July 2018 General Election

July 2018 General Election

← October 2017 General Election	15 Jun 2018 - 1 Jul 2018		April 2019 General Election →
All 200 seats in the Cosa 101 seats needed for a majority
Eligible voters		182
Turnout		126 - 69.26% ( 6.74%)
Leader	Ian Plätschisch	Viteu Marcianüs	Cresti M. Siervicül
Party	MRPT	FreeDem	RUMP
Leader since	8 Jun 2018	16 Jan 2018	May 2018?
Leader's seat	Senator (MM)	MC (FreeDem)	Senator (MA)
Last election	83	48	58
Seats won	69	63	61
Seat change	14	15	3
Popular vote	40	36	35
Percentage	34.78%	31.30%	30.43%
Swing	6,81%	7,41%	1,23%
Leader	Mximo Carbonel
Party	MTGA
Leader's seat	MC (REP)
Last election	4
Seats won	7
Seat change	3
Popular vote	4
Percentage	3.48%
Swing	1,71%
Seat apportionment for the 52nd Cosa
Outgoing Seneschal		Appointed Seneschal
Lüc da Schir MRPT		Ian Plätschisch MRPT

The July 2018 General Election was from 15 June 2018/XXXIX to 1 July 2018/XXXIX and elected members to the 52nd Cosa and filled six Senate seats for Benito, Cézembre, Fiovă, Maricopa, Maritiimi-Maxhestic and Vuode.

Elections to the provincial assemblies of Atatürk, Benito, Cézembre and Florencia were also conducted. No referenda to ratify amendments to the Organic Law were held. The election was the first to be administered by the then-newly appointed Secretary of State Glüc da Dhi.

Registered parties

Four national political parties registered for the election:

Party		Beliefs
	Free Democrats of Talossa	Progressivism, liberalism, republicanism
	Moderate Radical Party of Talossa (MRPT)	Centrism, constitutional monarchy, liberalism
	Recruits for Upholding the Monarchy and its Principles (RUMP)	Monarchism, conservativism, derivativism
	Make Talossa Great Again (MTGA)	Populism, republicanism

In respect to the previous elections, the Republican Party (REP) has been rebranded into the Make Talossa Great Again (MTGA) party, with no mentions of republicanism in the party's 50 words statement. The HAT, a mostly apolitical party who contested the elections to the 51st Cosa but subsequently faded out during the term by losing its only MC, has not registered again. This means that, like in the 50th Cosa elections, only four parties will appear on the ballot; if no write-in parties will be returned, this will mark a more-than-six-years low in the number of parties represented in the Cosa.

The Moderate Radicals needed to gain 18 seats for a majority, the Free Democrats needed 53, and the RUMP needed 43. No party has won an outright majority since June 2012, although the RUMP came close in the two subsequent elections.

Predictions and exit polling

Lüc da Schir's exit poll for the 52nd Cosa elections

Average of Witt predictions

Party		Avg seats
	Moderate Radicals	75
	Free Democrats	60
	RUMP	56
	MTGA	9

Prior to the vote, a customary round of predictions took place on Wittenberg; apart for a few outliers, all showed the MRPT poised to reconfirm its plurality but with a reduced lead over the other parties; and a strong showing by the FreeDems, with strong hints that they would overtake the RUMP into second place.

Lüc da Schir shared his traditional exit poll half an hour before the polls closed. He observed how, thanks to robust get out the vote efforts and better campaigning, the Free Democrats were the "moral winners" of the elections, with a big chance of having surpassed the RUMP into second place. This, however, would not be enough to snatch first place from the Moderate Radicals, as they could count on a high number of voters from outside the party in the previous General Elections such that, even if they failed to turn out a substantial proportion of them, they would only lose ten votes or so, enough for a high chance at a reduced plurality. The RUMP was also described as being on damage control, after rumours about party members being unsure whether to enter the party at all and virtually no campaigning; however, they ultimately still had a chance at retaining their second place finish thanks to the usual last burst of votes.

Results

Preliminary results for the Cosa were published upon the polls closing at 7:30 PM TST on July 1st, with unofficial results for the five Senate races conducted by the Chancery published soon after.

