INIMICUS VOTES: Imperial Council By-Elections 2020

Inimicus · 13 Aug 2020, 12:50

The Nuntius Inimici Election Intro plays. The shot pans around the election studio to end up showing the famous Colin Husky, longtime presenter of NI Election programming.

9PM

CH: “Hello and welcome to the first Nuntius Inimici election broadcast in over three years. My name is Colin Husky, and tonight we will be showing you who will represent the people of the new Terra Duitius, Terra Dominus, Terra Centurio, and Terra Quaestoris, on the National Imperial Council.”

“Just to remind you of the immense importance of this election, we go live to the Imperial Palace, where our correspondent Hetty Tilki, an expert in Imperial politics, will be based tonight.”

The shot cuts to the Imperial Palace feed

HT: “That’s right, Colin, the importance of the National Imperial Council has become really quite clear to all of us in recent years, ever since the Council was instituted by the Emperor in 2015. Behind the doors just down this hall, some of the most powerful figures in the country gather day after day. The Constitution sees the NIC as a type of controller of the Emperor’s powers - and let’s not forget that it is the NIC that executes the daily government of the country on a national level. The NIC declares wars, makes alliances, conducts diplomacy, divides funds. In short, anyone elected or appointed to the NIC holds immense power - and therefore, immense responsibility.”

CH: “Thank you, Hetty. To give you an overview of what you can expect from us tonight: in about an hour from now, polls close and we can reveal our exit polls for all constituencies up for grabs tonight. We will constantly host guests from across the political spectrum in our studio and will be in regular contact with our correspondents and reporters in polling stations, the Imperial Palace, and other key locations for this really rather special election. Before we begin in earnest, however, we shall, as is customary, play our dedication for tonight.”

Artabanos montage plays

CHL: “Yeah, let us not forget why we’re holding this election in the first place. The thoughts of the entire Nuntius Inimici election team are with the Emperor as He recovers from His ordeal.”

9:17PM

CH: “Now, let’s remind ourselves about what the NIC currently looks like. I’ve been told that if I press a button on this fancy device I was given, the current NIC composition should flash up. Ahh, here we go!”

“Now, let’s see what parties these delegates belong to… and, of course, several seats were left vacant after recent events, so let’s scrap those, and include the new seats added by the incorporation of Terra Diutius”

“The Inimician Liberal Appeal’s blue currently colours most of the party-affiliated seats, although the liberals are followed closely by the Centre-Conservative Union in purple. Both the Central Progressive Party, in yellow, People’s Movement, in red, and the United Green Front, obviously in green, also have one representative. The nonpartisan members are, as usual, coloured grey. As you can see, Terra Diutius is also worth two NIC seats, and we don’t have any kind of comparison to make with previous elections since, well, there weren’t any. Not so with Centurio, Dominus, and Quaestoris, however. Hermann de Schermann, could you explain what happened in these Terras last time they were up for grabs?”

HS: “Absolutely, Colin, you may remember, we were both in this studio all those years ago when these NIC seats were first elected. Let’s have a look at the votes last time around.
First of all, in Terra Dominus, a traditionally very liberal Terra, the Inimician Liberal Appeal (ILA) are defending their strong majority at the last election in the context for Joan Saunders’s former seat. The other Dominus representative, of course, is Commons Deputy Speaker Matthew Birch, still a hugely popular figure in Inimician politics, if only for his constant reluctant acceptance of the Deputy Speakership.

The late Joan Saunders

“Turning to Terra Centurio, the ILA are defending another seat here, the unfortunate demise of Victor Doubleday leaving another liberal bulwark under heavy siege from the other parties. The other Centurio seat is currently held by former Defence Minister and leader of the Centre-Conservative Union (CCU) Basil Lawson, who has been spotted on the campaign trail despite promises he would honour the four-week mourning period.

The late Victor Doubleday

And finally, the late Dianne Stax from Terra Quaestoris was the only People’s Movement Councillor, Colin. She won her seat in a very narrow vote with a majority of only 500. Of course, Terra Quaestoris is the only Terra having elections tonight which divides into two constituencies for NIC elections. The other Terras use different voting systems. Quaestoris is further represented by the ILA’s Edmund Everet, who will surely be hoping for a counterpart from a group he agrees with somewhat more.”

