2017 Caldish general election

2017 Caldish general election

12 June 2017
All 399 seats to the Comhthionól Náisiúnta 200 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	92.1% ( 1.28%)
Party Leader % Seats ± Liberty Party Simi Ó Raghallaigh 28.32% 156 -9 Social Democrats Darragh Ballíck 20.23% 117 -12 Centre Máel Coluim Mac Giolla Phádraig 9.73% 33 +8 Labour Nuala Nic Chonmara 9.14% 28 +10 Nationals Liam Ó Cuillinn 8.55% 23 +23 Democrats Máire Ní Briain 7.67% 16 +8 Greens Blánaid Ariss Siobhan Níc Ghiolla Iosa 5.46% 11 +1 Free Market Party Saorla Ní Chadhla 3.39% 7 -36 Independence Diarmaid Ó Scolaighe 2.95% 6 +5 Pensioners Ellie Níc Raghnaill 0.97% 1 +1 Forward Duane ap Drummond .19% 1 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Taoiseach before Taoiseach after Simi Ó Raghallaigh Liberty Simi Ó Raghallaigh Liberty

A general election was held in Caldia on 12 June 2017 to elect all 399 members of the Comhthionól Náisiúnta.

The election resulted in a narrow victory for the governing Liberty Party and Centre Party coalition, led by Simi Ó Raghallaigh. While The Liberty Party lost 9 seats, the Centre Party made gains and had its best ever performance. The smaller Caldish Democrats, which had been supporting the coalition government, also increased its seat count to 16. Together, the three parties had enough seats to form a majority government. The Social Democratic Party had its worst electoral performance in its history, winning only 20.23% of the vote and 117 seats. The Free Market Party saw its support collapse. Smaller parties saw a signficant increase in their support and historic showings. Three new parties entered the Comhthionól Náisiúnta for the first time.

Ó Raghallaigh was invited by King Kenneth IV to form a government and the new government was sworn in on 3 July 2017.

Background

The 2012 general election saw the governing Liberty Party and Centre Party coalition's lose its majority, together winning 190 seats.

Alastrí Nic Ualtair ⁊ Ní Deoradh and Máel Coluim Mac Giolla Phádraig both indicated that they intended to continue their partnership. The two parties began talks with other smaller parties on the centre-right, namely the Caldish Democrats and the Greens. After several weeks, both parties pledged their support for the continuation of the Liberty-Centre coalition. Nic Ualtair was re-elected as taoiseach in July and she formed her second government.

The official opposition, the Social Democratic Party, won 129 seats. Other opposition parties included the Free Market Party, Labour Party, and the Caldish Independence Party. Two Independents were also elected.

Nic Ualtair announced that she would be stepping down as taoiseach and Liberty Party leader prior to the 2017 election. Simi Ó Raghallaigh was elected as Liberty leader and became taoiseach following Nic Ualtair's resignation on 20 April 2017.

Electoral system

Of the 399 members of the Comhthionól, 200 are elected in multi-member constituencies and 199 are selected based on a party's vote share. The presiding officer is automatically re-elected if standing again, but the incumbent had retired meaning all 399 seats were contested.

Members are elected using mixed-member proportional representation. Caldia has 52 multi-member constituencies. Each consistency consists of three to five members. Members are selected using a version of single-transferable vote known as the Ní Dochartaigh method. Under this process, voters rank candidates by first and second preference. Unlike other methods of single transferable vote, they can only rank candidates in this order and cannot transfer their vote to more than one additional candidate.

The remaining members are allocated to parties who rank their candidates on an open list in which voters can rank candidates on their own. Voters can either support a party's top candidate or give their vote to another candidate on the list. This could allow a candidate to move up the list. For this to occur, a candidate must receive more than 25% of the total number of votes cast for the party. This allows for parties to retain significant control over candidates elected on the open list.

For a new party to become eligible, it had to register the support of 25,000 registered voters with the Caldish Electoral Board before 18 January. New parties are usually given more time to prepare, but the nature of the snap election reduced the time they had. For a new party to enter the Comhthionól it had to receive more than 2.5% of the national vote share win a seat in a multi-member constituency. Independents only require the support of 10,000 registered voters, making ballot access easier.

Participating parties

Parties contesting the elections

Party			Leader(s)	Last election		Seats at dissolution
				Votes (%)	Seats
	S	Liberty Party	Simi Ó Raghallaigh	32.63	165 / 399	164 / 399
	PSD	Social Democratic Party	Darragh Ballíck	22.21	129 / 399	129 / 399
	PMSA	Free Market Party	Saorla Ní Chadhla	15.44	43 / 399	38 / 399
	PM	Centre Party	Máel Coluim Mac Giolla Phádraig	8.47	25 / 399	25 / 399
	PLO	Labour Party	Nuala Nic Chonmara	7.24	18 / 399	18 / 399
	G	The Greens	Blánaid Ariss Siobhan Níc Ghiolla Iosa	4.84	10 / 399	10 / 399
	D	Caldish Democrats	Máire Ní Briain	4.07	8 / 399	8 / 399
	PN	National Party	Liam Ó Cuillinn	Did not exist	Did not exist	5 / 399
	PNG	Caldish Independence Party	Diarmaid Ó Scolaighe	1.48	1 / 399	1 / 399
Extra-parliamentary parties
	Y/AA	Forward	Duane ap Drummond	.12	none
	PP	Pensioners	Ellie Níc Raghnaill	.43	none

Campaign

The campaign officially began on 12 May 2017. The Comhthionól Náisiúnta was dissolved and entered its election recess. It ran from Friday 12 May until polling day on 12 June, a Monday. The official campaign began the same day that parties and individual were required to register with the Caldish Electoral Board.

The campaign began with an announcement that the Social Democratic Party and the Greens would enter an electoral alliance, reviving the Red-Green Alliance. The two cooperated at a constituency level and the Greens encouraged their voters to support the PSD's candidates. The Liberty Party and Centre Party also agreed to cooperate at a constituency level.

Much of the campaign was defined by what Caldia's government would look like in a post-Nic Ualtair landscape. Security issues, government spending, and immigration dominated campaign discourse. The PSD also struggled to deal with labour issues throughout the campaign. The campaign was the first in the PSD's history that saw so much discord between the party and its affiliated trade unions. It culminated in the conflict between Darragh Ballíck and union members, who egged the PSD leader on multiple occasions.

The campaign saw a final push by the parties in the weekend leading up to 12 June. The Free Market Party especially struggled in the campaign's final stretch, facing loses to other parties on the right and even to the Labour Party.