[CAMPAIGN] Cappedore for Archon - The War on Disunity, Inactivity, and the Pursuit of Transformation!

[Cappedore]

Campaign song: “The Dark Forest” by Muse

I’m running to be TEP’s first Archon!

Now, I know what you may be thinking: “who’s this weirdo and why’s he running to be the first Archon in TEP history!?” And to that I say, great question!

For those of you who don’t already know me, hey! I’m Cappedore, maybe better known as Tommo, and I’ve been around in TEP for nearly five years now. I’ve done a whole number of things; maybe you know me as the four-timer Minister of Culture, or perhaps you remember me from my days as Minister of World Assembly Affairs. Or maybe you even remember my days as Vice Delegate. Maybe we’ve served together in the Magisterium. Perhaps you remember me from EPSA, or UTEP, or maybe you know me as a host of our beloved monthly Hunger Games. Or maybe you just think I’m some stupid British person. You’d be correct any way you know me as!

For the last half a decade, I have spent my late teenage to my early adult years in TEP, and I have thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. TEP is, in many ways, my second home. We have a wonderful community here, and I’m immensely proud to have served it for so long. Now, I’d like to take my skills and passions to the next level.

Why am I running to be Archon? Because things need to change. We’ve been stagnating for far too long, and I’m actively seeking to change that. I’ve been passionate about changing this region from lower positions since I got here, particularly during my time in government, but I have come to realise that lasting change will only come from the very top . The delegates before me, notably AMOM and Dremaur, have laid the foundations upon which we can build meaningful change. Now, at the beginning of the HOGS era, it’s time to enact it.

Welcome to what I believe is my biggest and most ambitious campaign yet!

★ A NEW, UNITED ERA OF THE EAST PACIFIC ★

It really is no secret that TEP is changing in peculiar ways. We’ve established ourselves as a neutral, powerful force in NSGP. We’ve reconnected with old friends in the West. We’re at the cusp of growing more powerful. I want to take this “new era” to the very next level. An East that is powerful on all fronts, be it GP, WA, FA, the lot. The groundwork needs to be set so we can enter the next decade more prosperous than ever. Yeah that’s right, the next decade. I’m nothing short of an optimist. NS is a great community and we are its future. We need to think further ahead if we want the community to continue to thrive. As somebody who still very much feels like “new blood”, I want to lead a progressive “TEP of tomorrow”. Tomorrow’s East Pacific, if you will, and that starts by focusing on the issues of today.

The basis of my campaign, and my potential time as Archon, would be unity. For the past few years, we have been plagued by disunity within the community, a real “us vs. them” attitude amongst server members that has to stop, a real culture of politics that has been poisoning our playerbase for far too long. We’ve lost members to such disunity. Why, in 2026, is the TEP government seen as a gang of elitists? You may have thought that problem ended when Cordone / Corsair split, but I’ve seen recurring attitudes from RMBers and other communities that there is a certain level of distrust towards TEP’s government. This has to stop. We need to be united as a community and I seek to shake the ground, and the establishment, top from bottom, to ensure that we emphasise that we are a meritocracy, and that you can do anything in TEP when you put your mind to it. I consider myself a prime example of that.

Consider that my opening to this campaign. In reality, I’m just a 21 year old Brit who, at the best of times, has too much time on his hands, a passion for leadership, and really super deep and intricate interests in stuff like Muse and Resident Evil… and loads of other things! (If I may use this opportunity, check out the new Muse album, it’s really cool!). For now, let’s get into the specifics in terms of policy points.

★ REGIONAL UNITY ★

I recognise that “regional unity” nowadays is quite a broad, nuanced term that can mean anything. Let me break it down.

The RP split: TEP runs two entirely separate roleplay worlds. One on the RMB, Valsora, and one on the forums, Urth. Now no, it isn’t my desire to combine these into one mega Valsorurth. But in my view, both are still hugely detached from TEP as a whole. The government needs to be more productive in ensuring the survivability of both communities. Now I largely respect that Valsora is pretty much self-governing, with the RMB Council and such, and it isn’t my desire to change that. But I definitely think Urth could do with a bit more investment, too! To address the elephant in the room, in my opinion, Urth is hugely inactive. I appreciate this is down to many of us Urth lot having, y’know, A REAL LIFE outside of NS (how dare you have actual lives!!) but there’s so much potential in terms of worldbuilding and storytelling to be had in Urth. I see it in Valsora, now Urth needs some of that! As a result of this, I intend on establishing an elected Council of Urth to pool ideas on what the TEP government can be doing to make Urth better. I also intend on improving communication with the RMB Council and the Valsoran contingent. One-on-one talks with me as Archon will always be open for anyone and everyone, but I do intend on utilising official channels to ensure that both communities are flourishing and happy.

Politics: Internal regional politics. No, I’m not talking about left-wing vs. right-wing. I’m referring more to the perception that TEP gov is hugely out of touch. I’m tired of this sentiment, and while I recognise that you can never please everyone in such a large community, I want to douse one fire before it gets out of control. Cordone is a prime example of that, and the last thing we need is another Cordone situation. As Archon, I plan to establish an open presence in the RMB community by actively participating in active discussions in the RMB Cafeteria, engaging in RMB discussions, and making a real effort with newer members. This includes actively seeking newer members to get involved in our regional community, be it through worldbuilding, art, community events, etc.

Speaking of, Events: culture is an ass to run, I speak from experience. But we do need more events in the region, ones that root out from our signature monthly hunger games. Active communication with culture, and encouraging the ministry to set up events that Valsorans, Urthers, non-RPers, etc, can all get involved in will be my top priority. Deeper cooperation between FA and Culture is deeply important in maintaining healthy, active relationships with our allies, too, and I will make a point of this if I am elected. More on my big big plans for culture in its own section down below.

In short, I plan to:

• Initiate schemes to bring new and exciting roleplayers and worldbuilders to Urth and Valsora

• Establish a Council of Urth

• Be more communicative and transparent with Urth and Valsora

• Actively and productively participate in all areas of the community

• Encourage communication and cooperation between Culture (Communications) ministry and FA ministry so larger community events can happen on a regular basis

★ FOREIGN AFFAIRS ★

It’s been a busy few years for TEP in GP. From the ongoing conflict with Corsair to rebuilding our friendship with The West Pacific, we’ve demonstrated that our region can both defend itself and cultivate meaningful partnerships. Under my Archonship, I intend to build on both of these fronts.