The late Dianne Stax

Inimicus · 14 Aug 2020, 17:27

9.38PM

CH: “Thank you, Hermann, and an interesting point you raise about party alignment. Could you give us an overview of the main contenders for the seats up for grabs?”

HS: “Absolutely. I’ll start by giving you an overview of the main parties in Inimicus and the individual Terras in the spotlight tonight. The Inimician Liberal Appeal is currently the largest party, as said before – their centrist positions appeal to many voters and they continue to garner a lot of support in Provincial and national votes. One of their main opponents is the Centre-Conservative Union, formerly, of course, led by Wilfed Cocx, now by Basil Lawson: this party advances fiscally conservative yet socially progressive values. They find themselves on the side of the political spectrum opposite to that of the Central Progressive Party, a generally left-wing, highly progressive force. One of the CPP’s main allies is the United Green Front, whose specific focus is environmentalism and green politics.”

“The People’s Movement is Inimicus’s main right-wing force, once led by Adolf Danube and constantly in opposition to the Emperor’s rule. The Movement finds a Quaestorian ally in the National Socialist Party of Quaestoris, whose basis in the Terra is fairly strong. Other local parties include Centurio Local, a centrist agrarian force, and Quaestoris For All, a regional socialist party with communist links. Finally, a new force seems to have entered Inimician politics, with the Emperor’s Finest polling well in many local areas. The Finest have no set manifesto and do not describe themselves as right-wing or left-wing, progressive or conservative. They simply have one goal: to support Emperor Artabanos. It will be highly interesting to see how they perform tonight.

Right, over to the contests in individual Terras then. Let’s start with the empty Terra Centurio seat, which polling suggests should be a close-run race between the ILA and CCU, as it was last time around. The CCU candidate in Centurio is Magnus Hern, a long-time Provincial Assembly member and a very popular figure in the Terra. He challenges the ILA’s choice for Centurio, Estella Huygens, on the right here on-screen.”

“As for Terra Dominus, the Liberals are again on the defence here, fielding an incredibly experienced and popular candidate, Alaina Kaach, on the left here. Kaach is challenged by main contenders John Creeks from the CCU (middle) and, interestingly, Peter Banks from the newly-formed movement the Emperor’s Finest. More on them in just a minute.

“In Quaestoris, the People’s Movement are, if we believe the polls, really going to be struggling to maintain their seat. The Emperor’s Finest are showing extremely strong polling results and their candidate Simge Galanth is proving highly popular with the electorate. Galanth, of course, is the current Duchess of Terra Quaestoris and a staunch Artabanos supporter. It is also expected that one of two local Quaestoris parties, QuaeForAll, will perform well tonight. The other Quaestoris-only party, the infamous National Socialists, has been criticised by People’s Movement spokespeople for potentially splitting the right-wing vote, and we do not expect NSPQ to attain large percentages of votes here tonight.

“Now, of course, in Terra Diutius the picture is slightly less clear as we do not have prior results to go off. However, similarly to the situation in Quaestoris, the Emperor’s Finest are likely to win one of two seats up for grabs. Particularly Dilkes Ayla, pictured here, is expected to win over the hearts of many Duitians. Interestingly, Terra Diutius is the only Terra using a preferential voting system tonight, and it will therefore be slightly more complex for us to show you the full results from this territory.

9.59PM

CH:: “It’s now one minute to ten in the Telum studio, and in just a few moments’ time, polls across four Inimician Terras will close, and counting will begin to discover who, out of all the candidates Hermann covered for us just now, will represent the Inimician people on the National Imperial Council. Hermann, I believe you will have the exit poll ready for us on-screen, is that right?”

The clock strikes 10 PM and the shot switches to Hermann de Schermann’s screen.

HS: “All right, Colin, let’s have a look who we predict will be the new NIC representatives for the important Terras of the evening, starting with Terra Centurio.

“Oh, well, this is highly close here, Colin - indeed, too close for our exit poll to call. The CCU’s Magnus Hern is currently trailing the ILA’s Estella Huygens by just tenths of a percentage, truly an exciting contest going on here in Centurio tonight. The other parties, then, far behind compared to the two main contenders - although look at the performance of the Emperor’s Finest in this Terra, on 16.5%, as our exit poll predicts. Perhaps this is a taste of what is to come for the remainder of the evening? Let’s swiftly move on to Terra Dominus.”

