"Election Commission Snafu," by Dr. Txec dal Nordselva

When the General Election ended on September 1, many prominent citizens of Talossa began arguing about changing or modifying the Electoral Commission as the days dragged on without any movement in the validation process. The lack of validation by the EC has multiple effects upon the kingdom, most important among them, no new government can be formed, though backchannel discussions have been ongoing and the King has begun his consultations with party leaders.
The Electoral Commission was formed via a referendum that was passed in the 44th Cosa (RZ3, "The Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain Act"). Initially, the idea was to allow Talossans the opportunity to cast secret ballots if he or she so chose to do so. Up until this time, ballots were public knowledge. Some prominent Talossans have bitterly complained that public ballots are an unfair advantage to some political parties and contributed to 9 RUMP majorities. In response, the RUMP under the leadership of Prime Minister Ma la Mha, authored the successful referendum. The first Cosa Election to undergo the process of secret ballots and the Electoral Commission was the 46th Cosa.

What no one could foresee or prevent was the incredible slowness of the process. Always before, as soon as the election had ended, a new government was quickly formed. Since the 46th Cosa election, governments have been slow to form because the EC has been nearly glacial in its work. The first to raise issues with the EC during the post-election period of the 47th Cosa was C. Carlüs Xherlaltescu, stating in part, "when I suggested that the commission start prior to the end of the election so as to save time, why did you (Secretary of State Marti Furxheir) reject the suggestion?”

Each member of the Electoral Commission has completed at least a partial validation, however, problems have ensued. For example, as of September 1 0th, Commissioner Owen Edwards, appointed to the position by His Majesty by virtue of his role as a magistrate, still had not gained access to the database where the votes were contained so that he could begin his validation. Justice Tamoran informed the nation that he had not even been notified about his role in the Commission. Secretary of State Furxheir stated that he wasn’t even a member of the Commission (though he was later informed by Attorney General da Lhiun that he was indeed a member). No one has heard publicly from Justice Dame Litz Cjanstcheir, though she has also been slowly validating votes.

In fact, the Secretary of State did not even publish instructions to the Electoral Commission until nearly 3 days after the end of the election, puzzling many observers as to the reason. Discussions soon took a turn for the worst with high ranking members of RUMP and ZRT trading insults at each other. At one point, after Sir Cresti Siervicül jokingly suggested that the nation return to the method of voting before the 46th Cosa, Dame Miestra Schiva took considerable offense and, after trading barbs back and forth with RUMP leader Sir Alexandreu Davinescu, she compared Sir Alexandreu to Chilean dictator Pinochet when she stated, "Also, AD's smug 'you're welcome' on the secret ballot, as on El Lexhátx, is like Pinochet demanding credit for restoring democracy to Chile. He wouldn't have done it in a million years without the sacrifice and hard work of his political opponents.”
Clearly, tension is running high in the wake of the election, and all concerned will be glad when every ballot is certified, and we can get on with our lives.