I’ll make no secret of the fact that I’m not huge on the wider GCR establishment. While we have good friends in places like TNP and The League, for too long, we’ve been seen as a pawn of raiderdom/defenderdom petty squabbling and there have been times in the past where we have been greatly let down by our allies. I will remain cordial and close with our allies as Archon, but we need to remember that TEP is a region of community-driven values and stability, and I aspire to make a point of this as a leading representative of the region.

The Cordone War will continue under my leadership. We need to continue the projection that we are not a region to be intimidated or undermined in any respect. Cordone will continue to feel the almighty fist of TEP’s scorn and I am going to make an easy example out of them.

Building on my first point more broadly, I believe it is time for TEP to adopt a firmer posture in foreign affairs. Too often, we have been viewed as the “little guy” among the GCRs - a region whose goodwill can be taken for granted or whose interests can be overlooked. There have been occasions where even close friends have pursued their own interests at our expense. While diplomacy will always remain my preferred tool, friendship should never come at the expense of mutual respect. Our relationships should be built on mutual respect and reciprocity, not on assumptions that TEP will always compromise.

I also want TEP to seek closer relationships with smaller UCRs. I come from a UCR, they are great communities and often a lot more close-knit than bigger UCRs and GCRs. Forming close bonds with smaller UCRs can help boost not only activity within TEP, but also within the UCRs we seek to establish ties with. So I’d say pursuing relationships with other UCRs, given they’re OOC cleared, is always welcome, and I will emphasise on this as Archon.

I will also seek to actively deepen our existing partnerships, most notably our newfound companionship with TWP. Under my Archonship, I will seek to set up some cultural community events with members of TWP and a greater cultural exchange in general.

In short, I plan to:

• Continuation of the Cordone War

• Take a more region-first approach to foreign affairs

• Prioritise the interests of TEP in terms of international happenings

• Deepen existing partnerships, form a closer bond with TWP

• Pursue closer relationships with newer and smaller UCRs

★ CULTURE, NEWS & COMMUNICATIONS ★

I wanted to build on culture on a more in-depth level, as I consider it to be one of my strengths here in TEP. I spoke a lot about regional unity so far, and culture is pretty much the key basis of such unity. It’s the foundation of the community, without the memes, lore, and cultural events that we have, there wouldn’t be any real twang to the East, so I’m glad to have had the opportunity to serve culture as minister so many times and for so long.

I already spoke about improving inter-ministry communication so that everyone runs more effectively, but I also wanted to stress the importance of Culture working with other ministries like foreign affairs and news to improve outreach and engagement. We’ve already covered the FA side, so what about news?

I want to build more on EPNS. It’s struggled over the last few years and we need to pull it out of the swamps. We’ve had a revolving door of news ministers (and just… ministers in general, honestly) and that hasn’t helped the stability of these ministries.

In short, I want to merge Culture & News into a single ministry named the Ministry of Communications and I want to cooperate deeply with its prospective minister to help build the ministry into something flourishing, including a devolution of powers within the ministry (similar to what we have going on with Foreign Affairs) so that it works more effectively. I’d also like to see if this ministry can work intertwined with UTEP under its wing. Recruitment will also see a merger into this new ministry.

The Ministry of Communications would manage community events (e.g. the Hunger Games, game nights, UTEP Tea Time, etc.), govern the recruitment strategies of our region, and EPNS would operate as a devolved wing of it. I want EPNS to be more community-ran; with community articles, weekly/monthly showcases of art / maps / anything else made by members of the community. A complete overhaul of EPNS may be absolutely necessary.

In short:

• Bigger emphasis on Culture & Events during my time as Archon.

• Merging of the News, Culture, and Recruitment ministries into the Ministry of Communications.

• Overhaul of the Communications framework & operations, allowing UTEP to operate under the wing of the Communications ministry.

• Making EPNS community-driven, potential complete overhaul + rebranding of EPNS.

★ WORLD ASSEMBLY AFFAIRS ★

Where it all started for me, really. My run in TEP government began all the way back in 2022, with a year-long run as Minister of World Assembly Affairs. While not entirely proficient in the WA, I do recognise its importance to us as a GCR and the wider… worldwide community around it. And I’ve always been hugely interested in writing for the WA at some point, at least once, while I’m on NS.

We’re in a good spot with WA, so there’s not much I would change. But I do echo probably what is quite a popular viewpoint at the moment that our own personal authorship needs to go up. I will henceforth be encouraging WA co-authorship between members of the community, including myself, during my time as Archon. We also need some kind of program that gives a platform for the new and aspiring WA authors of our community to practice their skills and even get some authorships and co-authorships out themselves. There are plenty in TEP who have the passion, but just view the WA as a largely inaccessible elitist fest and I want to change this attitude.

Cretox has been an exceptional WA Minister, Commissioner, whatever we call it now (I’ll probably be seeking to bring back the old “minister” title for consistency’s sake) and has done more than I could’ve ever dreamed in the year I had leading the WA ministry.

Who knows? Maybe even later down the line we’ll have one of our region’s very best in the Secretariat

So, in short:

• Set up a program that gives new and aspiring WA authors a larger platform.

• Cooperate with authors and assist with co-authorships

• Dismantle the attitude that the WA, and authorship in the WA, is inaccessible.

★ A BIG, BEAUTIFUL EPSA ★

No word of a lie, EPSA is probably at its strongest point in years right now. But it can ALWAYS BE STRONGER!

As Archon, I will continue to emphasise and stress the importance of EPSA to the wider regional membership and look to further consolidate and improve upon EPSA operations and policies, and will actively participate in the recruitment of new EPSA soldiers.

EPSA is more than just a wartime tool, it’s the stone walls that have kept our region safe for years. It’s part of what makes TEP so incredibly great.

★ SO, WHY CAPPEDORE? ★

We are experiencing changing times in TEP, and I feel greatly optimistic about our future as a region and as a community. I’ve always wanted to take the lead as a driving force of change in the region, and now is the perfect opportunity to nab and enact real change. I am continuously progressive, massively open-minded and keen to compromise on anything. But my keenness for trade-offs should never be mistaken for weakness; I am steadfast, thick-skinned and I hardly ever go down without a fight. By 6 months’ time, we need a functioning Urth council, a brand-spanking new mega-ministry that forms the hard foundation of our community, greater inter-ministry promulgation and a newfound approach to interregional communications.

