The Ocean is Restless in the North
Written by Andy
This tale begins on 1st September, when TNP’s Election Commissioner opened candidacy declarations for the upcoming general election. The incumbent WAD Simone Republic received four nominations to run for re-election, but declined citing time constraints. Comfed, a longtime TNP citizen who has previously held Cabinet positions there, received and accepted nominations to run for the delegacy from citizens such as Picairn, Noscar and Blue Wolf II. The latter of these three is more commonly known inter-regionally as Evil Wolf, the founder and governor of Lone Wolves United (LWU) - a region with which TNP has had a complicated relationship since 2021 due to their association with the Brotherhood of Malice (BoM), and an active belligerent in Europeia's war against raiders. Intriguingly, Evil Wolf themselves received a nomination from Wymondham and accepted one minute later. All others that were nominated declined or did not respond to their nominations, setting the stage for a contest between Comfed and Evil Wolf.
The candidates embarked on their campaigns promptly, launching their platforms mere hours after the nomination thread opened. In the Foreign Affairs section of their platform, Comfed declared “the war will be the foremost priority” and that the aggression of BoM “continues to be an existential threat to our independence”, advocating a pragmatic approach to diplomacy with the coalition of other regions committed to resisting their influence. Evil Wolf’s platform also made reference to the war effort, recalling the August 2023 bumping of the North Pacifican delegacy by BoM and their allies in The Communist Bloc (TCB), and vowing “to make prosecuting the war one of [their] highest priorities” by reaching out to “any and all who oppose TCB and BoM, be they defender, independent, or raider”. Both candidates also discussed their plans for the North Pacific Army (NPA) in relatively light detail, expressing approval for recent reforms made to the Officer corps leading the NPA, promising to increase the number of updaters TNP fields at updates, and proclaiming their commitment to working with TNP’s allies to further their goals.
Whilst Evil Wolf criticised several unnamed individuals for harbouring an obsession with their ties to LWU, the issue drew significant commentary and criticism throughout the campaign from high-profile TNP citizens such as Chipoli and Pallaith. The latter, more commonly known as Ghost and a stalwart of North Pacifican politics and diplomacy, fiercely lambasted Evil Wolf's positions on including LWU in TNP's war effort, calling their responses a "lie" and "disingenuous". Evil Wolf returned the fire, accusing Ghost of "muckraking and lying to the masses due to a personal grudge". Another prominent TNP citizen, Dreadton, also tussled with Evil Wolf privately before posting their DMs on the TNP forums for all to read. Accusations flew of LWU providing "material support for an enemy region", of Evil Wolf "deliberately being obtuse" and lacking understanding of TNP's internal politics, and of Dreadton being "not interested in the truth" but rather in "half-assed political attacks". The actors ultimately disengaged from these fiery discussions without resolution or consensus being reached by the beginning of the election.
On the other side of the campaign, Comfed's platform faced very little scrutiny about their commitments to the war, with questions being asked about relatively uncontroversial topics such as the candidate's plans for the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, of Radio and of Communications - until day 4. Ghost then queried Comfed on their thoughts on the state of the war, on their war philosophy and how TNP might better execute that effort; brain drain was also brought up, with Ghost citing a breakdown in TNP's tech capabilities and handling of recruitment leading to reduced participation and staffing for aspects of TNP's government. Comfed's response to this line of questioning provided arguably the greatest upset of the campaign, with neither question being directly addressed. Instead, Comfed posted a near 800-word post expressing that they felt they had to volunteer information about their real life to make progress in winning elections in TNP, which they felt was more than what they are comfortable sharing. The concluding paragraph of their post drops the bombshell on the race, as they cite these irresolvable differences as the reason for dropping out of the delegacy election altogether.
- Comfed, dropping out of the September 2024 TNP Delegacy election
With the temperature and stakes of the race now substantially higher, nominations for the election closed and no opponent challenging Evil Wolf, the election began its 96 hours of voting. Days later, the electoral commission of TNP announced a widely anticipated result: with 76 valid ballots cast, TNP voters elected to Reopen Nominations (RON) by a massive majority of 81.58%. In the reopened nominations, four candidates emerged: Evil Wolf, Ghost, Picairn and Dreadton. This chaotic election had one more trick up its sleeve to pull in its rushed final act: throughout much of the 120 hour voting, Ghost - who has won a slew of TNP elections handily before and enjoyed widespread support during the nomination process, arguably setting an expectation of their victory - trailed Picairn in first preference votes, who ultimately prevailed to win the election in the second round with 51.65% of the vote.
With the results now known after a remarkably unsettled election cycle in a region known for its relatively stable democracy, the seas look set to calm once more in the North. Picairn will soon nominate their Cabinet and produce their Opening Address as is customary in The North, whilst the long-term ramifications of such a viscerally-fought election on TNP internally and externally are still to be seen, yet keenly awaited.
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