During a game where i was playing as the Humans and i declared war on the Altarians and the Vox. I made myself a nuisance to them blowing up any ship of theirs I could find. Eventually time came to elect the head of the galactic console and despite being actively at war with them still they voted me in as the head. The difficulty of this game was set to normal and all my opponents were set to normal. This seams like odd behavior to me as they should have done anything to keep me off the head if I'm actively at war with them.