Silford General Elections

The general elections of Silford are elections, where the Senate who lead the city is elected. The general elections are the base of the Silfordian democracy, and all the citizens can vote in it.

Origins

The Silfordians trace the origin of their democratic voting system back to the tales of the founding of the city. The hero twins Daursan and Kauteirin were about to found a city after the Giant Wars had ended, and started to debate over which of the twins should become the king of the new city: Daursan the war hero, or Kauteirin the wise teacher. Then an old farmer was walking past them on the road, and they stopped him and asked him who should become the king. To the twins' surprise the old man answered "me". Ever since that, Silford was ruled by her people. However, the oldest records of the current democratic system being in place come from much later, around 300 AFS (After the Founding of Silford), and some kings of the earlier periods are known by name.

Participants

All the citizens can vote from the selected candidates. However, only about a third of the Silford's population are citizens (rest consisting of the poor, slaves and foreigners), and most of the candidates are either elite or wealthy merchants and craftsmen.

Procedure

The citizens vote in neighborhood blocks, meaning that the vote of each neighbourhood area has the same weight. The result of this is, that each individual vote is much more valuable in the rich areas where there are much fewer people living in a given area, than in the thightly packed neighborhoods of the commoners.
The numbers elected have varied through time. In the most general system since the 300 AFS 100 of the senators are chosen from the commoner blocks, and another 200 for the elite neighborhoods.

Venue

General elections are usually held in the plaza in front of the Senate House. On the election days the plaza is filled by all citizens travelling there from all the districts of the city and from their countryside homes.