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The 3020 Socialist Party Leadership Election was an internal party election to elect the leader of the Socialist Party following Tony Beck's resignation held between 28 June 3020 until 4 July 3020. The election was called following the June 3020 Wiltshire Legislative Elections and was held simultaneously with the 3020 Liberal Conservative Leadership Election. The election was the first time the Socialist Party would elect a leader directly to the position of either Prime Minister or Deputy Prime Minister, with the duly elected leader becoming Deputy Prime Minister in the Edwin Ministry, led by Prime Minister Mark Edwin.
The Deputy Leader of the Socialist Party and Minister for International Trade and Development Minister, Scott House was elected Leader and became Deputy Prime Minister in July. He defeated the Home Minister, Hans-Otto Laine on the second ballot, after defeating Attorney General of Wiltshire Gordon Howling and Transportation Minister Jodi Marshall on the first ballot.
Background
The general election which had just ended saw a disappointing result for the Socialist Party. They did not make any progress in terms of the number of seats and slightly decreased their popular vote share. Prior to the election, many predicted and expected that the party, which was led by veteran politician Tony Beck, would take government.
With the results in mind, President Gaius Selan invited Mark Edwin (the Leader of the Labour Party) to form a government. This quickly became a coalition as Beck refused to support Audrick Hill's right-of-centre government. Beck announced his resignation as Leader of the party, and the leadership election was triggered.
House became an early favourite for the role, with his biggest challenger being Laine. The two went head-to-head in two debates, one with Marshall and Howling, where they discussed issues from taxation to support for the coalition. Both House and Laine said they would support the coalition, however, Laine was described as far more "pro-Edwin" and some feared that Laine would make the Socialist party an extension of the Labour party, and not an equal coalition partner.
Nominations
The nominations were held between 28 and 29 June. If a candidate received a majority of the nominations, they would become elected. If a candidate received below 15% of the nominations, they would be eliminated and would not proceed to the balloting phase.
| Candidate | Nominations | % |
|---|---|---|
| Hans-Otto Laine | 6 | 37.5% |
| Scott House | 4 | 25.0% |
| Gordon Howling | 3 | 18.8% |
| Jodi Marshall | 3 | 18.8% |
| Total | 16 | 100% |
As a result of the nominations, all four candidates were eligible to proceed to the first ballot (being held on 2 July). Following the result of the nominations, Marshall announced she would withdraw from the race due to her limited support. She endorsed House and encouraged her nominators to vote for him on the first ballot. Howling, with the same amount of support as Marshall, announced he would continue to fight on the first ballot.
Hans-Otto Laine, Scott House and Gordon Howling all proceeded to the first ballot.
First ballot
The first ballot of Socialist AMs was held on 2 July. Should a candidate win a majority of support, they would be elected. If a candidate received below 20% of the vote, they would be eliminated and would not proceed to any future ballot and if a candidate came in last place they would be eliminated and would not proceed to any future ballot. Due to there only being three candidates remaining, there would only be a maximum of two ballots.
| Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| Hans-Otto Laine | 7 | 43.75% |
| Scott House | 5 | 31.25% |
| Gordon Howling | 4 | 25.0% |
| Total | 16 | 100% |
Following the first ballot, Laine remained in the lead. However, he did not win a majority of support and so a second ballot would need to be held. Howling, in last place, was eliminated. Many, following this election, considered this a mistake of the party and regretted their support for Laine (believing that Howling would have made a better leader than House). Howling was eliminated and endorsed House for the leadership. House required all four of Howling's AMs to support him to win the second ballot. If he only got three, then there would be a tie and a membership ballot would be held. If he got less than three, Laine would win the election. It was expected to be a tight race.
Second ballot
The second ballot of Socialist AMs was held on 3 July and was between the two remaining candidates; front-runner Hans-Otto Laine and Scott House. While Laine was in the lead, House was greater momentum going into the ballot. Nobody knew how the ballot would go, and most expected it to be close. Should there be a 50/50 tie, there would be a third ballot, this time including the Socialist Party membership. 9 votes were needed to win a majority.
| Candidate | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| Scott House | 9 | 56.3% |
| Hans-Otto Laine | 7 | 43.7% |
| Total | 16 | 100% |
Scott House won a majority after getting all four members who supported Gordon Howling (and got his endorsement). He was duly elected and became Leader on 4 July. Hans-Otto Laine attempted to contest the result, demanding a leadership vote among the membership. However, even some of his own supporters refused to back this up. House became leader and quickly the party caucus quickly came together to back the new leader. House became Deputy Prime Minister and Tony Beck resigned from the Wiltshire National Assembly.