2014 Lundener general election

Lundenwic Prime Ministerial Election, 2014

26–31 December 2014

Candidate Lord Gen. Mike Lewis, the Marquis of New Charter KSS KSPE The Rt. Hon. Roberto Bruno MP Bruce Robert Nevin Party Lundenwic Militarists Party Democratic Reform Party Imperial Royalist Party Electoral vote 42 3 2 Percentage 89.4% 6.4% 4.3%

Prime Minister before election The Marquis of New Charter Lundenwic Militarists Party Elected Prime Minister The Marquis of New Charter Lundenwic Militarists Party

The Lundenwic Elections 2014 was held between the 26–31 December 2014 to determine the new Prime Minister of Lundenwic. The election was marred with personal and offensive election campaigns as well as alleged electoral fraud.

Background

It took a long time for the first Elections to be held in Lundenwic. Originally, the Imperial Grand Duke named the government without an election being held. However, in April 2014, there were calls for Elections to be held in Lundenwic. These calls were finally dismissed by the Marquis of New Charter in May 2014.

On 10 June 2014, the Minister of the Interior and Grand Region publicly calls for elections. He is the first minister to do so. The Marquis of New Charter brands the minister a "traitor" and "greedy". However, the minister gains a lot of local support. The Marquis recognises he could be beaten and on the 14th June 2014 forms the Lundenwic Militarists Party (LMP). This sparks a political party frenzy with Roberto Bruno forming the Democratic Reform Party (DRP) on the 15th June 2014. The Imperial Grand Duke forms the Imperial Royalist Party (IRP) on the 18th June 2014 and Larry Finnerty forms the Communist Party of Lundenwic (CPL) on the 20th June 2014. An early opinion poll by the LMP puts the LMP and CPL on 50% of the vote, with the IRP and DRP on 0%.

By July 2014 the Minister of the Interior and the Grand Region finally writes up the Elections Bill 2014 to be passed through Parliament.

On the 31st July 2014 the Marquis of New Charter signs the Treaty of Charter 2014 which moves the relocates the Parliament to New Charter. Critics call it a delaying tactic. On 1 August 2014 the treaty comes into effect and pushes out the CPL leader and its members, making the party inactive. The Marquis then announces a Parliamentary two week holiday on the 5th August 2014. His critics call it a "blatant delaying tactic".

On the 13th September 2014 before an official Parliamentary Sitting could be held, the Imperial Grand Duke leaves for Doncaster. This effectively ends Parliamentary Sittings as both the Prime Minister and Imperial Grand Duke must be present.

On the 12th October the Elections Bill is read out in Parliament and voted on. On the 19th October 2014 it is announced that the Bill has passed through Parliament with 3 Ayes, 0 Nays and 3 Abstains. Later it is announced the Elections will be held on the 26–28 December 2014. Voting in Bedfunta on the 26th, voting in Alderwick 27th and finally voting in New Charter 28th. The results would then be announced from New Charter on the 28th.

The Election Trail

As the news broke that Elections would be held in December 2014, all four political parties quickly distanced themselves from each other. Especially the Imperial Royalist Party, the Lundenwic Militarists Party and the Democratic Reform Party who had at the time been working together in the Parliament. Parliament was effectively closed due to fighting amongst the parties, halting all meetings and progress.

The DRP was the first to start campaigning with poster campaigns. The first poster claimed, "VOTE BERTIE! HE MAKES TEA, COOKS + GIVES GREAT HEAD!". Minutes later a second poster was launched containing foul language and alleged slander. It said:

Poster campaign launched by the LMP against Roberto Bruno, leader of the DRP.

DON’T VOTE MIKE
HE DOESN’T WASH UP
HE DOESN’T CLEAN UP
HE DOESN’T BRUSH UP
HE DOES NOTHING!
+
HE’S A C**T

The Imperial Grand Duke who had agreed to remain politically neutral was deeply shocked by the campaign, vowing to put laws in place to prevent the same thing from happening again. The Marquis threatened some sort of legal action against the DRP and Roberto Bruno, but instead hit back with a personal poster campaign of his own. The CPL leader, Al Powell gave a speech denouncing the LMP as "the enemy", urging voters to "give Communism a chance". His speech ended with him bizarrely stating that "any party, but the LMP, winning would be a victory for the CPL". The IRP stayed out of the personal attacks by just stating their intentions to stay loyal to the Imperial Grand Duke.

Bruno and the Marquis clashed in the capital, New Charter a few times. As Parliament was still technically open, both used the Sittings as a way of trading insults and trying to boost their election campaigns, rather than it's official use.

