Oops, I did it again. 
Not only is that the secretaryship at long last, but Alex on my side even makes for enough votes to take home the win.
But Alex is just shy of the +8 threshold to vote for me for winning. Nothing else I can do at the moment. His fave civic is Vassalage, locked out by the UN. "Fair and forthright" is maxed. Just need to wait for that religion number to creep up, while hoping he doesn't switch back out of Hinduism, or that my one spy still at the ready survives long enough to re-bonk him. I'm sending him missionaries as fast as I can, which isn't very fast since he's so far away. (Stupid 3 missionary limit.)
Alex was still at +7 by the time of the next election. So I couldn't win just yet, so I used that election to get Universal Suffrage passed. Lots of hammers and I can cash rush granaries for island cities. It would cost me Louis's fave civic Hed Rule but that's okay.
What the heck? TWO civs DEFIED UniSuff? The same idiots that proposed and accepted Free Speech and Environmentalism five times over?
And then Alex did lapse back into Buddhism, and my last remaining spy failed an 88% shot at converting him. That sets me back.
But there's another civ out there. Reaching Rome with spies had been impractical earlier, but now a galleon full of them sailed straight across the Mediterranean. With that, it should be easy to get Rome to vote for me. Another quick Hinduism bonk, that demand for Paper paid, another gifted tech, and he's at +10 Friendly too.
WHAT? JULIUS is my opponent? He is in FOURTH place in vote count! Alex and Justin knocked themselves out of the running by defying Uni Suffrage!
Well, that should be easy to manipulate yet again. Now I know Justinian won't be my next opponent. So I can knock him into Hinduism too, switch myself to his fave civic Theocracy, and that should get Justinian to be the swing vote in my favor. If the next election is me vs Rome, I will have the votes of Ramesses, Mansa, Louis, and Justinian all.
But then...
Oops. Religious Victory in 1050 AD. Oops, I did it again.
That exit was fine by me. Really doesn't matter which kind of diplomacy registers the win. I saw how the United Nations game played out and discovered the approximate possible win date. That's enough for all you guys to live vicariously through since I'm not competing for an official victory date. No need to keep futzing with spy bonking and election rigging when the Pope can do it even more effectively. 