March 2022 Evergreen general election
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
General elections were held on 27 and 28 February 2022 in the Evergreen Republic to elect the President for a two-month term and Assembly of the Republic for a one-month term. Elections for the provincial governments in Cascadia and British Columbia were also scheduled to occur on this date. These elections were the first elections held in the unified nation and under the Valentines Day Constitution.
xBest_Name_Everx was elected President of the Republic in a landslide election for a two-month term on the First Round of voting, winning 62.2% of all first round votes on 27 February 2022. The Assembly election returned 33 members. After the results of the Legislative Election in, President xBest nominated SayerQT to form a cabinet as Chancellor. SayerQT was later appointed Chancellor by the Assembly on 2 March 2022, overseeing a landslide majority government, with 26/31 seats.
Background
In late January 2022, the governments of the Salish Confederation and Republic of Cascadia entered negotiations to potentially reunify in an equal merger between the two sovereign states after two years of being separated. These talks ended up being successful, and a Constitution was drafted, written by SayerQT (primary author), Vorobyevite, Bermana, and with input from many others. The nation was named the Evergreen Republic by consensus among the delegations from the government, which quickly grew into a de facto constituent assembly. The Constitution was promulgated by the Salish Parliament on 10 February and Senate of Cascadia on 14 February, in which the Evergreen Republic was formally established on 14 February 2022 and the Republic of Cascadia and Salish Confederation formally dissolved.
Xyyz0, incumbent President of Cascadia was chosen as the interim President of the Republic and FroyourFilms, incumbent Chancellor of Salish was chosen as chancellor to lead the interim cabinet before scheduled elections for President were to be held alongside elections for the Assembly of the Republic on 27 and 28 February 2022. In addition, the 1st Assembly of the Republic consisted of all incumbent Salish MPs and Cascadian Senators. The Constitution provided for a semi-presidential system of a government, as contrasted to the presidential system used in Cascadia and the parliamentary system used in the Salish Confederation, in which the President was to be the head of state, while the Chancellor (nominated by the President and appointed by the Assembly) was to be the head of government.
Electoral System
Voting in the Evergreen Republic is conducted via universal suffrage, and is allowed for all citizens over who became citizens prior to the election.
President
The President of the Republic is elected using the two-round system. Citizens may field their candidacies for the presidency, and participate in the general elections, which are held on the next to last day in the month (in this instance, 27 February 2022). If the most-voted candidate takes more than 50% of the overall vote, they are declared elected. If the 50% threshold is not met by any candidate, a second round of voting is held on the day immediately following (in this instance, 28 February 2022). In the second round, only the two most-voted candidates from the first round may participate. The candidate with the most votes the the second round is then duly elected President of the Evergreen Republic, and sworn in at the start of the new month.
Assembly
The Assembly of the Republic is elected using a system designed by constitution co-author SayerQT specifically for these elections (called Quotient Voting), and was modeled off of the form of approval voting formed by LawOfRence for elections for a small amount of supplementary elected seats in the Cascadian Senate. The entirety of the Assembly is elected, however there is no set number of seats. The Delegates of the Assembly are elected by the entire electorate. Each candidate to be elected as a Delegate of the Assembly (DA) must receive a quota of votes equal to or greater than 4% of the total population of all citizens of the Republic’s discord; however, the minimum number of votes that the election quota may be is three. Each voter may vote for as many candidates as one so pleases. The number of votes required for election in this instance is three.
Presidential candidates
Candidates on ballot
- Xyyz0, President of the Republic (14 February 2022 - present), final President of Cascadia (1 February - 14 February 2022)
- xBest_Name_Everx, Supreme Justice (15 February 2022 - present), 3x Former President of Cascadia and former Vice President of Cascadia
- xX_cMac_Xx, Delegate of the Assembly from Wyoming (14 February 2022 - present), former Senator of Cascadia, 2nd President of Cascadia (1 March - 31 April 2019)
- SulgoDar, Minister for Financial Affairs (14 February 2022 - present), Vice Chancellor of the Salish Confederation (1 February - 14 February 2022), Entrepreneur
Withdrawn candidates
- jtooch13 (xK1_), Minister for Foreign Affairs (14 February 2022 - present), 3x former Chancellor of the Salish Confederation.
Withdrew 26 February 2022, Endorsed xX_cMac_Xx
Campaign
The campaign for President was fueled by the issues on how the Presidency would be shaped by whichever candidate won the race, and their plans for overseeing a growing community and republic. What was initially expected to be bitterly fought between former Salish candidates and former Cascadian candidates ended up being a pretty bipartisan campaign in that regard.
xX_cMac_Xx, perennial candidate for the Presidency of Cascadia and 2nd President of Cascadia was the first candidate to declare their candidacy on 18 February 2022. This was later followed by incumbent interim president Xyyz0, who wished to continue his presidency for another two months. Xyyz's campaign focused on prioritizing the community over politics, and increasing the activity and fun activities to increase the fun within the community as a whole. He endorsed FroyourFilms, the salish incumbent interim Chancellor, for the Chancellery.
The same day, jtooch13, Foreign Affairs Minister and multiple-time chancellor of the Salish Confederation declared his candidacy, in support of BigBroPro0425 for the Chancellery. His campaign was focused on recruitment and increasing the diplomatic prowess of the Evergreen Republic, especially related to other north american powers. Due to him being banned from EarthMC, he asked the Supreme Court on whether the Constitution allowed him to run, in which the Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous 2-0 (1 abstention) decision that he was eligible for candidacy.
SulgoDar later entered the race for President on 19 February. The campaign was largely quiet, and it seemed as if jtooch13 was the frontrunner. However, many concerns regarding jtooch13 being banned from EarthMC soon arose, and in addition to Supreme Justice xBest_Name_Everx entering the race on 25 February as seemingly a compromise candidate between jtooch and Xyyz0, jtooch13 withdrew from the race for President on 26 February 2022, very soon before the voting on the first round started.
The late campaign primarily additionally focused on the activity of the candidates.
During the voting of the First Round, incumbent President Xyyz0 dropped out of the race and endorsed xBest_Name_Everx.
Results
President
xBest_Name_Everx won the Presidential Election on the First Round of Voting without the need for a second round in a landslide victory. The voter turnout was 62.71% all eligible voters. No votes were cast from the provinces of Sahtu, Slave Lake, and Nez Pérce.
Full summary: Results of the March 2022 Evergreen Presidential Election
| Candidate | Votes | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| xBest_Name_Everx | 23 | 62.16% |
| Xyyz0 | 5 | 13.51% |
| xX_cMac_Xx | 5 | 13.51% |
| SulgoDar | 4 | 10.81% |
| Total | 37 | 100% |
Assembly
31 delegates were returned from 14 constituencies, with xBest additionally being elected as a delegate initially being elected but resigning upon being elected to the Presidency.
Full summary: Results of the March 2022 Evergreen Legislative Election
File:2nd Evergreen Assembly (Opening).svg
.svg){kind=link}
Seats by affiliation. Blue refers to delegates in support of the government. Green refers to delegates in opposition of the government. Yellow refers to cross-benchers who are neither in support or opposed.
Popular vote and seat results by constituency. Blue refers to delegates in support of the government. Green refers to delegates in opposition of the government. Yellow refers to cross-benchers who are neither in support or opposed.