2013-III Election

## Executive Branch

The campaign for Major Executive started around a month before the election, when Mitchell Carrick, Administrative Liaison and member of the Establishment Party announced he would run against incumbent Nathan Maine, a Progressive who was seeking reelection. Though polls demonstrated that Nathan Maine remained popular, some of his ideas were not appreciated by conservatives such as his 2013-II Economic Stimulus and Infrastructure Investment Act, which was a very progressive piece of legislation which defied classical economic ideas and pushed for significant government input in the economy. Both Maine and Carrick set up their own campaigns (Campaign:Maine for Major 2013-III and Campaign:Mitchell Carrick for Major) and Maine gathered key endorsements from the Ehtya family (the wealthiest in the Union), other Executives, and Administrators, while Carrick was only able to draw in endorsements from the most conservative people in the Triumvirate such as the Speaker of the Administration at the time, Andrew Mearl.

The two agreed to hold a debate a few days before the election, moderated by Andrew Hester, where Carrick's points were largely refuted due to inexperience and lack of facts behind them. When time for the election came, both Maine and Carrick gave their statements and then the voting began. Maine received votes from himself, Spencer Kaye, Andrew Hester, Lanclot Rice, Ascencia, and Mitar Curesse while Carrick only received votes from himself and Jackson Mearl. By 6-2 Nathan Maine was declared the victor and would go on to serve a second term as Major Executive.

Then the election for Minor Executive began, and while most of the Triumvirate expected incumbent Andrew Hester to seek a third term, and many suspected that were Mitchell Carrick to lose the Major Executive election, he would run for Minor Executive, a surprise candidate, Lanclot Rice (from Hester's own party, the Union Party), also threw his hat in the ring. The incited serious consequences as the Union Party's leadership did not know Rice would attempt this maneuver and attempt to take the office from Hester. The Union Party received criticism for being disorganized but in the end Andrew Hester did win reelection with four votes (himself, Jackson Mearl, Ascencia, and Nathan Maine), while Lanclot Rice only received three (himself, Spencer Kaye, and Mitar Curesse), and Mitchell Carrick only received his own vote.

## Administrative Branch

With Triumvirate membership still only in the mid-twenties, the Administrative Branch had only six seats available. However, with a new party (the Authority Party) and with new members, many more citizens sought candidacy in the Administrative election for 2013-III. Sitting Deputy Speaker Ryan Bleitze did not seek reelection, and neither did Nremni.

A total of 24 ballots were cast, and the election was called on August 17 with the following results ("i" designates incumbency):

* **ANDREW MEARL (E) (i):** 19 votes
* **HARRISON MEARL (E) (i):** 23 votes
* **EDWARD STENBACH (E) (i):** 18 votes
* **CARLSON TYLER (P):** 14 votes
* **ADAM ELWADIA (P):** 6 votes
* **AARON EHTYA (U) (i):** 21 votes
* **JOHN BRAYER (L):** 19 votes
* **ERMIER (L):** 13 votes
* **RONALD AFFERSON (A):** 7 votes
* **LEONARD MISSET (A):** 4 votes

Thus with the Establishment Party at 60 total votes, Progressive at 20, Union at 21, Libertarian at 32, and Authority at 11. The Establishment Party immediately received two guaranteed seats and Libetarian one. Then the last three seats were distributed to the top three remainders, which were Union, Progressive, and Establishment. This gave the Establishment three seats in the Administration (with Andrew Mearl, Harrison Mearl, and Edward Stenbach all to remain in the Administration. Aaron Ehtya (Union) would remain, and John Brayer (Libertarian) and Carlson Tyler (Progressive) would each get a seat as well.

This election in the Administrative Branch was a gain for conservatives, who would see three Establishment seats and one Libertarian seats. The Progressive Party would remain with just one seat while the moderate Union Party kept one seat. The Authority Party received no representation.

At the beginning of 2013-III in September, the Administration set on electing their Speaker and Deputy Speaker. Incumbent Establishment Speaker Andrew Mearl ran, as did new Progressive candidate Carlson Tyler. The unexpected candidate was Edward Stenbach, another member of the Establishment Party. Andrew Mearl received three votes, from himself, Harrison Mearl, and John Brayer. Carlson Tyler only received his own vote and Edward Stenbach, a moderate conservative received both his own and Aaron Ehtya's vote. Thus, for the first time in Triumvirate history, two men from the same political party would hold control of both major offices in the Administration. The Administrative Branch was designed to make this almost completely impossible except in situations where there was extraordinary skew towards one party, as there was in this time. After announcing this, Major Executive Maine settled in for a trimester where the Administrative Branch would be completely defiant to his views and Administrative Liaison Mitchell Carrick, former opponent of Major Executive Maine, described the intricate planning that had gone into making this possible.

## Conclusion

With the Administration skewed more strongly conservative than it had ever been, with both Speaker and Deputy Speaker held by the Establishment Party, effectively prohibiting any progressive legislation from even getting tabled, let alone voted upon, Major Executive Maine recognized the political challenges this trimester. On the first day of the trimester, hours after Speaker and Deputy Speaker had been elected, Minor Executive Hester, who was only a few hours into his third term as Minor, resigned citing the political climate as hostile and obstructionist. He left office as both Minor Executive and Head of the Treasury, setting the Executive Branch into a crisis as they worked to reconvene and find new leadership. Ryan Bleitze, newly elected as of that day as Head of Education, was then quickly transferred to become the new Head of the Treasury and after a special election where Mitchell Carrick (Establishment) and Lanclot Rice (now a Humanitarian) squared off and by 4:3, Rice was elected to become the replacement Minor Executive for the trimester.