Thursday, November 7, 2182
(Terran Press Syndicate, 1200 GMT) All around the world, Terrans went to the polls today amid ongoing civil unrest following the solar event two weeks ago, which some are now calling “the Hiccup.” In the wake of the mass panic following the event, many officials had feared it would be impossible to hold the election at all, while some activists had seemed to call for revolution if the election was postponed— or even if the results failed to go their way.
The latter position, openly held by the protesters still occupying the government office complex of the European Continental Directorate, drew a sharp rebuke from outgoing Federation President Afolayan in a speech this morning as polls opened in the Asian Directorate. “Irresponsible voices have threatened civil disruption if they are unhappy with the results of today’s election. In the strongest possible terms I denounce such threats and warn that any attempt to overturn the election results by force or violence will be met with the full power of our Federal security forces. The fourth Article of Federation refers to the conflict of the Unification War and prohibits legal recognition of any government not subject to regular popular elections. It does not authorize revolution by any party that loses an election.”
Without naming any of the “voices,” by bringing up Article Four the President was clearly referencing Alexander Monroe, presidential candidate of the Born to the Earth party, who has taken to citing the article regularly in his campaign speeches. Responding to the President’s remarks, Monroe said, “The only irresponsible voice here is that of Afolayan, accusing me of fomenting revolution. It’s those who cling to power in defiance of the will of the people that are guilty of revolution, and that’s the meaning of Article Four. These Offworld Colonies, by their greed and their criminal draining of Earth’s precious air and water, have brought our fragile planet to the edge of disaster and there has been no popular election challenging their unchecked reign over the poor of our world. It is the Offworld Colonies that violate Article Four by their very existence, and I will not back off the warning that if the Federation government does not act swiftly to tear down these sky palaces and bring their arrogant inhabitants to trial for their crimes, then the people will act to force their hand.”
Over the last two weeks the Monroe campaign has added “the Hiccup” to its anti-Colonial rhetoric. Scientists have long denied the Born to the Earth party’s claim that lifesystem supplies to the Colonies are responsible for Earth’s environmental disaster, and have denounced Monroe’s claims about the Hiccup in even stronger language. “It is simply nonsense,” said Marcus Rocha, Professor of Astrophysics at Cambridge University. “We don’t know what caused the Sun’s recent flicker, nor its other fluctuations over the past twenty years, but to suggest offworld technology is responsible is like blaming a lit candle for the onset of winter.”
Despite universal scientific disagreement, Monroe’s new rhetoric seems to have taken advantage of the wave of fear and panic following the Hiccup event, surging in the last few polls to stand in a statistical three-way tie with the United Farmer and Technocrat parties.
Following standard practices, TPS will not issue any predictions based on exit polling and preliminary vote counts until polls have closed planetwide.
(Aurora News Net, 1600 GMT) Polls close in three hours around the Offworld Colonies, and reports throughout the day show heavy voter turnout. Sixteen Colonies have gubernatorial elections today, along with elections for Terran and Continental legislatures and Terran president. Polling on the Continental Referendum, to sever the Colonies from their present continents and form them into a new Offworld Directorate, shows that voters in the Colonies remain evenly divided on the subject, although the popularity of the measure among the much larger planetside population has declined sharply since the Hiccup, and the referendum is now considered unlikely to pass.
November 8, 2182
(Terran Press Syndicate, 0500 GMT) It is now 1900 local time, still November 7, in the westernmost voting districts of the Terran Federation, a string of Pacific islands under jurisdiction of the North American Continental Directorate, and the final polling places have now closed. TPS can now project a winner in the presidential race.
With a plurality of 35% of the popular vote, Alexander Monroe of the Born to the Earth party has been elected the next president of the Terran Federation. Laurence Teague of the Technocrat party gained 30% of the vote, and Rachel Oliver of the United Farmers took home 29%. The remaining 6% of the vote was divided among undecided and various minor parties.
We also predict Born to the Earth will make substantial gains in parliamentary seats, though at this time it remains to be seen whether they will gain enough to govern without forming a coalition with either the Farmers or the Technocrats.
Outgoing president Laura Afolaya congratulated all the candidates on their campaigns, and is expected to speak to each candidate by screen within the next hour. Official victory and concession speeches are not expected from the candidates themselves until later this evening, but in a breach with tradition Monroe has claimed victory in an address at his campaign headquarters even before receiving formal concession calls from the other candidates. In his remarks, Monroe pledged that his first act in office will be to shut down the Offworld Colonies by executive order, with evacuations to begin as soon as practically possible.
(Aurora News Net, 0800 GMT) Colonists who did not stay up overnight waiting for Earth’s slow march of time zones to bring an end to election day awoke this morning to the news that Alexander Monroe and the violently anti-Colonial Born to the Earth party have been swept into power, largely on the basis of panic following the Hiccup of two weeks ago. Monroe is vowing to end offworld occupation, although spokesmen from various Colonies and Continental Directorates were quick to respond that the Terran President has no such authority.
The Continental Referendum was resoundingly defeated with an 82% no vote, although local results show it had the support of 63% of the offworld population.
In other election news, Charles Safreth won his race to become next governor of Star City, with 72% of the vote to Charles Taylor’s 20%. In his victory speech, Safreth vowed to fight any attempt by the new Terran government to interfere with Star City or any other Offworld Colony.
