March 2022 Local Council election

March 2022 Local Council election

1‒24 March 2022
All 3 seats on the Local Council
Registered	1120 regional WA members (1st) 1120 regional WA members (2nd) 1119 regional WA members (Re-Opened)
Turnout	10.09% (1st) 9.55% (2nd) 9.74% (Re-Opened)
Majority party Minority party Third party   Candidate Evinea Canadian Dominion Drystar Party Independent Independent Independent Popular vote 50 37 35 Percentage 44.25% 33.94% 32.11%
Local Council before election Canadian Dominion Drystar Apatosaurus Elected Local Council Canadian Dominion Drystar Evinea

The March 2022 Local Council election was an on-site election held in the South Pacific from 1‒24 March 2022 to elect a new Local Council. This was the first election after a change to the Local Council Elections Act to streamline the election process went into effect, which among other things established a minimum residency requirement of 120 days to run for LC. Subsequently, the number of candidates dropped sharply to 4 (from a record high of 19 in the November 2021 Local Council election, of which Evinea came out on top in the first round. In the second round, the Re-Open Nominations option won the most votes, and the election reverted to the nominations phase for the two open seats accordingly; this time, 7 candidates stood, with incumbents Canadian Dominion (who had to run under an alias nation in the original election due to aforesaid residency requirement) and Drystar easily winning re-election.

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. 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. 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 plurality 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 (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. 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 automatically reduced by disqualifying the candidate with the lowest residency score until only 11 candidates remain in the race.

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. The re-opened election proceeded likewise, but only consisting of a single two-winner poll.

Original Election

The original election took place from 1‒14 March 2022 and ended in a decision to re-open nominations by the electorate.

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 (ironically meaning that they themselves had ratified their own exclusion by approving the amendment); 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. Drystar, the third incumbent, chose not to run for re-election.

Four candidates were officially acknowledged by the Election Commissioner and appeared 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. Struck candidates were disqualified from the race.
Candidate			Current Position(s)	Campaign
		Canadian Dominion as New Ontario Dominion	Local Councilor of the South Pacific (since November 2021)	Campaign for NOD (New Ontario)
		Drew Durrnil	Legislator (since October 2021)	No campaign
		Evinea	Legislator (since December 2021) Other offices Editor for the Ministry of Media	Evinea For Local Council
		Purple Hyacinth	Legislator (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
Total declared:				4
Total on ballot:				4

Canadian Dominion's campaign consisted mostly of answers to questions they were asked on the RMB, but also included two main goals, namely relaxation of the double-post prohibition and creation of a strike system to "get rid of trolls faster and more efficiently", among a short list of their background experience for the job, particularly the administration of the TSP Ice Hockey Federation RP and consistent activity as incumbent Local Councilor.

Evinea pitched their ideas together with an extensive list of past and current government and roleplay involvement (including SWAN awards, service in the MoE and the Tidal Force, and membership in several roleplay alliances) to back up their plans, which, besides mainstream promises such as effective rule enforcement, maintaining a good RMB atmosphere, and intra-LC cooperation, featured increased transparency, expansion of the LC Deputy Council programme, and cooperation with and recruitment for the off-site government.

Results

The results of the first round were certified on 10 March 2022..

Results: First Round
Green background denotes winning candidates. Red background denotes eliminated candidates. ✓ and ✗ signal victory or defeat of incumbents respectively.
Candidate		Votes
	Evinea	50	44.25%
	Purple Hyacinth	15	13.27%
	New Ontario Dominion	10	8.85%
	Drew Durrnil	9	7.96%
	Re-Open Nominations	29	25.66%
	Invalid ballots	0	0%
Total ballots cast:			113
Turnout:			10.09%

The second round results were certified on 14 March.