“Well, some slightly less surprising results here, as the ILA with their candidate Alaina Kaach are in the lead by a large margin - perhaps the most exciting trend this poll shows is, again, the good performance of the the Emperor’s Finest candidate, Peter Banks, here, we’re even predicting they’might defeat the CCU’s John Creeks in terms of vote share. Truly a fantastic performance by them, but we can quite confidently say the ILA have successfully defended their Dominus seat, as expected. On to Terra Quaestoris then.”

“So, Quaestoris, we -- oh! An unprecedented exit poll here, as the Emperor’s Finest are contending with QuaeForAll, leaving all national parties for dust! The Finest are currently leading by just over two percentage points, but well within the error margin for these polls. Duchess Simge Galanth’s popularity and recent media appearances have no doubt helped her achieve this success, and what an achievement it would be if she were to win this seat.”

“So, let’s look at the poll for Terra Diutius, which is a highly unpredictable contest, we’re not entirely sure what to expect here, but it seems… goodness me, another strong performance by the Emperor’s Finest here, possibly - if not probably - grabbing at least one of the Diutius seats here, possibly even both, with this kind of vote share. Of course, Diutius’s voting system is fairly complex and relies on preference voting, so we can’t quite tell yet what the exact result will be. Also a good performance by the CCU here, and it is they who are the other main contenders for that all-important second seat.”

CH: “Well, Hermann, could we say these are staggering potential results, then?”
HS: “Yes and no, I’d say - the polls from Centurio and Dominus were as expected, however the extremely strong performance of the Emperor’s Finest in the southern Terras, Quaestoris and Diutius, should be a wake-up call to the traditional national parties. They’ll be quaking in their boots tonight.”

CH: “I’m sure they will be. Er, right. Reacting to these exit polls, we have Simge Galanth, who is predicted to possibly win a seat on the NIC tonight. Ms Galanth, what do you think is driving the success of the Emperor’s Finest tonight?”

SG: “Love, Colin. Love and appreciation for the Emperor’s work, and sincere sympathy for the situation He finds Himself in. The Emperor was shot out of the sky, I think that’s most clear, and the Finest will support him every step of the way on the road towards finding the culprit.”

CH: “Er, yes. Do you think the establishment of Terra Diutius would have anything to do with your party’s strong performance there?”

SG: “Absolutely. The Emperor was generous enough to grant the people of Diutius representation on the NIC, and they seem to have replied in kind. The step to incorporate Terra Diutius was long overdue and the Emperor made the right decision to propose amending the constitution.”

CH: “But surely, Duchess, the Emperor dissolved the Terra that Diutius is now a part of in the first place?”

SG: “You’re breaking up there, Colin, I didn’t quite catch that.”

CH: “Uh, I -- Nevermind, it.. err… it appears we’re now moving on. Thanks for your time, Simge Galanth, Duchess of Terra Praestoris.”

Inimicus · 17 Aug 2020, 10:44

11:33PM

CH: “Well with me in the studio now, three distinguished guests; first of all, Professor Adam Akveld, Fellow of the Imperial College for Political Science; Wilfred Cocx, current Vicarius for Emperor Artabanos; and Adolf Danube, former People’s Movement leader. We’ll start with you, Mr Danube: the Movement’s vote share in the Terras voting today does not appear to be exceeding 10%, what do you make of this?”

AD: “Er, well, the Inimician People have been misled, Colin. Misled by their own Emperor, His Vicarius, and a large proportion of the current NIC. We at the Movement are proud that 10% of Inimicians see through the lies of the Emperor and his Terra Praestoris clique - it offers hope for the future. Our time will come, trust me. The next Parliament is only 11 months away, and we will be putting our sights squarely on the campaign for the House of Commons. The Movement will get there.”

CH: “The Movement will get there - Professor Akveld, do you think they will?”

AA: “They could, Colin - the problem the Movement faces is that their support is, apart from in Terra Quaestoris, spread out across the country roughly equally: both the NIC and the House of Commons aren’t proportional bodies, but rely on constituency voting, which makes it hard for a party like the People’s Movement to attain real success in either legislature.”

