Elysiumite senatorial election, December 2021
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The 15th Grand Senate general election of Elysium was held from the 30 to 31 of December 2021, where all twenty-five Grand Senate seats will be up for election. The election lasted exactly forty-eight hours. The election is too be the first election following the restoration of the monarchy and as such replacing the office of Prime Minister with Chancellor once more. The Elysiumite Gazette conducted three polls all of which have been won by the Elysiumite Nationalist Democrats, the first time in over a year any conservative party has won a nationwide has won a nationwide poll or election and also the longest streak of Progressive loses since the party was re-established.
Both the incumbent Chancellor Adam Johnston and his Deputy James Christian resigned for separate reasons. Adam Johnston stood down from party leadership after the Progressives lost the midterms and later resigned as Chancellor early. Following this Johann Kummel, leader of the Pirate Party of Elysium and long serving statesmen was appointed as the interim Chancellor by the Grand Emperor on the advise of the cabinet. Christian then resigned a few days later feeling insulted he had not been offered to be the interim Chancellor. The Progressives settled on Thomas Bainbridge as their leader following the Gang of 3, Attlee, William Denton, and the aforementioned Bainbridge, kicked Sean Dagda out of leadership. The Social Democratic Party of Elysium elected Warren Wright to succeed James Christian. The Elysiumite Nationalist Democrats unanimously elected standing leader Elliot Doe.
Background
The December 2021 election was the first since the monarchy was restored. Restoration came about due to a national referendum which occurred at the same time during the Elysiumite senatorial election, October 2021 in which the republicans were defeated by the monarchist handily in a 60-40 vote. Following this there was great debate within the Grand Senate if Elysium should adopt a model like a crowned republic where the monarch was largely ceremonial, or restore the former system of a semi-constitutional monarchy where the monarch was a major part of the politics of the nation. Progressives and Social Democrats, with the notable exception of Thomas Bainbridge, tended to favor a ceremonial monarchy whereas the Nationalist Democrats and Pirates supported semi-constitutional monarchism. Originally the job of writing an amendment to reform every article of the constitution and even the amendments was given to a committee led by Robert Smith, the current Chancellor and former Grand Emperor, and leadership of both factions. After the amendment was completed and Robert Smith and Elliot Doe approved of it a number of ceremonialist claimed the constitution was still unready to be proposed. As such a second committee was formed composed of royalist loyal to the leadership of the House of Smith. Upon this committee resolving all the issues the ceremonialist objected to they again asked the committee to propose it to the Grand Senate, when the ceremonialist refused they proposed it regardless. After it was proposed Speaker Spooky Johnston, a ceremonialist and Progressive, and Adam Johnston passed a motion a start an emergency eight day debate on the Endangered Species Act. The act had not been discussed since it was passed and the executive government was not particularly enforcing it, as such the Progressives claimed debate was needed. Elliot Doe attempted to speak out against the debate on the Grand Senate but the Speaker then had him suspended from the Grand Senate for a day due to him not debating the topic at hand. Following this the National Tribune, the official newspaper of the Nationalist Democrats, was quick to blast the actions of the Progressives as undemocratic and an attempt by elitist Grand Senators to maintain their power in the wake of the people choosing the monarchy over them.
I call upon the Progressives to bury this horrid and anti-democratic Party which no longer stands for the interest of the people but merely the interest of the elite political class which has ruled for far too long in the Grand Senate, and accomplished far too little. In their government the great stagnation has continued, the civil service is in disarray, the military is gone, and now they hate the people of Elysium and hold them in contempt for making decisions which empower their only true representatives, the House of Smith.
— The National Tribune, 22 November 2021
Furthermore the Tribune compared the two Grand Senators ignoring a pending amendment which had already been proposed and seconded, which would then typically cause a debate on it, and instead launching an eight day debate to a filibuster. On the same day the Unionist released a poll which showed that 58% of the public blamed republicans for the hold up on the amendment and that 65% of the public supported semi-constitutional monarchism or absolutism. The next days Nationalist Democratic and Social Democratic Grand Senators began publicly stating their intentions for the impeachment of Spooky Johnston who then stood down as Speaker before any motion could be made. Thomas Bainbridge, a staunch monarchist, then became Speaker and ended the debate on the Endangered Species Act. Bainbridge then oversaw the passage of the amendment and restoration of the monarchy on the 29th of November.
In early December midterm elections occurred which led to the Nationalist Democrats becoming the largest party flipping Progressive held Daeltheria and Greymont. The Nationalist Democrats also held Menewek-Nordhaus and Hilton whereas the Progressives held Greater Elyria-Princeton. Elliot Doe claimed the end of a Progressive mandate to govern and stated if a snap election was not held he would motion for a vote of no confidence in the Grand Senate. Two days later the Grand Emperor, on the advise of both the opposition and the government dissolved the Grand Senate for a snap election.
Electoral system
Elysium uses a multi-member constituency system each of which elect their Grand Senators with a system of party voting to determine who gets the seats. Seats are disrupted to parties proportionally through use of the D'Hondt method. Each Commonwealth and Province acted as its own multi-member constituency ranging from five seats in Elyria to one is Kaiserhof making it the only single seat constituency. The seats in the Grand Senate remained at twenty-five.
All votes, with exceptions of spoiled ballots and votes for independent candidates, are tabulated to a nation-wide party vote. These votes are used to elect 30% of the seats in the Grand Senate with a system of proportional representation. These seats are given out to parties based on which one has the most unproportionable low number of seats.
Campaign and candidates
Nationalist Democrats
Nationalist Democrats released the most campaign material of any party in the election with dozens of posters and speeches being released. The Nationalist Democrats positioned themselves as the strongest supporters of the recently restored monarch, greatest opposition to those who supported the former republic, and an agent of reform against the Progressive Party increasingly held in contempt by the people due to their actions against constitutional reform. The Nationalist Democrats also centered their campaign around pointing out the negative records of the many previously popular Progressives who now found themselves without a mandate from the people.
The Nationalist Democratic Party began the process to select a leader and deputy leader in late November. Incumbent Elliot Doe was backed by nearly every Grand Senator from the party and no others stood against him allowing him to be elected unanimously. This was in large part due to the Nationalist Democrats winning their first nationwide polls and the successful restoration of monarchy which Doe was associated with more so than any other ND. Barclay democrat Moustapha Hoteit was re-elected Deputy Leader of the party also running unopposed. Elliot Doe outright endorsed Moustpha Hotiet this time around stating:
He [Moustapha Hotiet] has served this party and Elysium well, he frankly deserves to be Deputy Chancellor.
— Elliot Doe, 13 December 2021
Upon selecting their candidates the Nationalist Democrats focused their attention on attacking then leader of the Progressive Party, Sean O'Neill. In particular they focused on the O'Neill premiership in Daeltheria and how he did not pass any legislation or make any major reforms to the executive government in his 327 day tenure. Another focus on the Nationalist Democrats was that in O'Neill's 358 days a Grand Senator he did not pass any legislation. This external pressure on O'Neill aided the attempts within his own party to remove him from power before the election, after being removed the Nationalist Democrats shifted their campaign more toward their own policy due to the friendship between Doe and new Progressive leader Thomas Bainbridge.