Orion National Premier election, 5 A.R.

The **5 A.R. Orion National Premier election** took place at the end of 5, and was the first nationwide election in both the continent's and the country's history. Hughes Stone Wheeler, the widely-popular Chairman of the Orion Revolutionary Coalition, was nominated by the Rally for Orion as its national nominee. She easily defeated Onassis Ruddy, a high-ranking military officer and former member of the Orion House of Executives, and Gagnier Sullivan, a far-left political activist.

## Rally for Orion Convention

Four months before the national election, the Rally for Orion held its first nominating convention. Going into the convention, party members were unsure if former Chairman Hughes Stone Wheeler, the best-known and most popular national figure, would announce a campaign. Other candidates were speculated to be potential nominees, including Carmody Noah, who had just lost the nomination at the Coalition for the Republic's convention

But Stone Wheeler's public reticence to enter the race was carefully choreographed by the party's leadership. By refusing to publicly announce her intentions, Stone Wheeler and the Rally forced the Coalition to refrain from criticizing her during its convention, scheduled just a few days before the Rally's.

After the party adopted its bylaws and procedure for candidate selection in lower-level races, the floor was opened for national nominees. Stone Wheeler was the first nominee, and the floor was subsequently closed by acclamation, coronating her as the nominee.

When it came time to nominate a Deputy Premier, Stone Wheeler had a slight preference for Carmody Noah, who had expressed no desire to join the Rally. Noah was in attendance at the convention, however, and reluctantly accepted the nomination when it was made. The party's burgeoning left-wing faction — informally known as the Seuele faction because of its unofficial leader, Landrieu Seuele — was furious at the idea of a member of their opposing party serving as the party's deputy leader. They threw several names around, including Charron Shanor and Callis Quinwood. Shanor was interested, but party members vetoed her name as a replacement candidate. Quinwood, however, a former member of the Orion House of Executives and an able administrator, was palatable, and she was selected.

Immediately following Noah's surprise nomination, Seuele nominated Quinwood, who immediately accepted. But one of Shanor's allies had defied Seuele's wishes and nominated her anyway. The Seuele faction was forced to whip votes not against Noah, as they intended, but first against Shanor. If no candidate received a majority in the first round, a runoff election would occur, and faction was desperate to assert its influence by advancing Quinwood.

Rally National Convention
deputy premiership vote, 1st ballot

After the first ballot, in which Noah took an unsurprising strong first, Quinwood narrowly beat out Shanor for second. Seuele rushed to Shanor after the vote and begged her to endorse Quinwood over Noah, in exchange for which the Seuele faction would support her next bid for national office. Shanor agreed, and gave Quinwood an impassioned endorsement speech. Hughes Stone Wheeler, meanwhile, fearing a party backlash if she gave her full support to Noah, told her allies to back off and to stand down, leaving the reluctantly-nominated Noah to fend for herself.

Rally National Convention
deputy premiership vote, 2nd ballot

Noah ended up hemorrhaging support as Stone Wheeler withdrew her unofficial endorsement, with many convention delegates opting for Quinwood, fearing the consequences of backing a rival party's politician for a leadership position in their party. After Quinwood was announced the winner, Noah politely shook her hand, embraced Stone Wheeler, and left the convention, immediately endorsing Onassis Ruddy, the Coalition's nominee.

## Coalition for the Republic Convention

Because of Hughes Stone Wheeler's public reticence to announce her intentions, the Coalition for the Republic's convention was haphazardly-organized. Many candidates, the most prominent of which were Ruben Blair, Marston Hattaway, Carmody Noah, and Onassis Ruddy, announced their intention to seek the Coalition's nomination. Unlike the Rally, the Coalition's balloting process was long and drawn-out, with the field of candidates narrowing, one-by-one, as each ballot concluded. Several lesser-known, quixotic candidates dropped out of consideration after the floor was closed for additional nominations, leading just Blair, Gordon, Noah, Noah, and Hendricks Yearwood.

Noah took a clear and commanding lead in the first three ballots, as the best-known candidate in the field. Yearwood was forced to drop out after the first round, and despite her enthusiastic endorsement of Noah, her supporters largely migrated to Ruddy and Blair. Gordon and Blair, who pulled from the same ideological camp of supporters, cannibalized each other's support, which prevented either of them from gaining substantially from the first to second rounds. However, after Blair narrowly edged out Gordon in the second round, the lion's share of Gordon's support went to Blair. A few defectors, however, gave the edge to Ruddy, who took second place over Blair in the third round by a mere three votes. After several recounts, Ruddy's margin narrowed to just two votes, forcing Blair to concede.

In the fourth round, the Blair-Gordon bloc of party delegates banded together to form a "Stop Noah" campaign. Though Noah was exceedingly popular, and likely would have performed well in the general election against Hughes Stone Wheeler, she was perceived as ideologically weak and uncommitted to the Coalition's platform.

Though Noah gained a sizable number of Blair-Gordon voters, Ruddy's voteshare skyrocketed in the fourth round, nearly doubling, enabling her to just barely overtake Noah. After Ruddy was officially named the nominee, she privately offered the Deputy Premiership to Noah, who, insulted by the swift movement against her, declined. Ruddy then offered the spot to Blair, who enthusiastically accepted. After Blair was named the party's nominee for Deputy Premier, Noah left the convention and met Stone Wheeler, who encouraged her to switch parties.

## Other candidates

A handful of other candidates, unaffiliated with either of the major parties, announced their candidacies for the national election. Only Gagnier Sullivan, a far-left activist who would later form the Union of the Left, received significant attention. She focused most of her energy at Stone Wheeler, whom she claimed was "Coalition-lite" and whose social agenda she vigorously condemned.