Results: First Round
Green background denotes winning candidates. Red background denotes eliminated candidates. ✓ and ✗ signal victory or defeat of incumbents respectively.
Candidate		Votes
	Purple Hyacinth	21	19.63%
	✗ New Ontario Dominion	17	15.89%
	Drew Durrnil	8	7.48%
	Re-Open Nominations	61	57.01%
	Invalid ballots	0	0%
Total ballots cast:			107
Turnout:			9.55%

As such, Evinea was elected to the Local Council, while the election of the remaining two seats was restarted, beginning the following day.

Re-Opened

From 15‒24 March 2022, the re-run of the election took place.

Candidates

This time, eight candidates put forward their names, with one disqualified for failing to post a Conflicts of Interest disclosure before the deadline. Canadian Dominion was able to run under their main nation again, as it had reached the required residency score; their fellow incumbent Drystar ‒ who decided not to stand in the original run ‒ also accepted a nomination.

Declared Candidates
Bolded candidates are incumbents. Italicized candidates withdrew from the election. Struck candidates were disqualified from the race.
Candidate			Current Position(s)	Campaign
		Canadian Dominion	Local Councilor of the South Pacific (since November 2021)	Canadian Dominion (NDC) for LC
		Drystar	Local Councilor of the South Pacific (since November 2021)	Third times a charm, or Drystar strikes back
		Hanguk-Nippon	Citizen of the South Pacific (since April 2018)	A Look Back
		Indronesia	Citizen of the South Pacific (since October 2021)	Campaign
		Confederate Mexico	Citizen of the South Pacific (since October 2021)	No campaign
		Purple Hyacinth	Legislator (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
		Somurias	Citizen of the South Pacific (since June 2021)	SOMURIAS4LC
		Trivalve	Citizen of the South Pacific (since June 2021)	Trivalve for LC
Total declared:				8
Total on ballot:				7

Canadian Dominion campaigned on the same platform as in the original run of the election.

Drystar too re-used a campaign, namely his November one, which he amended to present two general ideas for the coming term ‒ making an official position for RMB greeters, and short story events for nations to post narratives from their citizens' lives ‒ while pointing out his extensive experience on the RMB over the years, both as simple poster and Local Councilor.

Hanguk-Nippon themselves summed up their campaign as "tidiness and awareness", pledging to reintroduce lighthearted RMB games, hold a choose-your-own-adventure poll series, and community education about (RP) spam awareness while relying on their several years and one former LC term for experience.

Indronesia presented themselves as "an option for the excluded countries in this TSP", approaching the election from an almost-RP standpoint of promising not to force other countries to be liberal and opposing the "oligarchs of the big countries in TSP", but also mentioned being from an eastern country as an advantage for their would-be moderation, since most other candidates were from America or Europe.

Somurias uniquely claimed that they wanted to make the RMB "as loud, liberty, and free" as others and advertised their Asian residence similarly to Indronesia; specific policies included removing the one-word post prohibition (then-Rule 13) and regularly holding fun polls.

Trivalve's campaign focused on two main goals ‒ supporting RMB roleplay and decisive action against rulebreakers ‒ while citing quotes from fellow RMBers lauding them for experience, activity, and trustworthiness backing; furthermore, they mentioned the Regional Development Program they'd been running as further evidence of their involvement.

Results

The results were certified on 24 March 2022..

Results: Re-Opened Second Round
Green background denotes winning candidates. Red background denotes eliminated candidates. ✓ and ✗ signal victory or defeat of incumbents respectively.
Candidate		Votes
	✓ Canadian Dominion	37	33.94%
	✓ Drystar	35	32.11%
	Somurias	13	11.93%
	Purple Hyacinth	8	7.34%
	Hanguk-Nippon	4	3.67%
	Trivalve	4	3.67%
	Indronesia	2	1.83%
	Re-Open Nominations	6	5.5%
	Invalid ballots	0	0%
Total ballots cast:			109
Turnout:			9.74%

Accordingly, Canadian Dominion and Drystar were re-elected to serve a four-month term on the Local Council alongside Evinea, the sole victor of the original election run.