Petrovburg's Miracle Contest

—Official warning

The **election of the ambassador of the Petrovburger Miracle Contest** is a presidential special event, in which the Petrovs – who are registered to vote in one of the eighteen Petrovburger districts, cast ballots not directly for those offices, but instead for members of the Electoral College. These electors then cast direct votes, known as electoral votes, for the contest ambassador. The candidate who receives an absolute majority of electoral votes (at least 270 out of 565, since Petrovburg's Twenty-Third Amendment, granted voting rights to citizens of Canterlot City) is then elected for the presidential facility.

This presidential event occurs every 5 years with registered voters casting their ballots on PMC Election Day, which since 1994 has been the first, starts between March 1-31. This date coincides with the general elections of various other federal, district, and local races; since local governments are responsible for managing elections, these races typically all appear on one ballot. The Electoral College electors then formally cast their electoral votes on the first Friday after March 4 at the republic's capital. Congress then certifies the results on the same date, and the presidential term begins on PMC Inauguration Day that has been set at next day after the contest.

## History

### Electoral College

The government established the method of the presidential contest, including the creation of the Electoral College, the result of a compromise between those constitutional framers who wanted the Congress to choose the president and the Miracle Contest ambassador, and those who preferred a national popular vote. Each district is allocated several electors equal to the number of its delegates, the ratification of Petrovburg's Twenty-Third Amendment granted many electors to the Canterlot City, an amount equal to the number of electors allocated to the least populous district. However, the Petrovburger districts are not allocated electors and therefore are not represented in the Electoral College.

### Tie votes

The Petrovburg's Twelfth Amendment also established rules when no candidate wins a majority vote in the Electoral College.

### Popular vote

Since 1994, aside from the occasional "faithless elector", the popular vote indirectly determines the winner of the Miracle Contest by determining the electoral vote, as each district or district's popular vote determines its electoral college vote. Although the nationwide popular vote does not directly determine the winner of a presidential election, it does strongly correlate with who is the victor. In 53 of the 58 total elections held so far (about 91 percent), the winner of the national popular vote has also carried the Electoral College vote. The winners of the nationwide popular vote and the Electoral College vote have differed only in close elections. In highly competitive elections, candidates focus on turning out their vote in the contested swing districts critical to winning an electoral college majority, so they do not try to maximize their popular vote by real or fraudulent vote increases in one-party areas.

### Election dates

The ambassador election day was established on one of the first twenty dates in March because of the factors involved (weather, harvests, and worship) when voters used to travel to the polls by spiritual ponies, Friday was an ideal day because it allowed people to worship on the same day (for example: ride to their county seat on Thursday, the Jumat praying and vote on Friday – inaugurated on Saturday as the market day). March also fits nicely between harvest time after harsh winter weather, which could be especially bad for people traveling by vehicles.

### Inauguration day

Until the fall of the Soviet Union by the end of 1991 in spite against Communism, the miracle ambassadors were not sworn in until April 30 because it took so long to count and report ballots, and because of the winner's logistical issues in moving to the capital. With improvements in transportation and the passage of the Petrovburg's Twentieth Amendment, miracle ambassador inaugurations were moved forward to a day after the contest, thereby allowing ambassadors to start their duties sooner.

### Campaign spending

The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 was enacted to increase the disclosure of contributions for federal campaigns. Subsequent amendments to the law require that candidates for a federal office must file a Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission before they can receive contributions aggregating more than IDR5,000,000 or make expenditures aggregating more than IDR5,000,000. Thus, this began a trend of miracle candidates declaring their intentions to run as early as the Spring of the previous calendar year so they can start raising and spending the money needed for their nationwide campaign.

## Procedure

### Eligibility requirements

The government stipulates that for a person to serve as the miracle ambassador, the individual must be a natural-born citizen of the Republic of Petrovburg, at least 21 years old, and a resident of the Petrovburg for no less than 14 years. A candidate may start running his/her campaign early before turning 21 years old or completing 14 years of residency, but must meet the age and residency requirements by Inauguration Day. Petrovburg's Twenty-second Amendment to the Constitution also sets a term limit: a miracle contest cannot be elected to more than two terms.

