The under-siege planet of Sanganistan has yet another problem to contend with. Election fraud.

Almost one million of the votes for the current Sangani Mogul, Mumid Zaikar, have now officially been deemed invalid. With those one million votes removed from the race, Zaikar’s support has fallen below 50%. Under Sangani Baronial Law, the Mogul's position must now be decided in a run-off election or a trial by combat.

The Assembly-backed Complaints Compliance Electoral Commission, or CCEC, was the committee that took on the challenge of verifying the votes. It took the committee two weeks of work before they announced they had found a basis to the allegations of misconduct. And the corruption was not localized to one TerraBase or planet. In fact, the chair of the CCEC stated in his latest press conference that “irregularities” were discovered to be region-wide across the sectors.

When rumors of the CCEC’s finding first began to circulate, it looked as thought there would be more trouble in Sanganistan’s future than just a second election. Mogul Zaikar initially spoke out in protest of the fraud allegations. He claimed he didn't want foreign galactic powers interfering with the election. This came despite the CCEC’s chair stating that before the committee made such claims, the allegations of fraud were rigorously researched.

But in a press conference earlier today, the aged Zaikar accepted the committee's decision and stated he would participate in the upcoming run-off election rather than the traditional blood feud.

Zaikar’s opponent Dr. Hanan Hannan, despite openly accusing Zaikar of rigging the elections a month earlier, was sedate when talking to the press today. He mentioned that he was simply glad the first chapter of this story was over and that the run-off election was approaching.

But the run-off election may prove more trouble than it's worth. Military officials believe Baronet Ebaj is holding off until after the elections to make decisions about the Sanganistan Region war than need to be made now. There’s no guarantee that the new elections will be an accurate picture of the choice of the Sangani people. There have been no major roadblocks put in place to prevent further voter fraud.

And the run-off election must take place quickly. On the home planet of Sangan, fierce weather is right around the corner. With the potential for further claims of inaccuracy due to plain bad weather, the new election must be held before the stormy season if it is to be held at all.