The Moderate Radicals under new leader Ian Plätschisch retained a reduced plurality with 40 votes (68 seats) ahead of the Free Democrats with 36 votes (61 seats), the RUMP with 35 votes (60 seats), the MTGA with 4 votes (7 seats) and two write in votes totalling 4 seats combined.

Votes were also cast for "Parties are Wrong" and "Back to the Roots", however they were thrown out after literal interpretation of electoral law by the Secretary of State Glüc da Dhi, differing from the write-in "IEVAAP" vote that was instead accepted in the 49th Cosa by predecessor Martì-Paìr Furxhéir. A misspelled vote for the Free Democrats was also corrected according to law.

The results were certified by the Electoral Commission on the scheduled Election Deadline day, July 15th.

Senatorial races

Alongside the election of the 52nd Cosa, a record six Senate seats were up for reelection. Of those, only the Cézembrean seat is open, and only the Benitian and Vuodean races are contested.

Final results indicated that all of the incumbents, plus the lone candidate to the open seat in Cézembre, have won their races. All of the uncontested candidates appear to have won a comfortable victory, save for the Maricopan race where Cresti Siervicül surprisingly failed to be elected at the first turn of IRV/RCV counting.

Benito

Two-term Senator Lüc da Schir was seeking reelection to his seat, after stepping down from the leadership of the MRPT and announcing he would not serve in any Cabinet position, whatever the outcome of the general election. He was challenged by Eiric Börnatfiglheu, a Free Democrat returning to political activity after a court-imposed hiatus following the ESB Affair. In pre-electoral talks, Börnatfiglheu has said he deeply regretted his role in the affair, and "in the interest of not mincing words", he freely admitted to having committed a crime. Da Schir also received some amount of renewed criticism regarding his role in the passage of the Catchment Area Reform Act, which was strongly opposed by Ohio Benitians who found themselves in Vuode's catchment area, including Börnatfiglheu himself and da Schir's previous opponent Iason Taiwos.

Benito Senate Election
	Lüc da Schir	15
	Eiric Börnatfiglheu	5
MRPT hold

Vuode (special)

In what was expected to be the closest race of the cycle, incumbent Trotxâ Betiñéir was seeking to be elected for the remainder of Éovart Grischun's term. He has already served twelve Clarks as a backup appointee in three separate stints, in addition to winning two terms in his own right in 2007-2009. He recently sought to be elected to the seat in the 50th Cosa, when he stepped back during the election in favour of Éovart Grischun, and in the 47th Cosa, when he was unseated by the same Grischun, then of the Progressive Party - as part of a wider reversal of fortune for RUMP Senators, following the so-called Fortress Senate term, which led to Betiñéir, Brad Holmes of Atatürk and Mick Preston of M-M losing their seats in the span of two election cycles.

Opposing him was former Senator Viteu Marcianüs of the Free Democrats, seeking to regain the seat he held for two terms in 2009-2013. He already sought to capture the seat in the 50th Cosa General Elections, losing to Éovart Grischun in a race that also briefly featured his opponent for this race.

Betiñéir won the election. He will only serve for one Cosa, until the next regularly scheduled election.

Vuode Senate Special Election
	Trotxâ Betiñéir	5
	Viteu Marcianüs	2
RUMP hold

Cézembre (special)

The Cézembrean race was made necessary by Senator Glüc da Dhi, who was serving a third term as Senator, resigning to accept an appointment as Secretary of State. This thus marks the third Cézembrean Senate election in four election cycles, although the central one was not contested due to the absence of candidates other than da Dhi.

Former PP Senator and current MRPT Sénéchal Alèxandreu Soleighlfred was the only candidate; however the race was nevertheless contested, as it was be conducted by the National Chancery rather than under Cézembrean law.

Cézembre Senate Special Election
	Alèxandreu Soleighlfred	8
	Glüc da Dhi (write-in)	3
	Ián da Bitoûr (write-in)	1
	Ián Anglatzarâ (write-in)	1
	Tamás Ónodi (write-in)	1
	Danihel Roðgarut (write-in)	1
MRPT hold

Fiovă

Mençei dal Senäts Gödafrïeu Válcadác'h was running for a second term; no opponent has declared to be running against him. No Fiovăn race has been contested since the 46th Cosa General Elections, a contest that was then criticised for the failure of the provincial Secretary of State to duly inform the voters about the contest.