CH: “If Movement support is concentrated in Quaestoris, why did they not perform well in that Terra tonight?”

AA: “W---”

Wilfred Cocx: “Because love for the Emperor trumps hypernationalist sentiment, Colin.”

CH: “It wasn’t quite your turn to speak, Mr Cocx, but do please explain yourself.”

WC: “No real further explanation is necessary here, I feel. The Movement are a band of ultranationalist, antisemitic, racist, xenophobic white men with no love for the people of this country or, indeed, for the one man the Inimician People have put their trust in over the last six years.”

AD: “I mean, this is the type of deceitful rubbish we’ve become used to over time, Colin. Yes, the Movement is nationalist. Yes, we put the people of this country over guests who come here. No, we do not support the Emperor and his power-grabbing backroom politics, his snide --”

Danube’s sound suddenly cuts out.

CH: “Oh, uhm, we seem to be facing a technical problem here, Mr Danube. We uh, we do apologise. Let’s… er… let’s move on to something else while we get you sorted.”

Professor Adam Akveld

Wilfred Cocx, Vicarius

Adolf Danube, People’s Movement

1:47AM

CH: “Thank you for staying with us so far, viewers, you’re watching Nuntius Inimici live, from our election studio in Telum, awaiting the results of the National Imperial Council by-election held yesterday. We – oh, I think, I think we’ll go live to Dominus, where the Terra Dominus result is currently being published.”

The screen switches to Dominus City Hall, where the returning officer is about to announce the election result

RO: “Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. As Returning Officer for the Imperial Dominion of Terra Dominus, I have been tasked by His Grace Duchess Judy Speller and the Emperor’s Commissioner, Hans Schoyltes, to report on the election of an Imperial Councillor for this Terra. The total number of votes cast was 4,093,707, a turnout of 73%. The number of votes cast for each candidate was as follows:

Alaina Kaach, Inimician Liberal Appeal, 1,793,044;
John Creeks, Centre-Conservative Union, 1,002,958;
Judie Esch, Emperor’s Finest, 749,148;
Rex Haldering, United Green Front, 257,904;
Alexia Smith, Central Progressive Party, 113,605;
Joseph Gopping, 94,155;

“Alaina Kaach is therefore duly elected to serve on the National Imperial Council for Terra Dominus.”

The screen cuts back to the studio

CH: “Well, there we have it. As expected, a clear win for the ILA’s Alaina Kaach, John Creeks from the CCU coming in a distant second there. Hermann, a visualisation?”

HS: “That’s right, Colin, the first of many results published today, and the ILA are off to a good start, although they’re having to hand a small number of votes to other parties tonight, just over 2%. Noteworthy is the Emperor’s Finest’s performance tonight, up from nothing to 18.3%. Dominus was expected to be the Terra where they would perform worst, Colin, so if this is bad for them, we should wonder what a good result by their standards is. The Green vote has interestingly collapsed, which should worry the current Duchess of Dominus, Judy Speller, a very prolific Green. The other parties not showing huge changes either here, Colin. An expected ILA win, but some very interesting patterns underneath.”

CH: “Indeed, well, we have a live video link with Alaina Kaach, the winner of the Dominus contest. Ms Kaach, congratulations on your victory – what was the secret behind your success?”

SK: “There was no secret, Colin, but thank you for the good wishes. The people of Dominus have once again put their trust in the Inimician Liberals, and in me, for which we are, of course, extremely grateful. The Dominian people know we at the ILA put their best interests first on the NIC, and they have once again put their faith in us. I would also like to congratulate the other winners of this vote, in particular Judie Esch from the Emperor’s Finest and John Creeks from the CCU, both of whom saw their vote share increase tonight.”

CH: “Does the surprising performance of the Emperor’s Finest surprise or worry you? Does the ILA have something to fear in other Terras?”

SK: “I don’t think so, Colin. Our electorate is really quite different from that of the Finest, and you saw in the result tonight that their votes are mainly drawn from parties who have put Imperial Support first in the past, such as the UGF and CPP. We aren’t a single-issue party, we have well-reasoned, evidence-based policy proposals for all the big questions that face our country at the moment, not just the Imperial system, and I think voters in Dominus appreciated that tonight.”

