1 December Imperial Federation Election
Imperial Federation citizens elected a new Chancellor and Judiciary between 00:00 GMT on 1 December 2022 and 23:59 GMT on 2 December 2022.
Incumbent Chancellor S0uthW3st decided to re-run for the position of Chancellor. He was challenged by Gotland Senator Spoonce of the Imperial Republicans; Pridelands Supreme Leader Bstallio; Godhaven residents Artray1111 and AwdryFan1997; and Khione resident Zolo17, who is an Icarian national. Spoonce won a plurality of the votes by the seventh round, granting him a term as Chancellor
Election Debate
On 30 November 2022 at 23:30 GMT, a debate was held in Godhaven, open to all candidates. S0uthw3st, Spoonce, and Zolo17 would ultimately participate. Bstallio would be unable to answer questions, however, was represented on the debate floor by a snowman.
S0uthw3st primarily campaigned on a continuance of his own policies. He promised to continue the great recruitment drive for newfriends, as well as infrastructure development. However, he would face criticism from his opponents. His actions against the Leibniz Confederation drew ire for their penultimate failure and aggression, which was largely seen as only serving his own region (Lionsgate). Spoonce would criticize the Chancellor for his opinion that trying to improve relations with aggressive nations was 'effort better spent elsewhere'. Additionally, both his opponents quickly protested to his suggestion of possible XP production in the Imperial Mall.
Spoonce was well known for developing ice roads, rails, and donating materials for build projects. He would advocate less-aggressive foreign action, no-doubt influenced by S0uthw3st's actions against Okx. His promise of paying citizens to work would contribute greatly to his eventual election, and signified the growing desire of Imperial citizens to leave povertycraft and develop wealth.
Zolo17 was largely an outsider candidate. Also being the Prime Minister of Icarus, he helped organize Icarian settlers into the province of Khione. No doubt influenced by his position, Zolo17 would advocate closer ties with Icarus. He would also focus very heavily on XP production, heavily calling out for the beginning of serious production.
Election
73 citizens would vote in the election, out of a possible hundred. With a total of six candidates, vote splitting was a common feature of the election. Penultimately, Spoonce would come out on top in the fifth round with 51 votes.
| Party | Candidate | Home State | Portrait | Ideology | 1st Pref. Votes | 2nd Pref. Votes | 3rd Pref. Votes | 4th Pref. Votes | 5th Pref. Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | Spoonce | Gotland | • Retain monarch with current powers• Claim no more new land• Adopt moderate foreign policy• Build infrastructure and recruit | 32 (44%) | 34 (47%) | 37 (51%) | 46 (64%) | 51 (73%) | |
| Unity Party | Zolo17 | Khione | • Depower monarch
• Claim no more new land • Extremely close alignment with Icarus • Focus on XP production and infrastructure connections to Icarus |
12 (16%) | 12 (16%) | 13 (18%) | 15 (21%) | 19 (27%) | |
| Independent | Artray1111 | Godhaven | • Abolish monarchy
• Adopt isolationist foreign policy • Fix Godhaven • Destroy diamonds to make them rarer and more valuable • Make the constitution longer so candidates have to spend more time reading it |
10 (14%) | 10 (14%) | 11 (15%) | 11 (15%) | ||
| Independent | S0uthw3st (Incumbent) | Pridelands | • Depower monarch
• Claim South Augusta and no more land • Send newfriends away from Godhaven to other states • Build infrastructure |
9 (12%) | 9 (12%) | 11 (15%) | |||
| Greatest Party | Bstallio | Pridelands | • Retain monarch with current powers
• Claim no more new land • Adopt moderate foreign policy |
8 (11%) | 8 (11%) | ||||
| Independent | Awdry1997 | Godhaven | • Retain monarch with current powers
• Commit war profiteering where possible • Let infrastructure develop itself |
2 (3%) |
Spoonce's success largely came out of his previous efforts, being well known and respected for his infrastructure work. However, his promise to pay players for labor was also a major reason for his success, bringing him great support. The vote splitting of the election also ended up helping him, as although he failed to win a majority in the first round, he was equally pleasing to all citizens and thus able to gain most of their penultimate votes. About 3/4 of the electorate, although not finding him their first pick, were content enough to elect him if their first options failed.
Zolo17's success came as somewhat of a surprise. As everyone expected, he would carry Khione, but would also have a surprise upset and carry Feline as well. While his calls for XP production brought him great success, the foreign influence of Icarians also came as a threat to most Imperials. This limited his electability, which was seen as less than a fifth of the nation chose to vote for him, and only a third would give their final place votes. While gaining the Icarian vote, he largely lost the Imperial one.
Artray1111's success came as a surprise upset, able to consistently gather ten-eleven votes. His position to fix Ohio was largely popular across his home province, the most populous in the IF. However, his success would be limited there, and his other positions were too radical to gain mainstream support. Most notably would be his attempt to destroy diamonds, and thus make them more valuable. The flaw presented is that IF citizens do not have many diamonds anyways.
S0uthw3st would come in fourth, and lose re-election. His downfall would be down to various factors. While successful internally, many doubted his foreign capabilities. The possibility of continuing aggression by claiming South Augusta worried the populace for the Leibniz-events to happen again. His vote tally would also be hurt by opposing the settlement of newfriends in Godhaven, and thus losing their vote.
Bstallio, while finishing second in the previous election, would largely face the problem of being too status-quo. He largely ran as a centrist with few distinguishing features, which became a problem as S0uthw3st already represented the electorate in favor of continuing the status-quo. This would be seen as, while keeping the vote of the northwestern coast, he would lose his home province of Pridelands to the incumbent.
Awdry1997, while advocated for war profiteering, did not differentiate himself enough for success. Although carrying two surprise provinces, their vote was largely too small and meaningless to affect anything. Artray1111 appealed to the Godhaven vote too much for Awdry to make a difference, and so he would be the first candidate to fall out.
Effects of the Election
Spoonce winning the election was largely predicted. However, the high amount of candidates also portrayed the problem of rising vote-splitting. 56% of voters wanted someone else besides the winner to be Chancellor. Pandastical would predict this to demand a coalition candidate in the future, if a proper opposition was needed. However, the one-term standard of Chancellors within the Imperial Federation would make this unnecessary, if continued.
While it would continue the qualified, moderate executive seen since the second Chancellor, it also portrayed the rise of more radical and extremist positions within the nation. Something that posed to be a continuing factor in future elections.