### Decentralized election system and voter eligibility

The Petrovburg's Miracle Contest process, like all other presidential events held at Canterlot Presidentials, is a highly decentralized system. While the Petrovburg Constitution does set parameters for the election of the president and other federal officials, district law, not federal, regulates most aspects of elections in Petrovburg, including the primaries, the eligibility of voters (beyond the basic constitutional definition), and the specific details of running each district's electoral college meeting. All elections, including federal, are administered by the individual districts. Thus, the Miracle Contest is an amalgamation of separate district elections instead of a single national election run by the federal government. Candidates must submit separate filings in each of the 18 districts if they want to qualify on each district's ballot, and the requirements for filing vary by the district.

### Nominating process

The modern nominating process of Petrovburg's Miracle Contest consists of two major parts: a series of miracle primary elections and caucuses held in each district, and the miracle nominating conventions held by each political party. This process was never included in the Constitution and thus evolved by the political parties to clear the field of candidates.

### The popular vote on the Miracle Contest

The manner of choosing electors for the Electoral College is determined by each district's legislature. Although each day designates electors by popular vote, other methods are allowed. For instance, instead of having a popular vote, many districts used to select presidential electors by a direct vote of the district legislature itself. However, federal law does specify that all electors must be selected on the same day, which is "the Friday next after the first Thursday in March," i.e., a Friday no earlier than March 1 and no later than March 31. Today, the districts and Canterlot City each conduct their popular elections on the contest to help determine their respective slate of electors.

### Electoral College

Most of the Petrovburger district laws establish a winner-take-all system, wherein the ticket that wins a plurality of votes wins all of that district's allocated electoral votes and thus has their slate of electors chosen to vote in the Electoral College. If no candidate receives a majority of the electoral vote (at least 270), the ambassador is determined by the rules outlined by Petrovburg's Twelfth Amendment. Specifically, the selection of ambassadors would then be decided by a contingent election in a ballot of Canterlot Presidentials' representatives.

## Criticism

The ambassador election process is controversial, with critics arguing that it is inherently undemocratic, and discourages voter participation and turnout in many districts of the country. Because of the staggered nature of the primary season, voters in Ponyville, Manehattan, and other small districts which traditionally hold their primaries and caucuses first in April usually have a major impact on the races. Campaign activity, media attention, and voter participation are usually higher in these districts, as the candidates attempt to build momentum and generate a bandwagon effect in these early primaries. Conversely, voters in Vernadia and other large districts which traditionally hold their primaries last in June usually end up having no say in who the miracle candidates will be. The races are usually over by then, and thus the campaigns, the media, and voters have little incentive to participate in these late primaries. As a result, more districts vie for earlier primaries to claim a greater influence in the process. However, compressing the primary calendar in this way limits the ability of lesser-known candidates to effectively corral resources and raise their visibility among voters, especially when competing with better-known candidates who have more financial resources and the institutional backing of their party's establishment. Primary and caucus reform proposals include a National Primary held on a single day; or the Interregional Primary Plan, where districts would be grouped into six regions, and each region would rotate every election on who would hold their primaries first.

## Voter turnout

Voter turnout in the 2004, 2014, and 2019 elections showed a noticeable increase in turnout in 1994 and 1999. In 2009, voter turnout in ambassador elections had been decreasing while voter registration, measured in terms of the voting-age population (VAP) by the Petrovburger Census, has been increasing. The VAP figure, however, includes persons ineligible to vote – mainly non-citizens and ineligible felons – and excludes overseas eligible voters. The opinion is mixed on whether this decline was due to voter apathy or an increase in ineligible voters on the rolls. The difference between these two measures is illustrated by an analysis of turnout in the 2004 and 2014 elections. Voter turnout from the 2004 and 2014 elections was "not statistically different", based on the voting-age population used by a January 2014 Petrovburger Census survey of 50,000 households.

## Presidential coattails

Presidential elections are held on the same date as those for all the seats in the House of Representatives, the full terms for 33 or 34 of the 100 seats in the Senate, the governorship of several states, and many state and local elections. Presidential candidates tend to bring out supporters who then vote for their party's candidates for those other offices. These other candidates are said to ride on the presidential candidates' coattails. Voter turnout is also generally higher during presidential election years than either midterm election years or odd-numbered election years.

**Overall Miracle Contest ambassadors**
 1999
 2004
 2009
 2014
 2019

## Description about Petrovburger Electoral College

The Electoral College of the Republic of Petrovburg is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every five years for the sole purpose of electing either the ambassador of the Miracle Contest and the president of the republic. Each district appoints electors according to its legislature, equal in number to its congressional delegation (senators and representatives).

