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Incumbent President Jacobi has won his 8th term as Canada's president, defeating MOO's Addy Lawrence by a margin of 176 votes. Mr. Lawrence conceded towards the evening, congratulating Jacobi and thanking his supporters. Jacobi's thank you article, by contrast, went right down to presidential business.

The other candidates had hardly enough votes to register in the public eye, although michelantoni received a surprisingly large number of votes, coming in a distant 3rd place.

Mr. Lawrence was campaigning on a platform of fiscal responsibility and limited government, while Jacobi's main platform plank had been the restructuring of the CAF.

The Ministry of Information has gotten both candidates to give an exclusive interview in which they discuss the election and their plans for the future. You can see both interviews below.


JACOBI


Ministry of Information: Jacobi, you have just won your 8th term as president. What do you think makes Canadians trust you so much?

Jacobi:I think I've been pretty upfront about who I am and what my motivations are. In my time as President, I've been upfront, communicate on a regular basis, and generally don't bulls**t. People, especially in an
online game where most people aren't who they appear, appreciate that.

MoI: What did you do right that your opponents did wrong this election?

J: This weekend was a crunch time in terms of getting endorsements and getting votes, and while I was around trying my best to monitor and influence the party votes, Addy had decided to take the weekend off. I think he could have received a few more party endorsements that really would have pulled the gap between us closer.

I have a lot of name recognition, I'm the incumbent, and I did a
generally respectable job. It takes a lot to dislodge that sort of
inbuilt advantage.

MoI: How difficult was this campaign compared to the other elections you have fought?

J: I'd say it was about the middle of the pack in terms of campaigns. It was easier than Bruck, Acacia, Derek Harland #2, and AlexanderRearden. It was harder than Derek Harland #1, WD, Mendelson, and LeBlanc.

MoI: Now that you have a new mandate, what are your priorities as president?

J: There's three significant priorities coming out of this term.

1) Working towards what I'd like to call SPP plus and what Addy called CAF
Industries, which is focusing on creating commune military units that
become more self-sufficient.

2) Enhancing Canada's role in Terra and bridging the gap between Terra and EDEN.

3) Continuing my policy of lessening the amount of work needed to be done
by the President, and scaling the job to prevent burnout. I think having
a position where people don't want to kill themselves after 1 month is a
major goal.

MoI: When can we see you on the ballot again, Jacobi?

J: There's a few position that I think I can be of influence in Canada and in the eworld without necessarily being President again. Congress for one. I've also thought after my Presidency of pursuing an alliance position within Terra, like Secretary-General.

However, having been elected to a student government for next term, I don't
think I will have time come September for the Presidency or any other
major position. I do think we've probably seen the last of Jacobi as a Canadian President.

MoI: Name 3 people who would make good presidents next term. No avoiding the question.

J: Acacia has it in him, Chucky Norris could make a come back, I could also see JFStPierre doing a good job if he ends up bored after his exams.

MoI: What role do you see for Addy Lawrence in Canada and can you see him making a successful CP bid?

J: He's said himself that he isn't interested in making another bid or in even running for another term as leader of MOO. His main position in Canada was as one of the foremost economic minds, and he was good at convincing congress to follow his lead. I think, had politics in Congress ever become more dependent on party line, Addy would do extremely well.

I can see him making a successful CP bid, hell, Wes Lewis had a successful CP bid, but there's a bit of luck and there's a lot of work to it.

MoI: Any closing remarks?

J:I'd like to thank those who voted for me, in giving me a world record tying amount of wins in erepublik history, and in expressing their confidence and faith in me one more time. I will not let you down!

MoI: Thank you for the interview, Mr. President, and congratulations on your win.

J: Thank you





ADDY LAWRENCE


Ministry of Information: What went wrong during your campaign? What do you think Jacobi and you did/didn't do that led to his victory?

Addy Lawrence: The biggest hurdle I had in RL was that my son was in an out of town hockey tournament which really affected the time I had available for eRep and the access that I had to eRep. I didn't even click work or train for two days.

In eRep, the biggest shortcoming of my campaign was no statement about war, I think I would have been a more desirable choice had I campaigned on going to war.

MoI: What do you think should be Jacobi's priorities with his new mandate?

AL: He campaigned hard on CAF reform, that should be his top priority. I also think he should formalize the steps he took last month around downloading the management of ministries to congress. This was a plank in my platform as well and I think this is an effective way to improve government security and effectiveness.

There are a few really good performers that transcend partisanship, like Etemenanki, that should be fixtures in government, not moving parts.

MoI: What role will you now be taking in Canada? Can you see yourself ever making another CP bid?

AL: I do anticipate ever making another CP bid, it could happen but highly unlikely. I see myself in a supporting role with MOO in player retention and development, likely getting more involved with the military but not CAF nor TCO, more of a freelancer. I want to make the Captains of Industry relevant.

MoI: Name 3 people who would make good CPs in May.


AL: Jacobi, Jacobi and Jacobi. Jacobi is stifling interest from other legit candidates. After he held office for four consecutive terms, there was a period of weak performers. Same thing after his next run. Same thing after Dade's two terms. The other issue is that there are fewer players joining the game so fresh faces are harder to come by.

In all seriousness, the top three non-Jacobi candidates who have never won before would be Etemenanki, Phillip Del Palme and crisfire.

MoI: What direction do you see MOO taking? The party had a notorious "cult of personality" around you. Do you think it can be as effective without you at the helm?

AL: Yes, it can be effective without me at PP, I'll still be there, I've got the only mask as "Founder" on the MOO forum. Also, I'll always be the MINISTER of the Ministry of Opportunity, the PP is the Deputy Minister.

MoI: In all honesty, were you trying to win this election or did it have more to do with advocacy/lobbying? It seemed like your heart wasn't quite in it, not to mention that you ran against possibly the hardest to beat candidate in Canada's history.

AL: It wasn't about advocacy/lobbying and it was a legit attempt to win. I ran a much better campaign last year, did a lot more writing and circulating in the forums. Those strategies didn't pay off.

This time around, I tried to be more confrontational in an objective way, and patient. I came out of the gate really early last year and that hurt me with "critiques" and stuff.

Jacobi is also notorious for releasing stuff late as well so I didn't want to put myself out there too early. As for timing, this month and last month were the two that best fit into my RL schedule. May and the summer months would be brutal to be CP. Also, I had committed to running, in my mind anyways, before Jacobi declared.

I also liked the idea of beating the best and not having it handed to you, so that didn't bother me.

MoI: Closing remarks?

AL: My campaign did leave something on the table, I could have done a better job, but I am not convinced that even a perfect job would have earned my a landslide victory, a close one, yes, but not a slam dunk. One of the reasons I wanted to run was that I wanted to be CP before I left the game and admin has been tinkering with it so much that I see the game ending sooner rather than later.







There you have the interviews in their unedited entireties. Some interesting things to note: when prompted to name 3 people who would make good CPs, Jacobi picked two people who had already served a presidential term. Addy, on the other hand, opted for 3 people who have never held the office. Interesting, also, is Addy's response to the MOO question and that, perhaps, Addy's involvement in MOO is far from over despite what his concession speech may have implied.

Links to Addy's and Jacobi's speeches:

Jacobi

Addy Lawrence



Until next time, Dominik, Minister of Information.