14 April 2023
Yesterday morning, the Ministry of Elections officially announced the end of the 2nd General Election and the closing of the ballots. To the shock of many voters, the Ministry declared former National Assembly Rep. Iyan Seeker and his running mate Rep. Madison Marcos as the winners of Phillip's second Presidential Election with 38.7% of the vote. This election turned out to be extremely close, as in the end Seeker beat runner-up Nick DeVorb by only 6.4%. Below is the official election results as reported by the Ministry of Elections.
The initial response from citizens and politicians was mass confusion, as Minister of Elections Cooper Norfolk had released an update poll the previous night that showed candidate Reed Von in the lead at 43.8% with Seeker no where even close to him. Before voting even opened, most candidates were under the impression that Seeker did not have a chance at winning, even stating so himself. His sudden jump in support left citizens wondering what happened after 7pm to cause such an upturn in the election. The main assumption was that now-President Seeker had gotten members of his and his running mate Madison Marcos' families to rush the polls after the 7pm update. Minister Norfolk had announced on the morning of the 12th that he would be posting the final update poll at 7pm, meaning that candidates wouldn't have an idea of how they were performing until the morning of the 13th when the final results were released. This would give Seeker's supporters an opportunity to rush the polls without the other candidates knowledge, giving them an unfair advantage. Minister Norfolk confirmed the assumptions and admitted that he had plotted with Seeker to give him that advantage, going as far to ignore calls for election information, lying to candidates Owen Itzen and Reed Von about their performance during the election and persuading fellow politicians to not have their families vote.
Due to Minister Norfolk's collusion with President Seeker, the Seeker-Marcos ticket was able to gain eight new votes with thirty minutes after the 7pm update poll, growing his lead to 50% of the total votes. But as fellow candidates Itzen and Von got their supporters to vote, it would fall to close to 39%. According to Minister Norfolk, he aided Seeker in winning the election because Seeker chose him to be his campaign manager and "did what was necessary to fulfill my job." While the actions made by Minister Norfolk and President Seeker aren't technically illegal under Phillip's electoral laws, many politicians believe they were incredibly "sleazy".
Phillip politicians and Presidential candidates, especially Owen Itzen, were outraged that President Seeker had used his family to win the election. Many claimed that it was unfair for him to have members from his family to vote for him because they are "uninvolved" in Phillip's political world. The majority of the nation's active participants did not vote for Seeker, meaning that he was technically elected based on familial ties and not his platform. Many candidates also claimed that his win was unfair as they had put in significantly more effort into the election than President Seeker. Many are upset that they worked hard just to be beat by a candidate who got support from predominantly uninvolved citizens.
Minister Norfolk's announcements have created a humongous controversy over the authenticity and fairness of the election. There were calls from members of the Butter Butta Bentley Party for Minister Norfolk to allow government officials to view the ballots cast, which he promised to do but has yet to follow through with. The controversy over President Seeker's election has caused politicians once again to consider passing former Vice President Luke Fitzgibbins' Family Voting Bill in the National Assembly. Even politicians who had members of their family vote in the election, such as Itzen, Von, and former Vice President Fitzgibbins, have called for action to be taken against family voting. If the bill were to be presented to the National Assembly again, it wouldn't be able to pass without support from BBB members. If a BBB member were to vote for the bill in the Assembly, the "Norfolk-Fitzgibbins Agreement" which ended the Phillip National Front in mid-February would be broken.
In the wake of Seeker's appointment as President, Itzen announced the establishment of a new political party. The party, now called "Progresivos De Fe", abbreviated as PDF, stemmed from a secret merger agreement made by Los Nacionalistas Libres and Cork Party Chairman Riley Cook. According to the party's manifesto, Progresivos De Fe mainly supports libertarian and left-wing ideologies such as social democracy, left-wing populism, patriotism, and progressivism. The party has also placed a strong emphasis on honesty, morphing Phillip's economy to fit a "Nordic Model" in which there would be competitive capitalism that protects the rights of the citizens, and the religious teachings of figures like Jesus Christ. It seems like the main goal of the party is to fight against the conservative ideologies of the BBB and the Richardson Party whilst also attempting to restrict Minister Norfolk's influence over the government. The PDF claims membership of almost 40% of Phillip's registered voters, making it the largest political party in the nation. As per the merger agreement, the party's leadership has been split between four different citizens who each play a different role in the party's organization. The primary leader of party is Itzen, who was called the "Generalissimo" and Spokesman of the party in its manifesto. His brother Austin Itzen was appointed as the "Minister of Mayhem", which according to Itzen is a ceremonial title. He also appointed former running mate Nicholas DeVorb as the Secretary of Finance and Sports and former Cork Party Chairman Cook as the Secretary of Inter-Party Affairs. Leaders of the BBB, such as former Vice President Fitzgibbins, have expressed their wariness of the sudden growth and power that the PDF has gained in the country.