Fiôvâ Senate Election
	Gödafrïeu Válcadác'h	12
	Amada LaFior (write-in)	1
	Miestrâ Schivâ, UrN (write-in)	1
FreeDem hold

Maricopa (special)

In Maricopa, the first election conducted with Instant Runoff Vote (which coincided with elections to the 50th Cosa saw RUMP candidate Justice Béneditsch Ardpresteir winning against Moderate Radical Txoteu Davinescu. The open seat was vacated by Munditenens Tresplet's decision to run for the Cosa instead. Ardpresteir then renounced to the seat, his Uppermost Cort duties being incompatible with service in the Senate, and appointed Sir Cresti M. Siervicül to the seat. During the July 2018 election Siervicül was re-elected with no declared opponent, but still needed multiple rounds as many citizens had voted for undeclared candidates.

Maricopa Senate Special Election IRV/RCV Multiple rounds.		R1	R2	R3
	Cresti Siervicül	7	7	7
	Tariq Zubair (write-in)	2	2	2
	Txoteu É. Davinescu (write-in)	1	2	2
	Albrec'ht Cheléir (write-in)	1	1	1
	Txec Rôibeardsëfiglheu (write-in)	1	1	1
	Txec Róibeard dal Nordselva (write-in)	1	1	X
	Éovart Xhorxh (write-in)	1	X
RUMP hold

Maritiimi-Maxhestic

The most recent member of the Senate, Ian Plätschisch, was running for a first term of his own, after being appointed to complete the lone Clark left in Magniloqueu da Lhiun's term. He previously sat in the Cosa as the leader of the Moderate Radical caucus, the Party Whip. There were no declared opponents, and the election was conducted by the Maritiimi-Maxhestic government by public ballot.

Plätschisch ultimately received all five votes cast.

Provincial elections

Final results for provincial assemblies were compiled by the respective provincial officers rather than the Chancery and therefore they were delayed in respect to the national results.

Elections for elected assemblies produced:

• A Free Democrat plurality in Atatürk, by 5 votes to the RUMP's 4 and the MRPT's 3. The House of Commons did not assemble in the last two Cosas, which would have had respectively given a MRPT plurality of half the total seats, and a FreeDem-RUMP tied plurality. This therefore marks the gain of a lone plurality by the Free Democrats.
• A Moderate Radical majority in Benito, with 7 votes to the NPW's 2, the FreeDems, RUMP and "Iason Taiwos"'s 1. The MRPT retains an overall majority for the third term in a row.
• A Moderate Radical majority in Cézembre, with 6 votes to the FreeDems's 3 and the RUMP's 2. This translates in the MRPT taking majority control of L'Etats for the first time, despite repeated pluralities along the line, and despite the provinces being projected to have been narrowly carried by the FreeDems nationally.
• In Florencia, the RUMP surprisingly did not manage to get an overall majority of the provincial assembly vote, but it will receive a majority of seats in the Nimlet, as its electoral law mandates for two seats to be reserved to the Governor and the Senator, both members of the RUMP.

For the provincial assemblies that are based on claims to seats:

• In Maricopa, the claim process for the Cabana translated in three seats to RUMP representatives, and one apiece to the MRPT and Free Democrats, resulting in no changes from the previous Cabana.
• In M-M, the three claims received translated to all seats being filled by MRPT members, which therefore continues the majority control of the Assembly for a fourth consecutive convocation.
• In Vuode, the Free Democrats will control the States General with two seats, with one occupied by the RUMP. The last time the States General assembled, the RUMP had a 2-1 majority, which means that the Free Democrats have effectively flipped the province despite the RUMP being projected to have won a plurality of Cosa votes in Vuode.

Assembly		Partisan control	RUMP	MTGA	MRPT	NPW	FrDem
	House of Commons	No overall control	7	-	5	-	8
	Benitian Assembly	MRPT	1	-	6	3	1
	L'Etats	MRPT	3	-	11	-	5
	Nimlet	RUMP	5	1	1	-	1
	Cabana	RUMP	3	-	1	-	1
	Assembly	MRPT	0	-	3	-	0
	States General	FreeDems	2	-	0	-	1