With CSM season well and truly upon us, the candidates are all busy doing the rounds of the various podcasts and streams that are doing interviews (such as the ones being run by our very own Matterall on his Talking In Stations shows), getting their voice out there before voting starts on 6 March. These interviews give prospective candidates the opportunity to get their name out there, and by going round the different hosts, to reach a wider audience.
Whilst these interviews are good platforms for the candidates to answer in-depth questions about their platform, and allow for interviewers to get to a side of the candidates not seen on their forum posts, there is no large-scale gathering of candidates where they can show how they react with other potential candidates, and respond to each others viewpoints.
With that in mind, the CSM election campaign this year will have a new addition to the media rounds. A set of debates has been arranged by Statecraft, where key Eve players will have the opportunity to have their questions put to the candidates, which will hopefully lead to some very tough questioning, and moving candidates outside of their usual comfort zones. It also gives non-bloc candidates the opportunity to get their name and platform known to the larger alliances, potentially leading to more votes for them.
As Statecraft is not something that is necessarily known to many people, Lazuli Loto from NC. had this to say about Statecraft and the upcoming debates;
“Statecraft is the new Jabberlon5. Jabberlon5 was a Jabber server conceived by Vile Rat and utilised by Goonswarm’s Corps Diplomatique as a way to communicate with all the leaders of New Eden. This concept has now been recreated on Discord, under the Statecraft name. Leaders throughout New Eden and other people who are “Space Important” have been privately invited to participate in the VIP Lounge for various antics, shenanigans, emote fuckery and other diplomatic purposes.
Statecraft is pleased to announce the first annual Statecraft CSM Debates. Organised by PL’s Doomchinchilla, INN’s Rhivre with the debates moderated by PL’s Jeffraider. The debate schedules will be provided below and each debate will be streamed live and recordings posted publicly after each debate.
All debate questions to be asked by Jeffraider have been provided by VIPs on the Statecraft discord. The VIPs are leaders from all corners of New Eden. This includes and is not limited to: null sec, low sec, high sec, faction warfare, wormholes, industry, markets, casual PvP and hardcore PvP. Our goal with the debates is to provide a setting where the VIPs of New Eden are able to query the CSM candidates with their questions and concerns in order to see which candidates they would encourage their membership to support. The CSM candidates also have the opportunity to represent their platform and prove themselves.
Please join us this year for the debates and get to know the candidates for who we will be able to cast our vote.”
The debates will take place over the next two Sundays, 26th February and 5th March. They will be hosted on Jeffraiders Twitch channel, and the first set of debates will take place at 1930, 2100 and 2230 UTC. The debates will each run for 60-70 minutes, and there will be a 2 minute response limit for each question. Questions may be asked of the entire group in turn, or to a specific candidate.
The participants for the debates are as follows:
Sunday 26 February
1930 UTC: Kalen Tsero, Sullen Decimus, Steve Ronuken, Carbon Alabel and Roedyn
2100 UTC: Jonathan Reed, Noobman, Xenuria, White 0rchid, Commander Aze
2230 UTC: Suitonia, Killah Bee, Rhiload Feron-Drake, Dancul1001, Toxic Yaken
Sunday 5 March: Times TBD
Group 1: Vincent Eneticum, Djavin Noventia,Vince Draken, Kalbuir Skirate, Aryth
Group 2: Sort Dragon, Capri Sun KraftFoods, Jin’taan, The Judge, Vic Jefferson, Viktor Koraka
Group 3: Bobmon, Erica Mizune, Scylus Black, Kael Decadence, Bardghost Isu
Be sure to tune in to see how your preferred candidate responds to the viewpoints of the other candidates and handles what are sure to be some very tricky questions.