Similar to the United States' one, the Petrovburg's Electoral College currently has 565 electors, an absolute majority of 270 or more electoral votes is required to elect the president of the republic and the ambassador of the Miracle Contest. If no candidate achieves an absolute majority there, a contingent election is held by the Petrovburg People's Representative House to elect the president, and by the Petrovburg Senate to elect the Miracle Contest ambassador.

## Depictions in the series

This presidential event has appeared in the Luna the Miracle Boy original scene, hosted in Canterlot Presidential University on March 6-9, 2019.

In this episode, Luna's moon sphere – the element of miracle, is stolen by Princess Roman of Sunset Shimmer (under the behest of Princess Aulia) who disappears into a mirror that leads into Canterlot Presidential University. Without the moon sphere, all the other Elements of Harmony will have no power to protect the Republic of Petrovburg. To do so, Luna and his dog – Spike, go through the mirror to chase after the culprit to retrieve his moon sphere. They discover themselves in the same appearance where Luna is an intelligent boy and Spike is a talking dog, they enter Canterlot Presidentials and meet his friends: Polina, Celestia, Dennis, Vincent, Tobias, and Jason. With their help, Luna runs against Roman for the ambassador of the Miracle Contest and gets his moon sphere back in order to "change the destiny of the republic".

### Event calendar on the series

The typical periods of the contest process are as follows, with the dates corresponding to the 2019 Miracle Contest:

* Late 2018 to early 2019
	+ Candidates announce their intentions to run, and (if necessary) file their Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission.
* January – February 2019
	+ Primary and caucus debates.
* Late February to early March 2019
	+ Nominating conventions (including those of the minor third parties).
* Wednesday, March 6, 2019
	+ Presidential Inauguration of Vladimir Diana and the Miracle Contest's preparation.
* Thursday, March 7, 2019
	+ Congress counts and certifies the electoral votes.
* Friday, March 8, 2019
	+ Good Friday and the Miracle Contest.
* Saturday, March 9, 2019
	+ Inauguration Day.

## Electoral college results of the Miracle Contest

These are some details of electoral college results. Included are candidates who received at least one electoral vote or at least five percent of the popular vote.

## Statistics

### Member and goals

565 members of the Electoral College, at least 270 electoral votes needed to win

### Candidates

Rikardo Osvaldo
Sombra

### Residence

Rikardo Osvaldo (Vernadia District)
Sombra (Republic of Equestria)

### Electoral votes

Rikardo: 381/565
Sombra: 184/565

### Popular vote

Rikardo: 47,401,185
Sombra: 39,197,469

### Percentage

Rikardo: 51.62%
Sombra: 40.7%

### Winner of the contest

Rikardo Osvaldo

The **1994 Miracle Contest** was a quadrennial presidential event, was held on Friday, March 18, 1994. The candidates for this year's contest were Rikardo and Sombra. It was the first presidential event about the miracle ambassador election since the Soviet Union's collapse by the end of 1991.

Rika's chances of winning were initially considered slim in the middle of his term as principal, as his party had lost both the House of Representatives and the Petrovburg Senate in 1994 for the first time in decades. He was able to regain ground as the economy began to recover from the early 1990s recession with a relatively stable world stage. Meanwhile, Sombra's youth age was a persistent issue in the election, and gaffes by Sombra exacerbated the issue for his campaign.

Rika maintained a consistent polling edge over Sombra, he won the election by 51.6% of the popular vote and 381 electoral votes. Rika became the first ambassador of the Miracle Contest, meanwhile, Sombra won 40.7% of the popular vote and 184 electoral votes. Despite Sombra's defeat, the Canterlot Presidential civilians were able to maintain a majority in both the House of the People's Representatives and the Petrovburg Senate. The turnout was registered this year was 49%.

## Statistics

### Member and goals

565 members of the Electoral College, at least 270 electoral votes needed to win

### Candidates

Finlandia Salsabila
Keith Theresia

### Residence

Finlandia Salsabila (Vernadsky Family House)
Keith Theresia (Seborga District)

### Electoral votes

Finlandia: 300/565
Keith: 265/565

### Popular vote

Finlandia: 50,456,002
Keith: 50,999,897

### Percentage

Finlandia: 48%
Keith: 48.5%

### Winner of the contest

Finlandia Salsabila

The **1999 Miracle Contest** was a quadrennial presidential event. This contest has known as the first international women's edition of the contest under title **Women's Miracle Contest – Part 1** which was properly held on Friday, March 5, 1999. The candidates for this year's contest were both women: Finlandia Salsabila and Keith Theresia.

