The election for Consul of the Free Republics was starting to heat up and the players on the Republican National Team were watching intently to see who would be their next Junior Consul. Today, the final major party nomination would be decided in the critical Nejax primary. That was the nomination of the Radical Alliance, the party of the fallen Consul Venicio Piazza.
The leading candidates for the nomination were Mario Piazza and Luigi Piazza, the Consul's sons. Mario was running on a platform of "uncompromising radicalism," pledging to lead the FFR toward a bold future of radical liberty. Luigi proposed a more moderate approach that combined the Alliance's support for personal responsibility with a minimal safety net. The battle between the 2 brothers had proven much more contentious than many had expected. There had even been reports of a fistfight between the 2 of them at their family's Christmas party, but this was vociferously denied by both camps.
Amid this backdrop, they came into the Nejax primary practically tied in the delegate count. In advance of the Nejax primary, both brothers pledged to support the winner of the primary as the legitimate nominee of the Alliance. However, as the results came in, it soon became clear that the race would be too close to call. Luigi took the lead early in the night as votes came in from the urban areas and was declared the winner by FBC. However, in an embarrassment for the network, Mario surged amid stronger than expected results from rural Nejax and seemed to have taken the lead by the end of the night.
The following morning, both candidates claimed victory and threatened to sue for a recount if their brother was declared the winner of the primary. Within a week, it would become evident that the true winner of the race would never be known. The Radical Alliance was now in disarray, with roughly half of their voters remaining loyal to Mario and the other half putting their support behind Luigi. With a generic Radical candidate polling just 11% in polling, just over the 10% required to advance to the second round, the Radical Alliance's chances of winning the election seemed to be well and truly over.
As the news of the self-destruction of the Radical Alliance spread, the other candidates breathed a sigh of relief. The other leading candidates for the Consulship were Progressive candidate Sibylla Croteau, Responsive Progress Party candidate Younes Danielsson, Salvation Circle candidate Delmar Lavallee, Moderate Liberal Conservative Coalition candidate Leopold Tretiakov and an independent businessman named Kaleb O'Reilly. Kaleb O'Reilly was the surprise of the campaign thus far. When he first announced his candidacy, the media had not considered him a serious candidate but his combination of protectionist economics, isolationist foreign policy and his calls for the mass deportation of immigrants had won him a sizable following.
The Progressives and the Responsive Progress Party were both revived from the pre-HRE days, with their old leadership intact. Both of their candidates polled a consist 8-12% in national polling. Croteau was running on the idea that she would be the first woman to serve as Consul of the Free Republics and also on a radical agenda that called for higher taxes on the wealthy and a bold program, known as "social justice" to make amends to groups that had allegedly been oppressed in the past. Danielsson, the reasonable progressive, was running on the idea that the Federation Government should be the employer of last resort and was explicitly opposed to gun control, "social justice" and other ideas that he deemed to be part of the "loony" left. The 2 were largely seen as battling for the same constituency, just with different tactics.
The Salvation Circle was a movement formed by disillusioned former followers of the True Church who had started their own Church which had quickly become known as the Salvationists. Salvationists rejected the Church hierarchy but embraced Christian moral teachings and sought to impose the literal Law of Moses upon Republican society. Their movement had started rather small but had quickly grown with aggressive Internet marketing to disillusioned supporters of the former Consul Kulseth. Salvationism had quickly spread to every major city of the Federation. Given the success they had found, their charismatic leader, Lavallee, had decided to run for Consul arguing that Consul Kulseth had not done enough to eradicate sinfulness in the Holy Republican Empire and that his negligence had led to the downfall of the Empire. While most people laughed at them as kooks, they were a rising force.
Finally, the Liberals, Conservatives and Moderates had moved into the Moderate Liberal Conservative Coalition, a new party consisting of the 3 formerly dominant parties of the FFR. Their candidate, Leopold Tretiakov, was the grandson of a famous Consul, Ivan Tretiakov, who still had a generally positive reputation with the electorate. The younger Tretiakov was lacking in charisma and wasn't exactly the most attractive man to run for Consul but he made up for that in his extensive knowledge of public policy and his record as one of the most renowned professors of history in the FFR. His supporters considered him the most qualified man to serve as Consul while those who didn't support him considered him a boring academic with nothing interesting to say.
There was nobody who loathed Tretiakov more than Kaleb O'Reilly. The outspoken brothel tycoon had made a habit out of bashing his centrist rival on a daily basis. Indeed, the only individuals he disparaged more were immigrants. Mr. O'Reilly's declaration speech had consisted of a rant about how "The rest of Esportiva isn't sending their best. They're not sending people who can be productive and actually do something to benefit our nation. They're sending murderers, burglars, street thugs, gang bangers and terrorists to destroy our great nation from within. From Nephara to San Jose Guayabal to Apox to Yttribia to The Sarian to Taxachusetts, all of the other Esportivan nations are dumping their criminals on our shores. This has to stop and, when I'm your Consul, I will send this life unworthy of life back to the shitholes they came from! Not only that, but I'll make them pay for it themselves and if they don't like it, I'll slap an embargo on them so they can't dump their shitty products on our markets any longer!" While Mr. O'Reilly's comments are inflammatory, they were surprisingly well-received enough by a large enough proportion of the electorate to put him in a narrow first place at that moment.
The arguments in the Republican National Team over the upcoming elections were endless but the one constant was that they all liked either Danielsson, Tretiakov or one of the Piazza brothers and they loathed the other candidates. Whether their opinions were shared by the broader electorate would have to be seen, but they would definitely be following the election either way in the coming months. Not even soccer was more important than the future of the FFR...
