SIMONETTE ANNOUNCES HIS CABINET CANDIDATES, THE ULD'S NEW PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE WAS ELECTED
Simonette's possible ministers were announced on this long-awaited congressThis year, the ULD held it's eighth general congress (counting from the '39 one), paired with the yearly congress and the constructional congress, making it a triple whammy. It was also the longest congress that the ULD ever held, lasting seven days, an entire week. It was very fruitful, resulting in the election of the ULD's presidential candidate, as well as in Simonette announcing his possible cabinet's ministers.
Let's start with the prior, the ULD's presidential candidate.
The eight candidates that had enough signatures (10k) under their names to advance to this round of the vote were announced. The original count was 14, so the ULD members were pretty busy giving out their signatures. Those four that were able to qualify were;
Estella Salvi, former CEO of the PMI Media Group, 57
Duccio Sarlo, Consitutionalist and Historian, ULD Senator, 53
Seif Maalouf, Vice-Deputies Whip of the ULD, 36
Rashid el-Mahmud, Minister of Internal Affairs, 47
Islam Shamon-Baz, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, 44
Sahla Sabbagh, Chairperson of the ULD Youth wing, 25
Eros Zanussi, Grandson of the former ULD chairperson and Senator, 32
Antero Reale, ULD Deputy Chairperson in the Parliament, 51
The number of candidates made the vote pretty divisive, however, the two clear favourites before this round, Reale and el-Mahmud, were the ones to advance, with 26.7 and 22.8 percent of the vote respectively. Although the results of the top two were expected, they did, however, achieve fewer votes than expected. Sabbagh surprisingly came in third with 14.5%, above Shamon-Baz, who had 14.2%. It is expected that Sabbagh's result could give her a bright future within the party, similar to how leading the youth wing does. The total amount of ULD members participating exceeded a million and a half,
The results:
Antero Reale - 26.7% - 465,271
Rashid el-Mahmud - 22.8% - 397,310
Sahla Sabbagh - 14.5% - 252,675
Islam Shamon-Baz - 14.2% - 247,447
Eros Zanussi - 6.2% - 108,040
Seif Maalouf - 5.7% - 99,327
Estella Salvi - 5% - 87,129
Duccio Sarlo - 4.9% - 85,386
In the second round of the voting held on the sixth day, Reale and el-Mahmud faced off, with the prior being the clear favourite. With a week to campaign, the pair travelled around the country, trying to convince as many party members to vote for them as possible. Reale mostly directed his attention on the island, with el-Mahmud focusing on the mainland. Their efforts, however, didn't really change the results much. Reale defeated the Minister of Internal Affairs with a big majority.
Antero Reale - 59.2% - 1,384,826
Rashid el-Mahmud - 40.8% 940,372
Reale quiting his HQ in his typical, calm manner
el-Mahmud apparently didn't expect himself to win, so he didn't respond too emotionally, eitherHowever, the latter part f the programe was equally interesting, with Simonette announcing his candidates for ministers. They didn't really shock, but then again, some were unexpected.
Prime Minister - Grimaldo Simonette. Obviously.
Foreign Affairs - Elena Vespa-Baldassare. The past chairman's daughter, ULD Vice-chairperson and current minister of Environment and Tourism.
Internal Affairs - Carlo Del Gatto. The ULD's first Vice-Chair, a close ally to Simonette. Major in administration and logistics.
Finance - Islam Shamon-Baz. The Minister of Internal Affairs, even with his lower than expected result in the first popular vote round, is still an influencial figure in the ULD, and a sucessor to Manfrin's legacy.
Justice - Egeo Biele. Often called Istalia's best (and richest) lawyer, Biele has closely worked with the ULD for the last five years, and will run for a seat in the chamber of deputies with their support.
Defence - Najeer el-Saladin. A long-term military man, now a rather radical pacifist, is the ULD's Senate whip.
Infrastructure and Transport- Aini Haik. Current Vice-Minister of I&T, Haik is a city planner and ecology graduate.
Health - Elmo Cappola. The ULD's Secretary, Cappola is also a neuropsychiatrist, he graduated medical school with honours.
Education and Culture - Erardo Candela. Simonette's ward, the Trivenditan-born politician is an ethnologist, historian and a pretty famous fantasy writer, at a young age.
Science and Technology - Majd Ghanem. Vice Minister to el-Mahmud, Ghanem is a web developer, IT specialist and, supposedly, an ex-hacker.
Agriculture - Ban Khouri. She is an economist, Deputy mayor of Triesta, and once the Whip of the ULD in the Trivendito.
Environment and Tourism - Oriana Salamandra. ULD's member of the Chamber of Deputies, the leader of the party's ecology commission.
Trade and Industry - Astrid Espinoza. ULD's Vice-Chairperson, the Party's finance spokesperson, cousin to Elena Vespa-Baldassare through Agostino Baldassare.
After the ministers were announced, President Lepera came out to congratulate Mr Reale, and announced that he'll help him in campaigning.
