(Please do not see my questions as attacks. I have poured my heart and soul into the Delegacy these last two years, and I want to make sure I leave it in the most capable hands possible. You are undoubtedly qualified according to the law.)
I don’t see it as the Prime Minister’s role to direct the endorsement policy (and method of getting them). That responsibility rests with our security body, the CRS, and its Coral Guard. I know that that tool is actively used by me and the Coral Guard daily (though I cannot say everyone uses it, I know the majority do). In fact…
The Charter also explicitly notes that you are “responsible for helping maintain the security of the region, promoting growth and activity”. The biggest security asset of the region is having lots of high influence nations that can assist in times of crisis. The Delegate is instrumental in boosting their own endorsements and the endorsements of the Coral Guard so that the average nation can, in turn, boost their influence (all of this through swapping endorsements). How do you plan to fulfill your charter-mandated duties if you are not at the front of the line trying to boost regional endorsements/influence, preferably by utilizing/advocating tools to make it easier?
The Charter also explicitly notes that the Delegate “serv[es] as an advisor to the forum-side government”. Additionally, these executive channels are where the Delegate receives many of their orders. How do you plan on fulfilling your charter-mandated duties if you intend to divorce yourself from them?
I find this answer to be a mistake (not a troubling one, just a mistake). I certainly do not expect you or any Delegate candidate to continue my Fortnightly Telegrams as I made them, but the region should and needs to be kept informed of regional happenings. The Cabinet has historically not been the best communicator (especially to the region at large), so the Delegate is a logical communication agent for the region. The Delegate also wields considerable soft power in the region, making communication more widely accepted. I would highly encourage you to reconsider your position on not communicating with the region, again, it doesn’t have to be a continuation of what I did.
It has been the informal policy of the CRS not to allow sitting Delegates to become CRS members. Obviously, you are already on the CRS, but the intention is undoubtedly to create a firewall between our Delegate and the security firewall during a crisis. Would you consider, and follow through on, resigning from the CRS for the duration of your potential delegacy?
Similar to what you asked of UDS, will you be resigning as Crown Prince of Selene? Inactivity there aside, I am more concerned with a candidate for Delegate having foreign regions on their Conflict of Interest Disclosure than a Prime Minister. The Prime Minister might make the government’s decisions and decide regional direction, but we hand the Delegate the literal keys to the Coalition.
I have a feeling that this will be more of a “when” scenario rather than an “if” scenario. You have more or less been leading the policy and government of the South Pacific for the last two years. That being said, your answer to this question gives me some pause. In real life (to put a sorta similar scenario), government workers are often subject to “revolving door” policies, which make them unable to join organizations that can influence the government. Similar to what I did, do you think there should be a “cooling off” period enshrined into the law to prevent hopping between the two highest jobs in the region and thus allowing obtained influence (soft and hard) to dissipate?
I’m going to preface this because, of course, RL > NS, always. That being said, your adjustments to endotarting might not be doing the trick. Despite being on the CRS and being able to freely endotart to a higher cap than Coral Guard members, your endorsement numbers have remained in decline relative to mine for well over a year, and even since your Delegate campaign this past January. This might just be me, but I would have definitely sought to close the gap as best I could if I had any plans to run again. All the easy nations have endorsed you. It’s a true slug fest to get the last 150+ nations that have to be individually telegrammed to endorse you. The last thing the region needs (for the sake of regional stability) is an extended Delegate transition or a Delegate having to meet the Delegate-elect somewhere in the middle of their two endorsement counts (thus sacrificing more hard-earned endorsements, and thus WA Influence, than needed). That being said, I’ll ask the same question I asked six months ago: Are you confident that you will be able to 1) get your endorsements high enough quickly enough so a potential transition is not lengthened unnecessarily? and 2) Will you be able to aggressively maintain (and even work on growing) your endorsement levels should you become the Delegate?
Agreed! Despite endorsement counts declining due to overall (sitewide) nation declines, the current WA Endorsement Ratio is just over 85%, which has literally never been that high before. Should you be elected, I hope you can maintain, or even grow, that number.
I’ll ask this more light-hearted question too:
As you have seen, Cake has only gotten more popular since the last time you answered this question, so I’ll ask it again: Will you pinky promise not to persecute Cake lovers (and also continue Anjo and my policies of persecuting pie lovers) should you secure election? Remember, a pinky promise is unbreakable! 