Chapter 3: Candidacy made official

With one electoral promise announced, Faiza read further into the edict and realized that there was a particular article in the edict that pertained specifically to how to make a candidacy official, as well as the fees associated. It came to her surprise when she realized that all she had to do was to show up at the Tower of Thabes, sign a contract, which was to be signed by the campaign manager also, and finally pay the candidacy fees. But, between the royal palace, located at the topmost level, and Faiza's current position, somewhere on the first level, the party had to walk for a while just to get to the gate leading to the upper levels, the very stairwell Faiza's ancestor, Catria, had to watch over as Marth climbed it to reach Gharnef.

"I wonder how many people are on the electoral list… and who could vote. Am I eligible to run anyway?" Faiza asked.

"The edict said, about voter eligibility: One is eligible to vote for the city council and the mayor provided that person is aged 18 or older by Election Day, one is not a serf or a slave, regardless of gender. One additional restriction is imposed in order to run for office: one shall not be convicted of a crime in order to be deemed eligible to run" Melda explained.

"Remember, the previous city administration lived in the lap of luxury; the people are angry at how their rulers abused the treasury. It would be best to implement more transparent policies once you are in office… or else the election might turn sour mere months afterward" Jaid suggested, on their journey.

"That we also promise to set up a team in charge of making the city expenditures transparent, of holding the banks to tighter rules pertaining to their operations… even that is only scratching the surface of the city's issues"

Faiza continues her journey to the Tower of Thabes, collecting information along the way. And she realizes that she has more to do in order to gain the hearts of the populace. And, for the next hour, she is going through several districts of the desert city, which could somehow contain 50,000 people. Then again, Marmotord has much of its supplies imported and Thabes was the terminus of a major trade route that went through Khadein, from which food was delivered in exchange for weapons, gunpowder and blown glass. However, glass objects were to be stored in sand for transport. After climbing several stairs, Faiza arrives at the main gate of the royal palace, where the electoral commission, tasked with registering candidates, is located.

"What is your business in the palace, milady?" asked a palace guard, inspecting the credentials of the party.

"My name is Faiza, commander of the 1st battalion, XI regiment. I am here to officially declare my intention to run for Mayor of Thabes.

"You may pass" the palace guard told the group. "The Electoral Commission is located on the right-hand corridor on the third floor"

The garrison of Thabes comprised an entire division of Marmotord's army, with seven regiments, including the palace guards (I regiment), totalling 8,000 men. The XI regiment was the musketeer regiment assigned to the city while the other musketeer regiment, the XII regiment, was stationed in another fortress up north, Port Mungo. A General led the party through the palace, which was a vertical construction, and passed by multiple nobles and multiple palace workers, such as the cooks, the maids and so on, so forth.

"Milord, this is Faiza, a mayoral candidate that desires to make her candidacy official" the guard announced.

"Lady Faiza, I hope that you are aware of the regulations. And I hope that you know that, while the mayoral responsibilities are heavy, almost like that of a lord, you will hold a lordly title at the discretion of the King at the time of inauguration. However, the nobility rank that comes with the mayoral office is not hereditary" Roark, the chief returning officer, told Faiza.

"You mean that I will hold the office for life if elected?"

"Yes. Please take note that the city council can choose to hold a recall election if the council feels that a mayor is incompetent. Understanding that, do you still want to run for the office?" asked Roark.

"Yes, I still want to run for mayor."

"By the way, Faiza, who is your campaign director?"

"Me, and my name is Melda" Melda answered.

"Very well, but you will have to pay 500 gold at some point before Election Day"

Roark hands Faiza a contract with all the terms under which she is to run for the office of Mayor of Thabes. That contract requires the signature of both the mayoral candidate and his/her campaign manager. Faiza looks for 500 gold coins in her purse, and pays the filing fee shortly after the contract is signed. And she looks at the list of candidates officially entered for both city council and mayor. The electoral commission did not expect Thabes freedmen or free people to even desire to run for the city council in such numbers; the King decreed that the city council was to be formed of 34 councillors, elected for life, rather than the originally planned 12.

"Look at how many want to become city councillor rather than mayor…" Melda pointed out. "Perhaps a city council position is less dangerous than that of the mayor; the population pretty much expects a democratically elected mayor to be assassinated at some point in office, hence why there are only three candidates, including you, for mayor, but no less than 150 candidates for a city council seat"

"I assume that a city council election would become chaotic if a district had 14 candidates, like my home quarter used to before the King decreed the City Council expanded. But we must get going to the nearest market and set up a booth; it is still market day, after all"

The market at the base of the second level is the primary market of the city, where people from several miles away from the city congregated to purchase supplies other than foodstuffs. And so the party of electoral campaigners made for the marketplace where the populace was expected to learn about the new developments in the nascent electoral campaign, and not just about shopping. Upon arriving at the marketplace, the guards assigned to the market took Faiza and showed her an empty stall that she could use for today.

"Milady, as with all other mayoral candidates, you are authorized to use one stall on market days for free. You may use your stall time to advertise your selling points" the guard explained.

"Milady, I think I see the other mayoral candidates at their stalls: Grace, as well as Kerson. If I may, I will scout their stalls to see what their platforms are" Jaid suggested.