Under my leadership, I intend to build a cabinet of ministers full of fresh faces. I appreciate that there’s only so far you can go when it comes to newer members in leading government positions, but our roster is continuously updating, and the only way we can pursue the future is by not hanging onto the past! Newer, passionate members of TEP will always be at the very forefront of my campaign, and I hope this sentiment is echoed amongst members who have been here a little longer

Tomorrow’s East Pacific lies in our hands, and I’m excited and eager to make a lasting impact that can help improve our region and make our mark on the global stage. And if I don’t win, either way, I hope my campaign points start some very important long overdue conversations about our region’s future!

Happy HOGS era, and Vote Cappedore!

[Lucklife]

Tommo. I have several questions. This is the first. When I started revitalising the EPSA, you were still roled as a soldier and not yet a vizier. We tried planning a banner contest with you but was dropped and put on hold until we finally chased you down during the delegate elections.

Afterwards, as we were desperately trying to rebuild the EPSA and get members, I DMed you to join in deployments multiple times, only to be left on read until you finally replied that you weren’t interested in the EPSA and we deroled you.

What assurances can you give to future heads and members of the EPSA that you care about them?

Your track record as it stands show that you don’t have time to coordinate events for the EPSA and you don’t care to do the simplest method of contribution - deployment piling

[Cappedore]

You’re right that there was a period where I wasn’t contributing to EPSA in the way I should have been, so your concerns aren’t unfounded at all. I wasn’t as responsive as I should have been. That’s on me. The context is that this coincided with a period where I was becoming increasingly overwhelmed both in NationStates and in real life. Rather than recognising that early and stepping away from commitments I couldn’t fulfil, I let things drift. Looking back, that wasn’t fair on you or the rest of the people trying to rebuild the organisation.

That said, I don’t think one long period of inactivity defines my commitment to TEP as a whole. If I take on a responsibility, I intend to be present for it. I’m not promising that I’ll suddenly become the region’s most active deployer, that’s not the role I’m running for. What I am promising is that EPSA will continue to receive my full support as one of the region’s core institutions. I’ll be working closely with its leadership now, especially at such a pivotal time (e.g. the Cordone war) and looking to see how I can give back to it.

I appreciate your concern, I haven’t exactly been fair on you, and I know you and I don’t always see eye to eye.

[Zukchiva]

Hey Cap, I like the campaign design!

Some questions:

1. including a devolution of powers within the ministry (similar to what we have going on with Foreign Affairs) so that it works more effectively.

   Could you specify what structure you’re envisioning with this? It seems like you’re effectively bringing back the Ministry of Regional Affairs under a different name.

   Also, how do you plan to mitigate the heavier workload on a ministry portfolio (Culture) as you said/know is already an extremely difficult workload?

2. What are your plans in specific for UTEP?

3. What are your plans in specific for recruitment?

4. Dremaur discusses revamping forum access to streamline integration. What are your plans, if any, for altering TEP’s infrastructure (whether it be forum/discord/dispatch) to streamline the newbie experience?

5. How do you plan to help newbies who spawn in here from being total noobs to getting involved in RP/government? What resources/people/processes will you make/dedicate to help guide them to where they want to go?

6. How do you plan to get newer people involved in the Executive? What tasks would you give newer people, what positions would you give/create that give newer people actual stuff to do, etc?

7. Discord social activity is at an all-time low. How do you plan to address this?

8. What do you plan to do if your community-driven EPNS initiative fails? By what metrics will you deem it successful or a failure?

[Cretox]

This is a solid platform and your focus on internal culture is laudable. Without culture, there’s really no coherent community to speak of, and that flows into every aspect of the region. Culture is also the primary driver of regional background activity, whether that be RPing, participating in events, or just chatting, and that background activity provides our internal recruitment base. As you indicated, hosting events and cultivating regional culture can be grueling work, but it’s also vital. Spending an Archon term, especially the first ever one, centering regional culture could pay serious dividends years into the future if done properly.

1. Urth is far less promoted than Valsora. It’s also less active; those two things influence each other. Do you feel Urth currently has the numbers, activity, and interest to sustain a Council, or are there other avenues to boosting Urth that you are interested in exploring?
2. Could you elaborate on a few specific “times in the past where we have been greatly let down by our allies” and “occasions where even close friends have pursued their own interests at our expense,” and what lessons can be learned from them?
3. Do you have any specific UCRs in mind for pursuing closer relations with, or is this a door-is-always-open sort of thing?
4. Are you committed to calling the consolidated culture-news-recruitment ministry Communications? I would think calling it Culture or something related to that would make more sense due to that being its priority.
5. Any specific plans for UTEP, especially given its thematic overlap with some parts of culture?
6. EPNS consistently struggles with getting articles to publish, much less publishing them on time. How would you tackle this problem? If it being more community-run was a solution, I can’t help but think EPNS wouldn’t be facing these challenges.
7. TEP has activity. We have activity on the RMB, on the forum, and on the Discord, yet we struggle with government staffing, which would logically intensify any perceived disconnect between the cabinet-level government and the broader community. Would you prioritize this sort of internal recruitment, and if so, in what way?
8. Do you have personal interest in WA authorship, and more broadly, do you have a personal ideological stake in the WA? Or do you plan to approach things strictly from a regional interest perspective?
9. The EPSA is an ascendant force, but we also have a domestic WA program through REWARD and the Hussars. Do you have any plans regarding that?
10. You’ll be the first ever Archon. How do you envision your relationship with the Vizier Delegate, and how do you plan to address any potential growing pains?

[Cappedore]

Thanks! I always like to add a little flair to things like these haha, like most of us do

To answer your questions:

1 - I appreciate that it seems as if I’m attempting to re-establish the MoRA, and while yes it indeed has its similarities, that isn’t exactly what I’m trying to imitate. My vision for a Ministry of Communications is much narrower and more focused. Rather than being a broad “community ministry,” it would have one core purpose: managing how TEP communicates with both its own members and the wider NS community.

That includes

• Community events and engagement
• EPNS and internal news
• Recruitment and integration
• Working closely with FA on cultural exchanges and outreach.

I am inspired by the old Ministry of Regional Affairs. But it’s clear that the dissolution of an integrated ministry responsible for recruitment, cultural events, news, outreach, etc. hasn’t worked. If it had worked, we wouldn’t have such rampant problems with inactivity like we currently do. I note that you mentioned how Discord activity is at an all-time low in one of your later questions, this shouldn’t be happening!!! The fact that we’ve allowed it to get to this position should raise flags that some restructuring needs to be done.

