2360 Presidential Election

The 2360 Federated States Presidential election was a major election. It was the sixth full election.

Background

President Taylor Rishi's Federalist administration had been popular but dogged by scandals and they were prepared for a tough challenge from the broken but not finished AIS and the surging Universal Party. There were also thoughts that Earth-Guard may have a serious chance in 2360 after Hailee Jander's strong performance in 2355.
The economy had recovered and the Federated States had largely been at peace. However growing instability on the frontier after the controversial vote count in 2355 meant that whoever won the 2360 election would have the tricky task of bringing the unruly frontier colonies back into the fold.

The Voting Reform Act

Senator Eden Deerfield (I) the venerable and highly rated Independent Senator had formed a Steering Group to talk about voting reform. This took the shape as the Deerfield-Clemmons Act; a comprehensive voting reform act which would weight the votes of the frontier and give them an even chance of electing a President that they had chosen.
The bill was popular and passed committee with a broad range of support. The AIS narrowly supported it and the Universal and Earth Guard parties, both of whom looked like they would benefit from the bill passing, voted for it too. The Federalists, who stood to suffer if the bill passed, tried to delay and then when that didn't work, tried to attach some unpopular measures to it but could not stall or defeat the bill.
President Rishi was now faced with signing into a law a bill that would make it much harder for him to win the Presidency in 2360. He decided in the end that the Federated States needed the stability and signed the bill into law. As a direct result Mars and the Al Ahily colonies began to push for independence, both of whom would, in the end, leave the Federated States in one fashion or the other.

Candidates

President Taylor Rishi had stated that he would seek another term as President. He faced the new Federalist Primary system, having to win more than a dozen regional elections and found winning the votes of the Frontier worlds very difficult. He faced only one avowed opponent, centrist Deputy Miranda Karsic who had run a tough and suspiciously well funded campaign.
In the end neither could do enough to secure the nomination and a brutal convention battle erupted between Rishi, Vice President McQaid and their allies against Karsic and her backers, whom included Governor Sholl Bruin. In the end, a deal was made and Rishi / McQaid were renominated. However a lot of money and energy had been spent just to secure the nomination.
The AIS initially looked set to nominate former Prime Minister Bors Moatt. Moatt promised a fiscally conservative administration but there were rumblings about his knowledge about the corruption inside the Vessey administration.
Popular militant Senator India Zeller was confirmed the Universal Party nomination and her polling looked very strong. She named Governor Juliete de Bruyne as her running mate. There were some feelings within the Universal Party that the De Bruyne family had tried to monopolize the VP slot.
The small New Horizon Party surprised many by announcing that they would seek the Presidency. Despite lukewarm polls, they ran a well funded and slick campaign behind Senator Solban Whirry.
The TPE initially looked set to nominate recently retired Admiral Cabbot Sullivan for President. Most polls showed them with little chance of victory.
Earth Guard, despite strong polls, announced that they would not currently be seeking the Presidency.
Progressive Union and Integrity & Justice confirmed they would not seek the Presidency.
The shock announcement came that Admiral Everett Stargher , recently retired from active duty, would accept the nomination of the well funded "Draft Stargher" movement. His Independent candidacy was embraced by a wide array of people.

The First Ballot

The usual round of horse-trading went on and Stargher's campaign quickly secured endorsements from the "right" of the Federated States political establishment. The AIS, the TPE and Earth-Guard all endorsed Stargher for President. Admiral Stargher announced that Integrity & Justice Senator Orton Schofield would be his nominee for VP, thoughe he would step down as a member of IJ.
The Federalists secured the support of their usual ally in the Progressive Union and there were the usual talks about a "party-union" or Joint List though nothing came of this. The secretive talks between the Federalists and the Universal Party went on for a full week before Senator Zeller made a statement that she would step down as a nominee for President and that her party would back the Federalists.
The New Horizon Party remained in the race, though most polls showed them barely getting 4% of the vote.
The Stargher / Schofield ticket attracted a huge amount of fund-raising which boosted the campaigns chances. President Rishi also refused to make any negative statements about Admiral Stargher, who equally tried to remain above the fray.
The first ballot came in and showed a very close race:

• Stargher / Schofield -44%
• Rishi / McQaid - 42%
• Whirry / Trobridge - 3%

The Second Ballot

Senator Whirry accepted his defeat and announced that his party would endorse the Federalist Party, though perhaps somewhat reluctantly. More money was raised on both sides, though still someway short of the A$2.5B that was spent in 2350.
The votes came in and Stargher had swept the frontier and looked set to be elected President.

• Stargher / Schofield - 49%
• Rishi / McQaid - 47%

President Rishi, the first ever incumbent President to lose an election, graciously conceded the race and called on the Federalist Party to support the new President. However former Prime Minister Ephraim Dagget and vice President Arie McQaid both called on the Party to offer resistance and oversight to Stargher's administration.

The Senate Elections

A lot of money was spent once again on the Senate campaigns with Harper Abbot managing a second successive Federalist Campaign. The Federalist's were boosted by a better than expected performance on the frontier.
The TPE hammered its opponents with some fierce negative ads which saw it outperform its polling in some regions. The big surprise result was the huge upturn in the vote for the Valtinist New Horizon Party. Boosted by an expensive ad campaign and having a viable standard bearer, they saw their best ever results in the senate.
The newly formed VANGUARD party also did well, though a number of seats were simply re-elections of Senators who had left AIS or Wellfield to join VANGUARD.

The New Administration

The Stargher administration came into office in June of 2360 and the President named a broad coalition to the cabinet. President Stargher named his close friend, Jost Kilward, as Chief of Staff. West-Corp CEO Senna Zavitz took up the role as Treasury Secretary, a move welcomed by the Big Five. He also named Bors Moatt as Attorney General, former Secretary of Defence Reese Gordwood as Secretary of State and Admiral Cabbot Sullivan as Director of the FSI.
The President called on the Senate to back former Admiral Rebekkah Valane as the new Prime Minister. Her new affiliation with Earth-Guard put some backs up but in the end she was confirmed to her new office.
Previous Election: the 2355 Presidential Election
Next Election: the 2365 Presidential Election