In what was the longest meeting of the Provisional Government yet—standing at nearly two hours and thirty minutes—Chelsea Ashley Chen was re-elected as the President of the Federated States of Gapla.

After nearly one hour and thirty minutes of debating between President Chen, nominated by the People’s Liberal Party, and her opponent Mohammad Ahmed Arshad, nominated by the Righteous Reformist Party, the eight-member Provisional Government, in unanimous attendance at the meeting, divided evenly between both candidates. This invoked Ch. 1 §7 p. 2 of the Charter of the Provisional Government, which allows the President of Gapla to cast an additional tie-breaking vote in the case of a tie between the two candidates. The President was approached privately by the Speaker of the Provisional Government to cast her tie-breaking vote, and the results were announced to the outrage of the Righteous Reformist Party.

Several members of the Righteous Reformist Party proceeded to express their outrage on the Provisional Government floor, with two members threatening to resign from the Provisional Government, citing corruption and communist influences within the Provisional Government. However, no formal letters of resignation were received by the Speaker. The result was unexpected given that the right-wing coalition controlled six out of eight seats in the Provisional Government. Minister Hendrik Täks of the Righteous Reformist Party stated publicly that he had voted across party lines due to his belief that Chen had more experience than Arshad, and had argued her points better in the debate. He was termed a “traitor” by other members of the RRP, to which he responded that he was disappointed in their conduct during the election. During the last few minutes of the meeting, to the surprise of many in the Provisional Government, Täks changed his party affiliation from the RRP to the Free Rightist Party.

As the RRP no longer controlled 50% or more of the seats within the Provisional Government, Wyatt Baek, leader of the FRP, announced his intention to form a coalition government with the PLP and independent minister Amalia Battle Cordova. Although this coalition has not yet materialized, the coalition is considered very likely to form and suggests a turning point in Gaplan politics against the increasingly radical RRP, and the collapse of the RRP-FRP governing coalition.