This years AKB48 General Election promises to a nail-biter and the predictions are rolling in before the first ballot has even been cast.

The AKB48 Single Senbatsu Sousenkyo [選抜総選挙], otherwise known as the General Election, is an event where fans get to vote for their favorite members to appear in an upcoming AKB48 single. Fans get a chance to vote for any girl in a member of the “48 groups” franchise which is defined this year as any member of AKB48, SKE48, NMB48, and HKT48 along with any current AKB48 members serving overseas terms in JKT48.

Hiroyuki Aoki, editor in chief behind FLASH Magazine, seems to think he’s got the election results in the bag already. With some major players already out of the race including high-ranking members Rena Matsui, Haruna Kojima, and Rina Kawaei just to name a few, this years results Aoki predicts, will be chaotic. Aoki shares “The race for the 1st position will be between Minami Takahashi, Mayu Watanabe, Rino Sashihara, Yuki Kashiwagi, Jurina Matsui, and Sayaka Yamamoto.” he continues “There may also be a new face to the election who didn’t even break the top 16 this year, and I’m looking forward to seeing if that happens.”

The upcoming FLASH Special [ＦＬＡＳＨスペシャル ２０１５ＧＷ号 (ＦＬＡＳＨ増刊)], dedicated to the AKB48 election, will have their predictions for the Top 16 Senbatsu members looking to star in the groups 42nd single. The magazine boldly predicts Yuki Kashiwagi landing the cherished top position with Rino Sashihara and Mayu Watanabe taking second and third places respectively.

For this years election a total of 80 members can be voted into AKB48′s 41st single, hitting stores this August, being tiered in one of the five sub-units based on rank.

Participation in the General Election is not mandatory so open enrollment will be made available for the girls from March 25 at 4:00 pm until March 29 at 10:00 pm. Formal voting by fans will begin on May 19th and end on June 5th using tickets included in AKB48′s upcoming 40th single hitting stores on May 20th.