Polls

An early opinion poll by the LMP on June 2014 put both the LMP and CPL on 50% of the vote each. This meant the DRP and IRP would receive 0% of the vote.

Another opinion poll was commissioned by the LMP on 10 December 2014. For the first time the poll showed how each territory would vote. It claimed the DRP and LMP were level in Bedfunta with 50% of the vote each. In Alderwick it predicted no one would vote and in New Charter it predicted the LMP would win with 42.9% of the vote. The DRP would get 28.6% and both the CPL and IRP would get 14.3%.

After no one voted in the Bedfunta and Alderwick elections an LMP opinion poll predicted the party would win a landslide victory in New Charter. No figures were released and it is now widely believed the information was based on insider knowledge extra votes.

Results

The results was announced on the 31st December 2014.

Lundenwic Prime Minister Elections 2014
Party	Candidate	Votes	%
Communist Party of Lundenwic	Al Powell	0	0%
Democratic Reform Party	The Rt. Hon. Roberto Bruno MP	3	6.2%
Imperial Royalist Party	Bruce Robert Nevin	2	4.3%
Lundenwic Militarists Party	Lord Gen. Mike Lewis, the Marquis of New Charter	42	89.4%
Lundenwic Militarists Party win

The LMP came first with a massive 42 votes, even though only 7 people voted. The DRP came in second place with 3 votes. The IRP clinched third place with 2 votes and the CPL came last with 0 votes, meaning the party leader, Al Powell, didn't even voted for himself. He later revealed that he had voted tactically to try to prevent the LMP and the DRP from winning.

Controversy

Bruno instantly contested the result claiming electoral fraud had taken place. The Marquis hit back by pointing out that some citizens may have voted more than once as one vote per person was not specified in the Elections Bill 2014. He went on to complain about how the DRP had managed to get 3 votes, questioning the voters on who they had voted for. He was visibly annoyed that one of his supporters had not voted for him. The Imperial Grand Duke ruled that the Marquis would remain as 'Interim Prime Minister' and that a trial would be held between Bruno and the Marquis.

Trial

The trial was held on 7 January 2014 and was concluded the same day. The charge was named as 40 counts of Electoral Fraud. It was held in the Parliament building with the Imperial Grand Duke presiding as Judge. The Court Records were never released, even though Imperial State News stated they would be. Witnesses at the trial claimed it was marred by political bickering with the Imperial Grand Duke having to constantly intervene to restore order.

Sentencing

The Marquis was found not guilty of 40 counts of Electoral Fraud. Even though the Marquis had admitted that his party was responsible fot the 40 extra votes, the Imperial Grand Duke found that by Lundenwic Law, he had done nothing wrong. The Imperial Grand Duke ruled that both parties should work together to write a new Elections Bill as the current one was "woefully inadequate". He also ruled that the 2014 Election was valid and the Marquis was officially named as the Prime Minister.

1st Lewis Cabinet

Party key		Free Fascist Party
		Democratic Reform Party
		Independent
		Imperial Grand Duke (Politically Neutral)

First Lewis Cabinet

Portfolio	Minister		Term
Prime Minister of Lundenwic Minister of the Foreign Office		His Grace Gen. The Marquis of New Chater OGD OOL KSS KSPE	2013- 2015-
Lord Chancellor of the Treasury		His Imperial Highness The Imperial Grand Duke GGD GOL KSS KSPE KSPA	2015-
Minister of the Interior		The Rt Hon. Roberto Bruno MP	2013-
Minister of Defence		The Rt Hon. Gen. Emma Spencer MP	2013-
Minister of Justice		The Rt Hon. Dave Clarke MP	2013-
Minister for Faith and Communities		The Rt Hon. Hannah Crabtree MP	2015-

With the Marquis returned as Prime Minister, he named his cabinet to the Imperial Grand Duke who announced it through an Imperial Edict. The title of the Minister of the Interior and Grand Region was shortened to the Minister of the Interior and was surprisingly handed back to Roberto Bruno. Gen. Emma Spencer returned as Minister of Defence and Dave Clarke returned as Minister of Justice. The post of Minister of Research and Origami was abolished, but Hannah Crabtree remained in government after she was named the Minister of Faith and Communities. The Imperial Grand Duke replaced the Marquis as Lord Chancellor of the Treasury and the Marquis replaced the Imperial Grand Duke as Minister of the Foreign Office.

It was called the First Lewis Cabinet because it was the first time a Prime Minister had been elected to hold that office.