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Editor’s note: I have attempted to present this historical snippet as factually as I remember without adding any commentary. If I got something wrong, please let me know. My own thoughts are at the end.
Also, this article is realllly long.


A Look Inside the January 2013 Presidential Election

At this point in the country’s history, we were deep into the Unity Process. January would represent the 4th consecutive month, and we wouldn’t be finished for another 8 months or so.

The candidates for the Presidency were John Jay (now known as Leather Neck) from We the People and fingerguns from the Federalist Party.

John Jay had narrowly lost to Inwegen the month before, and was viewed as a leading candidate heading into the campaign season.
John Jay is an old player, who had taken a long hiatus from politics, but had gotten back into the game with the rise of WTP. He had been elected Party President following the successful PTO by Gnilraps. He served two and a half terms as Party President, prior to resigning. He had also been appointed to the position of National Security Council Director under President Glove. He continued in that role during my September Presidency, Pfeiffer’s October Presidency and was still active in NSC during Cerb’s November term.

Fingerguns is an equally old player, and another one that quit the game for a long time. She burst back into the game in the Summer of 2012 and led the revival of the Federalist Party. She took them from worst to first, and they haven’t looked back yet. She has always been a champion of new players and a fierce believer that the onus of education and retention is on the parties. She was incredibly active in the media as well.
After her return, she took National jobs working in Homeland Security, eNPR, State and eventually she was Pfeiffer’s Vice President.


The Election

As mentioned above, Unity was still going on at the time, meaning that to become the official candidate for President, candidates had to win 3 out of 5 party primaries. The four top parties (Federalists, USWP, AMP and WTP) plus a 5th comprised of all the lower parties. Their results were added up, and a winner declared among them.

Fingerguns easily won the Federalist primary, as would be expected. She also cruised to victory in USWP with a large margin, and won the AMP primary with a 38-12 margin.

John Jay won We the People as would be expected, and also won the 6th Party Primary, although that wasn’t needed as fingerguns had already secured 3 of the top 4 nominations.

Unfortunately for fingerguns, John Jay was still the Party President of We the People, meaning that he, and he alone had control over who their party nominated in game. And he was refusing to remove himself from the ballot. There had been some issue the month before with John Jay not removing himself after very narrowly losing to Inwegen. But he did eventually drop with plenty of time and crisis was averted.
But for the January election, he was being even more combative and steadfastly refusing to step down in favor of fingerguns. He likely knew that fingerguns would never allow the PTO to succeed, and would rather sacrifice her own candidacy, than see them win. And so, a national game of chicken began, waiting to see which candidate would blink first.



What was at stake:

If there had been two legitimate candidates running against one PTO candidate, then the PTO almost surely would have been successful. The PTO was also pulling in over 33% of Congress, meaning that if elected CP, they would have surely been able to stop any Impeachment.
There is also the Country Treasury, National Organizations, New Citizen Message, USAF Funding, Campaign of the Day and a myriad of other items to consider. Even things like MPPs would be in jeopardy because we would be reliant on foreign CPs to send the proposal for our Congress to vote on.
The PTO would have been able to do a much better job controlling the narrative of the nation, and it would impact thousands of citizens, new and old alike.

In short, a disaster.



So what happened?

Both candidates likely convened their advisers. I can confirm that fingerguns did, as I was in the room. It would make sense that John Jay did as well. From there, both candidates went into an IRC channel that Oblige had set up for them to settle the dispute.
Oblige was Vice President of We the People at the time, and had a vested interest in protecting both the party and the country. He was also relatively neutral (as neutral as he can be) to both candidates.

They were the only three in the room, but fingerguns was feeding the logs directly to her camp so they could advise her.

These are the logs of the meeting.