CH: “Thank you, Ms Kaach, we look forward to hearing from you on Palace Live in the future.”

SK: “Thank you for having me.”

Inimicus · 17 Aug 2020, 10:44

2:22AM

CH: “Well, we summoned him again: Professor Adam Akveld, our resident polling expert, to discuss the impact of the Dominus result on the national picture.”

AA: “Yes, Colin, this result represents a massive swing away from the Greens and the Central Progressives, who as we know, performed relatively poorly in last week’s TV debate, to the Emperor’s Finest, and to a lesser degree, to the CCU. The ILA has managed to remain relatively stable, which is an achievement in and of itself, and there are some other relatively minor changes to the other parties’ shares of the vote.”

CH: “Could we have expected the People’s Movement to do better in Dominus?”

AA: “Well, the Movement has never been strong in the northeast. Yes, their leader and Quaestoris candidate Adolf Danube performed well in the televised national debate, and was the talk of social media for several hours afterwards, but In Dominus? Not so much. It’s not surprising the Movement didn’t do well there – their performance in Quaestoris and, potentially, Diutius, will be much more indicative of Danube’s performance, even though—-”

CH: “Sorry, Adam, I’m going to have to interrupt you there, as Terra Centurio is about to declare – let’s see who won the huge ILA-CCU standoff in that province.

The feed cuts to Aeneas town hall, where the returning officer is about to announce the Centurian result

“As Returning Officer for the Imperial Dominion of Terra Centurio, I have been tasked by His Grace Duchess Anne Colbourn and the Emperor’s Commissioner, Gerardus Clement, to report on the election of an Imperial Councillor for this Terra. The total number of votes cast was 6,280,757, a turnout of 84%. The number of votes cast for each candidate was as follows:

Magnus Hern, Centre-Conservative Union, 1,394,328
Estella Huygens, Inimician Liberal Appeal, 1,369,205
Nicholas Benfield, Emperor’s Finest, 1,350,363
William Speller, United Green Front, 778,814
Frederik Goethe, People’s Movement, 734,848
Zuszak Leven, Central Progressive Party, 420,811
Karen Singh, CenturioLocal, 232,388

“Magnus Hern is therefore duly elected to serve on the National Imperial Council for Terra Centurio.”

Screen cuts back to the Nuntius Inimici studio

CH: “Well there we have it, a smashing victory of the CCU over the ILA here, taking the seat out of the Liberals’ hands – and look at that gain by the Emperor’s Finest, turning the contest into a three-way race. Hermann, your thoughts?”

HS: “Truly a remarkable result, Colin, as the conservatives take Centurio for themselves, snatching the province from the hands of the ILA, what a disappointment this result will be for them! I should probably also apologise for some inaccuracies in the exit poll, we predicted well over 13% for the CenturioLocal movement here, but in the end they only attained 3.7% – given their ideology, I would hazard a guess that their voters possibly grativated to the CCU at the last minute. A relatively strong performance by the UGF and the Movement here, retaining much of their voter base, and what a spectacular result for the Emperor’s Finest here. Given that we’ve predicted even stronger gains for them in the two southern provinces, they will be dealt a really bad hand if they don’t gain at least one or two seats tonight.”

3.13AM

CH: “We have rumours that the count in Terra Quaestoris is almost complete and the returning officer is meeting with other electoral officials in the capital, Lacerta, at this very moment. We go live to your Quaestoris correspondent, Janet Harrar, who is in Lacerta City Hall tonight. Janet, what’s at stake here?”

JH: “The stakes are high, Colin. Quaestoris was the only constituency returning a representative from the People’s Movement last election, and the anti-Imperialists are desperate to cling onto the seat. Their candidate is a nationally-recognised figure, party leader Adolf Danube, but also a controversial figure: it was Danube who supposedly orchestrated a physical demonstration inside the House of Commons before its reform into a non-permanent body, using smoke grenades and fireworks while the Emperor Himself was in the Chamber. This made him incredibly popular among those Inimicians opposed to the current imperial system of government, but naturally made him the single most prominent arch-enemy of Imperial Support parties.”

CH: “Does polling suggest the Movement will hang on to the seat?”

