Plushunian legislative election, March 2019

Plushunian snap legislative election, March 2019

24 March 2019
All 30 seats to the Plushunian Parliament 16 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	▲ 64.12%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Ghiță Purcel Rilă Slobozeanu Iepuroi Hop Party PNL, PD, PNȚCD Social Democratic Party (Plushunia) Save Plushunia Union Alliance Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats Leader since 2018 2018 2019 Last election 4+5+4 5+2 2 Seats won 10 9 7 Seat change ▼ 3 ▲ 2 ▲5 Popular vote 109 97 79 Percentage 33.33% 29.67% 24.15%   Fourth party   Leader Ursu Polarescu Party Plushunian Socialist Party Leader since 2019 Last election 6+2 Seats won 4 Seat change ▼4 Popular vote 42 Percentage 12.84%
Prime Minister before election Ursu Polarescu Plushunian Socialist Party Prime Minister after election Ghiță Purcel PNL (ALDe)

Elections for the Plushunian Parliament were held in Plushunia on the 24th of March 2019. All 30 seats were contested in the election, through a party-list proportional representation voting system. The Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats won a plurality of 10 seats, forming a coalition government with the Save Plushunia Union.

Background

Following the events of the March coup, the Polarescu II cabinet resigned, and since no other coalitions were formed, snap legislative elections were called by the President. The elections were quickly organised, with a very short electoral campaign.

Electoral system

Due to its simplicity and its usage in neighboring Romania, in the election the party-list proportional system was used, with each party/alliance proposing a closed national list of candidates, the entire country being the single electoral constituency. The system was used so far in almost all elections in Plushunian history.

Competing parties and pre-election agreements

The Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats

The leader of the Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats, Ghiță Purcel, announced that, should the alliance win the election, an eventual ALDe government will take measures to combat the economic crisis triggered by the socialist economic policies of the Polarescu II cabinet. The measures were to be executed in two stages: the first stage involving the creation of temporary jobs for the unemployed and the stimulation of economic growth, while the second stage involving large-scale privatisation of state-owned companies and real estate, as well as creation of permanent jobs for the unemployed. Purcel also declared that, should the ALDe not win a majority in the election, it would be willing to make a center-right government coalition with the Save Plushunia Union.

Candidate list of the Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats
#	Name	Party	Elected
1	Ghiță Purcel	PNL	Yesyes
2	Broscoi Plușeanu	PD	Yesyes
3	Puiuț Pufoșel	PNȚCD	Yesyes
4	Cățel Plușeanu	PNL	Yesyes
5	Ollie Caracatița	PD	Yesyes
6	Puiuț Pufoșel	PNȚCD	Yesyes
7	Pisica Plușeanu	PNL	Yesyes
8	Marin Caracatiță	PD	Yesyes
9	Cățeluș, Patriarch of Plushunia	PNȚCD	Yesyes
10	Didi Purcel	PNL	Yesyes
11	Broscoi Slobozan	PD	Nono
12	Rățușca Plușeanu	PNȚCD	Nono
13	Reginald Koenig	PNL	Nono
14	Rățoi Slobozeanu	PD	Nono
15	Cocoș Slobozeanu	PNȚCD	Nono
16	Loredana Purcel	PNL	Nono
17	Musca Plușeanu	PD	Nono
18	Țușca Plușeanu	PNȚCD	Nono

The Social Democratic Party

Unlike the Socialists, the Social Democrats decided to adopt more moderate left-wing policies, focusing on improving the welfare system and public spending, supporting partial privatisation of public companies and being against state-regulated prices, planned economy and other policies from the "Road to Socialism" programme. However, the Social Democrats did have an agreement with the Socialists to form a moderate left-wing cabinet led by a Social Democrat should the two parties win a majority in the election.

Note: The list is currently incomplete. The Plushunian Archives will provide a complete version as soon as possible.

Candidate list of the Social Democratic Party
#	Name	Party	Elected
1	Rilă Slobozeanu	PSD	Yesyes
2	Oița Baciu	PSD	Yesyes
3	Ursuleț Plușeanu	PSD	Yesyes
4	Iepurica Albescu	PSD	Yesyes
5	Iepurica von Waldorf	PSD	Yesyes
7	Rilă Morcovescu	PSD	Yesyes
8	Spiridon Koenig	PSD	Yesyes
9	Frog Klein	PSD	Yesyes
10	Rilă von Waldorf	PSD	Nono
11	Ursu Buzescu	Ind.	Nono
12	Ceas Feroviaru	PSD	Nono
13	Ursula Klein	PSD	Nono
14	Cuțu Muncitoru	PSD	Nono

The Save Plushunia Union

The then-newest party of Plushunia (formed in March 2019 by the merger of the Nationat Front with the Revolutionary Movement Party), the Save Plushunia Union ran on a liberal democratic, anti-Socialist platform, supporting the liberal economic policies (privatisation, liberalisation) of the ALDe, while also advocating for an active role of the state in ending the economic crisis started by the Socialist parties. The Union also proposed ending syndical administration of the public enterprises and ending price regulations, and had a coalition agreement with ALDe to form a right-wing cabinet should the two parties win a majority.

