Sorrenian general election, February 2015

Sorrenian General Election, February 2015
14/15 seats to the National Assembly ; 8 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	94%
President before election; Andrew Janiszewski; New Democratic-Liberty Party of Sorrenia	President after election ; Miles of Sorrenia; Sorrenian Workers Party

This article is about the Sorrenian General Election of February 2015. For the Presidential Election of February 2015, see Sorrenian Presidential Election, February 2015.

Key issues

• Secularism - A common theme in Sorrenian political history, secularism was a large issue in the February elections. The Sorrenian Workers' Party and the New Democratic-Liberty Party, as usual, were largely unwilling to budge on their positions on secularism, stating as part of their platform that secularism in Sorrenia, at least in the nation's federal politics and government structures. The Party for Freedom and Democracy took a moderate stance, wishing for relaxation of secularisation provincially and allowing for more freedom of religious expression in Sorrenia in politics, but also wishing to ensure things did not go too far or too fast. The Commonwealth Party took a strongly anti-secular stance and planned to end secularist regulations in Sorrenian politics altogether.

• Article 20 - Article 20 is often referred to as "the Weimar Article", due to its being taken from the Constitution of the short-lived Weimar Republic between World Wars I and II. The purpose of the article is to grant the Sorrenian President the right to enact emergency powers in crisis situations, so as to be able to protect the nation better and prevent chaos. The Sorrenian Workers' Party and NDLP, as they traditionally do, stated in their platforms that they would defend the Weimar Article and prevent it from being repealed, while the Commonwealth Party stated its intent to try and repeal the law, claiming it be "fundamentally undemocratic". The PFD was relatively neutral on this issue.

• Activity in the National Assembly - Concerns were raised in February that many members of Sorrenia's four political parties that were being elected to the National Assembly were frequently inactive in the National Assembly and turned the positions they were elected to into "paper titles" by neither voting on legislation or proposing it. All parties were on relatively the same page, pledging to only put up candidates that they knew would and could commit to being active in the National Assembly throughout their elected terms.

• Culture - Culture in Sorrenia is an important part of the nation, and is often a pivotal issue in election time. The Sorrenian Workers' Party continued to support Celtic culture in the nation through a policy of Celticism in their platform, although also recognized the right of Sorrenian minorities to express their cultural identities; the NDLP focused on expressing their desire to encourage Sorrenian minorities, especially Slavic populations, to participate in Sorrenian politics and contribute to the national culture of Sorrenia, through creating new national holidays, educating the populace on their history, etc. The Commonwealth Party wished to increase Sorrenian culture through pushing for more power for the subnational monarchies and celebrating the history of monarchy in Sorrenia. The PFD expressed their concern that the SWP's policy of Celticism may be suppressing Sorrenian minorities and encouraged them to include representatives of cultural minorities in Sorrenia in more cultural events and decisions in the nation.

Political parties

Sorrenian Workers' Party

The Sorrenian Workers' Party focused on trying to elect Miles of Sorrenia as President again, and some of their policies in this election included expanding Celticism in the nation, improving activity in the National Assembly, improving the media sector in Sorrenia, and protecting Article 20.

New-Democratic Liberty Party

The NDLP focused on working with the other Opposition parties, the Commonwealth Party and the PFD, to try and make history by electing the first Opposition President and granting Janiszewski a second term. Some of the policies of the NDLP included attempting to mandate hate speech legislation, protecting Article 20, encouraging Slavic culture in Sorrenia, and protecting the rights of sexual and gender minorities. They were also focused on preventing the degrading of secularism in Sorrenia.

Sorrenian Party for Freedom and Democracy

The PFD had been relatively inactive in the months prior to the February election, but at the request of allied politicians like Andrew Janiszewski of the NDLP and Damian Billbrough, Trystan Cline worked to bring the PFD up to speed for the election and put up as large a slate of candidates as they could. The PFD emphasized their wish for a more moderate and centrist government in Sorrenia, their policy of expanding economic rights and freedoms for Sorrenian citizens, and loosening the tight secularist restrictions in Sorrenia at the time.

Sorrenian Commonwealth Party

The Commonwealth Party had always had a small niche in Sorrenia, as the only explicitly monarchist party in the nation. The Commonwealth Party worked with the other Opposition parties to try to elect an Opposition President for the first time in history, and their policies included expanding the power of Sorrenia's subnational monarchies, increasing monarchical culture in Sorrenia, and repealing Article 20.

Result

The result of the February election was a powerful one; the Opposition saw a massive defeat in the election, being unable, despite what was arguably the most powerful and dedicated political effort the Opposition had ever enacted, to elect an Opposition President. The Sorrenian Workers' Party maintained a relative hegemony over the National Assembly and surprised many Opposition members by not only preventing the election of an Opposition President, but also making serious gains.

The Sorrenian Workers' Party was very happy with the results of the February election, calling it "a great day for democracy in Sorrenia" and congratulating all politicians on their efforts in the campaign.

The NDLP was very disappointed in the results of the election, seeing the inability to re-elect Janiszewski and the inability to gain more seats as a very depressing defeat. The NDLP was demotivated by the election and it took the party a while to recover from this defeat.

The PFD was relatively satisfied by the result of this election; although the Opposition failed to elected a President from their side, and although the PFD did lose about 1% of the vote that it had in the last election, they were still able to maintain 2 seats in the NA, and prevented a shutout of their party.

The Commonwealth Party was dissapointed in the meagre amount of votes they were able to receive in the Presidential vote, although they were satisifed that they were succesful in maintaining a single seat in the NA and didn't suffer significant losses in that way.