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South Pacific Independent News Network · 09-13-2020, 12:10 AM

Year 18 | 12 September 2020

THE SPINN
WHY DID PURPLE HYACINTH WIN THE ELECTION?
James D. Halpert | Senior Editor

THE WEEK'S HIGHLIGHTS

• Purple Hyacinth won the election for Chair of the Assembly with 83% of approval votes.

• The Assembly has split the Ministry of Regional Affairs into 3 successor ministries: Media, Culture and Engagement.

• The Special Forces have taken control of Warzone Australia, pending a discussion on the administration of the warzone.
Purple Hyacinth recently won the election for Chair of the Assembly with 83% of the approval vote and 16% ahead of Swifty, their closest competitor. These are some healthy margins, which begs the question: what did Hyacinth do right, or what did the other candidates do wrong? In truth, it’s a bit of both.

• Voter familiarity: Hyacinth had an edge over the other candidates in terms of being known to voters. A poll conducted by FiftyPlusOne, our statistics and analysis affiliate, before Witchcraft & Sorcery entered the race showed that 86% of respondents were familiar with Hyacinth, compared to 73% for Swifty and 68% for Whole India. A majority of respondents knew all three candidates, but the few that knew Hyacinth and not the others could have made a key difference in the race.

• Intentions towards Swifty: A number of voters specifically votes for Hyacinth and not for Swifty not because they distrusted the latter, but instead because they wanted to see them run for the Cabinet rather than for Chair. One legislator who voted for Hyacinth and not for Swifty told me that they "didn't want [Swifty] to have to give up all the work he does in various cabinet departments". In that sense, some of the votes that tilted the election in Hyacinth’s favour came out of a desire to see Swifty in a different position, rather than a true and exclusive preference for Hyacinth.

• Lack of enthusiasm for Whole India: Whole India obtained only 1 vote in the final results, and received zero questions in their campaign. This shows a serious lack of enthusiasm for their campaign and contributed to a lack of viable alternatives to Hyacinth and Swifty in a context where a key number of voters had already decided that it was better to, for lack of a better term, save Swifty for the Cabinet.

This was the perfect storm to ensure that Hyacinth was elected, to the point that even when Witchcraft & Sorcery entered the race at the last minute, not many legislators voted for them without also voting for Hyacinth; in fact, only 2 legislators voted for W&S but not for Hyacinth. In the end, Hyacinth benefited from strong support and other factors that put them in a unique position to win the election.

The South Pacific Independent News Network (SPINN) is an independent news organisation established in 2003 with the goal of providing good, insightful and timely commentary on regional events for the citizens of the South Pacific. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board. Content is published via pseudonyms. The SPINN is not associated with the Government of the South Pacific.