They were going to start with a hearts and minds campaign.

There were two coalitions that had control over the capital city, the country really, the Greenbacks, since they lacked real legitimacy, had managed to worm their way into both. But this season, there was a party that ran on a platform of anti corruption. The other ran on a platform of free business, for economic growth for all. The Greenbacks supported the anti corruption coalition. It was natural, they needed to reform their public face, and to have control over the mechanism put in place to control the ubiquitous system of corruption.

Their opponents also had a stronghold in the well to do and middle class areas of the city. Presumably, this would mean that the by election to replace the fallen councilor would be very easily won by the Greenback's coalition, Center Political Coalition, the CPC, but the Revolution For The People Coalition, the currently ruling coalition, had stepped up their public services in the ten months they had been in power.

Now Nero had two months to elevate the CPC into primacy. They had zero control over the public services the government could provide, and trying to block them would just engender ill will from the voters. Instead, Nero proposed an expensive, but long lasting bit of infrastructure.

Starting from his plaza, the CPC's candidate, a nameless pudgy man, opened a series of public development centers, financed entirely and publicly by the CPC. The idea was to have the people come to the centers for clean water, and to buy subsidized medicine, food and water.

It was entirely illegal for a political party to set up an aid organisation, and the funds would dry up after the election. There had also not been a police patrol into the North Western Town in the two years Nero had been stuck there. So he wasn't worried.

However goodwill only works in opposition to illwill. The RPC needed to be incompetent. For this, Nero had to set up blockades that prevented their canvassers from entering his plazas. He also set up his own radio programs, small, makeshift radio stations that repeated all the propaganda, or candidate information that Sambi could get to him, true or not. The aid centers did a brisk business in radios once it came out the CPC was also sponsoring a weekly radio lottery.

Sherry and her committee weren't forgotten, when providing items for next to nothing, there was a need for reliable cheap supplies, and the business people who were so used to acquiring items that fell off lorries, or were forgotten in abandoned warehouses were able to stretch their skills to the limit. As a happy accident, he was able to synergise the smugglers and his empty buildings sooner than expected. His coffers were overflowing one day, empty the next, turnover was high. Profits were tight even with the Greenbacks covering his costs.

People poured in from neighboring plazas as they heard about the canvassers being trained for election outreach, with a generous daily stipend of course. They would go, door to door, asking for identification numbers, voter registration status and party affiliation. This way Nero would be able to map areas even outside his plaza, for problem areas. Places that might need more attention, or an increasing in canvassing, or other unconventional solutions.

The campaign money the Greenbacks provided raised him up, leaders of youth committees, and community protection organizations came to him for a place in his system. He didn't have time to be picky, he'd sort them out once the dust settled. But it meant even plazas he didn't control depended on him to pay their people.

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There were repercussions, the sophisticated mechanism Nero had cribbed from a dozen books on electoral impropriety was a marvel, but their opponents recognized what was going on in time. They even attempted a retaliation. At first publicly, but the news media was jaded on the stories that been uncovered in the country wide election the last year. They screamed on the public airwaves, on the TVs and radios, but the CPC accused them of trying to prevent their opposition from serving the people just to win an election. Their rallies even the ones outside North West, got so restless the RPC had to quiet down on the rhetoric lest they turned violent.

Nero's people and allies made sure their rallies were always deserted, and if they couldn't prevent people from going, they were there as counter prosteters. A good half north west shanty was a no mans land for a month. Even as the CPC solidified their service to the community. The CPC's man was welcome almost everywhere with open arms.

Eventually, like in any arm's race, the RPC discovered and mimicked the weapons the CPC and Nero had built for this battle.

They tried to set up their own aid centers, but the Greenbacks were entrenched into the community, and its leaders. The slumlords found all their buildings fully occupied, the RPC had nowhere to rent a space. They tried busing their supplies in, but it was slow going, and a nuisance, Nero's men made sure the paths in his plazas were impassable, and even where he had no control, their vehicles constantly broke down, tires would spontaneously deflate. Nero's runners would stuff mud and grime into exhaust and air intakes.

This too ran its course, and the RPC discovered their silver bullet. They started paying the unaffiliated plaza gangs to protect their aid convoys, and political rallies. It worked a little too well, The gangs were eager to show their utility to the powers that be, and ensured an excellent turn out for each distribution, which led to overcrowding, and fights that broke out as desperate people fought for the little supplies left to be distributed among crowds.

Videos leaked on smartphones, discrediting the RPC for such a poorly led campaign. They also critiqued them for images of gang leaders distributing mounds of supplies to their people, as crowds were held behind a line of toughs.

All the while, the CPC had opened aid centers in the majority of North Western Town, strategically under stocking the aid centers in areas where Nero's canvassers showed majority voters supported the RPC.

Two weeks before the elections, the polling stations were designated. They were government schools, churches and hospitals, and would have been the first contact Nero had with the police since he arrived. The police were mandated to protect election materials and officials.

Instead, Sherry summoned him a few days before the elections, sat him down at a table with a man in uniform and another in a suit. These were the head of the local police garrison, and the man in charge of the local elections in the five plazas Nero directly controlled, and another eleven where he'd managed to set up his mechanism, and 5 more where he had no presence.

They asked him what he needed.

It took him a hot second to compose himself, but he managed to sign up a few of his men to be helpers, people who'd help the old, infirm, put the right vote on the ticket. He also managed to volunteer a few of his men as security. The police were mandated to help the election officials crosscheck the registration status of all members coming to vote that day. They also opened and closed the voting centers in case of emergencies.

They weren't facilities he ever expected to have access to. But he cold make use of them, and all the men wanted were introductions to the new councillor. A phone call to Sambi set that up, envelops were exchanged, new friends were made.

When the day came, Nero was sure he had lost weight. The man staring back at him was haggard and almost forlorn, but he'd done everything he could, and he had to hope his last minute adjustments would carry the day for him, the Greenbacks and the CPC.