Join the new world

The Senate is a real-life concept from Australia, represented in eRepublik by the Congress. It will be referred to as the Senate for this article, but can be called the Congress by players.

The Senate is elected once a month - the elections occur on the 25th of every month. Members can apply from any of the top 5 parties in the country, ranked by the amount of members they have. If you are a member one of the top 5 parties, you can run for election into the Senate - simply register inbetween the 16th and the 23rd of the month. From there, eAustralia votes for which party should be senators forward - the party president picks the order in which the senators are elected. For example, if The Australian Liberation Front (not a real party at the time of writing) got enough votes to put forward 2 senators, the party president creates a list, and the top two senators from the list are elected. From each state that a country holds, 10 senators are elected up untill the 4th state - there is a maximum of 40 senators. If eAustralia holds two states, then a 20 senators are elected from the top 5 parties.
Being a senator is an important responsibilty. The Senate is an in-game body that votes on proposals. These proposals include forming alliances (also called MPPs), setting the different tax rates and more. Anything about eAus that can be changed in-game has to go through the Senate first. Senators need to be active on the forums, so they can explain their opinion and try to understand other peoples opinion.



The results of an election


There are several key steps in getting elected to the senate. First, you have to be a member of one of the five largest parties - all other parties cannot field candidates. Once you're in one of the top 5 parties, start getting your name out there - don't run for the senate when people don't know who you are. No-one votes for someone they don't know! Be active on the forums, and be active on the IRC. Get to know people - read articles, comment on articles and write articles! Take a view on a subject, and stick to it. Just make sure people know you, and know what you stand for. Then, nominate yourself for election between the 16th and 23rd of the month - click the "Run for Congress" button on your party page. An important point here is to link to an article in your newspaper detailing why people should vote for you, called a presentation - you can see in the screenshot above that the candidate with the presentation was higher on the list. Once this is done, get the word out that you're now nominated for the Senate. When election times come, see if you win or lose - either way, make sure you learn from your mistakes.