Editing 2024 Prime Ministerial Election (section)

== Buildup ==
In late 2022, rumors were floating around Boston that [[President of Valoria|President]] [[Benjamin Radcliffe]] sought to bring the presidency and prime ministry into "closer alignement," by backing his own candidate for the upcoming election. By January 2023, a little under a year out from the general vote and well before the typical beginning of the election season, there was already rumor of Radcliffe's cousin and close confidant [[Valerie Minerva]] being tapped for the candidacy. The CCV's primary process was described as "unusually quiet," and little information was publicly known until March 7th, 2023, when Minerva was announced as the Conference's candidate for prime minister, still well before the beginning of the typical election season. Some political pundits warned the CCV was preparing for a massive electoral campaign, in the hopes of bringing to an end the decade-long Movement hold of the Executive Mansion.

With such a surprisingly early kickoff to the electoral campaign, incumbent PM [[Arthur Reinhardt]] seized the occasion to announce his own candidacy. With internal conflict between Reinhardt and other major PMV figures already well-known (there had even been rumors in late 2022 that [[Chairman of the PMV|PMV Chairman]] [[Frédéric Armand]] had asked Reinhardt to resign as prime minsister), Reinhardt perhaps hoped the CCV's quick and surprising first shot would force the PMV to rally around him. While he remained the only PMV candidate for a few months, the party and its leadership continued to assert that they would "let the primary process play out." PM Reinhardt criticized his own party as "wasting valuable time" and "putting the future of [Valoria] in jeopardy" while the CCV was rallied behind Minerva and already campaigning. Despite Reinhardt's best efforts, in August, the PMV selected 3rd Delegate from Boston [[Alphonso Cavazos]] for the candidacy.