed 7-1, with one vacant seat, and has since been signed into law.

This election reform bill came as a wider reform discussion is underway in the Senate to abolish the chief of state position altogether, along with its domestic government partner, first minister, in favor of a single, unified government leader.

For the election itself, three tickets stood, Sopo/Maowi, Malashaan/Dax, and Olde Delaware/Isaris. Olde Delaware withdrew his candidacy two days later, after posting a leave of absence due to illness. Sopo announced his candidacy during a broadcast relating to chief of state election speculation, and further announced he would be immediately resigning his Senate seat to fully dedicate himself to his election bid. Sopo and Malashaan soon posted their platforms, with each putting a major focus on increasing the public’s attention and interest in foreign affairs for the long-term. Additionally, Malashaan was proposing the creation of a new Council of Collaboration, to coordinate action between the domestic and foreign affairs branches of the government.

Ahead of the debate, public polling on the election showed a tight race between the two, with Malashaan at 54 percent, and Sopo at 42 percent, with few undecided. The debate itself was broadcast on mixlr, and lasted roughly an hour. Public response to the debate was mixed, although many agreed that Sopo had made the better case for himself, while Malashaan was hard to follow at times, due to his overly long answers. After the debate, the polling shifted dramatically in Sopo’s favor, as 70 percent supported his candidacy to Malashaan’s 30 percent. However, this race was never going to be decided by the public at large; it all came down to the Senate vote.

Vote tracking done since the election began showed that many senators did not make up their minds until the final days, and support remained split. Complicating matters was the by-election for the Senate that had opened up after Sopo’s resignation. That senator, McEntire, was seated on May 2, as a runoff pushed the election’s final result to be only a day before the chief of state vote. By the day of the vote, only three senators had made public endorsements, so many would be voicing their support for the first time. Most senators were quick to vote, and within hours eight had voted, with four supporting each candidate. The final senator was Darcness, who asked that each candidate reveal their Council nominees before he made his decision. After both candidates released their list, Darcness voted for Malashaan, delivering him the win.

After the final vote was cast, Sopo’s decision to resign from the Senate was viewed by some in the public as an unforced error that helped his opponent, as it robbed Sopo of a vote, and his replacement ended up supporting Malashaan. In addition, another senator cited Sopo’s history of resignations as a reason he supported Malashaan (Sopo had resigned as first minister last term). With the election being as close as it was, there were many factors that could have changed up the race, so we may never know how things might have played out in those alternate realities.

What we do know is that this election was likely the last of its kind, on many levels. With the position of chief of State likely being abolished, and the Senate based election process already abolished, this election is already a relic of history. Malashaan and Dax have begun their 90 day term facing many questions after such a dramatic election regarding their agenda, especially the new Council of Collaboration, which the Senate is now debating in a confirmation hearing.






A different version of this article has also been printed in NationStates Today, which you can read here.
 
Great article Calvin, glad to see it published in NST as well!
 
Very happy we got this article out, and that it was published in NS Today as well. Good job on this article, Calvin.
 
Thank you for the report, Calvin! Super exciting to see this content getting posted in NST!
 
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