JH: “I think they’ll have their work cut out for them, Colin. The exit poll suggests a very strong performance by the Emperor’s Finest and the local party Quaestoris For All, and the other parties are currently lagging behind. Part of the reason for this is that another local party, the National Socialist Party of Quaestoris, has been splitting the right-wing vote that is especially strong in the south of the Terra. Combined, the NSPQ and the Movement would quite definitely be a strong contender for this seat, but like this, they are excluding each other from winning. Oh, the returning officer is entering the room now, Colin, let’s see what the result is.”

“As Returning Officer for the Imperial Dominion of Terra Quaestoris, I have been tasked by His Grace Duchess Simge Galanth and the Emperor’s Commissioner to report on the election of an Imperial Councillor for this Terra. The total number of votes cast was 3,341,325 a turnout of 65%. The number of votes cast for each candidate was as follows:

Duchess Simge Galanth, Emperor’s Finest, 1,025,787
Jonathan Nino, Quaestoris For All, 718,385
Akyol Sharth, Inimician Liberal Appeal, 417,666
Adolf Danube, People’s Movement, 394,276
Herman Stein, National Socialist Party of Quaestoris, 327,450
Isiah Mason, United Green Front, 180,432
Julie Cocx, Centre-Conservative Union, 163,725
Susan Dowry, Central Progressive Party, 113605

“Duchess Simge Galanth is therefore duly elected to serve on the National Imperial Council for Terra Quaestoris.”

The feed reverts to the Nuntius Inimici studio

CH: “And so Duchess Simge Galanth claims the Emperor’s Finest’s first victory of the evening, snatching victory over all other parties with a staggering 30% of the popular vote. A surprising performance from QuaeForAll, as well, who outclass all but the Finest tonight.”

HS: “Absolutely, Colin, the traditional parties performed extremely poor in this Terra, remarkable for its clear divisions: the extremely progressive city of Lacerta in the north often voting Liberal, Green, or Progressive, but the conservative south adhering to Movement and NSPQ values – apparently, Duchess Galanth crushed both ideologies, resulting in this notable outcome.”

Inimicus · 18 Aug 2020, 12:10

7:55AM

CH: “Well, the moment we’ve been waiting for all night is nearly upon us. Terra Diutius’s count has taken all night, as they have a preferential voting system that involves first and second preference votes. If a party gathers enough first preferences, but more second preferences than other parties, as well, they could potentially walk away with both NIC seats.”

HS: “That’s right, Colin, and for that reason I won’t be able to simply tell you what percentage of people voted for what party. The general percentage you’ll see consists of first-preference votes, but it’s important to remember the second and third-preference ballots are at play here, as well.”

CH: “Thank you, Hermann. And let’s not forget that Diutians also voted to constitute their Provincial Assembly, and voted for their Duke, as well. We will obviously show you these results, too. Let’s hear the returning officer.”

The improvised electoral hall in Militarae is shown with the returning officer ascending the steps to the central stage.

RO: “Thank you, everyone, for your efforts tonight and over the last few weeks to ensure that this newly-established Imperial Dominion successfully held the first democratic elections in its existence. We have several rounds of results to get through, so I hope you’ll bear with me.

As Returning Officer for the Imperial Dominion of Terra Diutius, I have been tasked by His Imperial Majesty Emperor Artabanos and the Emperor’s Commissioner to report on the election of an Imperial Councillor for this Terra. The total number of votes cast was 3,701,160, a turnout of 88%. The number of first-preference votes cast for each pair of candidates was as follows:

Dilkes Ayla and Nazil Schout, Emperor’s Finest, 1,632,211
Sir Tom Rogers and Count William Barrington, Centre-Conservative Union, 732,829
Eva Gorring and Joseph Bauer, People’s Movement, 470,047
Simon Brindley and Lewis Lane, Diutius First, 362,713
Jamie Doubleday and Dion Saunders, Inimician Liberal Appeal, 177,655
Eleanor White and Hetty Hoef, Central Progressive Party, 162,853
Hort Wierings and Roald Yahal, United Green Front, 162,851

“Dilkes Ayla is therefore duly elected to serve on the National Imperial Council for Terra Diutius. The number of second-preference votes cast for each pair of candidates was as follows:

Dilkes Ayla and Nazil Schout, Emperor’s Finest, 1,430,688
Sir Tom Rogers and Count William Barrington, Centre-Conservative Union, 644,321
Eva Gorring and Joseph Bauer, People’s Movement, 622,521
Simon Brindley and Lewis Lane, Diutius First, 211,610
Jamie Doubleday and Dion Saunders, Inimician Liberal Appeal, 199,201
Eleanor White and Hetty Hoef, Central Progressive Party, 187,682
Hort Wierings and Roald Yahal, United Green Front, 191,120

“Nazil Schout is therefore duly elected to serve on the National Imperial Council for Terra Diutius. Now, I suggest we take a short break before we move on to the provincial results. I certainly know I need a coffee.”

The studio is shown again.

CH: “The onslaught of the Emperor’s Finest has persisted in Terra Diutius, where they have conquered both seats with a large volume of first and second preference votes. Unbelievable. Hermann, you have the figures for us.”

HS: “I do indeed, and what a steamrolling the other parties received from the Finest in this Terra. The people of Diutius certainly felt rewarded by the Emperor for the creation of their Terra, and have decided to return the favour. A staggering win for the Finest and their leader Duchess Simge, who, of course, was elected to her own seat in Terra Quaestoris.

CH: “All Terras have now reported their results in what will go down in history as a monumentally momentous election, which saw a brand new movement conquer three out of the five NIC seats up for grabs, the Green and Progressive vote all but eradicated, and only the ILA and CCU stand as traditional parties against the populist onslaught. Hermann, I believe you have the final figures for us.”

HS: “That’s right, Colin. At the end of what is no doubt a hugely surpriseful evening, the total number of votes cast for each party across Terras was as follows:

Emperor’s Finest: 4,757,509
Inimician Liberal Appeal: 3,757,569
Centre-Conservative Union: 3,268,717
United Green Front: 1,380,002
People’s Movement: 1,693,327
Local Parties: 1,640,936
Central Progressive Party: 1,251,768

“And in percentages:

Emperor’s Finest: 27.4%
Inimician Liberal Appeal: 21.6%
Centre-Conservative Union: 18.8%
United Green Front: 7.9%
People’s Movement: 9.7%
Local parties: 9.4%
Central Progressive Party: 7.2%

“The new National Imperial Council will therefore be constituted like this (obviously the delegate to be appointed by His Imperial Majesty to replace Pro-Imperator Hugh Doyle is not yet included):

Non-affiliated (appointed or Executive): 8
Centre-Conservative Union: 5
Inimician Liberal Appeal: 4
Emperor’s Finest: 3
United Green Front: 1
Central Progressive Party: 1

CH: “Excellent, thank you, Hermann. Well, there we are. This has been a truly momentous day and night, we are all in need of sleep and coffee here at Nuntius Inimici. To give you a short recap of the night’s events before we sign off: the Inimician Liberal Appeal and their candidate Alaina Kaach has managed to cling onto its Dominus seat, but narrowly lost the Centurio NIC seat to the Centre-Conservative Union’s Magnus Hern. The only People’s Movement representative on the Council was ousted (well, she was killed a month ago, but her party was ousted) and replaced with the Emperor’s Finest leader Duchess Simge Galanth (prompting, by the way, a Ducal election in Terra Quaestoris. The Finest also performed very well in Diutius, conquering both NIC seats.”

HS: “A truly momentous win for the cause of Imperial Support in this country, and a shattering blow to Quaestoris’s southern districts, which are so heavily pro-Movement. The ILA will be disappointed in its performance in Centurio, whereas the CCU will no doubt be celebrating its victory in the province. Remarkably, most left-of-centre votes seemed to have switched from the Greens and Progressives to the ILA and the Finest, which should be cause for worry in the CPP’s headquarters and Jeff Speller’s office. Speller, of course, remains on the NIC as Cllr for Terra Legatus.”

CH: “Indeed. Thank you, Hermann, for tonight’s results. Thanks also to everyone who appeared in the studio and to our correspondents, and, of course, to you, viewers, for sticking with us this momentous night. From all of us here at Nuntius Inimici – Inimicus Votes, have a great day, and enjoy this changed country.”