Join the new world

We are still close enough to the election to gain some value from reviewing voting results, but far enough away that all the passion and excitement has evaporated. So, in the manner of previous attempts by others, but with less partisan hackery - to the numbers! And before everyone gets carried away with Country President elections...

So, by the numbers, the final vote count from June 25 looks like this:


The first thing of note to any political watchers out there is the total vote count. 129 votes is a phenomenal outcome for a small country like eAestralia. That's 3 votes more than were cast during the (far more important, under a President/dictator) CP election last month. So, well done to everyone who cares enough to have a say.


That said, it is the same number of votes as last month. Clearly, we are only retaining as many new players as old ones are leaving the game.


I'm going to break down the numbers by top 5 parties for the remainder of this article. It's really the only way to make sense of anything. And before any allegations of bias appear, I'm going to do it alphabetically. Actually, I've tried quite hard to keep this article free of bias and partisanship. If you see I've missed anything, please, tell me and I'll either argue it isn't or fix it up. 🙂





Australian Democratic Party


Still eAustralia's largest party by membership, their vote count would no doubt be disappointing to party officials. 26 votes from a membership of 38 (including 11 members contesting the election) says to me that things aren't as well as they could be internally.


Is it inactivity of many party members? A lot of newer players gravitate to the ADP because of it's top ranking - are they no longer active in the game, but still holding membership?


26 votes, at the least, a big improvement on the 21 votes they received in the May Senate election. At the time, the ADP were labouring under an inactive Party President. The current Party President is definitely active - a 25% increase in your vote is a notable achievement!





Australian Parliamentary Party


Technically the minnows of the Top 5 parties, the APP put on a good show. 22 votes from 26 members shows a motivated membership, aided by a vocal and knowledgeable Party President. Who can honestly tell me they have not seen the APP Org harassing government officials through the media?


The APP continue to optimise their vote - 7 members nominated for the Senate and precisely 7 were elected. All bar two with Nebula backgrounds on their avatars, with one showing MEK colours. Maybe they should be renamed the Australian Military Party? This pattern of just enough votes to elect the full list has been the trend through recent Senate elections as well. Now if only they could lift their membership base beyond 25-26...




Australian Revolutionary Party


And here is where things begin to get interesting. After a...*ahem*...robust Party President debate earlier in the month, the ARP has lifted it's vote from 14 to 21 - quite the improvement on numbers alone. Party membership numbers have increased from 25, around the Party President election, to 30 during the Senate election. They have since dropped back to 28.


The ARP had a significant departure from from previous months in the ordering of it's voting ticket. Last month's senators of TanBurton, red back, James Rellori and Judine Radwitan were all put at the bottom of the voting ticket. Instead, party newcomers Mac Vasco, Willdonothing, viyoman, Malastrazas, Nakked and Prignoto received prime rankings and, ultimately, the seats.




KnightHawks Military Council


The only party to poll higher than their membership, with 32 votes from 28 members. Also the only party to publicly declare it's position and advertise it's candidates. Hopefully this encourages other parties to speak out in public during future election campaigns.


KHMC have increased their vote count for three Senate elections in a row now. Where to next after a chart topping 32 votes?




Varnishist International Party

Falling well off their peak of 50 votes and 12 seats last month (from 50 members at the time, if my memory is correct), the VIP managed 28 votes from 38 members. Hardly an impressive set of numbers, but still 25% more votes than the ADP off pretty much the same membership numbers.


VIP continue to maintain their media silence, and have a membership comprised almost exclusively of members of the military units Black Spectra and ANZAC BG. Not that there is anything wrong with a party based around a Military Unit or two, mind you!




Conclusions and things to watch


All the above is a factual statement of the past Senate election, and my personal obersvations (uncontroversial, if you ask me...) of eAustralia's media. This section is probably more contentious...


With the change in ARP management and priority senate candidates, there was a big shift in the membership and votes of both ARP and VIP. If you add both ARP and VIP votes together, it comes to 49 - or almost the same as last month's 50 votes for VIP. I would conclude then, that quite clearly ARP should be considered a wing of VIP. It doesn't look to me like any of the long-term ARP members have voted for their own party this time around, which could in turn explain KHMC's higher than normal vote.


Will the new management of ADP improve their activity and vote count from such a large membership base? Time can only tell, but I see Rusty is running for CP. There's only so much one man can do...