Abeldane general election, April 2017

Abeldane general election, April 2017
Turnout	88% (▲8%)
Vorsitzender before election; Michael Thomas Brazeau; IPA	Vorsitzender after election ; Patrick Renwick; Democratic-Liberty Party (Abelden)

The Eleventh general election of the Abeldane Empire was held on the 4 April 2017, following the resignation of the then-incumbent Vorsitzender, Henry Clément-Twain, on 29 March 2017. The general election contested the two elected offices in the Empire, which are the offices of the Vorsitzender and Stellvertreter, in which Patrick Renwick, of the Democratic-Liberty Party, was elected as Vorsitzender and Avro Keatings, of the Independence Party of Abelden, as Stellvertreter.

The elections was supposedly to be held on 1 April as decree by the Emperor, but due to the opposition by most of the major parties in the Empire on which they reasoned that the given time for campaigning, which was for four days only, was too short and that it should be extended. Stephen I & II then extended the date of campaigning and the elections formally began on 4 April.

The election saw the first tie ever in Abeldane elections, on which all candidates received an amount of 11 votes each, thereby 25%. The tie was then brought to the Reichsversammlung for a final vote on which required 3/4 of MPs' votes to make the election legal. Levi Newman, of the Edge Party, and Michael Thomas Brazeau, of the Conservative Party, were eliminated on the first round of voting, thereby allowing Renwick and McCracken for the run-off. Another tie almost surged during the run-off and Renwick won after the tie was broken by the newly elected Stellvertreter, Avro Keatings.

The Conservative Party was dissolved following the elections and de facto merged with the Independence Party, which gained an absolute majority in the Reichsversammlung.

Background

Henry Clément-Twain was elected as Vorsitzender on February 2017 and the next election was scheduled on June 2017. Following his election as Vice-Chair of the Grand Unified Micronational, he resigned from all his posts in the government and ultimately rescinded his citizenship afterwards. Michael Thomas Brazeau then succeeded him as Vorsitzender.

Talks of a general election then began on the lounge, Abel to Dabel, and it was ultimately agreed that an election had to be held in order to maintain the democratic process of the Empire.

The Independence Party had allied itself with all the parties in the Empire and Twain maintained that he would continue the said coalition with all parties if elected on the next elections. The IPA wanted to focus more on a united and federal Empire rather than debates and politics in the Reichsversammlung.

Campaign

The campaign of the election began immediately on 29 March and originally had to end on 1 April. But due to protests from the major political parties in the Empire, the election day was moved instead to 4 April and allowed time for each parties to decide on their candidates for the election. The Conservative Party's campaign had a large and lasting impact in Abeldane history, with the slogan Keep Abelden Great and Active being mocked by the other parties as an unoriginal slogan from the United States President, Donald Trump, on his campaign. The slogan has since been abbreviated as KAGaA or with a hashtag #KAGaA.

Results

Vorsitzender

Party		Candidate	Popular vote		RVS first round		RVS second round
Party		Candidate	votes	%	votes	%	votes	%
	Democratic-Liberty Party	Patrick Renwick	11	25%	9	32.14%	15	51.72%
	Independence Party	Will McCracken	11	25%	8	28.57%	14	48.27%
	Edge Party	Levi Newman	11	25%	7	25%	—
	Conservative Party	Michael Thomas Brazeau	11	25%	4	14.28%
Invalid/blank votes			0	–	—
Total			44	100
Registered voters/turnout			50	88%

Stellvertreter

Party		Candidate	Result
Party		Candidate	votes	%
	Independence Party	Avro Keatings	16	36.40%
	Democratic-Liberty Party	Ava Neasa	10	22.72%
	Conservative Party	Allen Paul	9	22.44%
	Edge Party	Damian Billbrough	9	22.44%
Invalid/blank votes			1	–
Total			44	100
Registered voters/turnout			50	88%