St. Gibersburg Beer Election

The St. Gibersburg Beer Election was a monthly Senatorial election in the Republic of Posavaria held for the Senate seat of St. Gibersburg on the 1st of February, 2021. It was the most contested election in Posavari history, with 3 different candidates campaigning for several days and causing much discussion across the country. The most noteworthy part of the election was a candidate running on a platform of purely beer, and his shock landslide victory.

Background
In the Republic of Posavaria, each city gets a single representative to the national Senate, elected on a monthly basis. Any citizen can run for the Senate for their city, and every citizen of a city can vote in their election. The voting power of a Senator is equal to their city's population size, so larger towns have more influence within the Senate.

In the time between January 1st, 2021 and February 1st, 2021, the city of St. Gibersburg had gone through a dramatic population boom, surpassing the capital of Posopolis to become the largest city in Posavari with the most voting power in the Senate, increasing the stakes for the election.

Prior to the election, Pos McThuggin encouraged citizens to campaign for the election to increase the diversity of the Senate.

Campaign
In response to McThuggin 's encouragement, and because of the increased stakes of the election and the large body of citizens, 3 different candidates stepped forward to run for the Senate seat. Each presented a different platform with different policy objectives.

 Aideeyot  (incumbant) - Aideeyot had served on the Senate for St. Gibersburg for the past month, having defeated GiberCat in a previous election. Aideeyot was in the process of creating an Socialist Autonomous Region within Posavaria, and therefore leaned socialist. Aideeyot 's proposed policies involved increasing government spending on public works, as well as potentially controversial changes to the structure of the Senate itself to reform the national voting system to use a Single Transferrable Vote system instead of First Past the Post.

 GiberCat  - as Duke of St. Gibersburg and having previously been one of the only active people in his city, GiberCat had served on the Senate for most of Posavaria's history and wished to reclaim his seat from Aideeyot. GiberCat ran on a platform similar to how he ran St. Gibersburg - focus on architecture, jobs, and administration. He promised new national positions of Minister of Architecture to plan public works and Minister of Immigration to encourage new players to join the nation. Having lived through the border crisis with the UBSR and seeing the collapse of the Posavari military, GiberCat also promised to raise a national army to protect the nation. GiberCat borrowed and tweaked some of the ideas from Aideeyot 's campaign about public works, and Aideeyot later added and modified GiberCat 's ideas for immigration and the military into his plan as well. These two candidates were the most active contestants, campaigning back and forth to counter each other's platforms and encourage the populace to vote for them.

 MineRabbitt604  - MineRabbitt604, the bartender of St. Gibersburg, was a bit of a wildcard candidate, who originally joined to give citizens an alternative option to the other two candidates. He ran exclusively on a platform of non-politicism and did not suggest any serious changes or policy preferences. At first his campaign was more of a joke, as he originally suggested blowing up Posavaria and New-Interland, or handing over the government to the Chancellor's Hands to establish a dictatorship over the Republic. However, MineRabbitt604 eventually settled on a campaign centered around the beer he sold in his pub, promising to "use [his] influence as Senator" to lower the beer prices if he was elected. The other two candidates reacted with incredulity to his campaign, pointing out that he could lower the prices whenever he wanted, whether or not he won the election. Not discouraged, MineRabbitt604 continued to theme his campaign on beer.

Election
On the 2nd of February, 2021, after extensive campaigning from all three candidates, McThuggin started the election and allowed St. Gibersburg residents to begin voting. To the other candidates' surprise, MineRabbitt604 instantly took the lead. As the election continued, that lead grew and it became increasing obvious that neither of the other candidates would be able to overtake it.

On the 3rd of February, 2021, McThuggin ended the election and pronounced MineRabbitt604, Bartender of St. Gibersburg, as the winner of the Senatorial election and new Senator of St. Gibersburg. He won with a shocking 57% of the vote, a complete landslide. Aideeyot and GiberCat won 29% and 14% of the vote respectively.

Reaction
MineRabbitt604 instantly broke out into ecstatic celebration, while the other two candidates reacted with sarcastic amazement. Even Pos McThuggin expressed surprise to the results, although somewhat indifferently. True to his word, MineRabbitt604 lowered the price of beer and other drinks at his bar, and the citizens that helped elect him joined in the celebration. The election was seen as a defeat for over-politicization in Posavaria and reinforced the lighthearted and low-stakes nature of Senatorial elections in the country.