The MEC did this as discretely and professionally as they could after Harwood refused to step down. He could have gone quietly but its pretty obvious Rich wanted a dramatic exit. He likes the attention.
There has to be a vacancy before they can have an election. Its a two step process. Harwood knew that.
Forcing the MEC to fire him was just Rich being a drama queen.

I don't see how anyone can be surprised by this personnel change or fail to understand the reasons for it. Harwood and the rest of the former group in power are in open revolt against our newly elected reps and administration.
I had hoped that they might become the "loyal opposition". That hasn't happened.
The Moakists are now doing everything they can to undermine and discredit our efforts to negotiate a new contract. Harwood's parting shot attack on the lanyards is a perfect example. The good news is if that's the best arguments they've got then we don't need to worry about them getting voted back into office any time soon.

The vanquished Moakists are going to be haunting us for quite a while.
Might as well get used to it.

Most of them are still somewhere between shock, denial and anger.
Bargaining, depression and acceptance are still a long ways off apparently.