Session Start (eRep😶xxxxx): Thu Jan 03 10:54:08 2013 -0600
<+Oblige|Work> there we go
<+Oblige|Work> now work this the f*** out
<+John_Jay> nothing to work out
<+Oblige|Work> I'm afk'ing for 5 minutes to eat some spaghetti
<+fingerguns> you're staying on?
<+Oblige|Work> I can part if you would like
<+Oblige|Work> oh
<+Oblige|Work> misread that
<+John_Jay> no worries Oblige|Work
<+Oblige|Work> look
<+Oblige|Work> figure this out
<+Oblige|Work> It's not hard stuff
<+Oblige|Work> we're on the same team here
<+John_Jay> haha
<+John_Jay> no we are so not
<+fingerguns> so you're not dropping off, John_Jay?
<+John_Jay> i got nothing to say to you.
<+fingerguns> okie doke
<+Oblige|Work> well
<+Oblige|Work> this is less than ideal
<+John_Jay> the unity elections are less than ideal.
<+Oblige|Work> life in general is less than ideal
<+Oblige|Work> let me tell you two a story, briefly
<+Oblige|Work> as you may recall, I was CP for four months, during which two of them the majority of the active playerbase or at least fifty percent probably didn't want me to be there
<+Oblige|Work> and during that time I built up enough enmity to turn a fair share of people into permanent haters
<+Oblige|Work> and to piss some people off enough that they dedicate a serious portion of their time into making me look as bad as possible, whenever possible
<+Oblige|Work> do both of you remember that article Israel Stevens wrote about me?
<+Oblige|Work> "eRepublik Moderator Steals National Orgs"
<+John_Jay> si
<+Oblige|Work> Can you imagine what that would feel like
<+Oblige|Work> To have been CP for four months
<+Oblige|Work> during which time you were basically 100% online
<+Oblige|Work> The amount of time, effort, personal resources, etc. that goes into that sort of commitment
<+Oblige|Work> And then to be spat upon by that same community?
<+John_Jay> i deal with that daily
<+John_Jay> and im fed up
<+Oblige|Work> Does it not suck?
<+Oblige|Work> fingerguns: do you understand what I'm saying?
<+fingerguns> yes
<+Oblige|Work> ok
<+Oblige|Work> so now that we've established that being CP means making enemies and being s*** on by the community that you're playing to serve
<+Oblige|Work> let's move forward
<+Oblige|Work> John_Jay's bone to pick so to speak stems from the AMP primary, right?
<+John_Jay> what difference does it make? comspiring to run a shadow govt if im elected, as if *I* am the PTO?
<+John_Jay> ROFL
<+John_Jay> yknow, im getting pretty sick of these power hungry fgts thinking they can do or say w/e they want to
<+Oblige|Work> well your choice seems pretty clear then
<+Oblige|Work> you can either stay in
<+Oblige|Work> which will f*** LITERALLY EVERYONE
<+Oblige|Work> and you can do it out of spite
<+John_Jay> or i can drop out, let this same s*** continue, and *I* will be the only one f***ed
<+Oblige|Work> because the community f***ed you over
<+Oblige|Work> WHICH DOES HAPPEN, TRUST ME I KNOW
<+Oblige|Work> I know more than almost anyone
<+fingerguns> seems like you're f***ed either way, john jay
<+Oblige|Work> Basically
<+fingerguns> i don't see how staying in can benefit you
<+Oblige|Work> It just depends on who you'll take down with you
<+Oblige|Work> and it will cost your friends a lot as well
<+fingerguns> you have a party full of people who have been defending you and fighting for you
<+fingerguns> and you're putting them in a seriously s*** position
<+John_Jay> are you really seriously coming at me with the sob story angle?
<+Oblige|Work> No
<+fingerguns> i expect you to stay in
<+fingerguns> i wish you wouldn't
<+fingerguns> but i expect that you will
<+fingerguns> so what do i care?
<+Oblige|Work> I am trying to present some of the consequences of your actions
<+Oblige|Work> You should care fingerguns - so stop it
<+Oblige|Work> We all lose
<+fingerguns> i mean that i don't expect to be the person that talks John Jay out of this
<+fingerguns> he doesn't give a f*** what i think or have to say about anything
<+Oblige|Work> You are in the best and worst position to do that
<+fingerguns> my words mean nothing to him
<+fingerguns> this is no secret
<+Oblige|Work> then say something meaningful
<+fingerguns> pretty please drop out of the race, John_Jay
<+fingerguns> for your own good and the good of the nation
<+John_Jay> good of the nation?
<+John_Jay> LOL
<+fingerguns> if you stay in, then it's likely Ajay wins
<+fingerguns> even if i let you bully me out
<+fingerguns> you said you were running because you wanted to unite the nation
<+fingerguns> i don't think you meant uniting them against you
<+John_Jay> im not bullying anyone...the fact that you can sit there and say with a straight face "the good of the nation" when you know exactly what went on...is mind numbingly funny to me.
<+fingerguns> no John_Jay, i am not aware of what new conspiracy you have cooked up
<+fingerguns> that i'm surely the center of
<+fingerguns> i'm sure you'll fill me in a few months from now
<+fingerguns> looking forward to it
<+John_Jay> ahh sarcasm...thats neat
<+Oblige|Work> ok
<+Oblige|Work> let's stop that please
