So, wanted to have a chat about this by-election for a few reasons.

The first is the obvious reason - campaigning was way different. Instead of four campaign posts and one party post, this campaign had two campaign posts, one party posts, and two debates - one live debate and one forum debate. I think the forum debate worked well, but I'm a little less sure about the live debate. We kind of lucked out by having most participants from the Asia/Pacific region. I'm not sure if this would work again, especially not as an expected part of campaigning, so I'd like to hear your thoughts.

The second is campaign related, but also not - Merrily should probably not have dropped from a 17-point lead to not making the 2PP. Her campaign was good, her debate responses were good - sure, the big lead she had wasn't sustainable, but she basically did everything she could to stay competitive. Which leads me onto the next point - without a party post, it is difficult for independents to do well in a competitive race.

Having one extra post, one extra opportunity for mods, can be the edge. So my thoughts are that independents should either have one extra post or (potentially hot take here) the party post should be scrapped in by-elections like this. Either way, I don't think it's that fair that independents have a disadvantage in races like this, so I'd like to hear your thoughts.

And if you have any other commentary about the by-election or questions, let me know.

model-amn

Electoral Moderator