I think management will definitely encourage them to come back given just how many votes manage to get. They're still hugely popular and are rivals at this point. As far as the rest of the event went, I was pretty happy with it overall with the exception of Annin not making senbatsu. But both Minegishi and Kojiharu announced beforehand that this was it for them, so that helped them receive and extra surge of votes.
I'm still waiting for them to finally open the voting up to Nogizaka46. I think both Nanasemaru and Maiyan can put real heat on those at top. I just don't get why it hasn't happened yet. They can participate in 48 group singles, become concurrent members in 48 groups as well as 48 members becoming concurrent in their group, but they can't compete in the election. They're the second most popular group by far. Their last single sold more than SKE48, NMB48, and HKT48's last singles combined.