<+John_Jay> just when i think you cant hit another low, you surprise me
<+fingerguns> last month it was the fed primary being rigged...which people you trust have refuted but you choose to listen to idle gossip from someone who is barely active
<+fingerguns> what is it this month?
<+John_Jay> its not idle gossip lol
<+fingerguns> it very much is
<+fingerguns> tiacha and bigcdizzle would both be at the center of it and they both say it didn't happen
<+fingerguns> either you believe them or you don't
<+John_Jay> but being a fed, im not surprised you'd lie through your teeth
<+Oblige|Work> alright
<+Oblige|Work> super civil
<+fingerguns> oblige, i'm not sure what you thought would happen here
<+fingerguns> i won the primaries. it is what it is. he's not going to drop out. he's butthurt.
<+fingerguns> so...what can ya do
<+John_Jay> butthurt<
<+John_Jay> rofl
<+fingerguns> i hope you laugh this hard about it when you talk to your party
<+John_Jay> its nice to see your naivety spread to other areas
<+fingerguns> i hope you properly convey how hilarious you find this
<+fingerguns> are we done?
<+John_Jay> im surprised, that you can actually type AND have lips locked on asses
<+fingerguns> classy as always, John_Jay
<+Oblige|Work> oh boy
<+Oblige|Work> ok
<+Oblige|Work> wow
<+Oblige|Work> it's like two Pfeiffer's in one room
<+John_Jay> no, just one.
<+fingerguns> we done?
<+Oblige|Work> NO
<+Oblige|Work> absolutely not
<+Oblige|Work> We aren't leaving here till one of you drops out
<+Oblige|Work> This is just embarassing
<+Oblige|Work> Look John_Jay - do you want Ajay to win?
<+Oblige|Work> for srs?
<+John_Jay> not at all
<+Oblige|Work> ok
<+John_Jay> this isnt about ajay, is about so called unity elections and how they are a sham
<+Oblige|Work> fingerguns: do you want Ajay to win?
<+fingerguns> nope
<+Oblige|Work> ok
<+Oblige|Work> good
<+Oblige|Work> now we have some common ground
<+fingerguns> i already said i would drop out if john jay didn't have the balls to do it
<+Oblige|Work> John_Jay: of course they're a sham
<+John_Jay> ba;lls?
<+John_Jay> LOL
<+John_Jay> srs, we done here? inferior players dont get to insult me
<+Oblige|Work> 😐
<+Oblige|Work> sigh
<+John_Jay> i feel the same way at this point oblige
<+Oblige|Work> John_Jay: what I'm looking at here is that even if 30% of the votes in the AMP primary were invalid
<+Oblige|Work> multis whatever
<+Oblige|Work> FG would've still won that election
<+John_Jay> there was more to it..a lot more.
<+Oblige|Work> I understand
<+Oblige|Work> The party whip agreement
<+Oblige|Work> Leadership being jerks
<+Oblige|Work> Whatever
<+Oblige|Work> alright
<+Oblige|Work> so assuming they ***ed you over
<+Oblige|Work> HARD
<+Oblige|Work> now what
<+Oblige|Work> is this really how you're going to go down John_Jay ?
<+John_Jay> who said anything about going down?
<+Oblige|Work> well
<+John_Jay> you think i give two squirts what pfeiffer and company think?
<+Oblige|Work> if you think that there will be a home for you in the eAmerican community after this
<+Oblige|Work> I think you might be mistaken
<+Oblige|Work> It's basically will give Ajay the Presidency
<+Oblige|Work> which is pretty much unforgivable
<+John_Jay> welp, you really cant scale it like that...because whats being done now is unforgivable
<+Oblige|Work> unforgivable towards you maybe
<+Oblige|Work> yes
<+Oblige|Work> same thing happened to me, you can get over to it
<+Oblige|Work> I still f***ing talk to Israel Stevens
<+John_Jay> yeah but bowing to the same people that make this community sickening isn't doing anything for me, or my supporters
<+John_Jay> and you know either way, whether i drop or not, you know damn well how this is gonna play out
<+Oblige|Work> you'll be crucified slightly less this way
<+Oblige|Work> and people will still be able to accept you
<+John_Jay> yeah that doesnt work for me
<+Oblige|Work> well then you might as well rage quit
<+John_Jay> using ajay as a crutch to let this s*** keep happening
<+Oblige|Work> It's not a crutch
<+Oblige|Work> it's the reality we have to deal with
<+John_Jay> it is a crutch
<+Oblige|Work> without a unity candidate the PTO wins
<+Oblige|Work> Look
<+Oblige|Work> Hopefully
<+Oblige|Work> by this time
<+Oblige|Work> next month
<+John_Jay> whytf do you think losers like inwegen and pfeiffer were elected in the first place
<+Oblige|Work> we'll have enough multis to deal with it
<+Oblige|Work> and then we can end this charade
<+Oblige|Work> and go to reliable bot rule
<+John_Jay> again, decent, but does nothing for the here and now
<+Oblige|Work> I can't fix this month
<+John_Jay> this s*** needs to end
<+Oblige|Work> I have tried literally every avenue possible in that regard
<+Oblige|Work> I can't get the multis banned because they're good multis
<+John_Jay> good multis?
<+John_Jay> oh right, the multis created to help us are being used to circumvent the system
<+Oblige|Work> do you want me to explain multi'ing to you really?
<+Oblige|Work> good multis are multis that look like real players
<+John_Jay> aye
<+Oblige|Work> so
