No. There are separate positions - but the law is clear, they are the ONLY positions which MUST be elected as a joint ticket.

That is why I believe my opinion is the correct one:

A special election must occur: the line of succession is not applicable and a vacancy compels a special election.

However, a special election is also not valid: no candidate can legally be considered without a joint ticket and there is no vacancy for delegate.

That means a special election must occur and no candidate can be considered valid. Thus a faux election for the sake of the law must be run and at the end, the cabinet must vote to appoint a Vice Delegate.

This is an important distinction because there is a serious difference between:

A. Choosing a Vice Delegate via the Line of Succession.
B. Choosing a Vice Delegate via a Regional Vote.
C. Choosing a Vice Delegate via a Cabinet Vote.

It is possible that the outcome would be different for each of these options.

In my opinion, A and B are not options. We've established that the Vice Delegate and the Delegate are only elected as joint tickets (filling their position individually undermines the joint aspect). Likewise, the Line of Succession only applies when the Delegate resigns (likely because of very poor wording on the part of the drafters).

Therefore C. is the only option and it is only an option after an election where no candidate runs. In the event of a special election, no candidate can legally run without a joint ticket and no joint ticket can be accepted.

Thus C. is how they have to do this - it is the simplest way that this can be done within the confines of the law as written.