The Nationalist Party held its first convention on Saturday, electing the party’s chairman, clerk, and secretary. Through three and a half hours of voting, the 10 counties put forth their candidates for each position, leading to numerous speeches and multiple rounds of voting.

After each round of voting, the candidates with the most votes advanced until one candidate won the majority of votes cast. From 10 candidates, it was cut down to five, then three, and then two. Candidates were given two minutes for their first speech, and thirty seconds for every subsequent round.

Matthew Gresock (#0683) of Troiola County was elected the Nationalist party chairman after winning the majority in a three way election. Gresock, whose platform emphasized his determination to end Regents examinations in New York State and his video game prowess, laid out his main goal: “It will be an honor to serve the Nationalist Party as their chairman. We are going to take down the Federalist Party.”

The election process for chairman was characterized by a tension between energetic candidates and a weary electorate exhausted after a long day of activities. While Roosevelt’s candidate attempted to emphasize “we need to be respectful [to the Federalists],” most candidates focused on rallying up Nationalist sentiment. McKneally’s candidate promised, “Never will I ever compromise with the Federalists,” and Fish’s candidate asserted, “We need to sweep the floor of Federalists.”

The candidates tried unique strategies to gain votes. While many appealed to patriotism and distaste for the Federalists, candidate James Morton (#0163) of Kogutek gave out his personal phone number in order to boost confidence in his campaign.

Furthermore, nearly 60 Boys Staters refused to cast a vote in the final election, abstaining from voting for either candidate, an unprecedented occurrence from the highly democratic Nationalist Party. This was likely due to the exhaustion of the Nationalists after a long day of drills and elections.

When it came to the election for the secretary of the Nationalist Party, the speeches and the audience became extremely vocal and expressive in their support of their favorite candidates. From insults being thrown around about the Federalists to worshiping WD-40, the election for secretary certainly stood out from the others. During the first round of voting, the audience’s cheers and chants could be heard from outside the building, especially when the county of Scheiberling ended up in the lead.

The candidates from Roosevelt, McKneally, Spafford, Scheiberling, and Troiola pushed onward to the second round, with shorter but just as explosive of speeches. As the rounds wound down, and so did the number of candidates, it came down to two candidates from the counties of Spafford and Roosevelt.

After a fantastic speech ending with “Up with the Faiz, down with the Feds,” Spafford’s very own Faiz Shaikh (#0607) won not only the crowd’s approval but the title of Nationalist Party Secretary. Faiz triumphantly pushed Nationalist views, and expressed, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” proudly expressing his faith in the patriotism of his party.

The party clerk was won by Bryan Florio (#0011) of Roosevelt County. It was a bitter race between Florio and Wong’s Aaron Casquete (#0488) until the very end, and the audience became extremely involved in supporting the campaigning candidates with cheers and chants. Most notably, counties mainly allied with Wong started chanting, “We want Wong,” to which counties allied with Roosevelt responded with, “Wong is wrong.” Wong countered with its own chant, “Wong is right.”

Ultimately, Roosevelt earned a narrow victory. Florio said, “It was a very fun experience. Everyone seemed to have a good time and it was fair, as democracy should be.” Casquete humbly accepted defeat, saying, “This was a very well-conducted election and I congratulate the winner. Now it’s time to unify as Nationalists and win!”

Now that each party’s leadership structure is chosen, they will choose their candidates for statewide office. Each party’s nominee for statewide positions will then compete in a general election in the coming days.