2530 Republic Election

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The 2530 Legislative and Presidential elections were a major elections of the The Terran Republic

Overview

The Terran Republic was founded with the promise of an elected lower chamber, the General Assembly and upper chamber, the Senate. In addition, the General Assembly would then elect the new President, with President Creed having confirmed that he would not be seeking a second term.
The Republic had six member worlds at the start of 2520, each holding elections for its seats in the both chambers.

Parties

There were a large range of political parties standing the election, including several parties which were standing on just one world. The major political parties were:

• People’s Emergent Party (PEP) -A Marxist party whose aims are to reduce the influence of the Hansa and to instill state ownership of the means of production
• Gurava (GUR) -a left wing radical party with a strong pacifist and environmentalist message. Gurava preach that the Republic should be a place of learning and peace
• Social Democratic Party (SD) -a centre-left party that proposes a “Big tent” left wing platform of state intervention and the construction of a welfare state. The merger with the Federalist Party has made them slightly more in favour of centralization and more hawkish
• Centrist Party (CEN) -a broad centrist coalition that supports capitalism, the rule of law and the creation of a military. Broadly pro Hansa
• The Valiant Party (VT) -a newly formed Earther party with a conservative, pro military agenda
• Ravenheart (RHC) - a conservative Valtinist Party with a strong anti-AI platform. Expected to do well on Nova Terra but perhaps not elsewhere.
• Isolationist Party (ISP) -A newly formed conservative party that propose that the new Republic remain out of foreign policy entanglements. Favors the creation of a strong military.

The Isolationist Party and Valiant announced a joint list in early 2530, though it was still expected both parties would nominate candidates for President in 2530.

Campaign Finance Rules

The Republic banned parties with no "vested interest" in the Republic from raising and donating money for political parties. The Emergency Delegates sent before the election set up a campaign finance board (RCFB) which was given broad oversight powers.

General Assembly

Each member world would be assigned seats in the General Assembly based around its population, with proportional representation then deciding how the seats would be allocated. A party required a minimum of 5% of the planet's vote to be considered for a seat, any votes to parties with fewer than 5% would then be discounted.
AS the General Assembly appeared the most powerful chamber and has the power to elect the President, most political pundits expected the General Assembly election to be the most competitive election.

Senate

As of the 2530 election, all Senate seats within the Republic were now democratically elected, though new member worlds would still retain the option to "appoint" one of the two senate seats as they saw fit

President

The President of the Republic is elected by the General Assembly, with a candidate requiring a majority of the votes in the assembly to be confirmed.
In May of 2529 President Keavett Creed announced that he would not seek a second term, continuing the convention that no President had ever sought more than one term.
Candidates:

• Dale Turing -People's Emergent Party - the former lecturer and union leader was a nominee in 2520 and failed to get much traction
• Representative Silas Danzigger - Isolationist - a former marine, elected to the General Assembly. A bellicose and aggressive conservative politician. His candidacy is based around an increase in military spending
• Patton Rosewood - Gurava - a former journalist turned politician known for his charisma and superb public speaking. The leader and co-founder of the Gurava Party, his candidacy is based on ending the war and finding diplomatic solutions
• Governor Noah Averssen -Social Democratic Party - a former lawyer, judge and lecturer known for his excellent track record of justice and law enforcement on Earth. Elected Governor of Earth in 2520, proeppling him to the forefront of Republican politics
• Jesalee Corrick - Valiant - a former Marine who served as Assistant Secretary of Defence and then Secretary of Veterans Affairs. An outspoken conservative and supporter of the military
• Dr Bascall Storn - Vishnu Elpis - Valtinist lecturer and physicist and known for her data driven approach to all thing’s and her long, dense speeches. The first member of VE to seek the Presidency
• Representative Samantha Trevonne -Centrist Party -a former lawyer and a veteran of the General Assembly, considered a deft and cultured politician more interested in results than grand slogans. She’s an expert deal maker too and distanced herself from President Creed
• Dr Jessica Sparkwood - Independent -a prominent Valtinist lecturer, the 50-year-old is an expert on xeno-linguistics and philosophy and has campaigned on an anti-war platform. She’s called for the Republic to unite with the Free Worlds Pact and then seek to try and bring peace to the quadrant.

