but just imagine if achow101 was active in this thread and would giving merits to the users who nominated him. We would see him being nominated x times than he has been nominated now.
It is far from certain that this would have helped him win the nomination. Just as it did not help those who sent their merits to posts where their nickname was indicated. So it follows from this that one distribution of merits is not enough to win.
In a way you're right: I got tons of nominations and don't think I gave a single merit.
On the other hand, psychologically it makes sense that one might get more votes if he merits posts that vote for him - esp. from voters who seem desperate for merits like bounty grabbers, spammers etc., people who have difficulty getting merits (e.g. some have earned 50 merits in 6 years of being on the forum).