Members of the newly-established PDF and BBB have also come together to form a non-partisan group jokingly named "Operation January 6th" by former Vice President Fitzgibbins. Despite the alarming name of the group, it reportedly does not intend to overthrow President Seeker. It seems like most of the group is in favor of giving President Seeker a chance to prove himself as a good leader. However, there is a small faction of the group that wants to impeach President Seeker. Under Article IV Section 3 of Phillip's constitution, if the citizens of Phillip find a member of the government to be "incompetent", they can hold an election to remove them from office. Ninety-percent of the country has to agree to impeach the public official, which with Phillip's current population is 35 citizens. For the moment, this has been deemed impossible as President Seeker has too much support from members of his own family to be impeached.
In response to his controversial election and calls for protests, President Seeker has made plans to release a speech to the Phillip YouTube channel either this Saturday or Sunday. In the speech, he will most likely address his plans as President and how he intends to keep the country unified. So far as President, the only decision Seeker has made is to appoint the members of his cabinet, of which there are thirteen. Below the members of his cabinet are listed:
President: Iyan Seeker (BBB)
Vice President: Madison Marcos (RS)
General: Wes Krinkus (BBB)
Minister of Mint: Ben Fitzgibbins (BBB)
Ministry of Fish & Wildlife: Owen Itzen (PDF)
Ministry of Agriculture: Madison Marcos (RS)
Ministry of Elections: Cooper Norfolk (I)
Ministry of Transportation: Riley Cook (PDF)
Ministry of Energy: Yokum Williams (PDF)
Ministry of Sports: Nick DeVorb (PDF)
Ministry of Citizenship: Cooper Norfolk (I)
Ministry of Corporations: Nick DeVorb (PDF)
Ministry of Art: Owen Itzen (PDF)
President Seeker has received light criticism for appointing the same people to head multiple ministries, but it hasn't been terrible. Seeker also re-appointed multiple Ministers who were appointed by former President Renny, such as DeVorb and Cook.
Besides the controversy caused by this election, it was extremely successful. Almost 80% of Phillip's citizen participated in the election, a nearly 4% increase from the 1st General Election. Below is every poll released by the Ministry of Elections from the 2nd General Election:
This chart shows how close the election for President was. At the end of it, Von ended up being a single vote behind DeVorb. It's also interesting that Seeker won the election with a lower percentage than former President Jaxson Renny did during the 1st General Election.
Along with rushing the polls in support of President Seeker, his followers also voted in mass for incumbent Rep. Norfolk in election of the National Assembly Territories seat. Before the 7pm poll rush, former President Renny was in the lead by at least 5%. Each candidate that ran for this office received at least a single vote.
During this election, BBB was able to maintain their power in the National Assembly, even though they lost a seat due to the Regional Restructuring Act. Every party's level of power in the Assembly stayed relatively the same with the exception of the Richardson Party. Vice President Madison Marcos was able to win both of the North Phillip Region's Assembly seats, growing her parties power to two seats. Former President Renny was able to win both of Port Phillip's Assembly seats, allowing him to continue to participate in Phillip politics. There is potential for the BBB and PDF to form a majority alliance within the Assembly, but talks haven't even begun on that yet.
This election was also the first time that Governors of the new regions could be elected. The only region that came out of this election without a Governor is the North Phillip Region, which due to both candidates being unable to hold another public office did not receive a Governor. In the Port Phillip Region, Former President Renny won with 100% of the vote and in the Greater Lukous Region, Minister Norfolk barely won the election against Minister Ben Fitzgibbins. Itzen won uncontested in the Alemana Region.
Overall, the future of Seeker's Presidency is murky. Despite receiving some level of approval from members of the BBB, he has no real support from Phillip's politically active citizens. The future of Phillip is in the hands of President Seeker and the next moves he takes will be extremely critical in showing the citizens of Phillip if he is a proficient leader.