- Pronouns
- He/Him, They/Them
Following the withdrawal and resignation from TNP of incumbent speaker ABC after being bloodied in the early hours of voting in the general election, these set of votes votes look like being the least competitive general elections in TNP in more than two years. ABC left TNP following a series of bruising questions about their divisive speakers term, which has seen issues in several areas, and going down 13-2 in the first four hours of voting. It's possible ABC will return at a later date, and without the weight of a humiliating election defeat on their shoulders, but regardless of that, it now means that only the Attorney General vote is an actual contest.
The incumbent Goyanes has won two terms, firstly beating HuAt with more than 95% of the vote in January 2018, and then being re-elected unopposed in May. He trails the experienced Crushing Our Enemies 10-9 at the time of writing, and for the first time since the AG vote moved to be in line with government positions, the race to win the highest judicial office in TNP is very close indeed.
No matter who wins the Attorney General election, the fact that only one of the four elections looks like it will be a competitive election should be of some concern to TNP citizens, with the Delegate, Vice Delegate and now seemingly the Speaker elections all having clear and obvious winners before voting is even 12 hours old. Both Pallaith and Wonderess are now running unopposed and despite a promising debut for TNP newcomer Arietti, the sitting delegate Siwale looks like they will win a landslide.
Uncompetitive elections have become a feature of TNP general elections in recent years, with only the May 2017 GE featuring a full slate of competitive elections. Out of the 24 votes held since May 2016, 6 of them have been single candidate races, and in a further 6 the winning candidate won at least 80% of the vote.
TNP voters only really have one option if they want to ensure competitive elections, but without a sustained campaign by high profile citizens, the re-open nominations choice is difficult to invoke, requiring a majority of voters to get behind it, which is a difficult to achieve target. In the current election, Vice Delegate candidate Pallaith has said he will be voting to re-open nominations, but as for current writing, this option remains unlikely. A sustained push might see RON pass, but no RON vote in a general election has passed in years, with the January 2017 Vice Delegacy vote coming closest, hitting just over 40% and the winner of that election won less than double the number of RON yes votes.
Lowering the bar for invoking RON could be an option to consider, but Election Commissioners and legislators alike should be aware of the dangers of getting caught in a permanent election cycle. More organised and public RON campaigns could also help, giving more time for potential candidates to think about entering the race.
It is almost definite that the leading the candidates in the uncompetitive races in this election will get elected, but going forward, TNP might need to have a conversation with itself about just how healthy and robust its democracy really is.
The incumbent Goyanes has won two terms, firstly beating HuAt with more than 95% of the vote in January 2018, and then being re-elected unopposed in May. He trails the experienced Crushing Our Enemies 10-9 at the time of writing, and for the first time since the AG vote moved to be in line with government positions, the race to win the highest judicial office in TNP is very close indeed.
No matter who wins the Attorney General election, the fact that only one of the four elections looks like it will be a competitive election should be of some concern to TNP citizens, with the Delegate, Vice Delegate and now seemingly the Speaker elections all having clear and obvious winners before voting is even 12 hours old. Both Pallaith and Wonderess are now running unopposed and despite a promising debut for TNP newcomer Arietti, the sitting delegate Siwale looks like they will win a landslide.
Uncompetitive elections have become a feature of TNP general elections in recent years, with only the May 2017 GE featuring a full slate of competitive elections. Out of the 24 votes held since May 2016, 6 of them have been single candidate races, and in a further 6 the winning candidate won at least 80% of the vote.
TNP voters only really have one option if they want to ensure competitive elections, but without a sustained campaign by high profile citizens, the re-open nominations choice is difficult to invoke, requiring a majority of voters to get behind it, which is a difficult to achieve target. In the current election, Vice Delegate candidate Pallaith has said he will be voting to re-open nominations, but as for current writing, this option remains unlikely. A sustained push might see RON pass, but no RON vote in a general election has passed in years, with the January 2017 Vice Delegacy vote coming closest, hitting just over 40% and the winner of that election won less than double the number of RON yes votes.
Lowering the bar for invoking RON could be an option to consider, but Election Commissioners and legislators alike should be aware of the dangers of getting caught in a permanent election cycle. More organised and public RON campaigns could also help, giving more time for potential candidates to think about entering the race.
It is almost definite that the leading the candidates in the uncompetitive races in this election will get elected, but going forward, TNP might need to have a conversation with itself about just how healthy and robust its democracy really is.
