May 2021 Georgienstinian gubernatorial elections
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4 governorships (including a recall election in Salem) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Map of the results Georgienstine First hold Liberal hold Georgienstine First gain No election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
The May 2021 Georgienstinian gubernatorial elections were held on 27-28 May 2021. They were the tenth gubernatorial elections since the founding of the Social Republic of Georgienstine.
In Salem, Salem National governor Renzo Wessels was replaced by Georgienstine First member Alexandre Olivier. In Castel and Raphaëlistan, Georgienstine First governors Aidan Clifford and Raphaël Olivier were re-elected. In Harrisburg, Liberal Party governor Ariel Lederman was re-elected.
Salem recall election
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Vote on recall | ||||||||||||||||
Shall Renzo Wessels be recalled (removed) from the office of governor? | ||||||||||||||||
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If Wessels is recalled, who should replace him as governor? | ||||||||||||||||
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The Salem gubernatorial recall election was a recall election of Salem Governor Renzo Wessels in May 2021. Wessels was the first Georgienstinian governor to ever face a recall election and be successfully recalled from office.
Background
In April 2021 Georgienstine First nominee Louis de Blois was elected governor. Renzo Wessels, who was the preceding governor Alexandre Olivier's Lieutenant-Governor remained in his post. Wessels had been jokingly chosen by Olivier as Lieutenant-Governor, a decision criticized by many[who?].
On 9 May 2021, de Blois resigned as a governor and Supreme Court Associate Justice. Renzo Wessels was sworn in, shortly thereafter. After having assumed this position, Wessels announced his support for Salem independence, a movement that did not exist at the time and founded the Salem National Party. Wessels controversially appointed Furkan Altay as Lieutenant-Governor, who is known for his bizarre views on certain issues and has been accused of harassing other citizens. Wessels supported holding a referendum on the matter, which was supported by Benjamin Pickles. (though he opposed Salem independence)
Campaign
On 12 May 2021, a recall petition was approved and a recall election was planned for 15 May 2021. Wessels had originally supported the recall election and saw it as a snap election. On the recall election day, former governor Alexandre Olivier announced his candidacy in the recall election and so did Lieutenant-Governor Furkan Altay. At the time, Altay opposed recalling Wessels, but later announced that he secretly did.
Results
Voting opened on 15 May 2021, later than usual. (due to technical difficulties) The ballot was closed after a few minutes of voting, due to evidence of mass voter fraud in favour of Furkan Altay. The results showed five individuals supposedly voting twice, sometimes for two different options and replacement candidates, three individuals not registered in Salem voting and two opponents of Altay, all voting for him. An investigation was opened and ended within a few minutes as many individuals claimed to have not voted for Altay.
Voting opened a second time but was closed again after Blake Johnson claimed not to have voted for Altay. After this event, the Federal Electoral Commission messaged each Salem voter an individual code they had to submit before voting and voting has reopened for the third time.
Wessels came out in opposition of Altay, after the day's events and abstained in the replacement candidates election. Altay would form the Reformist party, a left-wing and social conservative party.
The final results showed 83.3% to 16.7% in favour of the recall and Olivier winning 66.7% of the replacement vote to 33.3% for Altay.
Aftermath
After the election, laws were passed in Salem giving individual codes to each voter that they needed to submit before voting. These laws were never enacted, as the state government never worked with the Federal Electoral Commission to do so, nor did the state government release the individual codes.
The Salem independence movement would go defunct after the recall election, with the Salem National Party changing names and ideologies after the party's presidential candidate Renzo Wessels had been constantly attacked during the first presidential debate, on his position on Salem independence. The topic of Salem independence is often used to attack opponents of Georgienstine First in Salem. President Raphaël Olivier accused his opponent Benjamin Pickles of supporting Salem independence, during an event in the state.
Results