DRAMA LLAMA HERALD: REVENGE OF THE LLAMA

The Llama is back and is as Dramatic as ever!

With the beginning of the February Cabinet Elections, Drama Llama Herald is out and about in all of The South Pacific's 63 islands*, ready to bring you extensive coverage of this election cycle. Stay tuned as things heat up

This Special Election Coverage is brought to you by Llama Manure! Only the best from The South Pacific's number 1 pet. Get your faeces now at a Llama's Little Love Letters closest to your nation!

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[*] The number of Legislators in the Assembly.
Image credit: Drama Llama logo — designed by the ever so talented @Imkihca. The logo has been reproduced here with permission from the creator.
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(This post was last modified: 02-05-2019, 10:53 PM by Amerion.)

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The Race Begins Empty seats in the Assembly as Legislators head to Election Central By La'li'ma González 2 February 2019 ELECTION CENTRAL — With the writ of election formally submitted by Election Commissioner Tsunamy, the February Cabinet Election began with a burst of excited albeit orderly activity. At the time of writing, the following people have either declared their candidacies or have accepted their nominations, in order of their entrance into their respective races: Prime Minister: Roavin Rebeltopia Minister of Regional Affairs: Islands of Unity The Serres Republic Beepee Minister of Foreign Affairs: sandaoguo (otherwise known as Glen-Rhodes) North Prarie Somyrion Minister of Military Affairs: Nakari The field of contestants is notable for the number of returning politicians. With the exception of Pencil Sharpeners 2 who has indicated a decline in his future activity, all sitting Cabinet members have declared their interest in the election. Surprisingly, incumbent Prime Minister, The Serres Republic, has announced their candidacy for Regional Affairs rather than seek reelection. The position of Prime Minister is instead being sought by current Minister of Military Affairs, Roavin; with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Somyrion, recontesting their present position. The prospect of a Cabinet comprised of Roavin as Prime Minister and Islands of Unity as Minister of Regional Affairs is an issue both politicians can expect to be questioned on. The October 2018 Cabinet Elections saw tensions between the two flare up, resulting in an allegation of espionage being submitted to the High Court. Foreign Affairs will see a rematch between Somyrion and Glen-Rhodes who faced each other in the previous election for the Ministry that saw Somyrion prevail with 21 votes to Glen-Rhodes’ 10. The injection of new blood, in the form of North Prarie may draw votes from both candidates and prove to be a formidable opponent to the seasoned foreign policy heavyweights. While the selection of candidates is unexpected to Coalition political watchers, the quality of these members has been hailed a few. Candidate for Minister of Regional Affairs and runner-up to the most recent Delegate election, Beepee, recently spoke to the Herald: ‘I think they're are [an] excellent field of strong candidates, which shows the depth of talent we have in TSP.’ Image Credit: Joakim Honkasalo. Empty Chairs, 2018. Unsplash. Click here for link. Correction: The article misidentified the position The Serres Republic is contesting. They have declared their candidacy for Minister of Regional Affairs, not Minister of Military Affairs.

(This post was last modified: 02-05-2019, 10:21 PM by Amerion.)

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Negotiations for Debate Ongoing An empty election stage as candidates negotiate a debate forum By La'li'ma González 6 February 2019 LEGISLATORS’ LOUNGE — Two days into the campaigning period and with a vast majority of campaigns already posted, a debate between the various candidates has yet to take place due to disagreements as to the format. With Discord having surmounted the forum as the primary means of communication between Islanders, a large proportion of candidates have sought to hold their respective ministerial debates on the platform. As a candidate for Minister of Foreign Affairs, North Prarie, writes, ‘On discord debates you can see who canidates [sic] really are. Can't emphasize it enough, because answers on forum debates are crafted for 30 minutes and is probably seen by multiple people before posting, where discord is heat-of-the-moment.’ Proponents for a forum-based debate have pointed to the benefits of long-form answers over the quick pace of Discord. Glen-Rhodes, who is also seeking the portfolio of foreign affairs, argues, ‘A couple sentences isn’t as informative as a long-form post. Like the question before— what are my thoughts on relations with all GCRs. We can take 1 minute each to say some kind of platitude about cooperation and friendship. Or we could take the time to write out an actual post that explains our views on the state of gameplay alliances and the strategy we should have.’ The current Cabinet Advisor and sitting Associate Justice is well known for their detailed forum posts and is thought to hold an advantage in a forum debate. The conundrum for debate organisers is how best to reconcile the need for a quality debate between participants whilst considering their different preferences. Candidate for Minister of Regional Affairs, Islands of Unity, had previously stated that they would not partake in an election debate if it were held solely on the forum. Speaking in the Legislators’ Lounge in Discord, the candidate for Minister of Regional Affairs spoke of their ‘difficulty using the forums for conversation.’ However, their proposal for a voice chat debate using Discord’s services is uncertain to eventuate due to time-zone differences and the issue of recording the answers candidates will provide and disseminating that information among voters who could not be online. Image Credit: David S. Holloway. Large debate stage empty, 2011. CNN. Click here for link.

(This post was last modified: 02-05-2019, 10:54 PM by Amerion.)

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