<+Oblige|Work> next month we'll have a bunch of those and can have normal elections
<+fingerguns> how can you have normal elections with a s***load of multis?
<+fingerguns> who tells the multis how to vote?
<+John_Jay> i want public admonishment of pfeiffer and clan
<+Oblige|Work> because we'll have enough that it won't matter?
<+John_Jay> if im to be 'crucified'
<+Oblige|Work> we can just send 500 to each candidate hopefully
<+John_Jay> the ship will not sink with me alone
<+Oblige|Work> What do you want him admonished for?
<+Oblige|Work> Fixing elections?
<+John_Jay> admissions and admonishment
<+John_Jay> i want em
<+John_Jay> or all this is moot
<+Oblige|Work> admission of what?
<+John_Jay> ^
<+Oblige|Work> fixing elections?
<+John_Jay> [13:00] <+Oblige|Work> What do you want him admonished for?
<+John_Jay> [13:00] <+Oblige|Work> Fixing elections?
<+Oblige|Work> that's not exactly a news flash
<+John_Jay> dont want a news flash
<+Oblige|Work> well I mean
<+Oblige|Work> what I'm saying
<+Oblige|Work> is that everyone knows that happens
<+Oblige|Work> usually the way you balance it is to... fix the elections yourselves
<+John_Jay> so the name of the game is to see who can sink lower?
<+John_Jay> nah, not working for me
<+Oblige|Work> well that's basically the one we get to play right now
<+John_Jay> not acceptable
<+John_Jay> again
<+John_Jay> using ajay as a crutch to legitimize this
<+Oblige|Work> you have additional options
<+Oblige|Work> ?
<+Oblige|Work> we run the elections normally?
<+Oblige|Work> lose ever time?
<+John_Jay> i just put mine out
<+John_Jay> public admonishment, i drop
<+John_Jay> simple as that
<+Oblige|Work> ok
<+John_Jay> if people want to rage about something
<+fingerguns> not to like throw logs onto this fire or whatever, but i have no part in any kind of election rigging and i'm not aware of any election rigging that happened on my behalf
<+John_Jay> lets at least give them something legitimate to rage on
<+fingerguns> period
<+Oblige|Work> so what do you want this article to say
<+Oblige|Work> you want it to be written by Pfeiffer
<+Oblige|Work> and for him to admit what
<+Oblige|Work> 1.) I rig elections
<+Oblige|Work> 2.) this is totes unfair?
<+John_Jay> that would be acceptable
<+John_Jay> and i want some heart in it...sarcasm doesnt cut it
<+Oblige|Work> I mean
<+Oblige|Work> ok
<+Oblige|Work> we are discussing your request John_Jay
<+Oblige|Work> well
<+Oblige|Work> now I'm not
<+Oblige|Work> but I guess others are
<+John_Jay> alrighteh
* +fingerguns is in suspense
<+Oblige|Work> oh
<+Oblige|Work> right
<+Oblige|Work> I have a nasty habit of doing that
<+Oblige|Work> Pfeiffer is saying he did not participate in rigging any ballot for or against you this election cycle
<+John_Jay> thats amusing, but this isnt only limited to this month
<+Oblige|Work> I don't think it makes sense for a elifetime's worth of grievances against one person to be reflected upon in the election cycle
<+John_Jay> i think it makes total sense
<+Oblige|Work> why?
<+fingerguns> the person committing the extortion gets to set their own price, oblige
<+Oblige|Work> yes we're in agreement over that
<+John_Jay> you think that shining light on all that is wrong in this game is extortion?
<+Oblige|Work> John_Jay: I think those are very grandiose statements to make about a browser game
<+fingerguns> i think saying unless pfeiffer writes an article about how he hurt your feelings you will sell the nation out to the AFA is extortion, yes
<+John_Jay> you have a very narrow view on this FG.
<+John_Jay> this isnt about hurt feelings, but whatever you need to say to yourself is fine
<+fingerguns> well if were about more than that, you'd gather together your evidence and write some sort of article about it, i'd imagine
<+fingerguns> and not hold the nation hostage while you do it
<+fingerguns> but whatever you need to say to yourself is fine
<+John_Jay> ~sighs
<+John_Jay> you being naive in this situation doesnt surprise me at all
<+fingerguns> not naive...just not super interested.
<+fingerguns> i get that you have beef with pfeiffer
<+fingerguns> i assume it's legitimate
<+fingerguns> it usually is with him
<+fingerguns> but my immediate interest is keeping CP out of Ajay's hands
<+John_Jay> i highly doubt that is your sole motivation
<+fingerguns> was there more to that?
<+Oblige|Work> I mean
<+John_Jay> you expect more?
<+Oblige|Work> what is it about John_Jay then?
<+John_Jay> ive already said what its about
<+Oblige|Work> that the unity process is unfai?
<+John_Jay> the unity process cant even be called unity
<+Oblige|Work> and you realize that's just a BS name right
<+Oblige|Work> it's called unity because we need to beat the PTO
<+John_Jay> oh i totally realize its BS
<+fingerguns> so where are we then?
<+John_Jay> i would dare to say we havent moved an inch.
<+fingerguns> Oblige|Work you're failing
<+Oblige|Work> I'm trying my best here fingerguns
<+fingerguns> he only wants one thing and it's from the one person who would never give him anything
<+fingerguns> soooo
<+fingerguns> i'm gonna have lunch
<+fingerguns> bbl



