2011 Secundomian Elections
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The 2011 Secundomian Elections were the final elections held in the Republic of Secundomia. After a failed series of attempts, only a presidential election was held and ended in controversial circumstances. Parker I won his third consecutive term set for 5 months and pledged to step down at the end of the term. Spencer I fell short by a single vote and protested the election. These elections marked a transition into the loss of legitimacy and activity within the nation of Secundomia.
Background
Forum Experiment
The elections were initially scheduled for the Secundomian Forums in January 2011. All previous elections which were held via a combination of email chain, texting and in-person voting, which made records difficult to verify, contestable and often inaccurate. However, this proved to be a large failing for the Parker I administration as most citizens failed to register for the forums and those that did were inactive. This resulted in a loss of legitimacy. Parker threatened to take over the nation if citizens were uninterested. This position was met with a mixed response and a surprising amount of support. Parker reiterated that he would rather maintain an electoral republic than take over a dormant nation.
Campaign and Restructured Attempt
Rather than take over, the elections were postponed to the end of January and restructured to an email-based system. Incumbent Parker I secured the Conservative Party nomination for president and Spencer I again received the Libertarian nomination. The second attempt at elections failed once again, only two people voted and the result was split. Secondary elections for gubernatorial and congressional positions also received low to no turnout. These bodies were thus dissolved going into the final attempt.
Election
After the failure of two election attempts, the Parker I administration was disappointed and embarrassed. Spencer gained some momentum as a result of the inactivity. The election was again postponed with new stipulations. Gubernatorial and congressional elections were eliminated and Secundomia was transitioned into a Presidential Republic with a 5-month term limit. The end of the 2011 Super Bowl in the United States was set as a deadline for the election. Finally, a legitimate result came through with Parker pulling a shock victory as the incumbent 3–2 over Spencer.
Controversy
The Spencer I campaign accused Parker of rigging elections in his favor. Although no legal challenge was ever lodged through the Secundomian courts, Spencer expressed his displeasure and belief that in the second attempt his vote had not been counted. Parker countered that this was correct, but it was not counted as he had only expressed intent to vote without registering his vote in the Secundomian email. This defense was largely accepted by legal scholars at the time, but runs contrary to Secundomian history when votes were often counted based on in person declarations of intent, emails and text messages.
Aftermath
Parker's role as election official consistently throughout the Republic's existence rendered elections largely opaque. This conflict of interest was largely inevitable, but still presented problems for observers. The damage of the election reduced the legitimacy of the democratic system, with even supporters of Parker I expressing approval for a dictatorship. Despite initially pledging to step down after a 5 month term, Parker remained in office and Secundomia slowly transitioned away from an electoral democracy. This was the final election in the Republic's history as Parker became more of an autocratic leader alongside Secundomia's decline into internal inactivity.
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