Secundomian presidential election, December 2009
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The first Secundomian elections were held in late December 2009. This election was for presidency in the Republic of Secundomia. It pitted the founding consuls (Parker I of Secundomia,Spencer I of Secundomia) vs the challenger (Luke). After a campaign which resulted in fragmentation and fighting amongst citizens, members of all campaigns decided that it would ease conflict and improve the status of the republic if a co-presidency system was established which allowed the top two candidates to assume presidency together. Parker I and Luke won co-presidency.
Pre-Election
Election rules were sent out to the public on December 19th by Consul Parker I. Nominations were opened, and each citizen was allowed to nominate one candidate which was not themselves. Each candidate who sustained at least one nomination was moved forward to the Secondary elections, then the top two from the secondary elections were moved to the final election. This format was not ultimately used after controversy resulting in the campaign stage of the election. Initially the votes were to be declared publicly, however after dispute from Luke, the votes were sent into the consuls but disclosed after the election to prevent fraud.
Nominations and Primaries
Luke, Parker, and Spencer were nominated. Luke did not know that he was nominated until after the secondary elections, but subsequentely embraced the campaign. The Secondary stage of the election resulted in Parker I and Luke moving on to the "Final" stage.
Candidates
| Parker I | Spencer I | Luke of Secundomia |
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| Co-Consul and Co-Founder of Secundomia from Secundomia (Middle) | Co-Consul and Co-Founder of Secundomia from Former Skillz | Politician from Western Secundomian Territories (Unincorporated, formerly Halstopia) |
| Republic of Secundomia |
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December 2009 |
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Elections
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Campaign
Parker I launched his official campaign on December 22, 2009. He sent the following message out to the Secundomian people:
Secundomia has come very far for being formed 6 days ago. Under who has that progress come? Your consuls, Parker I and Spencer I. Sadly, only one of these consuls is up for voting. Parker I. If we have come this far in 6 days, imagine how far we could come in another month! Under your trusted leader, you could help make that change. We trust you will make the right decision.
— Parker I For President
This initial message was rather innocuous, however, the follow up message was strongly negative, accusing Luke of advocating for "offensive" language and "hurtful" discussions in Secundomia. This provoked a reaction from the Luke campaign. Luke claimed that Parker would foreclose on freedom of speech within the nation, and undermined the claim that Secundomia had improved significantly over the tenure of the Consuls. He advocated for increasing citizenship, and accused the leadership of mistakes:
First, there are only six citizens of our nation. If I was to be elected, I would work hard to find more citizens to join Secundomia. Also, I have already pointed out multiple mistakes in the Constitution, one of which is that the Constitution permitted non-citizens to vote and run for president. Should someone that overlooks obvious things like this (in their own work, no less) be elected the leader of us all? In conclusion to this observation, I would also like to point out that Parker asks you to imagine: "If we have come this far in six days, imagine how far we could come in another month!" I would like you to imagine this: "If my opponent has made this many mistakes in six days, imagine how many he could make in a month!" Vote for Luke, and vote for freedom!
— Luke of Secundomia
Freedom of speech was a pivotal issue during the campaign, as Parker claimed allowing offensive langauge would create emigration and destroy the young nation. Luke argued that he did not advocate for violent rhetoric, but instead for a less strong policy on regulation of discussion.Constitutional reform was also important, as Luke argued due to a constitutional provision preventing any bill from passing without the support of over two-thirds of the populace allowed the consuls to prevent any law from passing even after the election. Eventually the central issues of the election overwhelmed the electorate and resulted in emigration from the country, as the Empress of Atlan withdrew her citizenship. Campaigns were immediately suspended on December 23rd, 2009 after a proposal from Co-Consul Spencer I.
Two-President Compromise/Results
On December 24th, Luke propsed an amendment to the constitution to impose a two-presidential system under which both Parker and Luke would become president. Spencer I voiced opposition and prevented the amendment from passing consideration by the Consuls, advocating instead that it be subject to public vote. After a vote went to the citizens, the dual-presidential system was reteroactively approved by Spencer I, and was made into law late on December 24th. By default, as the top two vote getters, Parker I and Luke were elected.
