If an election fails, and the office is vacant, another election should start the next day (next full turn, I think). This should keep happening as long as the problem continues. (De-Legro: This makes the game Not Suck, as the players have no way to trigger an election, barring some shady manipulation of the mechanics.) In your case, the office is not vacant, so a new election will *not* be triggered. You'll have to live with the protesting for a few days, as Anaris mentions. It's a penalty for a failed election. If failed elections are a problem you keep having, then maybe consider swapping the position to appointed instead of elected. Or switch to quarterly elections. (Monthly elections tend to quickly produce election fatigue and apathy, especially in small realms.)
Regarding the infiltrator thing: Yes, that could be considered abuse of mechanics. When you hire an assassin, the IC expectation is that you're trying to kill the person. Also, it's a pretty slim chance that you'll wound the guy long enough for him to lose his office, unless he's really old, and the assassin hits him hard.
Indeed, but then we were not talking about a case of a vacant position, simply one that no one bothered to run for despite apparently being unsatisfied with the current holder.
