2550 Republic Election

The 2550 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 a partially elected upper chamber, the Senate. In addition, the General Assembly would then elect the new President
The Republic had 20 member worlds at the start of 2550, 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:

• 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 (SDP) -a centre-left party that proposes a “Big tent” left wing platform of state intervention and the construction of a welfare state. Approaching the 2550 election, the SDP began to take a more "moderate" stance
• Vishnu Elpis - (VE) - a centrist party formed from the merger of the Valtinist party (VE) and the old Centrist Party. Has a socially liberal but fiscally conservative, hawkish agenda.
• Valiant Party (VT) -a somewhat conservative, pro military agenda, considered pro-corporate. The merger with Destiny moved the party away from the far-right
• 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 conservative party that propose that the new Republic remain out of foreign policy entanglements. Favors the creation of a strong military.

NEW PARTIES:

Laicite stood for election in the Republic for the first time. This secularist, centre-left party stood opposed to the growing influence of the relgious political parties.
Justice and Peace also sought elected office in the Republic in 2550. Justice and Peace are a left wing Valtinist party with a very dovish and socially liberal platform
Libertarian Party is not a new party but able to make a serious challenge in large part thanks to disaffection with the major parties in the former Federation worlds now joining the Republic
Libratum is a big tent party seeking to unify Valtinists, religious and secularists along with AIs. High minded and idealistic, the party was founded by Governor Galen Drayfuss, its only high profile member.

JOINT LISTS

The SDP and Gurava formed a joint list, operating as a "fusion ticket", meaning that their vote would be divided evenly between the two parties.
Valiant and the Isoationist Party formed a joint list based on their mutual interests such as a strong national defence.
Vishnu Elpis and Libratum agreed a joint list based on their mutual interest.

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.
New tougher laws on campaign finance had been passed during the Noah Averssen administration which gave the Attorney General more powers to deal with campaign finance violations.
The regulations introduced in by the Isolationist Party made it illegal for parties, including corporations outside the Republic to donate to the campaign. It also set a limit of 4 billion adjusted dollars per campaign in the General Assembly and 2 billion at a planetary level.

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 2530, all Senate seats in the Republic were democratically elected, though new member worlds retained the constitutional option to make one of them appointed

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 2550 President Xavier Inkerman announced that, opposed to convention, he would seek a second term

Candidates

• President Xavier Inkerman (VAL) -in a break with convention, the President confirmed he would run for a second term. Whilst the President enjoyed huge personal popularity, especially with the right, he was very unpopular with the left and there was some feeling that he was putting his ego ahead of the Republic itself
• Former Senator Robinson Goetze (SDP) - a former corporate lawyer, political insider and one-term Senator from New Berlin, Goetze took a socially liberal stance but rejected attacks against the Hansa, taking a much more "moderate" stance
• Secretary of Defence Gerhardt McCain (ISO) - the firebrand former marine had been a key voice on immigration and military reform on New Berlin during his tenure as Lt-Governor -TBC
• Senator Mathis Hook - (VE) a Valtinist preacher and former writer, lecturer and journalist. Known for his eccentric and charismatic style. Well liked for his time in the Senate..
• Kristoffer Axelrod( GUR) - a crusading left-wing political journalist, Axelrod was also known for his fairness and integrity
• Dr Godfrey Mabarrin (LAI) - the hugely respected lecturer from Athens college and a constitutional scholar, who was the author of several books about the dangers of interference in government by religion and by the corporations. A first time candidate, he was not seen as having much of a chance
• Henrik Carver (LIB) - the St Lawrence based legislator, rancher and outspoken critic of governmental overreach. He was a fierce opponent of the President and his "draconian" measures. The Libertarian Party expected to finally win seats in the General Assembly but few gave Carver any chance of winning the Presidency

The Campaign

The 2550 campaign was a particularly expensive, bitter and hotly contested one. The main issues discussed were military spending, the economy, security and social welfare.
Three weeks out from election day, a controversial attack was launched against Senator Hook. He was accused of recieving preferential rates on mortgages for several properties after being elected to the Senate. These loans were either written off or had their interest reduced to below 0.2% in return for alleged favours
Senator Hook dismissed the attacks, stating that all money made from these alleged deals was donated to charities.
One week before election day, a scandal broke when Secretary of Defence Satar Tovic (ISO) resigned suddenly, citing personal issues. He was then dismissed from the Isolationist Party and several media sources began to report that there were serious allegations of political and corporate corruption.
The Attorney General was asked to appoint a Special Prosecutor.
The SDP broke their joint list with Gurava a week before the election, claiming that statements made by Axelrod and Reiner Grumman were dangerous and supported "fringe conspiracy theories". Gurava hotly denied these claims.