One minister would be in charge, and can appoint a few deputies to serve as the heads of respective departments, e.g. a Head of Culture, a Head of Recruitment, a Head of EPNS, etc. A devolved ministry like this, in the hopes that it is led by TEP’s strongest communicators, should work a lot more efficiently and get a lot more done.

2 - On UTEP, I’m going to kill two birds with one stone here, so also link your question 5 to this question.

In terms of integrating UTEP with the Communications ministry, there’s potential in the organisation to serve as a good starting point for newcomers. Working with UTEP to create new factbooks, forum posts, etc. that allow new users to comfortably navigate and understand TEP is the first step to helping them get integrated.

I’d also like to link in question 4 to this exact point. You see our forums? I wonder how often people from relevant areas of TEP (Valsora, Urth, Gov etc.) are actually notified about the arrival of newcomers and the sort of stuff they’d be interested in here. As Archon, I want to take a hands-on approach to welcoming new members and making them feel at home, asking what they’d be interested in doing here, and giving them the necessary pathways to get involved in TEP, be it through roleplay, government, or a whole assortment of different things.

UTEP can assist in this. We need more stuff written about, say, the OOC history of Urth and Valsora, intricated details about the government and recent TEP history (2019 coup, the Cordone war, the Concrisis, HOGs, etc.) and helping them settle in the modern environment.

I also think Urth and Valsora can, at times, be largely inaccessible. It took me a while to fully adapt to the roleplaying style of Urth and I never properly managed to grasp how Valsora properly operated. Maybe I’m just dumb, who knows, but I do know that these shouldn’t be difficult communities to integrate into, and I want this to be echoed throughout my whole campaign.

3 - Recruitment is still, as always, a difficult nut to crack in such times, and it has been ever since frontiers/strongholds came into play. Considering that we definitely still lose a lot of members to other feeders and UCRs (cough Cordone/Corsair cough) I’d say recruitment is always important and, in fact, integral during these times.

Like I said earlier, a greater emphasis on onboarding is necessary, and I previously just laid out my plans for that. We need to make sure new arrivals know what’s available to them, whether that’s the RMB, the forums, RP, the World Assembly, EPSA, Culture, or government service. A lot of players simply don’t realise how much there is to do in TEP. Recruitment shouldn’t end when someone joins the Discord or registers on the forum. I’d like to see newcomers actively introduced to areas that match their interests, rather than leaving them to figure everything out on their own. Perhaps, back to your UTEP point, polls ran by UTEP asking newcomers about their interests could help introduce them to all the wonderful things there are to do in TEP.

Retention is also massively important. Success shouldn’t be measured by how many recruitment telegrams we send, but by how many people are still active a month or six months later. That’s why I’ve put such an emphasis on events, communications, EPNS, and inter-ministry cooperation. An active community is the best recruitment tool we have.

4 - see question 2

5 - see question 2

6 - Hyping people up about the future is always a key initiative, in my opinion, heh. There’s always fun ways to get newer people involved in the executive. For example, in FA, newcomers assisting and shadowing the minister / an appointed ambassador in establishing and maintaining important relationships is once way to stir intrigue in an executive ministry like FA.

Giving people the opportunities to run their own events, like in Communications, is also helpful. Maybe a newcomer would want to set up a Minecraft server, play a Discord game, maybe just hang out and chat. They should be given the pathways to set up their own events via the Ministry of Communication.

I’d want a WA Minister who is passionate about involving aspiring GA / SC authors. Opening the door for co-authorships not with already established authors, but new authors who aren’t well known or not known at all, can help encourage activity within the WA ministry. It’s also just massively important that we invest in the future of our WA writers now more than ever for obvious reasons.

7 - Like I said, this shouldn’t be happening!!! How is Discord activity at an all-time low when the system we have in place should be actively designed to prevent that? It clearly isn’t working. My plan for an integration of duties within a new Communications ministry is the first step to creating new and exciting events in the Discord.

Bringing back Eastward Bound (remember? the podcast!) and allowing everybody to get involved in some kind of bi-weekly podcast can be an important starting point. I loved the idea of Eastward Bound, being able to talk openly about TEP events, GP events, RP events and the such. It formed such an important part of the community.

Daily questions / polls in the Discord wouldn’t hurt anybody. I want to set up a system, working with the culture ministry, to establish a “Question of the Day” or a “Poll of the Day” to liven up discussion in the Discord. On that note, I’d also like to further utilise polls on the main site to help stir up some sweet sweet discussion on the RMB.

8 - Honestly, any kind of consistent output from EPNS is a win in my books. Maybe the current structure we have doesn’t work, maybe we need to look at establishing a new direction for the news service. While I don’t have a solid plan right now, I do think it may help to establish a team of people passionate about transforming EPNS within the Communication ministry to pool some new ideas and perhaps get the ball rolling on the news service’s future.

I hope I managed to answer some of your points here

[Lucklife]

As a follow up, let me ask - What sort of support do you imagine that you will be providing to your future Overseeing Officer?

[Zukchiva]

For the most part yes, thank you for answering my questions. I may ask more later, but in any case good luck!

[Cappedore]

Thanks for your comments regarding the campaign. Yes, culture is massively important, and it is indeed at the very centre of why I’m running. Inactivity and culture, and the rest of it, can all be linked and intertwined, and when one of them doesn’t work, the entire system begins to deteriorate. This is where we’ll be turning things around.

1 - On Urth, I appreciate the concern that we might not have the manpower to justify a council for Urth. And while I do somewhat echo this sentiment, I stand firm in my belief that there is a dedicated community within Urth that is passionate about building the project even further. Roleplayers such as Em, Tret, Norgs, Dylan, Wahannon (I could go on), all of whom I have come to know greatly over the last five years, are immensely dedicated to the project, and I’m more than certain that they share the sentiment that Urth needs progression and direct involvement and would be willing to assist in any program to pull it out of the depths.

2 - Ahaha, this is a tricky question. I can say that I personally feel that we have been let down on occasion by close friends such as TNP over the last few years, and I understand that throughout my time in the FA ministry this feeling has been shared amongst various other councillors.

Other close allies are proving to be continuously wobbly. The NPO is a prime example for obvious reasons. And recent tremors in The League & Concord, while they shouldn’t have us questioning and reconsidering our closeness to them, have raised a good few red flags in my eyes. And while I don’t doubt Q/Rhaza always acts in good faith, his leadership over there has become quite turbulent in recent years, and I think we need to remain steadfast in our neutrality and regional values first if anything goes tits-up, so to speak. While many people may think GP is boring, I believe it to be enormously exhilarating and believe it’s massively important to keep on top of the events happening around us at all time.

