There has been a hellacious uptick in the number of people who are, for lack of a better term, hoarding these limited spots while investing lots of time on other (alt) chars.

I am going to start cracking down on this and removing said chars from the council and Emperor positions if the time invested on said Empire char starts to become the minority.

I am not telling anyone that they cannot have alts while playing Empire, but I am going to say that if you want the fun perks of being on the council that you do need to keep up a solid presence with that char. Otherwise someone else is going to get that fun spot.

Or are Elites endangered as well?

So that means Elites too.

I'm not sure I'd use the word 'endangered', just play your character that is taking up a limited spot. If it isn't fun for you take the demotion or delete and play your alt.

Fairweather playing is stupid.

Spending all your time on your Elite makes you more likely to get Sect Leader. Playing all your time on your Sect Leader makes you more likely to get Emperor. So there are some benefits.