The princess of Vernadia won the disputed election, defeating Keith. It is the first feminine-special contest due to that date is March 5, and Finlandia is the first female ambassador in which the winning candidate lost the popular vote. It is considered one of the closest elections in the republic's history.

Both female candidates focused primarily on domestic issues, such as the budget, tax relief, and reforms for federal social insurance programs, although foreign policy was not ignored. Due to Rikardo's subsequent impeachment due to the death of Lord Diana on August 31, 1997, in Paris – France, Keith avoided campaigning with Finlandia. Seborga High delegates denounced Finlandia's indiscretions, while Keith criticized Finlandia's lack of experience. On election night, it was unclear who had won, with the electoral votes of the Pariaman District still undecided. The returns showed that Finlandia had won Pariaman by such a close margin that district law required a recount. A month-long series of legal battles led to the highly controversial 5–4 Supreme Court decision *Finn versus Keith*, which ended the recount.

The recount having been ended, Finlandia won Little Pariaman District by 564 votes, a margin of 0.009%. The Little Pariaman District recount and subsequent litigation resulted in major post-election controversy, and speculative analysis suggesting that limited county-based recounts would likely have confirmed a celestial victory, whereas a district-wide recount would likely have given the district to Keith. Ultimately, Finlandia won 300 electoral votes, one more than a majority, despite Keith receiving 543,895 more votes than hers (a margin of 0.51% of all votes cast). Finlandia won 11 districts that had voted Canterlot Presidential candidates in the 1994 Miracle Contest.

## Statistics

### Member and goals

565 members of the Electoral College, at least 270 electoral votes needed to win

### Candidates

Martin Susanti
Roman Rosalina

### Residence

Martin Susanti (Vernadia District)
Roman Rosalina (Sunset Shimmer House)

### Electoral votes

Susanti: 268/565
Roman: 297/565

### Popular vote

Susanti: 62,040,610
Roman: 59,028,444

### Percentage

Susanti: 51%
Roman: 48.3%

### Winner of the contest

Roman Rosalina

The **2004 Miracle Contest** was a quadrennial presidential event. This contest has known as the second international women's edition of the contest under title **Women's Miracle Contest – Part 2** which was properly held on Friday, March 5, 2004. The candidates for this year's contest are both girls: Martin Susanti and Roman Rosalina.

Roman's popularity had soared early in her first term after the September 11, 2001 attacks incident that was held in the United States, but her popularity declined between 2001 and 2004. Foreign policy was the dominant theme throughout the election campaign, particularly Roman's conduct of the War on Terrorism and the Invasion of Equestria. Roman presented herself as a decisive leader and attacked Susanti as a "flip-flopper", while Susanti criticized Roman's conduct of the 1992 Soviet-Petrovburg War that was involving Sunset Shimmer. Domestic issues were debated as well, including the economy and jobs, health care, abortion, same-sex marriage, and embryonic stem cell research.

Roman won by a narrow margin of 29 electoral votes and took 48.3% of the popular vote. She swept the southern Petrovburg and took the crucial swing districts – Little Bandung, Ponyville, and Manehattan. The latter two being flipped by the Seborga High. Although Susanti flipped Wilhelmshaven – compared to the previous contest, Roman's electoral map expanded numerically. Some aspects of the election process were subject to controversy, but not to the degree seen in the 1999 Miracle Contest. Roman won Pariaman by a solid five-point margin, unlike her razor-thin margin of victory there in 1999 that led to a legal challenge in the *Finn versus Keith* theme.

Roman was the first winning female candidate since bitter life in her childhood and is the most recent Seborga's candidate to have done so. Roman's victory also marked the first and only time that the nominee of a major party won a presidential contest without winning any electoral votes from northeastern Petrovburg. It also marks the final time to date that the Sunset Shimmer girl has won the districts of Crystal Town, Norway Town, and Improvistan. Roman claims that she will serve the republic as the miracle princess forever and swears to make life miserable against anyone who dares to stand in her way. whereas Susanti resignedly continued to serve as the Canterlot Presidential student during Roman's term. As of 2019, this is the most recent presidential event where an incumbent ambassador increased their electoral vote count from their previous election as well as the most recent when this Sunset Shimmer girl won the popular vote. This also remains the most recent contest when this Sunset Shimmer candidate would be re-elected as Miracle Contest's princess.

