Triumvirate of the Mostly Harmless Alliance

Early Days
In the early days of the MHA, the Alliance government consisted of two bodies: the Executive Overseers and the Senate.

The Executive
The Executive of the MHA was comprised of the Internal, Operations, and External Overseers. The initial positions were held by to Vinny P, JimmyK, and Rich respectively, as the founders of the Alliance. When a Founding Overseer retired they were able to appoint a successor. After all original office holders retired, the Overseer positions were filled by election.

The Senate
The Senate consisted of 5 Senators elected monthly by the Alliance Membership and served as a legislature making Alliance laws.

The Harmless Revolution
The Harmless Revolution, the pet project of long time MHA government member WCR, took effect in the final weeks of 2007 radically altered the structure of the MHA Government, and the Senate and Overseers were replaced with an all-powerful Triumvirate.

The Triumvirate
The Triumvirate is a 3-member Executive Council, elected by the people of the alliance. As the alliance's Head of State, the Triumvirate are responsible for legislating alliance policy, the ratification of all treaties, overseeing all internal departments, deployment of the alliance military, and management of all alliance affairs. The Triumvirs are the decision-making body and leaders of the Mostly Harmless Alliance.

Election history
Below is the election history and other Nominees for the Triumvirate elections

The First Triumvirate
After the adoption of the Harmless Revolution, the search was on for the first MHA Triumvirate. Only eight people were eligible for the three places. Eligibility was restricted to such members who had served in the MHA for a period of six months, and held a leadership position for three months.

The Eight people who were Eligible for office were: Johnson, Denzin, WCR, Madoverseer, Genzod, Doc Taco, ArianGD, and Craftj2.

Of those individuals only Denzin, WCR and Madoverseer expressed their interest, and as a result the "First Triumvirate" were acclaimed to office without an Election in December 07

The Second Triumvirate
At the end of February, mominations were taken for the first MHA Triumviral election. As several individuals gained eligibility in the preceding three months, new potential candidates emerged. Seven people put their names forward: Denzin, Destroyer, WCR, Scrumptusbrisket, Anagent, Silok and Johnson. Madoverseer deciding not to seek a second term.

The polls opened on Febuary 28th. The Results were:
 * Working Class Ruler [68 Votes]
 * Denzin [65 Votes]
 * Johnson [55 Votes]
 * An Agent [29 votes]
 * Silok [21 Votes]
 * Scrumptusbrisket [15 Votes]
 * Destroyer [7 votes]

Both WCR and Denzin retained there seats as Triumvirs, while Johnson filled the seat vacated by Madoverseer.

The Third Triumvirate
At the end of May, nominations were taken for the Third Triumvirate. The Nominees where: WCR, Johnson, Denzin, Iron Will And Dpops

The Results were:
 * Working Class Ruler [77 votes]
 * Johnson [72 Votes]
 * Denzin [71 Votes]
 * IronWill [46 votes]
 * Dpops [39 votes]

All incumbents retained their seats.

The Fourth Triumvirate
Riding on the heels of the MHA's war with Genesis, the Alliance entered into its fourth triumviral election cycle with great anticipation and hype. The nominees were Rustynail, WCR, Denzin and Johnson. The campaign, which focused on activity and reform, was set off in style by a thread made by Raholia (now of Argent). The election was a charged event, with the supporters of Rustynail being particularly vocal, and saw the largest turnout for a triumviral election to date. The results were:


 * Working Class Ruler [138 Votes]
 * Johnson [122 Votes]
 * Denzin [118 Votes]
 * Rustynail [81 votes]

WCR, Johnson and Denzin retained their positions maintaining the unbroken MHA tradition of re-electing incumbents. Shorty after the election a number of MHA members, including the defeated Rustynail decided to leave the MHA and would go on to form their own alliance, Argent.

Johnson steps down; Count Rupert rises
Shorty after the election of the Fourth Triumvirate, Johnson, under pressure from RL, felt unable to maintain the workload and activity required by his office and consequently decided to step down pending his replacement as per the Harmless Revolution. As per the Harmless revolution a Replacement need to be brought in from the Ministry. Only three Ministers were eligible: Count Rupert, Shamshir and John Rocker. The Ministers and remaining Triumvirs elected Count Rupert as Johnson's replacement.

Changes to Triumvirate Voting
Following the Argent spit and the unique series of events which lead to the MHA having two unelected triumvirs, it was decided that changes were needed. Opting to start small, a plan for staggered elections were enacted in October 08. One Triumvir Seat would be opened for election each month.

The Third Seat Election November 08
The first election to be held was for the seat vacated by the long serving and popular Denzin, who was sadly forced to retire due to RL pressures on his time. The nominees for the Third Seat were Doc Taco and John Mathews. The results were


 * Doc Taco [90 Votes]
 * John Mathews [36 Votes]

The Second Seat Election December 08
Count Rupert's seat opened for election at the end of November. Three candidates contested a fiery and intense election: Count Rupert, Tristram and John Mathews. Count Rupert retained his seat by a very narrow margin over the up-and-coming Deputy Minister of Towels. Results:
 * Count Rupert [49 Votes]
 * Tristram [43 Votes]
 * John Mathews [13 Votes] (*)

(*) John Mathews pulled out of the race on the second day of polling.

The First Seat election January 09
The January elections saw the MHA membership taken by surprise when the perpetually serving WCR announced, only hours before nominations were to open, that he would not be seeking another term. Three nominees put their names forward: Floyd, Thunderstruck and DrakeZ07 The Results were:
 * Floyd [60 votes]
 * Thunderstruck [9 Votes]
 * DrakeZ07 [5 Votes]

The Third Seat Election Febuary 09
The Febuary elections began with three people on the fore front for the election. John Mathews, Working Class Ruler and Thunderstruck. Unfortunately John Mathews was Deemed ineligible to run by the MHA court. allowing it to be a two man race between Working Class Ruler and Thunderstruck. The results were
 * Working Class Ruler [103 Votes]
 * Thunderstruck [50 Votes]

The Second Seat Election March 09
The March election once again had only two candidates aiming for the spot as MHA Triumvirate, Count rupert decided not to Return to the Triumvirate leaving it open for a Brand New Triumvirate. it was contested between John Mathews and Shamshir the results were: a lower poll turn out of 85 from the 153 in the last month.
 * Shamshir [51 Votes]
 * John Mathews [31 votes]
 * Abstain [3 Votes]

Trivia

 * The largest margin of victory occurred in Nov 08 when Doc Taco won by 54 votes, though this was after the implementation of the 1 seat rotating elections.
 * The narrowest margin of victory was in Dec 08 election were Count Rupert edged out Tristram by only 6 votes.
 * WCR was the longest serving Triumvir, having held the office for a total of 13 months consecutively.