March 2022 Local Council election
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All 3 seats on the Local Council | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | ~ 1100 regional WA members (TBD) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | TBD | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The March 2022 Local Council election is an ongoing on-site election held in the South Pacific from 1‒14 March 2022 to elect a new Local Council.
Background
Local Council elections are scheduled regularly in the South Pacific, with all three seats up for election every March, July, and November.
Right before the start of the election, an extensive amendment to the Local Council Elections Act proposed to the Local Council by Kris Kringle was adopted after public approval had been attained.[1][2] The changes made included fixing the start of the election to the first of the respective month; previously, the sitting Local Council was free to call the election at their pleasure, provided the start of the election period fell into one of the stated months.[3] Furthermore, after the grotesquely stretched-out November 2021 Local Council election, a new process for reducing the field of candidates to 11 was introduced: In addition to a requirement of 120 days of residency to be included on the ballot, only the eleven longest-residing candidates would ultimately be allowed to stand.
Electoral System
The Local Council Elections Act stipulates that two rounds of voting will be held to determine the three winners; voters cast their single vote in each for their most-preferred candidate. In the first round, the candidate with the most votes wins a seat (a plurality voting system colloquially known as First-Past-The-Post), and all other candidates move on to a second round under the same rules, with the top-two candidates winning the final seats (two-winner plurality).[4]
Due to NationStates poll restrictions, a single poll can only allow for 11 candidates and the Re-Open Nominations option at a time, so should there be more than 11 candidates running, the field is forcefully reduced. After the amendment to the LCEA went into force, this is done by simply removing all but the 11 longest-time residents running from the ballot.
The election would start with a three-day candidacy declarations period (during which candidates may already campaign), followed by a campaigning-only period of another three days, after which the polls would open. Each poll would last three days, with a day of downtime in between.[4]
Candidates
Resulting from an accidental relocation of their nation a few weeks prior, incumbent Apatosaurus was ineligible to run in the election following the amendment to the Local Council Elections Act which established a minimum residency requirement of 120 days;[5] their colleague Canadian Dominion had to run under their puppet New Ontario Dominion for the same reason as they had lost their nation password and hadn't yet reached 120 days of residency on their new main nation.[6] Drystar, the third incumbent, chose not to run for re-election.
Four candidates are officially acknowledged by the Election Commissioner and will appear on the ballot. Drew Durrnil was originally disqualified due to failing to submit a Conflict of Interest disclosure before the end of the nominations period ‒ as required by the Local Council Elections Act ‒ but was re-instated after it was made clear that their CoI disclosure from the last election, which technically complies with all criteria set forth in the new LCEA too, was still up to date and the one they would like to use.
| Declared Candidates | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bolded candidates are incumbents. Italicized candidates withdrew from the election. | ||||
| Candidate | Political office(s) | Campaign | ||
|
Canadian Dominion as New Ontario Dominion |
Local Councillor of the South Pacific (since November 2021) |
Campaign for NOD (New Ontario)[7] | |
|
Drew Durrnil | Legislator of the South Pacific (since October 2021) |
No campaign | |
|
Evinea | Legislator of the South Pacific (since December 2021) Other offices
Editor for the Ministry of Media |
Evinea For Local Council[8] | |
|
Purple Hyacinth | Legislator of the South Pacific (since November 2021) Other offices
Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Senior Staff in the Ministry of Culture Senior Staff in the Ministry of Engagement Senior Staff in the Ministry of Media OWL Senior Staff |
No campaign | |
Results
The results of the election are scheduled to be certified on March 14th, 2022.[4]
References
- ↑ Canadian Dominion (26 Feb '22): Local Council Elections Act (LCEA) Amendment of 2022. NationStates. Retrieved 1 Mar '22.
- ↑ Kringalia (25 Feb '22): Local Council Elections Act Amendment of 2022 NationStates. Retrieved 1 Mar '22.
- ↑ The TSP Local Council (1 Jun '20): Local Council Elections Act. NationStates. Retrieved 1 Mar '22.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 EC Kris Kringle (1 Mar '22): March 2022 Local Council Election. NationStates. Retrieved 1 Mar '22.
- ↑ Apatosaurus (1 Mar '22): RMB post. NationStates. Retrieved 3 Mar '22.
- ↑ Evinea (2 Mar '22): RMB post. NationStates. Retrieved 3 Mar '22.
- ↑ New Ontario Dominion (2 Mar '22): COI/Campaign for NOD (New Ontario). NationStates. Retrieved 3 Mar '22.
- ↑ Evinea (5 Nov '21, edited 1 Mar '22): Evinea For Local Council. NationStates. Retrieved 1 Mar '22.