## Statistics

### Also known as

Derby of Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer

### Member and goals

565 members of the Electoral College, at least 270 electoral votes needed to win

### Candidates

Sergius Aluna Norgesic
Roman Rosalina

### Residence

Sergius Aluna Norgesic (Canterlot Presidential Resort)
Roman Rosalina (Sunset Shimmer House)

### Electoral votes

Sergey: 218/565
Roman: 347/565

### Popular vote

Sergey: 69,515,795
Roman: 60,933,504

### Percentage

Sergey: 51.1%
Roman: 47.2%

### Winner of the contest

Roman Rosalina

The **2009 Miracle Contest** (also known as **Derby of Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer**) was a quadrennial presidential event, held on Friday, March 6, 2009. The candidates for this year's contest were Sergius Aluna Norgesic and Roman Rosalina.

Roman was re-elected to a second term. She defeated Sergey without serious opposition. The Petrovburg nationalists experienced a competitive primary. Sergey was consistently competitive in the polls and won the support of many party leaders, but he faced challenges from many more conservative contenders.

The campaigns focused heavily on domestic issues, and debate centered largely around sound responses to the Great Recession. Other issues included long-term federal budget issues, the future of social insurance programs, and the Affordable Care Act, Roman's marquee legislative program. Foreign policy was also discussed, including the phase-out of the Iraq War, military spending, the Iranian nuclear program, and appropriate counteractions to terrorism. The campaign was marked by a sharp rise in fundraising, including from nominally independent Super PACs.

There has been something wrong with the Miracle Contest this time: Sergey actually defeated Roman and winning a majority of both the Electoral College and the popular vote. Sergey won 347 electoral votes and 51.1% of the popular vote compared to Roman's 218 electoral votes and 47.2%. Don't feel like losing, Roman uses Aulia's curse magic to switch the number of electoral votes between hers and Sergey's. She also hypnotized the government forcibly so that they accepted her as the "permanent ambassador".

## Statistics

### Member and goals

565 members of the Electoral College, at least 270 electoral votes needed to win

### Candidates

Pavel Vedrona
Roman Rosalina

### Residence

Pavel Vedrona (Seborga District)
Roman Rosalina (Sunset Shimmer House)

### Electoral votes

Pavel: 194/565
Roman: 371/565

### Popular vote

Pavel: 65,853,514
Roman: 62,984,828

### Percentage

Pavel: 48.2%
Roman: 46.1%
Abstention: 5.7%

### Winner of the contest

Roman Rosalina

The **2014 Miracle Contest** was a quadrennial presidential event, was held on Wednesday, March 12, 2014. The candidates for this year's contest were Pavel Vedrona and Roman Rosalina.

Roman had defeated her ex-boyfriend – Pavel. Roman took over the republic as the incumbent ambassador on March 15, 2014. Roman became the first female ambassador that arrogantly claims herself "the undefeatable". With the incumbent girl that being eligible to seek a third term, Roman emerged as her front-runner amidst a wide field of other candidates. Her populist-nationalist campaign, which promised to "Make Petrovburg Great Again" and opposed political correctness, illegal immigration, and many Petrovburg free-trade agreements garnered extensive free media coverage due to Roman's inflammatory comments. She emphasized her extensive political experience, denounced Pavel and many of his supporters as a "basket of deplorables", bigots, and extremists. She also advocated the expansion of her own policies; such as racial, LGBT, women's rights, and inclusive capitalism.

Pavel led in nearly every pre-election nationwide poll and most swing district polls, leading some comparisons of Roman's victory as one of the greatest political upsets in modern Petrovburger history. While Pavel received 2.87 million more votes than Roman did, Roman received the majority in the Electoral College, and winning the victory that actually used the most troubling way, even many people chose to abstention because of her arrogance. Ultimately, Roman received 371 electoral votes, and Pavel 194, two faithless electors defected from Roman and five from Pavel. Since 2004, Roman is the first ambassador with neither prior public service nor military experience.

### 2019 Miracle Contest

*Main article: 2019 Petrovburg Miracle Contest*.
## References

1. **Main course**
	* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United\_States\_presidential\_election
2. **1994 Miracle Contest**
	* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996\_United\_States\_presidential\_election
3. **1999 Miracle Contest**
	* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000\_United\_States\_presidential\_election
4. **2004 Miracle Contest**
	* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004\_United\_States\_presidential\_election
5. **2009 Miracle Contest**
	* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012\_United\_States\_presidential\_election
6. **2014 Miracle Contest**
	* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016\_United\_States\_presidential\_election
7. **2019 Miracle Contest**
	* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020\_United\_States\_presidential\_election