December 2021 Chair of the Assembly election
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| Registered | 92 legislators of the South Pacific | |||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 30.43% | |||||||||||||||
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The December 2021 Chair of the Assembly election was an election held in the South Pacific from 18‒26 December 2021 to elect a new Chair of the Assembly. The single seat of the Assembly's presiding officer was contested only by incumbent anjo, who was ultimately unanimously re-elected.
Background
Elections for Chair of the Assembly are to take place at least every four months, with a snap election instantly triggered if the position of Chair becomes vacant. The Elections Act stipulates that an election must take place eight days before the end of an incumbent's term, so that the conclusion of the eight-days long election and the end of the incumbent's term coincide exactly for the elected Chair to be able to immediately assume office. As the last Chair election was certified on the 26th of August, 2021,[1] incumbent anjo's term would run out by the 26th of December; accordingly, an election would have to be called by the 18th.
Electoral System
The Chair is elected in a single round of voting, with the system used being approval voting. On their ballots, voters are to list any and all candidates they approve of, with no regard to any preference between them; alternatively, they may vote to Re-Open Nominations. The single candidate with the most approvals wins the election, provided that they have received an effective approval rate of at least 50%. If no candidate has received enough approval, or the Re-Open Nominations option has received the most votes, then the election is to restart.
Candidate
The sole candidate running in the election was anjo, the incumbent. LFP had originally accepted their nomination and even posted a campaign, but shortly thereafter retracted their candidacy.[2] Belschaft, Not Austria, and Sandaoguo never accepted their nominations.
| Candidate | Political office(s) | Campaign | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
anjo | Chair of the Assembly of the South Pacific (since August 2021) Other offices |
[3] |
Campaign
anjo's campaign first contained a look back on his ending term, evaluating his various campaign promises, before turning to his plans for another term. At the heart of the campaign was, once again, outreach and integration ‒ in addition to continuing the Weekly RMB Updates and creating an Assembly Gazette dispatch to accompany it, he planned to revive the Assembly Mentorship Program to better educate new legislators on Assembly matters. Furthermore, he promised to conduct a thorough check of the South Pacific's body of laws to ensure consistency. Before closing the campaign with a pledge to continue working dutifully, he also expressed a desire to appoint a number of Deputy Chairs again to grant interested legislators insight into the office.[3]
Results
On the 26th of December, 2021, Election Commissioner Kris Kringle certified the results of the election.[4]
| Results: First Round | ||
|---|---|---|
| Green background denotes winning candidates. Red background denotes eliminated candidates. ✓ and ✗ denote the status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively. | ||
| Candidate | Approvals | |
| ✓ anjo | 26 | 100% |
| Re-Open Nominations | 0 | 0% |
| Invalid ballots | 2 | 7.14% |
Thus, anjo was confirmed in his office and elected to another 4-month term.
References
- ↑ Certification of Results. EC Kris Kringle, 26 Aug '21. Retrieved 7 Feb '22.
- ↑ RE: Declarations of Candidacy. LFP, 19 Dec '21. Retrieved 7 Feb '22.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Anjo for Chair (again). anjo, 19 Dec '21. Retrieved 7 Feb '22.
- ↑ Certification of Results. EC Kris Kringle, 26 Dec '21. Retrieved 7 Feb '22.