This is a much needed feature, of about 30 seconds max. There are people who go AFK without thinking about when the next election is and it can bring the game to a halt until they're back. I imagine it's even worse in public lobbies.

This minor oversight has me taking the long way towards Endless Gamer. Only another few thousand turns before I can join the modding community. So excited!

Yes please. There have been accounts where players with a bad start or find themselves in a losing situation purposfully afk the election to stall and kill the game for the others involved. A default no action election timer woukd be great, thirty seconds. Heck even make it optional so in single player people are not effected.