“Well, the response has been good.”
Looking at the latest poll results, Lu Ming nodded.
For voters in the community, slogans such as social justice are obviously not as good as tangible benefits, and community canteens are still very tempting.
The gap between them and Cao’s camp was immediately widened by 5 points.
After thinking for a while, I said, "Let's start working on this now."
Master Gong was stunned when he heard this, "Boss, we still have to be cautious about this." For the first time, he opposed Lu Ming's opinion.
“The pie in the picture may look delicious, but if it is actually made, everyone has different tastes, so it won’t be as good as it looks.”
Lu Ming nodded, understanding what Master Gong meant. In fact, when a community canteen is really set up, it is impossible to guarantee that there will be no problems in the early stage of operation. Not to mention the actual establishment, even the preliminary planning, the address, etc., who will be blocked from sunlight? Whose walk will be affected? These are all problems.
"Besides, the boss is always very efficient in doing things. What if by mistake, the cake is made before the dice cup is opened? Then, what's the use of the person who makes the cake?" Master Gong tried to choose his words carefully.
Lu Ming smiled and said, "Don't worry, Old Gong. We have a better pie chart yet. We are starting to build this cafeteria now to tell voters that we never make empty promises. We will definitely fulfill our campaign promises. This is very important. Many politicians say all kinds of good things off stage, but when they are on stage, they shirk their promises. We are not like that. We want to tell voters that we really do things."
After a pause, he said, "Besides, this community canteen is also a business. It is not losing money. Although, it does not make much money. It is enough to maintain a balance between income and expenditure."
Mr. Gong immediately smiled and said, "When the boss said that, I immediately understood. The boss is very wise, and we are just clever. Of course, we will listen to the boss."
Murong Xue was speechless.
Lu Ming looked at her: "Oh, there is also a TV debate. Kunlun TV has officially invited me and Cao Ying, right?"
Murong Xue said: "Yes, it is tentatively scheduled for the second week of December. The specific date depends on your and Cao Ying's schedule."
There is still one month before the TV debate. By then, the campaign will have entered its final stages and we will have a rough idea of the election situation. This TV debate may help the lagging party turn the tide, or it may be the last straw that breaks the camel's back.
Because the fourth week of December is the voting day for the local council election.
The results will be out after the voting day. The fifth week is a transition period of several days, during which the voting results will be reviewed, the councillors will make handovers, etc. Then, it will be the New Year. The people will spend the New Year peacefully, and the local councillors will traditionally vote for a new municipal council on December 30 of the election year. The municipal council of the Donghai region will be elected by the regional council on January 1, the day after the local committee election.
For Beiguan, it is not involved in the regional council election, because there is only one regional councillor in Beiguan, which is the chief member of the Municipal Committee, and he will automatically become the regional councillor representing Beiguan.
This is the case for all satellite towns, which only have one regional councillor seat, which is concurrently held by the chief member of the municipal committee.
As for the eight districts in the urban area, the number of regional councillors varies, with a total of more than 70 people, most of whom are elected.
Lu Ming pondered this information and said, "I'll go see Mr. Qing later and meet with a few members of the party."
Master Gong sighed: "Thank you for your hard work, boss!"
Outside, someone knocked on the door gently. "Director, are you there?"
Murong Xue recognized the voice of an election affairs officer and felt a little strange. She went to open the door and said a few words to the person. When she came back, her pretty face was a little gloomy. "Boss, someone reported you to the Election Commission. The Election Commission called the office and asked you to go to a hearing at 3 pm. They didn't say who reported you or what the report was about."
Mr. Gong frowned immediately. Generally speaking, the Election Committee requires the person being reported to accept a hearing, which means that they have a certain degree of recognition of the content of the report and believe that there is a high possibility that it is true. Only then will they enter the hearing process.
Lu Ming nodded: "Okay, go ahead and focus on your work. Don't worry, everything should be fine."
Needless to say, probably, it's people from Baklo's side who are going to start making trouble.
…
Donghai’s Election Supervisory Committee is an independent organization. It is convened by the Duke’s “Advisory Council” in June of the election year. Of course, this “Advisory Council” is an organization in name only, and the so-called Privy Ministers in it are all idle aristocrats.
An election supervision committee was established, and the "Privy Council" was merely the convener and notary public in name only.
The committee members come from a variety of sources. Originally, most of them were celebrities, but now there are more media professionals.
Legally, any adult citizen in Donghai can nominate himself to join the Election Supervisory Committee.
Basically, the candidates are randomly selected from those who recommend themselves according to a certain proportion of their identities and occupations, which is similar to a lottery draw.
The proportion of media practitioners should be half.
After the Donghai Election Supervision Committee is formed, boundary commissioners will be sent to each district to form local election supervision committees.
The Beiguan Election Supervision Committee is composed of five boundary committee members and can also be called the boundary committee.
His office is very simple, it is a suite temporarily rented in a small hotel. The suite's telephone number is made public, and it is the reporting phone number. Anyone can report election violations, fraud, etc. to it.