The End Result

John Jay eventually dropped from the race. He also resigned his Party Presidency (Oblige took over). He changed his name and quit politics.

Fingerguns was elected President. She oversaw our move into the Circle of Trust alliance.

Pfeiffer did indeed write an article for John Jay. It was called Election Shenanigans.

Disaster was averted, and the country secured. But for a few days, we were thisclose to losing everything.



My Personal Thoughts

The notion that the AMP primary was rigged, was laughable. If there had been a slim margin of victory, then maybe. But fingerguns thrashed John Jay 38-12. It wasn’t even close. Fingerguns was a media titan. She wrote all the time. She was super well known, and had certain populist themes to her campaign. John Jay was counting on Haliman, John Largo and some USMC votes in the AMP to secure his nomination. But he was ignorant, or underestimated that fingerguns’ Vice President came from AMP (John Killah). And also how hard I personally worked to get her the AMP nomination. I MMed the party and campaigned for her on IRC.

For me, some of the things that John Jay said towards the end, really show the state of mind. He didn’t feel as though he had won the Presidency, or earned it, he felt as though he deserved it.
<+John_Jay> srs, we done here? inferior players dont get to insult me
That he was better than fingerguns, and that was the sole reason why he should be elected.

A lot of what transpired was more about the previous month’s election. Inwegen is more of a backroom politician with a minimal media presence. Those that know him, have no doubts about his talents, but for a large part of the country, he was relatively unknown. He only won by a slim margin, unlike fingerguns.

This was one of the most exciting days that I’ve had in the game. It rivals the oldschool Congressional Voting, or an intense battle from V1. There was so much on the line, I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of something where we were so close to losing everything.

Lastly, I am publishing this now because I am lazy. I intended to publish it three months or so after fingerguns left office, but I never got around to it.



I hope you enjoyed taking a look into something that literally only a handful of players were aware of.






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