October 3020 Wiltshire Legislative Elections

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH October 3020 Wiltshire Local Elections

← June 3020 ― October 3020 ― April 3021 →

The October 3020 Wiltshire Legislative Elections were held on 30 October 3020 to elect the 24th Wiltshire National Assembly. The incumbent Liberal Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Sonya Inyo was victorious, winning a landslide victory. The Liberal Conservative Party received the highest share of the popular vote since the Socialist victory in 3010, and the highest share of the popular vote in any election with more than two parties.

This election was an emergency election, called by Prime Minister Inyo following the WEA/EFR electoral scandal. The scandal had seen Prime Minister Mark Edwin (and Labour Leader) removed from office, making him the first Prime Minister ever dismissed. The election was called to settle the political divisions within the National Assembly, between the Labour/Socialist coalition and the LibCon/Stability coalition.

This election was also notable for the surge in third party support, and especially the number of third parties that won seats. Following the election, nine different parties were represented in the Assembly.

Sonya Inyo returned to power with a majority government.

Background

The previous election, held in June, resulted in the Labour Party, led by Mark Edwin, to form a coalition government with the Socialist Party. This was not the first time Labour and the Socialists had formed coalition, previously under Prime Minister Rita Smith. However, this coalition was unique as the leading party (Labour) held less seats in the National Assembly as the other party (Socialist). From the beginning, the coalition saw signs of division. Members would often argue over policy, both in private and in public, and the government couldn't agree on an agenda. Eventually, the entire system ground to a halt as neither party would support the platform of the other, despite significant overlap in opinion.

Refugee Crisis

In the spring of 3020, the New Corporate Republic launched an invasion of the Eastern Federal Republic in order to make up for the lost territory from the Wiltshirian independence movement. Due to the NCR's well known treatment of the Tauran minority population, the EFR government of Wim Kleiboer ordered the general evacuation of all peoples from the invaded cities. This displaced hundreds of thousands of refugees, many of them fleeing to Wiltshire.

Many of the governments of Doggerland refused to assist, with many of the others limiting assistance. However, the Labour government of Mark Edwin announced that it would take in as many refugees as humanly possible. Edwin, along with support from local officials, opened the Washington border to EFR refugees. Over the course of the period, over 240,000 refugees entered and settled in Wiltshire and Washington.

In response to this crisis, the government sought to introduce legislation to grant the refugees greater political, economic, and civic rights. The Refugee Bill, as it became known, would grant a "simple, straightforward, and affordable" pathway to citizenship, as well as grant citizens the right to vote in Wiltshirian elections. The bill, as expected, became extremely controversial and divided the government.

The law was introduced into the National Assembly, being narrowly voted down. This broke many people's confidence in the coalition's ability to maintain stability. Mark Edwin called for a motion of no confidence in order to test the Assembly's confidence in the government.

The vote of no confidence resulted in a victory for the government, extending their time in office until the WEA/EFR electoral scandal.

WEA/EFR electoral scandal

In August 3020, the government of the Eastern Federal Republic requested the assistance of the Wiltshire Elections Authority (WEA) in holding their August 3020 Parliamentary General Election. Assistance ranged from the opening, running, and maintenance of voting centers to the counting of votes. Following the election, far-right media started circulating stories that the government of Wiltshire had interfered with the electoral process in order to rig the election in favour of the left-wing incumbent coalition of Prime Minister Wim Kleiboer.

While the rumors were initially backed by little evidence, the story was eventually picked up by Wiltshirian politicians from the opposition Liberal Conservative Party (LibCons). Eventually, with the LibCons promoting the story, far more people started to investigate the claims. Eventually, a committee for democratic honesty from within the BlackCon Labs Corporation released a report stating interference was "likely" and that further investigation was required. This report led to the resignation of cabinet ministers Hans-Otto Laine and Adelin Bahn.

The LibCon opposition continued to demand investigation, meanwhile the government of the EFR started to call for an international investigation. While Edwin refused to submit to an international investigation, due to the lack of international obligation to do so, Edwin directed the Attorney General of Wiltshire, Gordon Howling, to name a Special Prosecutor to investigate the claims from within the government. Howling appointed the Solicitor-General, Fleur Johannsson, who published her report.

Johannsson's report was unable to make a conclusion, which further energized critics of the government. Eventually, international pressure on Wiltshire to submit to a "full and proper" international investigation amounted from allies in the DUOD and the International Defense Organization. Eventually, Edwin agreed and the government of Wiltshire will appear in front of an international tribunal to make a final conclusion on the allegations on Sunday 27 September 3020.

Following the guilty verdict of the tribunal, President Gaius Selan dismissed Mark Edwin as Prime Minister, instead appointing opposition Leader Sonya Inyo.

Sonya Inyo would go onto call the general election, and then win a landslide majority.

Electoral system

Since the Third Elections Act, 3020, Wiltshire uses the mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting system to elect the National Assembly. Each voter gets two votes, one for a political party (the party vote) and one for a local candidate (the electorate vote). Political parties which meet the threshold (5% of the party vote or one electorate seat) receive seats in the Assembly in proportion to the percentage of the party vote they receive. 50 of the 90 seats are filled by the AMs elected from the electorates, with the winner in each electorate determined by the first past the post method (i.e. most votes wins). The remaining 40 seats are filled by candidates from each party's closed party list. If a party wins more electorates than seats it is entitled to under the party vote, an overhang results; in this case, the Assembly will add extra seats to cover the overhang.

In order to appear on the national ballot, a political party needs to meet any two of the following criteria;

Reach 10,000 signatures on a ballot petition
Reach 3,000 individual donors
Currently hold seats in the National Assembly

Currently, no parties have reached this threshold as no nomination petitions have been sent out. This usually occurs in the two months before the election. Before the last election, the first political party wasn't nominated until 6 weeks before polling day.

In electorates, individual candidates require a nomination petition of 500 signatures to appear on the electorate ballot.

Boundaries

The electoral boundaries were announced by the WEA in August 3020, and became the basis for the electorate votes across the nation.

Results

The results of the election were announced throughout the night on 30 October and early into the morning of 31 October.

Political Party	Party Leader	Leader's Electorate	Seats won	Popular vote	Swing +/-
Liberal Conservative Party	Sonya Inyo	Hinton	47	52.1%	+17.3%
Labour Party	Mark Edwin	City Centre South	14	15.8%	-9.3%
United Wiltshire	James Brown	Middlesburgh	11	12.0%	+12.0%
Stability Party	Mitchell Crawley	List	10	10.6%	+10.6%
Liberal Party	Sebastian Bashira*	List	4	4.1%	+4.1%
KRV (Corporate Party)	Arlen Nordstrom	List	2	2.2%	-3.7%
Christian Alliance	Helmut Adenauer	Gaga	2	2.1%	+2.1%
Socialist Party	Scott House	Boulevard West (defeated)	1**	1.1%	-27.0%
Walkerton National Party	Tuva Humphries	Outmarsh	1**	0.1%	+0.1%

*Sebastian Bashira is merely acting Leader of the Liberal Party

**These seats are overhang electorate seats, as the party fell below the 2% threshold for list representation.