Clarification about drawing and assigning plot cards

Question

The rules are explicit about plot cards being assigned only once per round, there being only five rounds in a game.

However, a single round can go through several leaders (if votes fail).

My question is, are the plot cards distributed simply by the person who is the leader at the time that the new round starts?

If so - it appears that there would likely be a bit of gaming going on with voting to approve a mission or not, not only due to who's on the mission, but who will be the leader next, so they can assign the plot cards.

Is this by design?

Answer 1

Plot cards are distributed by the first leader of a round only. Indeed, it is important to know who will be first leader of the next round, as they will be the ones distributing the cards.

Answer 2

There are just enough plot cards for about 6-7 rounds (if i recall correctly). As the game only lasts a maximum of five rounds those extra cards are mostly for variety. The rules state that you only give them to the first leader of any round. Subsequent leaders do not get plot cards to distribute.