Nollandish Confederacy election, 2015
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A parliamentary election to elect the members of the Parliament of the Nollandish Confederacy was held from the 21–25 August 2015, as stipulated by the revised version of the Confederal Charter. All of the seats in each member state were up for election.
The election was conducted by the single transferable vote electoral system, according to the stipulations of the revised Confederal Charter. The election resulted in a hung parliament, with both the Freedom and Progress parties gaining five seats and the non-inscrit Fionnbarra Ó Cathail being elected as one of Nolland's three representatives. Soon after the announcement of the results, Ó Cathail announced that he would be joining the Confederal Freedom Party, thus breaking the political deadlock and allowing Freedom to push a vote of confidence through the Parliament.
Background
The origins of the Confederal Parliament lie in preliminary discussions between Tsar Thomas I and Foreign Secretary Leon Williamson, where the idea of an elected chamber for the Nollandish Confederacy was proposed by Williamson. This idea was posed towards the delegates of the General Assembly, who responded in a generally positive manner to the idea after consultations with their governments.
The idea eventually evolved into a total revamp of the Confederacy's structure, including the introduction of an entirely new charter. This new charter was drafted by Leon Williamson and James R. Frisch, and it vested the bulk of the Confederacy's political power in the newly established Parliament. Shortly thereafter it was agreed that elections for the new Parliament would take place as soon as possible in August, as mandated by the Charter itself.
Contesting parties and candidates
Confederal Freedom Party
On 26 July, a list was created by Foreign Secretary Williamson to preliminarily register the political parties and candidates in each member state. It rapidly became apparent to many right-leaning politicians that left-wing parties had a distinctive lead in a number of states. The lead to discussions between United Nolland and the Liberal Party of Vyktory to the end of creating a political alliance. The discussions expanded to include the Vertigan Patriotic Party and the centrist Working Democratic Party of Mcarthia. The four parties agreed to form the Confederal Freedom Party to contest the election under a unified banner and keep the leftists from gaining a parliamentary majority.
The Freedom Party held a leadership election on the 28 July, with the two nominees being Leon Williamson of United Nolland and Anthony Clark of the the Working Democratic Party. Williamson carried 66.7% of the votes to achieve the party leadership.
Confederal Party for Progress
In response to the formation of the Freedom Party, the main leftist parties entered into discussions of their own. Soon thereafter the Royal Party of Mancunia, the Independent Usian Leftists' Party and the Labour Party of Nedland agreed to form an opposing Confederal grouping called the Confederal Party of Progress, based around socialist/social democratic principles.
On the same day as the Freedom Party's leadership election, incumbent Secretary General James I of the Royal Party was elected leader of the CPP in a unanimous decision by the regional party leaders in Mancunia, Usi and Nedland. The day after this the Nollandish Free Liberals joined the coalition.
Non-inscrits
There were a number of non-inscrit candidates which contested the election. Besides the elected Fionnbarra Ó Cathail, the Nollandish Fascist Front ran two candidates in Nolland, and Representitive Marlow contested the election for the Mancunian Liberty Party.
Campaign
The two party leaders, Leon Williamson and James I, engaged in a 1v1 debate hosted by the Leylandiistani channel TVLG.[1]
Withdrawals
Both the Freedom and Progress parties suffered in the surprising withdrawals of Vertigo and Nedland. Vertigo's president unexpectedly announced that Vertigo's citizenry had decided to dissolve the country. This was a large blow for the Freedom Party, as Vertigo was considered a guaranteed seat for them. However, the Progress Party was also affected by Ned Gunderson's unexpected withdrawal from the community and the subsequent dissolution of the Nedlandic state. This also deprived the Progress Party of what analysts believed were "safe seats" for them.
Media coverage
RadioMicro covered the election through an election special - episode 6.[2]
Opinion polling
The first opinion polling for the Confederal election was conducted by the Hastings Telegraph on the 28 July, with the poll showing a 28% lead to the Freedom Party. A second poll conducted the next day by RadioMicro showed a 10% lead for the Freedom Party. However, both the Telegraph and RadioMicro have stressed that the accuracy of such polling cannot be guaranteed due to the small size of the samples used. No media outlets conducted further polls in August out of fear of unduly influencing the election results.
| Polling Firm | Date | Freedom | Progress |
|---|---|---|---|
| RadioMicro | 29/07/2015 | 54% | 46% |
| Hastings Telegraph | 28/07/2015 | 64% | 36% |
Results
The election resulted in a hung parliament, with 5 MCPs for both Freedom and Progress, and one non-inscrit.
Mancunia
| Candidate: | James I (Progress) |
James Hunt (Progress) |
Billy Neill (Progress) |
Laurie Marlow (Liberty, non-inscrit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | 100% (Elected) |
0% | 0% | 0% |
| Round 2 | - | 50% (Elected by tie-breaker) |
50% | 0% |
| Round 3 | - | - | 100% (Elected) |
0% |
Mcarthia
| Candidate: | Anthony Clark (Freedom) |
|---|---|
| Round 1 | 100% (Elected) |
Nolland
| Candidate: | Leon Williamson (Freedom) |
James R. Frisch (Freedom) |
Richard Hytholoday (Freedom) |
Fionnbarra Ó Cathail (Independent, non-inscrit) |
William Opdengraff (Fascist, non-inscrit) |
Vera Hewitt (Fascist, non-inscrit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | 40% (Elected) |
0% | 20% | 20% | 0% | 20% |
| Round 2 | - | 20% | 26.6% | 26.6% | 0% (Eliminated) |
26.6% |
| Round 3 | - | 20% (Eliminated) |
26.6% | 26.6% | - | 26.6% |
| Round 4 | - | - | 46.6% (Elected) |
26.6% | - | 26.6% |
| Round 5 | - | - | - | 58.3% (Elected) |
- | 41.6% |
Vyktory
| Candidate: | James Knight (Freedom) |
|---|---|
| Round 1 | 100% (Elected) |
Usi
| Candidate: | Gabriel N. Pelger (Progress) |
Michael Onff (Progress) |
John Clark (Freedom) |
DJ (Independent, non-inscrit) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | 100% (Elected) |
0% | 0% | 0% |
| Round 1 | - | 100% (Elected) |
0% | 0% |
| Round 1 | - | - | 100% (Elected) |
0% |