September 2022 Danzilonan general election

Electoral Map of Danzilona for the September 2022 Interior Minister Election, made by cnamav.

The September 2022 Danzilonan general election was the third general election in the Free Danzilonan Republic's history, held between August 29 and August 31, 2022. The election decided who would hold the three executive offices of the FDR: Foreign Minister, Interior Minister, and Defence Minister. The Bonapartist offshoot wing of the Socialist Party of Danzilona defeated a slate of candidates from a variety of parties- including the newly formed Decent Party, Danzilonan Progressive National Citizen Conservancy of the Republic, and the SPD itself- in the votes for all three positions, elevating the Bonapartist leader Des23 to the unofficial position of First Consul. Although the election is not the first in Danzilonan history where one candidate ran for all three positions, it was notable for being the first and only one where that candidate actually won them since the foundation of the first Danzilonan governmental system on January 18, 2014.

With Des having been considered an actual serious contender for all three positions simultaneously, the election was marred in controversy, as rival candidates attempted to outlaw holding multiple offices at once, formed a shadow unity coalition where the DP endorsed the SPD candidate, and modified the way votes are counted altogether after the election had begun. Ultimately, however, Des succeeded in garnering the most votes of any candidate in all three elections. For the first two days after the election, the DP candidates refused to recognise the legitimacy of the election and Des's victory before finally conceding on September 2nd.

Background

The Free Danzilonan Republic was founded on the first day of CivMC's existence, June 2, 2022. As is stipulated in the FDR's constitution, any citizen could take up the roles of any of the three governmental offices on an ad hoc basis for the first month of the FDR's existence. This ensured that most early-game decisions could be made quickly and decisively without red tape and also gave enough time for citizens to build relationships with people and fairly campaign for the first elections in July. Thus, most of those two took up the mantle of governmental responsibilities was a coalition of oldfriends who previously played in New Danzilona and were dedicated to the cause. This coalition, which included Des, Gant2000, TheTrackball, and Lowtuff, agreed upon a formal agenda they wanted to see implemented in Danzilona and so in mid-June formed the Socialist Party of Danzilona to contest the July elections. The SPD swept the July elections and captured all three offices.

Shortly afterward, discontent with the government began to arise among both the general populace and members of the SPD itself. Lowtuff, who was elected Ambassador (now known as Foreign Minister), took no major diplomatic initiatives and was mostly inactive for the month, leaving many foreign nations scrambling when they tried to find an official contact of the FDR. Similarly, Gant's plans for canals and an XP cooperative stalled as he too had limited time to play and so mostly spent it on building the public factory building and newfriend apartments. Both Gant and Lowtuff stepped aside for the August elections and instead let SPD members grenadeninja21 and VA_11HALL_A run for Interior Minister and Foreign Minister, respectively. While their terms went well in the beginning and they made many secretarial appointments, their activity also dropped off, leaving their deputies to pick up the pieces in their absence. With a pattern of inactivity emerging among almost all of the officeholders so far, many in Danzilona began to treat their disappearance like a superstition and joked that those elected for September would also fall of the face of the earth (eg. Danzilonan citizen Qaad humourously suggested that Vah be elected as a write-in candidate so that he would also disappear and his raids would stop).

Breaking from her party after not receiving indication they would run again, Des announced she would be running Foreign Minister, Interior Minister, and Defence Minister simultaneously one day before campaign season had officially begun. This was not a first in Danzilonan history, but it was the first of these campaigns where the candidate seriously contested the offices and released a serious platform for each of them.