Note: The list is currently incomplete. The Plushunian Archives will provide a complete version as soon as possible.

Candidate list of the Save Plushunia Union
#	Name	Party	Elected
1	Judy Hop	USP	Yesyes
2	Iepuraș Slobozan	USP	Yesyes
3	Iepuroi Hop	USP	Yesyes
4	Peter Hop	USP	Yesyes
5	Luminel Plușeanu	USP	Yesyes
6	Iepure Portocaliu	USP	Yesyes
7	Șobo Albu	USP	Yesyes
8	Puiuț Chițăilă	USP	Nono
9	Rilă Croșetă	USP	Nono
10	Dobermann Plușeanu	USP	Nono
11	Cuțulache Plușeanu	USP	Nono
12	Șobo Gri	USP	Nono
13	Iepuraș Croșetă	USP	Nono
14	Babirusa von Waldorf	USP	Nono
15	Horațiu Pferd	USP	Nono

The Plushunian Socialist Party

The Socialists, representing the radical wing of the former Social Alliance, ran on a platform focused on maintaining the economic and social policies of the Polarescu II Cabinet, such as syndical administration of companies, opposing privatisations, establishing worker cooperatives and stimulating industrial economy. The party did have an agreement with the more moderate Social Democrats to form a left-wing government should the two parties win a majority, despite the many ideological disagreements between them.

Note: The list is currently incomplete. The Plushunian Archives will provide a complete version as soon as possible.

Candidate list of the Plushunian Socialist Party
#	Name	Party	Elected
1	Ursache Klein	PSP	Yesyes
2	Ursu Polarescu	PSP	Yesyes
3	Văcuța Baciu	PSP	Yesyes
4	Cârtiță Chirilă	PSP	Yesyes
5	Cuțu Ialomițean	PSP	Nono
6	Vulpe Klein	PSP	Nono

Opinion polling

Date	ALDe	PSD	PSP	FN	PMR
15/12/2018	33%	23%	26%	10%	8%
01/01/2019	35%	24%	25%	7%	9%
15/01/2019	32%	26%	23%	10%	9%
01/02/2019	30%	27%	24%	9%	10%
15/02/2019	30%	27%	21%	13%	9%
01/03/2019	31%	30%	20%	11%	8%
March 2019 - Electoral agreements changed, National Front merges with Revolutionary Movement Party to form the Save Plushunia Union
Date	ALDe	PSD	PSP	USP
08/03/2019	31%	29%	17%	23%
15/03/2019	32%	28%	15%	25%
20/03/2019	34%	27%	16%	23%

Results

 Plushunian snap legislative election, 24 March 2019

Parties		Results
		Seats	%	Votes	%
	Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats	10	33.33%	109	33.33%
	Social Democratic Party	9	30%	97	29.67%
	Save Plushunia Union	7	23.33%	79	24.15%
	Plushunian Socialist Party	4	13.33%	42	12.84%
Total		30	100%	327	100%

The results, released on 25 March, showed the Alliance of the Liberals and Democrats winning a plurality: 33.33% of the votes and 10 seats in Parliament, followed closely at 29.67% and 9 seats by the Social Democratic Party. However, the ALDe experienced a decrease in seat share, as it had 13 seats in the previous legislature, while the PSD gained two seats, having only 7 seats before the election (5 of which were won by PSD in the last election, when it competed as part of the Social Alliance). The largest rise in seat share was made by the Save Plushunia Union, which gained 5 seats in the election, only having 2 seats in the previous Parliament (won by the Union's predecessor, the National Front, in the 2018 election, in which it competed as part of the Democratic Convention), while the sharpest drop was experienced by the Plushunian Socialist Party, formed in December 2019 following the merger of the more radical parties of the defunct Social Alliance. The Socialists had 8 seats following the merger, but they lost half of them in the March election.

Structure of the Plushunian Parliament following the election

•   PSP (4)
•   PSD (9)
•   PD (3)
•   PNL (4)
•   PNŢCD (3)
•   USP (7)