Adammic national election, 2013
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The 2013 National Election was the first ever National Election held in the Empire of Adammia, taking place on 25 August 2013. Emperor Mother Jayne Belcher won a landslide victory against Sir Reginald Hall and was elected as Adammia's first Prime Minister.[1]
Background
The post of Prime Minister was created in law by the adoption of a new Supreme Directive, which was endorsed by the Adammic populace in the Empire's first ever referendum on 30 June 2013. At the time, under the Supreme Directive, the Prime Minister was directly elected by the Empire's full citizens out of the Ministers (later known as Councilors) for each Province.
The election was officially called on 3 August 2013 by Emperor Adam I. At this time, the first ever local elections had just concluded, electing three Ministers. Four provinces existed at the time, but Tytannia did not elect due to the fact that it was uninhabited, and its landed noble, Crown Prince Daniel, automatically took the position. Of the four Ministers, the Minister of the Adammic Imperial Province, Emperor Adam I of the LIST Party, was ineligible to run due to being the Monarch. This left three eligible Ministers, all of whom were independent and did not belong to a political party.
Candidates
Two candidates ran in the election: Emperor Mother Jayne Belcher, Minister (later Councilor) of Maternia, and her father Sir Reginald Hall, Minister (later Councilor) of Sapientia (now Tytannia). Crown Prince Daniel chose not to run in the election.
Hall had served since April 2013 as the Emperor's Chief Advisor. Belcher, by comparison, had very little micronational experience.
Campaign
Neither candidate presented a manifesto nor did any kind of campaigning, though the Adammic Express released interviews with both candidates on 22 August.[2] Both candidates expressed a commitment to law and order, though Hall took a more left-wing stance, whereas Belcher was economically centrist. Both candidates expressed secularist viewpoints, with Belcher advocating for same-sex marriage (something which would eventually be enshrined in Adammic law almost five years later), and Hall being critical of organised religion, blaming it for "rifts and wars". Neither candidate criticised the other, and both expressed support for the Emperor's management of the nation. Notably, Hall (then aged 73) stated his belief that the Prime Minister should be someone younger than him and conceded that he might not be the best person for the job. This statement is believed to have been a major factor in his electoral defeat.
Despite claiming to be impartial, the Adammic Express praised the candidates for their expressions of support for secularism, centrism and liberalism. Such bias has largely been absent from subsequent pre-election candidate interviews, which have since become an annual tradition in Adammia.
The lack of effort put into the election by the candidates continued as a trend in Adammic politics until 2017, when elections began to be seriously contested for the first time.
Results
Voting took place throughout 25 August, with physical polling stations opened in Tytannia and the Adammic Imperial Province, as well as digital voting taking place via email and Skype. The results were announced on the 28th on AOT News,.[3] Emperor Mother Jayne won 11 out of 14 votes cast (78.6%), to Hall's 3 (21.4%). With 14 out of 20 eligible citizens voting, turnout was 70% (there were 22 full citizens at the time, but two were considered ineligible by account of being too young, although a set voting age did not exist in law at the time).
Aftermath
Emperor Mother Jayne took office as Prime Minister immediately after the result was declared. On 1 September 2013, Emperor Adam introduced the Government Ministries Act 2013 to the Ruling Council, establishing eight government departments, which was subsequently passed. The new Prime Minister then appointed the first ever Cabinet, making her opponent Hall her Deputy Prime Minister. This largely derived from Austenasian practice at the time, where defeated election candidates were always made Deputy PM.
The Emperor Mother would go on to win the following two national elections, first again as an independent and later on behalf of the Moderate Party that she founded, before eventually being defeated in 2016 by Sir Paul McKenna of the Labour Party.