In addition, the political donations and sources received by candidates for councillors in each Beiguan constituency must be reported to the Boundary Committee every month.
Lu Ming is now sitting in this simple little hotel, among a group of border committee members.
These five border commissioners have all been announced, so Lu Ming naturally knows where they came from.
Generally speaking, there is an abstention system for border commissioners, and these five commissioners are not from Beiguan.
There are four men and one woman. Four of them have something to do with the media. One of them is a freelance writer, two are reporters, one is the producer of a TV political program, and the fifth is a free citizen.
Boundary Commissioners who are free citizens are a must for every boundary committee, and they account for 20 percent of the entire election supervision committee system in Donghai.
Free citizen commissioners need to be well educated, but their annual income cannot be higher than 1.5 times the average income in the East China Sea, and they cannot be government employees.
For example, the free citizen border commissioner who came to Beiguan was an employee of a trading company in Xinfa District named Li Zhongliang.
Of course, the five of them are already quite old, and not the type to charge at the front line.
At the same time, the Boundary Commissioner has the privilege that when exercising the powers of the Boundary Commissioner, the original employer may not terminate the employment for any reason.
Salaries will be paid by the committee for the time being, but jobs need to be kept for them.
Basically, the committee runs for exactly half a year.
From July until the election.
Now, the five committee members sat in a semicircle, and Lu Ming sat on the single sofa in front of them.
"Candidate Lu Qianxing, I have three questions that require your explanation."
"First, on November 8, which was yesterday, around 5 p.m., did you instruct anyone to beat up a man named Zhang Xiaoya?"
The female committee member who spoke was probably in her fifties. Lu Ming had seen her information. Her surname was Zhou, and her name was Zhou Lienü. She was a senior reporter for the Donghai Pioneer News.
The border commissioners all have the same status, but it is obvious that reporter Zhou is eloquent and decisive, and has become the dominant one.
"Zhang Xiaoya?" As soon as the other party asked, Lu Ming knew it was Gou Ya. He couldn't help but smile, "This name is quite graceful."
"Candidate Lu Qianxing, I hope you can be serious. You are facing three very serious charges!" Reporter Zhou frowned.
Lu Ming was surprised. "Commissioner Zhou? Does it have anything to do with you whether I hit him or not? If you want to destroy my reputation and ruin my election, Gou Ya, that is Zhang Xiao Ya, can leak the news to the media, and let the media expose me as a thug and make voters hate me."
"If he thinks I have violated the law, he can report it to the police and see if they want to file a case against me."
"So, does it have anything to do with you? You are the Election Supervision Committee? Not the Ethics Supervision Committee. Don't you understand this?"
"You can only raise objections to my irregularities during the election. Moreover, if you want to revoke my candidacy, you have to report it to the General Assembly, not your Boundary Committee for a decision!"
"The questions you are asking now have crossed the line! If you ask me similar questions again, I will complain to the next higher committee!"
"Or, I can file a lawsuit against you in court. There are many reasons. You have affected the fair election process, undermined my self-confidence, and hurt my feelings. At worst, you have wasted my time. Do you know how precious my time is?"
Lu Ming shook his head: "Do you know how much I charge for talking so much?"
"Also, you five are the border committee members? I have doubts about your qualifications and abilities. Do you fully understand the terms that the election committee members must abide by?"
Reporter Zhou's face turned red and white, and he gritted his teeth, "Lu Qianxing candidate..."
Lu Ming waved his hand: "Next question, my time is limited. Also, if it is a similar question, I advise you not to ask it, it will really cause trouble!"
After a quick look around, he found that the other four border commissioners all looked somewhat embarrassed. It seemed that they did not agree to summon him for a hearing.
Reporter Zhou gritted his teeth and turned to the next page. "Second question..." Suddenly, he turned to the next page. "Third question, in the political donation details you reported, Rabbi Fila of Fila Oil donated 300,000 yuan. What is your relationship with him? He is not from Donghai. Fila Oil only has an office in Donghai, and there is no subsidiary in Beiguan. So why did he donate such a large amount to you? Did you conceal your interest relationship with him?"
Lu Ming frowned, "This, I need to think about it carefully."
Reporter Zhou's eyes flashed with joy, but his face was serious and cold. "You have to understand that here, you need to answer every question honestly..."
Lu Ming waved his hands, "Maybe, he loves me?" He stood up, "But what the hell is it to you?! You suspect that I have dishonest declaration of interests, and you want to use this to attack me, you should first provide evidence, okay? And you can't just imagine that I am dishonest! You are mentally ill!"
Pointing at them, he said, "You guys, wait to be replaced!"
Turned around and walked out.
The few people left looked at each other in bewilderment.
Reporter Zhou suddenly went crazy and pushed all the documents, papers and pens on the table to the ground, then he lay on the table and burst into tears.
After howling a few times, he suddenly stood up, picked up a hard folder, and smashed it on the table, cursing something.
The other four committee members were stunned. Usually, they all treated her like a treasure, but now she had lost face and been humiliated like this. She must have been so frustrated that she was going crazy.