["PLAY THE KING" IS ACT TWO OF THE "PLAY" SERIES. PLEASE READ "PLAY THE QUEEN" FIRST.]
It's been four months since Priam Torres, the once unpopular president of the Elysian University Student Council, assumed office. Thanks to his chief-of-staff Cas...
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REYNARD
THE TIME had finally come to determine the winner of the popularity contest. Yes, election day had arrived!
If I were still writing for The Herald, they'd probably assign me to Alaric's camp. That would have been an exciting assignment. Why? Because in the fourth presidential survey, Priam Torres was leading him by just three points, which statistically meant they were tied. It wasn't guaranteed that Priam, his political rival, would secure the presidency. Alaric still had a chance to come out ahead. The three-point lead was like flipping a coin—it could go either way.
It would have been thrilling to root for Alaric. I would have loved to witness someone in his position—a close second—make an unexpected comeback and surprise everyone who believed Priam had this election in the bag. That would have been the plot twist of the decade! Unfortunately, I couldn't support Alaric, not because I wanted to remain neutral, but because I couldn't support someone with questionable ethics and morals.
So when I exercised my civic duty at the university and entered the voting booth, I knew exactly who to vote for. I could have chosen to boycott this election to stay neutral or abstained from voting altogether. But this wasn't the time for neutrality. I had to take a stand. And I did.
Nang ibinigay sa 'kin ang balota, muli kong chineck ang tatlong choice sa pagka-USC president at vice president. At Elysian University, our electoral system was different from others. We don't vote separately for the president and the VP. A vote for the president is automatically a vote for their chosen vice. So they would win as a tandem
Tinanggal ko ang takip ng marker at shinade ang bilog ng napipisil kong tandem.
o Esteban, Alaric (AEGIS) Alegria, Phoebe Marie (AEGIS)
o Regina, Georgina (Independent) Flores, May (Independent)
o Torres, Priam (SALVo) Rustan, Tabitha (SALVo)
Once done, I fed my ballot into the machine and awaited the confirmation message. And that's it! I had fulfilled my duty as a responsible student of this university. Automated na ang proseso rito kaya hindi na naming kinailangang manually isulat ang pangalan ng mga kandidato. Automated na rin ang pagbibilang ng mga boto mamaya.
The election monitors handed me a button pin with the phrase "I voted" printed on it. I pinned it on my polo shirt. Hopefully, this would encourage other students to participate in the democratic process. I never believed that this freebie would be effective in achieving a high voter turnout. But who knows? It might work better this election year.
So what now? Well, the election would run all day. May schedule ang bawat college para hindi magsabay-sabay at magka-stampede sa gymnasium. The polling booths opened at eight in the morning and would close at five in the afternoon. The results would probably be out in the evening. By tomorrow, if there were no electoral protests, we would know who our next USC president and vice president would be.
