13-03-2025, 11:42 PM
Tropica Today
5626 Presidential Election - first ballot live blog
The following are excerpts from Tropica Today’s live blog on the first two ballots of the 5626 Presidential Election
9:34am - How is the process going to go?
We’ve been receiving a lot of questions about how the formal process is going to work, so here’s a detailed summary:
The 435 Members of both Houses of Parliament (400 MNAs and 35 MNCs) will begin to enter the National Assembly chamber at 10am local time. The Speaker of the National Assembly, currently Labour’s Simon Wainui, will be at the front of the line, and will preside over the session (although that role will be given to outgoing presidents in future elections). After Wainui, Prime Minister William Tama and opposition leader Andrew Rangi will enter side-by-side, followed by their deputies, and then the remaining members will file into their seats.
After that, ballots will be distributed to all 435 members. These ballots will have four names on them, each of a nominated candidate. One of these names will need to be marked for a valid vote to be cast. Ballots will be placed into each party’s ballot box and first counted up by some poor intern before being read out in summary by that party’s whip. This will be done in alphabetical order.
Once all parties have declared their results, if there is a majority, the chair will declare the session closed, and invite the newly-elected president down into the bowl of the chamber to be sworn in. If there’s not a majority, the chair will declare a 3 hour recess before a second ballot can be taken. There’s a limit of two ballots per day, so we could be in the exact same position this time Friday morning.
That should be an understandable summary for you all. See you again during the first ballot.
10:45am to 11:05am - First ballot declaration
10:45am - Speaker Simon Wainui has handed the floor to Conservative whip Julie Banks, and the first declaration for the first ballot is: 122 votes for Tim Black.
10:47am - Democrats whip Victoria Walker is handed the floor next, declaring 28 votes for Hannah Khan, and 1 blank ballot.
10:49am - The Democratic Alliance’s sole MNA Trevor Lewis declares the solitary vote from the DA is for Tim Black. Quite a shock. (not really)
10:51am - Greens whip Jack Hare is next, declaring 51 votes for Cameron Adams, 2 votes for Hannah Khan, and 2 blank ballots.
10:53am - The fifth whip to step up to the podium is Labour’s Meika Tawa. She declares 169 votes for Rachel Maata, 1 vote for Cameron Adams, and 2 blank ballots.
With half the parties results declared, the standings currently sit at:
Rachel Maata (Labour) - 169 votes
Tim Black (Conservatives) - 123 votes
Cameron Adams (Greens) - 52 votes
Hannah Khan (Democrats) - 30 votes
Blank Ballots - 5 votes
It’s safe to call no clear majority will occur in this ballot with 5 parties still to declare.
10:55am - Pa’ina Kanakan whip Willow Maui declares 7 votes for Tim Black, 6 votes for Rachel Maata, 2 votes for Cameron Adams, and 6 blank ballots. This ensures no majority can form, so we’ll be having a second ballot later today.
10:57am - Pati Mātou’s whip Laura Rawhiti declares 9 votes for Rachel Maata, 4 votes for Tim Black, and 2 blank ballots.
10:59am - Pati Teoan Tagata whip Kai Petersen declares 5 votes for Hannah Khan, 4 votes for Rachel Maata, 2 votes for Tim Black, and 1 vote for Cameron Adams.
11:01am - Raktavan Dal leader Virat Sharma declares all 3 votes for Hannah Khan.
11:03am - The final party to stand up and announce their votes, the TNP, represented by leader Alan Palmer, declares 6 votes for Tim Black.
11:05am - Speaker Simon Wainui formally declares ballot one’s final result:
Rachel Maata (Labour) - 188 votes
Tim Black (Conservatives) - 142 votes
Cameron Adams (Greens) - 55 votes
Hannah Khan (Democrats) - 38 votes
Blank Ballots - 13 votes
Since no candidate has reached an absolute majority of 218 votes, a 3-hour recess of the session is called. All 435 members present are now leaving the chamber to return to the party caucus rooms.
The next ballot will take place at 2:30pm.