Adammic national election, 2015
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| Turnout | 72.4% (▼9.7) | |||||||||||||||
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The 2015 national election was an election in the Empire of Adammia held on 16 August 2015 in which Emperor Mother Jayne Belcher of the Moderate Party was re-elected for a third term as Prime Minister, defeating her domestic partner, Sir Paul McKenna of the Labour Party. The election was the last of the Emperor Mother's three consecutive victories, and saw her narrowest margin of victory.
Background
Emperor Mother Jayne had been elected by a landslide as an independent candidate in the 2013 and 2014 national elections. In the run-up to the 2015 election, the Emperor encouraged the members of the Ruling Council to form political parties, arguing that competition between parties would result in a greater diversity of ideas being put before the Council. After a rumoured right-wing party led by Duke of Myway Sir Christopher Hall failed to materialise, Emperor Mother Jayne founded the Moderate Party on 18 July. Although it was originally expected that Sir Reginald Hall would join the Moderates, he instead founded the Labour Party on the same day, which Sir Paul McKenna promptly joined, making it the first political party in Adammia to have more than one member.
On 24 July, the Office of the Emperor proposed the Second Amendment to the Supreme Directive, which was passed by a referendum on 2 August. This had the effect of making all members of the Ruling Council, rather than just the elected Councilors, eligible to run for Prime Minister, greatly increasing the pool of potential candidates.
Local elections took place on 25 July, when Madam Julie Foster, the Emperor Mother's opponent from the previous election, joined the Moderates; meanwhile, Prince Jake and Sir Matthew Foster both joined the Emperor's Liberal Party, making it the largest party by membership. On the same day, Emperor Adam I officially called the national election.
Candidates
The twelve Ruling Council seats at the time were occupied by eleven individuals (Julie Foster technically held two seats, as Watertopia's both Duchess and Councillor). Of these, two were ineligible to run: Emperor Adam, constitutionally prohibited due to being Monarch, and Prince Jake due to being under the age of twelve. Therefore, the Liberal Party did not field any candidates since none of its members met the requirements to become Prime Minister.
Crown Prince Daniel and Madam Winifred Hall stated their intention to remain politically independent, and declined to stand. Lord Sir Andrew Hall declined to join a party, citing his wish to see all the party manifestos; as the Labour Party never published a manifesto, he remained independent and did not stand (he would eventually join the Moderates in 2016). Owing to their general unavailability, Sir Christopher Hall and Madam Debbie Shaw were never consulted.
Madam Julie Foster did not challenge the Emperor Mother for the Moderate Party's nomination, and the party supported the Emperor Mother's bid to be re-elected to a third term.
As with the previous year, Sir Reginald Hall declined to stand, stating his wish to remain as Minister of Finance. Instead, the Labour Party nominated Sir Paul McKenna, making him the party's de-facto political leader, although Hall remained as the official party president. McKenna had previously served for two months as Minister of Infrastructure.
Campaign
Although the Liberal Party did not stand in the election, it became the first political party in Adammia to publish a manifesto on 22 July; the Moderate Party followed its lead, publishing its first manifesto on the 25th. The manifesto declared that the "theme" of the Moderate Party was family, with the Emperor Mother making a number of pledges relating directly to the family life of the House of Hall, largely ignoring political ideology and not making any legislative proposals.
In spite of the new partisan dimension, the candidates put very little effort into the campaign, as had been the case in previous years. The Adammic Express conducted its pre-election interviews whilst the Imperial Family was on holiday in Lincolnshire, and the candidates were only paraphrased.[1] The Emperor Mother expressed a desire to get often inactive government ministers more involved. She highlighted the success of the Andromeda 3 mission, stating that AISA and the Military should continue to be publicly funded as ways of "having fun" whilst also increasing the Empire's prestige; she also pledged to financially support events such as Foundation Day. She again declined to make any legislative proposals, stating that the current laws were adequate, whilst suggesting that the Empire should "enhance" its foreign relations by encouraging other nations to collaborate on Adammic projects.
McKenna advocated for "widening" the involvement of citizens other than the Emperor in running government departments, suggesting that this would give more "backing" to the Emperor. He cautioned against excessive public spending, stating that some funds should be held in reserve in case of emergencies, whilst expressing support for the current policy of funding AISA and AAF projects, Foundation Day and cultural projects. Like his opponent, he declined to make any legislative proposals, saying that the current laws had his full backing.
Unlike in previous elections, the Express did not provide any pre-election analysis.
Results
The Emperor Mother won 12 votes (57.1%) to McKenna's 9 (42.9%). The overall turnout was 72.4% with 21 out of 29 eligible voters taking part.
For the first time, local results in each province and colony were recorded. The result was officially announced by the Adammic Express on 24 August.
| Territorial division | Turnout | HIH Emperor Mother Jayne Belcher | HG Sir Paul McKenna |
|---|---|---|---|
| Primoria | 100% | 2 | 2 |
| Maternia | 100% | 2 | 0 |
| Tytannia | 100% | 2 | 0 |
| Watertopia | 100% | 0 | 2 |
| Myway | 100% | 2 | 2 |
| Borealia | 33.3% | 1 | 0 |
| Adammic Columbia | 100% | 0 | 1 |
| Dearneland | 100% | 1 | 0 |
| Non-territorial | 44.4% | 2 | 2 |
| Total | 72.4% | 12 | 9 |
Aftermath
Despite the Moderates winning Adammia's first partisan election, the Labour and Liberal members of the Ruling Council retained their government positions; this was largely due to the fact that the Moderates did not have enough members to fill all the Cabinet positions by themselves. In the subsequent term, there was effectively a grand coalition of all the parties, with the Emperor Mother's government enjoying total control of the Ruling Council. The tradition of appointing the losing candidate as Deputy Prime Minister, adopted from Austenasia, was dropped, with Madam Julie Foster, as the Moderate Party's only other member and de-facto deputy leader, continuing as Deputy PM; McKenna continued to serve as Minister of Infrastructure. As one of the few independent Council members not serving in government, Sir Christopher Hall continued to act as the de-facto Leader of the Opposition, though he remained inactive.
The election would be the Emperor Mother's final victory; the following year, effectively a rematch of the 2015 election, McKenna managed to clinch victory by a single vote.
