Sabioveronese general election, September 2014

Sabioveronese general election, September 2014

14 September 2014
All 20 seats to the Chamber of Deputies 11 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	87%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Bertrand Rivière Ernesto DaVilha Étienne Boulin Party Unity Party (Sabia and Verona) Left Alliance (Sabia and Verona) Convergence and Amity Alliance Road Towards Change Independent Independent Leader since 23 June 2014 N/A N/A Leader's seat Caenia I Salisse IV Salisse II Last election 4 seats, 24.21% 8 seats, 30.53% 6 seats, 26.31% Seats won 6 4 5 Seat change ▲2 ▼ 4 ▼1 Popular vote 22 22 20 Percentage 25.88% 25.88% 23.53% Swing ▲1.67 p.p. ▼7.00 p.p. ▼2.78 p.p.   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader José Ramírez Ann Stefanović Party Pashqari People's Party Initiative for Democracy Alliance Independent Road Towards Change Leader since N/A 11 June 2013 Leader's seat Aguasblancas I Did not contest Last election 2 seats, 18.95% 0 seats, 0% Seats won 2 3 Seat change ▲3 Popular vote 13 7 Percentage 15.29% 8.23% Swing ▼3.66p.p. ▲8.23 p.p.
Results by legislative district
PM before election Léon Galieri Left Alliance (Sabia and Verona) Prime Minister after election Bertrand Rivière Unity Party (Sabia and Verona)

Sabia and Verona held its fifth general election on 14 September 2014. All 20 members of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Legislative Courts, were elected for a one-year term. This was the second election since the adoption of the Constitution of 2014, which divided the previously unicameral Courts into the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

The incumbent Prime Minister at the time, Léon Galieri, decided not to run for a second term and his party nominated a former Socialist minister, Ernesto DaVilha, as their candidate for Prime Minister.

The election returned the governing coalition to a majority, but since the two parties in the coalition (Galieri's Left Alliance and Convergence) were at odds with each other, Queen Isadora granted her mandate to form a government to Bertrand Rivière, leader of the Unity Party, which was in an alliance with Initiative for Democracy. This was the last election in which the Pashqari People's Party or the Initiative would run, as both dissolved before the 2015 election. It was also the last election before the Haronos Plan would introduce a new constitution.

Background

The September 2014 election was the second legislative election in Sabia and Verona's history to be held under the Constitution of 2014, which divided the Courts of Sabia and Verona into two houses: the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. The elections covered the 20 seats of the Chamber of Deputies, as the members of the Senate were appointed by the Monarch. Following the March 2014 election, the relationship between the members of the governing coalition, the Convergence Party and the Left Alliance, became strained. Conflict arose between the two ruling parties and the Pashqari People's Party as well, a party that had so far been sympathetic to the government.

Prime Minister Léon Galieri declined serving a second term, emulating his predecessor Ann Stefanović. Instead, his party (the Left Alliance) chose Ernesto DaVilha, a moderate social democrat, as their candidate for Prime Minister. Convergence and Amity chose Étienne Boulin, a former Socialist minister, as their PM-candidate, hoping to appeal to Left Alliance voters. The party that appeared best positioned to win was the Unity Party, which had done poorly in the previous elections. Its new leader, Bertrand Rivière, proved popular among voters and appealed to the electorates in big cities such as Salisse and Caenia.

Rivière rode a wave of Sabian nationalism, attacking the Pashqari and Lycene minorities of the Kingdom and promising to make Sabian the sole language of the Kingdom and Nikolaeist Pahunism the official religion of Sabia and Verona. He counted with the support of the Initiative for Democracy, a center-right liberal party that pledged to back Rivière's premiership. The two parties formed the Road Towards Change (Képren Lâdom) alliance, and their candidates campaigned under that banner.

Electoral system

The September 2014 election was held using the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system in 20 electoral districts. Each municipality was divided into several districts: the largest municipality, Salisse, was divided into four, while the smallest, Lycem (actually a region with a single municipality and a special territory) contained a single district. The system was the same as the one used in the March 2014 election.

