Year 230 Election Coming Up!

(Year 229) Another post on my 5 years elections, because the Year 230 event is coming up in less than a sim year. And because my election routine was adjusted quite a bit, this round will be very interesting! With the "new" kingdom there is also the Constitution which includes the The People Chamber. So the elections have a much broader goal: Filling those 21 seats at The People Chamber including President and Vice President, finding 8 regional councils, finding Hood Contacts, and finally - deciding which party will set the dominating Plan in what district (=world). Because of The People Chamber representing the entire Mazaloom kingdom, I also need to know a little about the kingdom's additional 7 regions. This far I focused mostly on region 12.

The five People Chamber department Leaders as elected Year 225:
Laurent Pepperstone (seated, LEFT party, Tredony) President and leader Law & Justice dept.,
Rob Wilder (standing left, RIGHT party, San Myshuno) Vice President and leader Trades & Taxes dept.,
Anaya Jang (LEFT, San Myshuno) leader Culture & Entertainment dept.,
Fanny Silverbone (LEFT, Brindleton Bay) leader Health & Welfare dept.,
Rebekah Starks (MIDDLE party, Newcrest) leader Science & Education dept. 

I still mainly play Region 12, but Region 1 (Windenburg) and Region 2 (Rossi, incl. Britechester, Henford-on-Bagley and Hollow) naturally get some attention, too. Region 3 (Tredony) includes Tartosa, which I yet don't have, but many planned families already get some focus and both the Royal family and the current President hail from Region 3. For the remaining regions (4, 6, 7, 8) I know their dukedoms and a few politicians. They won't be played in detail, but they might show up at The People Chamber or on the political and noble scene in general.

So, this upcoming election is the first time that I will run through all the political events taking place over the year leading up to the big day - Election Day.

Nomination Day
One year before the election, 1st day of Spring, is Nomination Day. This is deadline for anyone to sign up with one of the political parties for the election. This is when each political party needs to send in a list of all their candidates running for Hood Contact. They can only have 1 candidate per hood, and there is a limit of maximum 21 candidates total. Candidates can not members of The Royal Chamber nor The High Court. They can not be elders on Nomination Day, but turning elderly shortly after is fine.

Any party must provide minimum 1 candidate from each of the 8 regions. The more candidates the bigger chance for winning many Hood Contacts. The number of Hood Contacts won will give the number of seats at The People Chamber. If a hood has no political Hood Contact candidates at all, a Hood Contact functions will be handled by the regional Council. The party with most chamber seats gets the President, while the runner up gets the Vice President. If there is no clear win, number of won Hood Contacts will decide, and if that won't help, there will be no change from the previous period. Traditionally RIGHT and LEFT alternated on having the President, while MIDDLE has been too small to get the needed seats. All former Presidents are featured in the Mazaloom History Book.

Nomination Day is also deadline for each political party to adjust and provide their Political Plan, which must be approved by The People Chamber. Each hood has 3 running N.A.P.s, based on the ECO Lifestyle N.A.P.s and each party supports 5 or 6 of those N.A.P.s. The party having most active N.A.P.s in a district, will in addition get the district's Dominating Plan. If you vote on say a N.A.P. provided by the RIGHT party, you also vote for the RIGHT party's Political Plan, each N.A.P. comes with 2 taxes and 2 tax reliefs, in addition to the party's general plan which contains an additional set of taxes/relieves getting valid only if the party wins the President. I'll post more along the way to the Year 230 election.

The set-up of this all will form the party's actual politics that will make districts feel a bit diverse depending on your household, but not limited to locals molding clay, starting fights etc. The additions are mostly economical: More expensive owning a swimming pool if you reside a district run by the MIDDLE party, then by the RIGHT party. Some districts rewards families with children (tax relief), and so on. The differences are not that big, but might still make a difference and add a local touch.

Each party send their Political Plan to The People Chamber for approval, and the plans will (perhaps after some fine tuning) go public on 1st day of Fall.

1st Day of Fall
On this day each party will make public their approved Political Plan, as well as their approved list of Hood Contact candidates. Now the rooting campaigns can start!

Last week of Fall
The N.A.P. election takes place within end of Fall, normally during the last weekend. Each hood removes their oldest N.A.P. (it has been active for 15 years total) and one new N.A.P. gets added. The effect of the N.A.P. election might also change what party gets the district's Political Plan.

If RIGHT wins the Dominating Plan, then all Hood Contact candidates from RIGHT party will normally get some extra votes on Election Day. However, the candidates were decided before anyone knew the winning Plan, so there is also a chance RIGHT won the Plan in a district where they have few Hood Contact candidates. It's good strategy to provide Hood Contact candidates in districts where the party has a better chance to win the Political Plan.

Election Day
On 1st day of Spring, 1 year after Nomination Day, the big election finally takes place. This is actually the first day of a new 5 years cycle, and the result affects the number of seats that each party gets at The People Chamber.

The votes are based on skills, careers, previous political experience, UNI degree and with a bonus if your district has your party's Dominating Plan. Then the number of seats at The People Chamber is calculated. The current number of Hood Contacts within the kingdom, means that 3 Hood Contacts won will give 1 seat. Decimals might decide the final 1-2 seats.

Finally, the parties will rank their candidates list according to their number of seats and which Hoods they won, and also with geographical reference (based on regional population, won't change much for each election). At this time the regional councils were set, and the ranked list for The People Chamber will often include mostly Councilors, but also Hood Contacts who did not make it for the Council can have a Chamber seat. Because of San Myshuno's large population Region 12 has more seats in The People Chamber than their 5 Councilors, and besides - even if you get elected as a Councilor, you can choose to decline a seat in the Chamber.

The President (assisted by Vice-President from the runner up party) will combine the lists in order to fill all 21 seats (which includes 2 seats reserved Church of Similius), and afterwards the seats will be grouped to form the 5 departments, each with 1 leader. Each department has 4 seats, only Laws & Justice has 5.

Well, it's currently just late Spring of Year 229, meaning the candidates lists have been provided, and the Plans are currently being looked into by The People Chamber. For Region 12 where there are 20 hoods, RIGHT party has confirmed that they have 13 Hood Contact candidates. LEFT party has 12 candidates, and MIDDLE party 5.

Over Summer we will get to know who those candidates are!