In terms of lessons that can be learned, we must not be so willing to turn the other cheek or bend a knee; that doesn’t mean not finding room to negotiate or compromise, but when obvious flares of “we’re using you” begin flying into the sky, it’s better we start paying attention to them.

3 - No, not at the moment. I’m hoping that once elected me and the prospective FA minister can begin observing and pooling together ideas of UCRs to begin reaching out to, doing background checks (OOC matters, yknow the drill), etc. While I don’t like the idea of breaking down the barriers of “how close can you get to a big feeder region” that we have at the moment, there’s no harm in building a wider community of like-minded allies that will ultimately come with enormous benefits in the long run.

4 - Hah, in all seriousness, maybe not! “Communications” is a prospective name. I do like it, and I think it perfectly encompasses the culture-news-recruitment trio I have envisioned. I get the sentiment of calling it Culture, there’s room there, but if you’re gonna go all-out for change you might as well go all-out and slap a brand new shiny name on something.

5 - UTEP is again another tricky one. Let me direct you to some of my answers to Zuk as I have a few ideas of where we could take UTEP as we enter this new era.

UTEP can assist in this. We need more stuff written about, say, the OOC history of Urth and Valsora, intricated details about the government and recent TEP history (2019 coup, the Cordone war, the Concrisis, HOGs, etc.) and helping them settle in the modern environment.

polls ran by UTEP asking newcomers about their interests could help introduce them to all the wonderful things there are to do in TEP.

there’s potential in the organisation to serve as a good starting point for newcomers. Working with UTEP to create new factbooks, forum posts, etc. that allow new users to comfortably navigate and understand TEP is the first step to helping them get integrated.

I could take this further by introducing some personal flair. I’m a UTEP Dean and have been since October. Becoming Archon would really inspire me to reinvigorate some interest into UTEP with a “college” for the wider worldbuilding community of TEP. Such a college would be established as a community of roleplayers and worldbuilders passionate about creativity and storywriting, and pretty much about anything. I really want to invest in our creative community, but really, that’s just me being biased.

6 - My inspiration for a community-run EPNS is inspired by publicly-owned broadcasting companies in the UK, for example Channel 4, that flourishes from its commercial activities. While I appreciate it sounds silly to incorporate real-life examples into my critical thinking of tackling TEP issues, there’s no such thing as “not worth giving it a shot.”

Last year, I actually took the News ministry under my wing (as well as being Vice Delegate AND Minister of Culture) and I was just completely dumbfounded by the state it was in. It was in an IMPOSSIBLE situation. Why does EPNS publish an endo tracker? Who cares? We’ve proved that we can go months without needlessly posting information that, in my opinion, the region just doesn’t really care about. Editions were setback because of missed deadlines on articles that we just didn’t need. Can’t a few articles just be from the government? A monthly delegate update? A monthly report from the Communications, FA and WA ministries? A return to the foreign newsstand? Some cool features from Urth and Valsora, and perhaps the pressing news or two from the nations within said worlds so people know what’s happening? We need to take a good look at EPNS and greatly reconsider our approach to it.

7 - Not so much a disconnect, although I won’t deny it is there. But also a disinterest in connecting with government can also be a factor. To answer your question, yes, I would. Please take one of my responses to Zuk to build on this:

Like I said earlier, a greater emphasis on onboarding is necessary, and I previously just laid out my plans for that. We need to make sure new arrivals know what’s available to them, whether that’s the RMB, the forums, RP, the World Assembly, EPSA, Culture, or government service. A lot of players simply don’t realise how much there is to do in TEP. Recruitment shouldn’t end when someone joins the Discord or registers on the forum. I’d like to see newcomers actively introduced to areas that match their interests, rather than leaving them to figure everything out on their own. Perhaps, back to your UTEP point, polls ran by UTEP asking newcomers about their interests could help introduce them to all the wonderful things there are to do in TEP.

People don’t really realise what’s “in it for them” and what being a part of TEP government entails. I’ve served the government pretty much from the day I got here and I can say without a doubt that everything you do, if you have the passion, will make a difference to the community in one way or another. I was already making moves as a big culture + WA reformer long before I ever held ministerial posts in such respects. If we give people the realisation that yes, actually, TEP government is something worth investing a bit of time into, we’re going to have a much bigger and more efficient government staff.

In fact, a lack of staff is pretty much one of the main reasons why the government has been so… inefficient, lately, to put it bluntly (and probably quite turbulently). In essence, there’s no flavour to government recruitment. It’s pretty much just “join us and do this”. Our tone and posturing are important and I believe that for far too long we’ve been a little bit too foreboding. We should throw off the golden crown and redraw our optics. The whole Cordone situation set us back in dividing us from the RMB community, I’m never going to let anything like that happen again.

8 - I’ve always had a personal interest in WA authorship, ever since I’ve been playing NS. I’ve just always seen the WA as massively inaccessible for new authors. A few attempts here and there, “oh but what about the aliens on this planet…”, “oh what about this impossible geographical and dimensional feature,” yadda yadda yadda. It was impossible to make waves as a new author in the WA.

I think that, with the recent update and “blank slate” of the World Assembly, this opens up new doors for new, aspiring authors such as myself and I want to seize the opportunity as it stands. I want to lead a new generation of WA authors and, work incredibly closely with our existing WA apparatus and personnel, to help co-write, help find new co-writers for, and even give notable praise to singular new WA authors in TEP.

If by ideological stake you mean my own nation’s interest from an IC / RP perspective… I’m so glad you asked! A lot of my to-be WA involvement will be in-character. Cappedore, as of November 2025, is being governed by a socialist government, who are begrudgingly anti-WA but recognise its importance. I suppose my personal ideological stake is that the current socialist apparatus in charge of Cappedore would look to pursue socialist / economically left-wing ideals in the World Assembly that bring about a global left-wing insurrection. But if that’s not what you meant, let me know and I’ll try to answer more plainly

9 - I support the current REWARD and Hussar program that we have in place, and don’t have any plans to change it. In fact, I’d openly encourage it to the more casual members of the community who may not have the time to sink into in-depth EPSA operations, so it’s incredibly useful to have around. It’s soft power, but it’s power nonetheless, and it helps a bunch.