Results

The General Assembly

In April 2550, the results of the General Assembly election results were formally certified. Whilst the "conservative bloc" was the largest one, Vishnu Elpis was the largest individual party.

• VE -20%
• SDP -17%
• Valiant - 15%
• Isolationist -15%
• Gurava -16%
• Ravenheart -9%
• Laicite -8%

Laicite became a new party within the General Assembly whilst the now defunct AVA lost its remaining seats, as expected.

The Senate

With a far larger senate battlefield to contest, the senate scattered with ten parties winning Senate seats. Vishnu Elpis's superbly well funded and organized senate campaign won nine senate seats.

• Vishnu Elpis 9
• Valiant 8
• Isolationist 5
• SDP 4
• Gurava 4
• Libratum 3
• Libertarian 2
• Frelsi Vanheim 2
• Ravenheart 1
• Independent 1

Senator Davis Hanley (SDP) was re-elected to his fourth term in the senate, making him the longest serving member of the Republic's senate.

Gubernational Races

The Republic saw many gubernational elections, with the below considered to be the most prominent.

• Governor Daphne de Haan (Libertarian) is re-elected as Governor of St Lawrence
• Eliakim Gould (Valiant) is the new Governor of the Jovian Belt
• Charlotte Sondeheim (VE) is the new Lt-Governor of Mars
• Trayn Schlessinger(Isolationist) is the new Governor of New Berlin
• Ragnar Roeburn (Ravenheart) has been re-elected as Governor of Nova Terra
• Navendra Barlow (VE) has been re-elected as Governor of Van Diemen's World
• Crawford Navarro (VE) has been elected Governor of Fort Darwin
• Roswell Sutter (LAI) has been elected Governor of New Carthage

Campaign Finance

The 2550 election, with a far larger electorate saw extravagant spending with a staggering 52 billion adjusted dollars spent across the various campaigns.
Major donors included:

• Allied West
• VENTRISS UDC
• Proteus KP
• LGD Gamma
• Monarch
• Sarissa Technology
• Ashpool Killian Industries
• Civil Service Union of the Republic (CSUR)
• Teachers Union of the Republic (TSUR)
• Valtinist Churches
• 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

After the General Assembly was formally sworn in, Vishnu Elpis began the first talks to form a coalition, reaching out to the SDP and Valiant to form a "Moderate Coalition". This was firmly rejected by Valiant, who claimed a mandate for a second Inkerman term with their right leaning coalition.
The talks dragged on into early June with Vishnu Elpis refusing to budge and repeated attempts to form a new left leaning government led by Vishnu Elpis defeated due to the bad blood between the SDP and Gurava.
In the end, Vishnu Elpis agreed to back Inkerman for a second term, despite the misgivings of a number of VE leaders on the poverty of the new deal offered to them.
Former Senator Mathis Hook (VE) announced his retirement from politics after congratulating the new President. Robinson Goetze confirmed that he was taking up a teaching post in New Berlin.

The New Government

President Inkerman was formally sworn in for his second term in late June of 2550. His new cabinet was announced the same day.
Among the staff appointments announced by his Chief of Staff, Kandice McKenna, that his son Everett, would take up a new role as Senior Counsel to the President.
The 3rd Inkerman Cabinet:

• Vice President MyAnna Wolf (VAL)
• Attorney Genera Talbot Gezadiss (VAL)
• Treasury Secretary Carpenter Navarro (VE)
• Foreign Secretary Herrick Knottman (SDP)
• Defence Secretary Parvinder Daeley (ISO)
• Transport & Trade Secretary Roddick Dutton (FUP)
• Intelligence Secretary Alexander Ashpool (VAL)
• Interior Secretary Madigan Wilks (SDP)
• Chief of Staff to the President Kandice McKenna (VAL)