The Campaign

The 2530 campaign saw the major political parties set out their case for why they'd be the best party to lead during a war.
The left wing parties largely spoke of a need to conduct a largely defensive war, albeit one that may look to liberate Hassal League worlds. Governor Averssen, for the SDP, tried to tread a careful line so as not to alienate the hawks in his party and the doves to his left.
Rep Rosewood of Gurava was the most prominent anti-war candidate and drew a lot of publilcity and support from the left and he got an upswing of support from students and young people. He was also a superb speaker at campaign events.
Jesalee Corrick (Valiant) and Rep Danzigger (Isolationist) both were clearly pro-war candidates and spoke of the need for the Republic to roll up its sleeves and win the war.

Results

The General Assembly

In March of 2530, the results of the General Assembly election were formally certified. It had been a good performance by the left-wing bloc of Gurava and the SDP, though the SDP share of the vote was down on 2520

• Social Democratic Party -22%
• Valiant - 19%
• Gurava -17%
• Isolationist Party -15%
• Vishnu Elpis -12%
• Centrist Party -10%
• Ravenheart -5%

The People's Emergent Party and the Libertarian Party both failed to pass 5% and therefore received 0% of the seats in the General Assembly.
An interesting feature of the campaign was the election of 55 new representatives from various parties who were veterans of the campaign on Nova Terra.

The Senate

The Senate elections had seen some grim predictions of the Social Democrats, who were at one point predicted to lose up to five Senate seats.

• Social Democratic Party - 4
• Gurava - 1
• Independent - 4
• Ravenheart -1
• Vishnu Elpis -2

The Independent Senators do not caucus as a group. Senator Inkerman of Earth was expected to hold a conservative voting record whilst hugely respected Senator Haumont from Nova Terra was generally seen as a liberal but often very bi-partisan.
The two AI senators from Celeste did not tend to consider partisanship at all in their votes.

Gubernational Races

The Republic also saw key gubernational races, with large amounts of money spent on the race for the Governorship of Nova Terra and Earth.

• Lacey Sondeheim (SDP) was elected as the new Governor of Earth, replacing Noah Averssen who had not sought a second term in order to run for President
• Ragnar Roeburn (Ravenheart) was elected Governor of Nova Terra in a landslide result, which also saw Ravenheart and allied parties win 59% of the seats in the colonial legislature
• Danielle "Dani" Hess (SDP) was elected as the Governor of Fort Pitcairn, in what was largely a battle between the left and Vishnu Elpis

Campaign Finance

The 2530 campaign saw a total reported record spending of 19.75 billion adjusted dollars, an increase by more than 9 billion adjusted dollars on 2520.
Major donors included:

• Allied West
• VENTRISS UDC
• Proteus KP
• LGD Gamma
• Ashpool Heavy Industries
• Civil Service Union of the Republic (CSUR)
• Teachers Union of the Republic (TSUR)
• Valtinist Churches
• The Church of the Ascension
• Major PAC Groups (as governed by the Republic Campaign Laws of 2502)

There were also a number of major private donors. The huge amount spent on campaign finance was hugely criticized by many politicians and calls for improved campaign finance laws were popular, though no major party pledged anything concrete.

Coalition Talks

In March and on into April of 2530, the major party leaders began to take meetings to decide whom to elect as President. Jesalee Corrick of Valiant and Noah Averssen of the SDP were seen as the two most viable candidates, with Bascall Storn of Vishnu Elpis floated as a compromise choice.
In the end, Gurava, the Centrist Party and Vishnu Elpis agreed to back SDP candidate Noah Averssen who was therefore elected President.

The New Government

In April of 2530, President Averssen was sworn in and named his new cabinet:

• Calswell Norris -Chief of Staff - SDP
• Haiss Taggart - Attorney General - Gurava
• Elliot Pardot - Foreign Secretary - SDP
• Carpenter Navarro - Treasury Secretary - Centrist
• Dr Rita Haynes - Defence Secretary and Designated Successor - Vishnu Elpis
• General Levan O'Brien -Intelligence Minister - Valiant
• Joachim Steivar - Interior Minister - SDP
• Gawain Knottman - Transport Minister - SDP
• Beckett Solarin - Liaison to TASC - Independent