10 - “First ever Archon”, certainly a title that, in such an environment, I’d love to be remembered by. I’d like to think that, being the “new guy” of the Praesidium, I’ve managed to uphold positive relations with fellow Viziers. And going into an Archon term, whoever the elected Vizier Delegate is, it’s my intention to form a much closer bond with them. This doesn’t mean I want a yesman, if anything I want somebody to tell me when too much is too much, and to critique every decision I make as Archon. If the two people at the top work communicatively and uphold a positive working relationship, the region will be more united as a result. I don’t want my legacy, as potential “first ever Archon”, to be that of butting heads with the new Vizier Delegate. I want to create a standard that future Archons and Vizier Delegates follow, in that their relationship is massively important to the stability and operation of the region and it must be upheld and respected.

Thanks for your questions, I hope I managed to adequately cover each one to your satisfaction!

[Cappedore]

Maintaining regular communication with the Overseeing Officer is important to understand EPSA’s priorities. I won’t pretend to know more about military operations than the people leading EPSA, but I do believe it’s the Archon’s responsibility to make sure they have the resources, visibility, and political support they need to succeed.

I also want to get involved with EPSA more as a whole. I’ll be leading the region during wartime, direct communication with EPSA leadership and soldiers will be my top priority. During times of crisis, EPSA will be at the very top of my priority list to ensure the safety of the region. This includes during EPSA deployments and the like. I plan to greatly confer and negotiate with EPSA personnel so we know where we stand on what and what solutions can come from them.

To answer the question more directly and less broadly (like I just did), my OO of EPSA will always have my full unwavering support. If they need assistance in deployments, if they need assistance in recruitment, if they just need assistance or need to talk to me about anything, it’s an open door between both, and I’d like to maintain a level of mutual respect.

[Merlo]

This is an interesting campaign. It’s very, very optimistic and grandiose, and running as an outsider populist despite being one of our highest ranking and most experienced officials for the last half-a-decade is… unique.

1. I like that this campaign at least acknowledges roleplay and the role it plays in our region. With that said, it brushes off Valsora as self-governing and is largely ignorant of the crisis that the RMB RP community is facing with chronic inactivity currently. Your assessment of people viewing TEP’s administration as a “gang of elitists” is a huge oversimplification of a much more nuanced conversation. I can’t speak to Urth, I’m not an Urther, I don’t look there, but you clearly aren’t aware of the problems the RMB community is facing. I like that you pledge to play a more active role in the RMB community yourself, that’s very welcome, but I would like more to hear how you plan to wield the executive’s manpower and authority to save Valsora from extinction.
2. You position yourself as a strongman in FA and seem to loathe, as I do, that TEP is not respected in interregional politics, despite our size. However, you provide no specifics as to how we’re going to fix this, and seem to take us in the opposite direction, by looking to foster stronger relationships with smaller and newer UCR’s, instead of deepening our ties with fellow feeders and large regions.
3. Every candidate ever says they’re going to deepen ties with existing partners. What do you actually mean by that? How are you going to do that?
4. I actually… like the Ministry of Communications idea? I don’t really see what Recruitment brings to the table in a merger, nor what pushing UTEP under it does, but it would be good idea to drag our regional news into more of a culture-building machine then delivering dull news to regions who 90% of the time cannot be asked reading it anyway. There’s promise in this idea, but it needs refining.
5. I have to be delicate with how I put this point, so apologies if I come across prickly, but someone has to address it. You’ve been culture minister on-and-off for as long as I can remember. You were my MoC for (I think) all three of my terms. During that time, with due respect, culture has never lived up to its expectations. I never see cultural events other than monthly Hunger Games (which only runs maybe 3/4 of the time). Why should you be trusted to competently and actively run the region, when you’ve been unable to hit the targets set for one ministry? What’s different this time?
6. Your second last paragraph really worries me. You emphasise heavily that it’s the next generation of TEPers who you want to prioritise and who you want filling your cabinet. Look around, there’s no next-generation right now. We don’t have enough faces to fill half our ministries, and half the ones that are filled are inactive. The whole pretext of this campaign season is we don’t have anyone new coming in. I am not seeing any actual plans for how we’re going to go about recruiting new faces not only to the executive but to the region as a whole.

I really like the design of the campaign. I might have more questions later. Apologies if I come across harshly, it’s a very concerning election season for me thus far. Appreciate your efforts and look forward to reading your reply.

[Cappedore]

Thanks for the questions! I appreciate that the grandiosity and optimism of my campaign has been noticed, but it’s not blind optimism without weariness! We must always go into a future outlook hopeful, but remain largely realistic, and my campaign doesn’t seek to meet any goals that I don’t think are possible. Also, in many ways, despite my significance in this region, I still do feel like a bit of an outsider. There’s just an aura that I feel, that I’m trying to shake up. And it’s a much-needed shake up I think.

1 - You’re right that my campaign focuses more heavily on Urth than Valsora. That wasn’t intended to dismiss the challenges Valsora is facing. My campaign focuses on rejuvenation of BOTH roleplays, not just Urth, although admittedly I do have a specific vision on Urth for reasons already listed.

My view has always been that Valsora should retain its autonomy. I don’t think the executive should dictate the direction of the RMB RP. But autonomy shouldn’t mean isolation. Valsora is hugely important. Without Valsora, there wouldn’t be as such a close-knit RMB community as there is right now, and I’m never going to sit back and watch it sink into quicksand. My plans to play a more prominent and active role in the RMB community is part of a scheme to breathe some new life into it.

More broadly, I think we need to stop treating the RMB, forums, and Discord as separate communities. If someone joins through one avenue, we should be introducing them to the others. The Communications ministry I’m proposing is intended to help bridge those gaps. Why are there “Urthers” and “Valsorans” but rarely ever the two intertwined? Ultimately, I don’t think the executive can “fix” Valsora by decree, in the same way that the executive can’t “fix” Urth by decree; 5he community itself has to drive RP. But I do think the executive can create better conditions for that community to thrive, and be doing more to stir up activity. Maybe more in-RP global events coordinated by the respective bodies in charge of said roleplays that stir up a bit of drama / catastrophe?

A plan for the return of Eastward Bound can also be helpful in bringing more notability to Valsora. EB doesn’t just have to talk about Urth (as, if I remember correctly, the last time we tried it, it was hugely Urth-centric). It’s a good opportunity to give all roleplayers a platform to discuss all the exciting things happening on both worlds and share some ideas. This is the sort of thing that I believe will breathe some new life into our roleplay communities. To close this out, I’m always going to be seeking to stay on top of keeping our communities active and alive and of course I would never let them go extinct.

