For example, they initially supported starlord but removed the vote just to reach a higher rank. It shows that it's not about getting as many real witnesses in to the top ranks, just about being in the top themselves.

That is exactly what the other witnesses are doing as well... they are trying to ensure they have their seat at the table to earn as much as possible via sock puppets etc. If that is how everyone is going to think, I'd prefer we'd have as many unique witnesses with different locations, ideas, expertise as we can possibly get...