July 2022 Delegate election

July 2022 Delegate election

1‒22 July 2022
Registered	61 legislators of the South Pacific (1st) 1051 regional WA nations (2nd)
Turnout	47.54% (1st) 12.75% (2nd)
Candidate anjo Party Independent Popular vote 84 Percentage 62.69%
Delegate before election PenguinPies Elected Delegate anjo

The July 2022 Delegate election was an election held in the South Pacific from 1‒22 July 2022 to elect the Delegate of the South Pacific for the July‒January '22/'23 term. PenguinPies, the incumbent, first declared her candidacy, but withdrew due to changing real-life circumstances later during campaigning. The only other candidate, anjo, received landslide approval of over 90% in the forum round and, together with the Re-Open Nominations option, advanced to the gameside round. Once the second round of the concurrent July 2022 Local Council election had ended, the on-site polls opened, with a tight race between anjo and RON in the first few days, which widened to a comfortable 34-vote victory for anjo after renewed campaign efforts by him on the RMB and in telegrams.

Background

Delegate elections in the South Pacific take place every six months, with one scheduled in January and another in July. According to the Elections Act, a Delegate election had to be called on the 1st of July, 2022.

Electoral System

Main article: Delegate of the South Pacific § Election

The Delegate is elected in a two-step process. In a first round, held on the forums, legislators of the South Pacific determine two advancing candidates using approval voting. The top-two (or more, should there be a tie) most-approved candidates move on to a regional poll held on-site, where regional World Assembly member nations ultimately vote on the winner using the two-round system.

The declarations and campaigning periods would run concurrently for a week, after which the first round of voting would be held, lasting three days. A day after this concludes, the second round of voting would commence, with the poll remaining open for another week. Thereafter, the Election Commissioner would proclaim the results.

Due to the July 2022 Local Council election running at the same time, the gameside poll was planned to be delayed until 15 July.

Campaign

Incumbent PenguinPies first accepted a nomination and campaigned for reelection but withdrew later on due to real-life commitments; anjo also accepted his nominations. Amerion deferred his nomination, but did not accept or deny it later on; Kris Kringle never responded to his.

Declared Candidates
Bolded candidates are incumbents. Italicized candidates withdrew from the election. Struck candidates were disqualified from the race.
Candidate			Political office(s)	Campaign
		PenguinPies	Delegate of the South Pacific (since February 2022) Other offices Member of the Council on Regional Security Member of the Legislator Committee	Penguin for Delegate Vol2
		anjo	Director of the Office of World Assembly Legislation (since April 2022) Other offices Member of the South Pacific Coral Guard Member of the Legislator Committee Ambassador to the Free Nations Region	Cake Supremacy

Penguin

Penguin's campaign was again short, declaring to avoid "fancy promises [and] graphics". She started out by conceding starting difficulties during her term, but expressed satisfaction with her increasing hold on the job's duties as the term progressed and that she gave it her best. On the World Assembly, she lauded incumbent Director anjo and how the two of them worked together in taking care of TSP's WA interests. Lastly, she stated a desire that government ministers might increase their visibility on the Regional Message Board, claiming that it's "pretty cool if you give it a go", and closed with another pledge to give her best for TSP if re-elected.

HumanSanity delivered scathing criticism of her term in the campaign thread, but Penguin didn't get to counter, as she withdrew her candidacy on 6 July, citing important shifts in her real-life obligations which would prevent her from efficiently holding office.

anjo

anjo based his campaign on the common Cake vs Pie debate in the South Pacific, in reference to Penguin being on the forefront of the pie side and himself liking cake better. Structured like a WA Security Council Declaration, he focused on three points, namely safety, the World Assembly, and gameside presence. He promised to support Delegate‒OWL collaboration and continue the popular monthly "endorsement days". Furthermore, he pledged to efficiently work together with the Local Council in routine border control actions. Regarding gameside presence, he suggested a new RMB Award program to reward high-quality posting more and stated that he would strive to keep a daily presence on the RMB, possibly supported by several "daily" formats (with Question of the Day and Today in History given as examples).

After the gameside poll opened, several early votes for the Re-Open Nominations option led to a tight race between anjo and RON over the first two days of voting, with anjo's lead regularly swinging between zero and five votes. Early independent inquiry about the reasons for the many RON votes remained without much response, and Evinea and Bistritza began soft campaigns on the RMB in favor of anjo. On late 16 July, with the poll tied 42‒42, anjo talked through possible measures to flip RON voters, with several people (including Moon, Proctethia, Drystar, and Pronoun) joining in and concurrently making statements in support of anjo on the RMB. After personally talking with a number of RMB nations, enough votes were recruited or flipped for a 47‒40 lead on the end of 16 July, which continued to widen following personal telegram conversations of anjo with RON voters.

Results

Election Commissioner Kris Kringle proclaimed the results of the forum round on 11 July.

Results: Forum 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	92.86%
Re-Open Nominations	2	7.14%
Invalid ballots	1	3.45%

The overall election results were certified by the Election Commissioner on 22 July, proclaiming anjo the Delegate-elect.

Results: Gameside Round
Green background denotes winning candidates. Red background denotes eliminated candidates. ✓ and ✗ denote the status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Candidate	Votes
anjo	84	62.69%
Re-Open Nominations	50	37.31%
Invalid ballots	0	0%

Transition

The transition period of the Delegacy officially began with the certification of the gameside round. According to the Elections Act, the Delegate-elect is inaugurated upon taking the on-site Delegate seat; until then, their only task is gathering enough endorsements for this.

At the time the election concluded, there was a gap of 54 endorsements between PenguinPies and Delegate-elect anjo. On 24 July, anjo sent telegrams to every nation not currently endorsing him, and Penguin appointed him as a Regional Officer for more visibility. As his endorsement count increased sharply thereafter, sitting at around 16 by 26 July, the Minister of Defense HumanSanity ordered deployed SPSF soldiers to return to TSP and endorse anjo. This was enough to push him above Penguin for the major update of 27 July, thus concluding the delegate transition within five days of certification of the election results.