2 - While I disagree that fostering stronger relationships with smaller regions is “going in the opposite direction”, I do see your point.

My aim isn’t to destroy our already existing relationships with larger regions and fellow GCRs. I do plan to continue to maintain those and seek new ones to the best of my ability. But it’s also important to remember where our friends lie. For example, there is no point in aimlessly seeking closer ties with regions like Europeia. But we are upon a new age of friendship with the West. I like The West Pacific, and I think they can be an important strategically close ally to us if we continue on our current trajectory. That is one tie with a fellow feeder region that I will aim to deepen if elected Archon.

Taking a stand against other feeders, I think, isn’t going in the opposite direction. In a response I made to Cretox, such as relevant times (as I’m sure you can remember during your time as Delegate and our discussions in the FA channels) that we have found ourselves greatly let down by who would otherwise be close allies and seeing the general attitude of “oh it’s fine, we can’t exactly do anything”, I am angered by our complacency in being gaslit and disrespected. A strongman approach to FA is completely necessary.

My overall philosophy is simple: I’d rather have a smaller number of genuinely active partnerships than dozens of embassies that never amount to anything.

3 - If elected, I’d like to see us move towards more regular collaboration with our closest partners. That could include joint community events, game nights, cultural exchanges, RP collaborations where appropriate (ambitious as I am very aware it sounds, but a new collaborative RP world could work if done right?), WA discussions, and greater interaction between ministries rather than diplomacy existing solely between FA officials.

We had a lot of things “in talks” during my most recent run as Minister of Culture, that I was deeply invested in and ready to click the green button on (like a Haiku contest held in collaboration with Britannia which ultimately hasn’t happened yet). Collaborative projects are very much collaborative projects and will never go ahead unless everybody involved is on-board with the idea and ready to push it forward. Britannia was eager, I think that inaction on our end made it fall through, and I want to bring an end to that, which is why the Ministry of Communications is so important. FA doesn’t start and stop with the FA ministry, there’s no reason why our internal ministries can’t reach out and cooperate with our partners too.

4 - I’m happy that you see promise in the idea of the Ministry of Communications. The core idea isn’t the merger itself, but it’s creating a ministry focused on community engagement rather than treating Culture, News, and Recruitment as largely separate functions.

Recruitment isn’t there because it naturally belongs with news. It’s there because recruitment doesn’t end when someone joins the region, as I’ve said previously in my response to either Cretox or Zuk or both, I can’t remember. Onboarding, introducing new members to the community, showcasing what we’re doing, and giving them reasons to stay are all forms of communication. I’ll direct you to my response to one of Zuk’s questions:

@Cappedore

Like I said earlier, a greater emphasis on onboarding is necessary, and I previously just laid out my plans for that. We need to make sure new arrivals know what’s available to them, whether that’s the RMB, the forums, RP, the World Assembly, EPSA, Culture, or government service. A lot of players simply don’t realise how much there is to do in TEP. Recruitment shouldn’t end when someone joins the Discord or registers on the forum. I’d like to see newcomers actively introduced to areas that match their interests, rather than leaving them to figure everything out on their own. Perhaps, back to your UTEP point, polls ran by UTEP asking newcomers about their interests could help introduce them to all the wonderful things there are to do in TEP.

Speaking in terms of pushing UTEP, this is a point I’ve already previously built upon, in once again using UTEP as a community-building and onboarding tool. Such as taking a more hands-on and active approach using my own place in UTEP as a starting point (and finally establishing the CRAB college for like-minded roleplayers and worldbuilders), maybe UTEP can be helpful in running a buddy system, as a means of onboarding new members? I remember, when I first joined, I always wanted to be the dude who was a Wallenburg-Libertanny hybrid, and I still consider them both to be huge inspirations as to why I’m so actve today. If we can breathe that spark into our new members through the institutions available to us, we’d be on the right path to putting down our problem with a shortage of new players and problems with inactivity.

5 - Culture is hard. It’s an ass. If you remember, my first term was filled to the brim with activity, and is still, I think, the best term I served as Minister of Culture. The thing is, it was never my intention to stay on as Culture minister for as long as I did. When Dead was elected Delegate in October 2024, and me appointed as his Vice Delegate, with new life in the Culture ministry and Millenhall’s impressive dedication to it, I thought my work had been done. (Not to brag, but I was very very proud of our 2024 Summer Flag Competition that garnered huge regional interest). Unfortunately, a series of resignations in 2025 led to me making a return to the ministry, and my inspiration to fix it had dimmed. I was just there purely because there was nobody else, and I felt I had this obligation to always keep on coming in and fixing it.

The truth is, it was only ever me. I carried the entire ministry on my back for over two and a half years, and it sucked all of the dedication out of me. With such rampant inactivity, little interest in cultural events outside of the Hunger Games, little guidance from the higher-ups, I started to struggle with the workload and it burnt me out. That is why collaboration in terms of culture is so important. I was very happy, in the weeks leading up to my resignation from the position last month, that there was a newfound interest in members forming their own cultural events. Like Lucklife’s game nights that they’ve been hosting on occasion and Aga’s Archives of Trevosa. Which got me thinking: it doesn’t have to be a one-person job anymore. If people are interested in creating their own events and get-togethers, they should be empowered to do so and supported by the Culture ministry.

While I agree that in the latter stages of my runs as culture ministry I struggled consistently with meeting targets, I don’t agree that this directly represents my dedication to the region. I’ve been a Vizier since February, have served the Magisterium constistently since 2022 (I’ve had my bout of missed votes, but it’s fine, we all do), have served the FA ministry as a councillor since 2022 and am immensely dedicated to the government. I’m very stationary, I dislike moving from one position to the other every few months unless I have to, and I appreciate consistency and stability. My times as Culture minister are extremely nuanced, and I hope that you can appreciate that it runs a little deeper than perceived incompetence.

As Archon, my job also becomes very different. I’m not the person expected to organise every event. My role is to build a government where the people running Culture, EPNS, Recruitment, and community engagement have the support and coordination to succeed.

6 - I agree with the premise here; we don’t currently have enough new faces, and that’s precisely why I talk so much about them. While yes, we don’t have an entire cabinet load of new faces eager to get their hands on some work, I’m saying there’s always the opportunity to build one. It takes time and government consistency to foster a community and I hope it can be appreciated that this isn’t something that will just happen with the switch of a button overnight. That’s why so much of my campaign focuses on recruitment, onboarding, communications, regional unity, and making government feel more accessible.

