Now that Bnzss has stepped down as Head Moderator, nominating incumbent Speaker Padanub to the role, a speaker election is now underway. The field of candidates for speaker of the House of Commons is small, with one notable candidate dropping out of the race. Here we outline some background of the candidates and what each candidate promises to deliver.

Djenial

The Labour Party member has stood for every speaker election since Timanfya’s first resignation in July last year. He is noted for being a figure that many people have respect for, with outgoing Speaker /u/Padanub describing him as “the epitome of common sense and sensible thinking”. He is currently the longest serving Deputy Speaker since RoryTime appointed him and is serving as the Chairman of Ways and Means. The reason for standing in every speaker election so far, he states, is “because I have a manifesto brimming with ideas and ways to implement them”.

What we can learn from Djenial’s manifesto:

• Will implement vote modifiers. He stresses that the reason he supports vote modifiers is not to counteract the left wing reddit bias, but to ensure that the actions of parties “are evaluated at the ballot box. He is critical of the current way in which general elections are essentially random. He also wants not just the legislative performance of MPs to be included in the vote modifiers, but also the successes, failures, scandals and embarassments of each individual MP - something that will be a lot more difficult than a basic legislation-related modifier. He believes that vote modifiers in which there is a tapering effect where actions have more of an effect during the end of the term than at the beginning.

• Supports devolution. He sees it as the best way to increase member retention. He will support the enforcement of the dual mandate.

• Introducing an electoral roll. Despite opposing RoryTime’s famously controversial proposal, Djenial believes an electoral roll that covers just MHOC rather than the whole model world will be essential for the implementation of devolution. It will ensure that there is a more realistic parliament and that parties do not brigade votes in the devolved assemblies.

• EU referendum. Djenial sees a second referendum on EU membership will be good for the community and it will be a way to get more people involved in the simulation.

• Expanding events. He wants events to be taken more seriously in the community and increase their impact on the game, while also increasing the purpose of MPs representing their constituencies.

• Adding new positions. Enhancing the game with new positions that may not necessarily hold significant power outside events, will help new members and non-MPs to get more involved and to feel like they have more of a purpose in the community.

• Encouraging new members. Increasing the information available to new members by creating more helpful guides as well as tackling the ‘unwelcome’ environment in the Discord chat.

• Improving record keeping. To make the wikia official and look into ways of introducing a user-friendly database.

• Encouraging small regional parties. To encourage the participation of regional parties by awarding them party status with just six members. This would mean Sinn Fein would be eligible, something their leader has campaigned for over nine months for.

TheQuipton

TheQuipton is a former Leader of the Conservative Party, having previously served as Deputy Prime Minister during JellyTom’s premiership and as Leader of the Opposition. He joined the community back in 2014 and is currently sitting in the House of Lords. He was appointed to the Speakership by Athanaton in November last year. Widely popular in the community, he is famously associated with the proposals to introduce vote modifiers to elections. /u/Padanub said that he and TheQuipton “recognise the potential of each other”. His manifesto is a whopping five and a half thousand words long.

What we can learn from TheQuipton’s manifesto:

• ’Bureaucracy’. He states that since the triumvirate has been established, bureaucracy has grown and the role of deputy speakers has shrunk which has led to a knock-on effect in terms of motivation. He wants to transform the speakership into a body that is made up of people with passion for particular areas. Also re-opening /r/mhocspeakership for the speakerships to properly debate ‘meaty’ meta issues.

• Devolution is wanted by the community. TheQuipton strongly believes that although previous additions such as committees were good innovations by previous speakers, they were not demanded by the community and have as a result lost popularity and appear dead. Devolution is in contrast wanted by the community. As his plans for devolution are extensive, more can be seen in his manifesto and his articles on the issue.

• Update the constitution. He recognises that some parts of the constitution are unclear and changes often have to be rushed through at the last minute. The constitution also has to actually be properly enforced. Allow the community to propose changes at any time.

• Improving the results of MHOCMeta debates. Many meta discussions get are thoroughly debated, however most of the time nothing actually happens in response to the debate.

• Fix the committee ‘abyss’. He recognises that the backlog in the amendments committee will only grow larger unless action is taken and he has stated that one of his first actions as Speaker would be to hold a vote on how to reform it.

• Introducing vote modifiers. No matter how you play the game, at the end of the term, it has almost no impact on election results, he stated. It would also allow more meaningful events and a way to have consequences on actions taken, so that it is actually possible to ‘win’ the game.

Akc8

The only candidate not to be serving in the Speakership, Akc8 is the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and a previous leadership candidate. His announcement to stand came as a surprise to many people and he has stated that “the debate for such an important position needs a non-speakership voice” and that he is not standing just for the purpose of winning.

What we can learn from Akc8’s manifesto:

• Wary of vote modifiers. Akc8 has described the fact that although the current system of elections causes people to spam reddit, we should not be introducing a meta intervention for parties to earn seats and can lead to parties spamming poor quality legislation just to earn modifiers. He rejects the idea that the left wing bias of reddit needs to be ‘fixed’.

• Caution needs to be taken with devolution. He acknowledges that previous attempts to add more to the simulation, such as select committees have failed. He wants the community to take time to debate and vote on the three possible options of implementing devolution.

• Less confusion for new members. Creating a user friendly guide to the acts passed will be helpful. He wants to encourage parties to also do more to help discussion with newer members.

• Prioritising government legislation. Expand powers to the Leader of the House of Commons so that government promises are not waiting behind a long bill queue.

• Clarity with events. Have a /r/MHOCMeta post for every official event taking place and to have a clear schedule and warning of each event.

• Reduce the power of parties over MPs. If a party wishes to remove an MP for breaking the whip, they should contact the speakership for approval.

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