Parties and candidates

Party		Ideology	Leader	PM-candidate
	Convergence and Amity (A)	Federalism	Ryam Piper	Étienne Boulin
	Unity Party (C)	Conservatism	Bertrand Rivière
	Initiative for Democracy (D)	Liberalism	Ann Stefanović	Bertrand Rivière
	Left Alliance (R)	Democratic socialism	Léon Galieri	Ernesto DaVilha
	Pashqari People's Party (P)	Pashqari people's rights	Lukas Pondstone	José Ramírez

Opinion polls

Pollster	Release date	A	C†	R	P	Other	Lead
The SiV Phonograph	15-06-2014	27%	27%	31%	15%		4%
The SiV Phonograph	30-06-2014	26%	28%	31%	15%		3%
The SiV Phonograph	15-07-2014	26%	29%	28%	17%		1%
The SiV Phonograph	30-07-2014	27%	31%	27%	15%		4%
The SiV Phonograph	15-08-2014	27%	30%	29%	14%		1%
The SiV Phonograph	30-08-2014	28%	34%	27%	15%		6%

• †: Polls counted support for the Unity Party and Initiative for Democracy as the same, using the Képren Lâdom alliance as an umbrella for both parties.

Results

Composition of the Chamber of Deputies after the September 2014 election.

The election resulted in big losses for the governing coalition: the Left Alliance lost half of its seats and Convergence lost one seat. Despite receiving the same amount of votes as the Left, the Unity Party became the largest party in the Chamber of Deputies with 6 seats. The Pashqari People's Party lost one seat as well, while the Initiative for Democracy, which had abstained from participating in March, won 3 seats.

Party		Leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Unity Party	Bertrand Rivière	22	25.88%	6	▲2
	Convergence and Amity	Ryam Piper	20	23.53%	5	▼1
	Left Alliance	Léon Galieri	22	25.88%	4	▼4
	Initiative for Democracy	Ann Stefanović	7	8.23%	3	▲3
	Pashqari People's Party	Lukas Pondstone	13	15.29%	2

Popular vote
Unity Party			25.88%
Left Alliance			25.88%
Convergence and Amity			23.53%
Pashqari People's Party			15.29%
Initiative for Democracy			8.23%
Independents			1.17%

Elected MCs

District		Deputy	Party		Notes
Abrelia	I Luseknama	Dímeros Grenouille		Unity Party (KL)	Cabinet minister. Judicial Commission.
	II Adshaidogaz	Shassel Marlaryen		Pashqari
	III Silverpine	Gonzalo Salomé		Initiative (KL)	Cabinet minister.
Aguasblancas	I Nel-Berin	Dovedán Pashor		Left Alliance
	II Bal de Or	Oliver Pondstone		Left Alliance
	III Alcabala	François Florent		Unity Party (KL)	Cabinet minister.
Caenia	I Bois	Osez Kóvérsz		Unity Party (KL)
	II Exnalox	Fernando Goyo-Ramírez		Initiative (KL)
	III Santa Marta	Bertrand Rivière		Unity Party (KL)	Prime Minister.
Elinore	I Divedrinata	Raphaël Rivière		Unity Party (KL)
	II Godswill	Anton Schubert-Moss		Convergence
	III Miasaaquuri	Roman Häshmun		Pashqari	Judicial commission.
Lycem		Suipom Goyo		Convergence	Judicial commission.
Salisse	I Arivenas Bagod	Ernesto DaVilha		Left Alliance
	II Marcaestrella	Étienne Boulin		Convergence	Leader of the Opposition.
	III Agamilox	Nürul Man Baaran		Initiative (KL)	Judicial commission.
	IV Woodstock	Carla Mora		Unity Party (KL)
Tegula	I Basïsh-el-Amïz	Apollo Cerwyn		Convergence
	II Basïsh-el-Naqäp	Ryam Piper		Convergence
	III Päzar	Andreina Rossini		Left Alliance	Judicial commission.

Aftermath and government formation

Due to the ongoing feud between the parties of the governing coalition and the PMM, Queen Isadora granted Bertrand Rivière the mandate to form a minority coalition government with Initiative for Democracy. Rivière's ministry took office on 1 October 2014, alongside the new Chamber of Deputies.