One criticism I’ve heard repeatedly over the years is that government feels intimidating or inaccessible. Whether or not that’s fair isn’t really the point, it’s a perception that exists. I want ministers to be visible, approachable, and actively encouraging people to get involved (like my mandate with the Ministry of Communications). I want newer members to know there’s a pathway into government, the WA, EPSA, RP, Culture, or wherever their interests lie.

Like I said, it won’t happen overnight, but if we don’t start intentionally mentoring and fostering new members now, then we’ll be asking ourselves exactly the same questions a year from now, and that’s not what I want.

Thanks for your questions, I hope I was able to efficiently cover them. You’re right that it’s a concerning election season!!! There are serious topics at play and they need to be tackled accordingly. I look forward to hearing if you have any more questions, thanks for your interest in the campaign so far!

[Merlo]

1. I am not convinced by the direction you’ve taken with Valsora. There is a lot more the executive could do to help without taking control. Where are the WFE edits, region-wide telegrams, announcements in Discord, culture-run events? Valsora is this region’s greatest recruitment tool, so it would be a grave mistake for the government to shrug and say it’s an RMB problem to solve. I expect you to do more than stick your head into the Cafe and say hello. I would expect any elected Archon put in a serious effort and proudly hang their hat on the fact that their work and their delegacy helped save Valsora.

2. I feel as if we’re sidestepping the reasonable questions to be asked about your time in culture, if I’m honest. To portray it as having carried the ministry on your back for two and a half years is odd, since it has almost always been a one-person ministry. I don’t know where you’d fault a lack of guidance from higher ups, the role was/is to create and host events, culture has always had free rein to do what it wants, and it’s up to the minister to suggest and plan things, not the Delegate or Vice Delegate. You were in the role for two and a half years, we very occasionally had a flag or banner contest with like 2 or 3 participants and monthly hunger games (usually hosted by different people) and that’s sort of it. Don’t think your efforts don’t go appreciated, at the end of the day you filled a volunteer role for two and a half years, that warrants praise and thanks, but when you’re running to lead the region, I find it difficult to look back at your record and feel terribly confident. What I’m looking for is assurance that you’re going to be more active, and a promise that you’re up for the workload that comes with the delegacy archon…cy? Archonship??? idk.

3. Given you faced burnout in your time running the culture ministry, why push for the creation of a super-ministry encompassing culture, news, UTEP and recruitment? How is this ministry going to be structured? If you were burnt out running a single ministry, how is anyone going to cope managing four in one?

   Main concern I have with this campaign is that it seems to be operating on vibes, instead of concrete policy goals and plans. I’m also concerned that this campaign focuses heavily on new ideas for ministries and what they can do, which ultimately means more tasks, which means more work, which isn’t feasible given we can’t handle the workload we’ve already got with the staffing problems we’re facing. I’d be keen to hear more about how we’re going to better manage the workload we already have, instead of an idealistic future that ignores the glaring problems we face right now.

   Thanks

[Cappedore]

I appreciate your criticisms of my campaign, it’s been pretty eye-opening and I’m glad to have garnered so much interest!

1 - Yes, yes, yes and yes. I agree with everything you’re saying. Culture can play a key part in bringing all of this to the forefront. Pardon me if it seemed as if I was “shrugging off” Valsora as purely an RMB thing. Let me clear this up: governance of Valsora and the RMB should be kept seperate from the government, but I think the government can always be doing more to represent Valsora and its community and help it rise up from the ashes, and I want this to be a key point of my time as Archon.

2 - I appreciate your concerns of running the Culture ministry to be a one-person job, and you’re right, it is. But it’s a lot harder to do when there is as much rampant inactivity as there is. As activity declined, so did interest in regional events. As you may recall, and I’m sure you do, I was ambitious during my first run as Culture minister. I did organise as many events as I could, and even attempted a go at the Culture Calendars. But there wasn’t that much interest for the events we were running. You outlined this in saying that we had 2 or 3 participants in flag/banner contests (we had a few more than that in summer 2024, and the voting turnout was tremendous and I won’t accept that wasn’t an accomplishment). Culture isntantly becomes a lot harder to run when there’s so much disinterest and you’re the only person running the shop. It began to give me the burnt-out attitude of “oh, what’s the point” and this was harmful to the ministry as a whole, hence my resignation (albeit, I should’ve resigned a lot earlier and I accept that I was at fault for not doing so).

With a lot of things cleared up, and with a newfound ambition to lead, you have my reassurance that I will be as active as I need to be to turn things around from top to bottom. I too share the disgruntlement against inactivity, it’s the one thing that soured my runs as Culture minister, and I don’t want this to happen again. I don’t want future ministers going down the same road that I did, which is why as Archon I want to be active, guiding of the ministers I lead, and productively communicative.

My main point here is I’m not looking to take away from the “one-person-job” of the Culture side of things. But I’d like for more events to be happening, hence why it’ll be ran by the community. If anybody wants to run an event, then they should be able to approach the culture department and get it set up. Whoever’s in charge of culture should still be productively organising and setting up events, but I also want to prove that it’s an open door for anybody to get involved and start their own things.

3 - It’ll be a devolved ministry spearheaded by me. I would never expect one person to run all four of its departments at once, that’s not what the Communications ministry would be. Somebody to oversee the ministry is ideal, but none of it is going to happen without my guidance at the top. I want to be fully communicative with the Minister of Communications, and the heads of the departments (culture, news, UTEP and recruitment) and aid anywhere I can, which I believe the Archon should always be doing.

I appreciate you think my campaign is set on vibes. And to be fair, I will accept that. There are definitely vibes. It’s an ambitious campaign but it’s not unrealistic. My campaign does talk a lot about building new things and I’ve always wanted my potential leadership to be set on progression.

For example, my proposal for a Communications ministry is more set to spread the workload rather than just concentrate it. I’m sure we don’t disagree that areas like Culture and UTEP should be doing more and operating more. I also think we need to be more realistic about priorities. We don’t need every ministry trying to do everything at once. I’d rather see fewer initiatives that are delivered consistently than ambitious plans that burn people out after two months.

I think that structural reforms are my answer to the current problems we’re facing. There are vibes, I won’t deny that, there’s always going to be, but my campaign is set on concrete. I don’t want to see a continuation in our current direction as I think if we did continue on our current trajectory, we’re going to be in this very same spot this time next year.