2000 Imaguan parliamentary election

2000 Imaguan parliamentary election

March 24, 2000 (2000-03-24)
67 seats in the Chamber of Commons 34 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	81.71% ( 13.31pp)
First party Second party   Leader Agnes Ingram Ladislao Colacino Party Sotirian Labour Party Democratic Labour Party Leader's seat Knowleston-South Porto Cangelosi Last election 28, 49.07%1 39, 40.20% Seats before 30 35 Seats won 45 22 Seat change 15 13 Popular vote 472,295 272,055 Percentage 55.90% 32.20% Swing 6.83pp 8.00pp
Prime Minister before election Gerald Larsson Democratic Labour Party Prime Minister after election Agnes Ingram Sotirian Labour Party

The 2000 Imaguan parliamentary election was held on 24 March, 2000, to elect all 67 members of the Chamber of Commons to form the twenty-eighth Parliament of Imagua and the Assimas. This election saw the Colacino-led Democratic Labour Party lose control of the Chamber of Commons to the Ingram-led Sotirian Labour Party, marking the first time since 1956 that any political party, other than the Democratic Labour Party, formed government.

The election took place amongst criticism over the Democratic Labour Party's tolerance for political corruption, particularly in the aftermath of the Baigent Powell scandal, and the rise of the Sotirian Labour Party, a merger of the older Sotirian Democrats, and the newer National Labour Party, which provided a unified opposition front against the governing Democratic Labour Party. Significant issues raised in the campaign included the economy, social housing, and the need for change.

All of these factors contributed to the Sotirian Labour Party winning with 55% of the vote, and to the Democratic Labour Party losing thirteen seats to become Official Opposition for the first time since the 1956 election.

Background

Despite the efforts of the National Labour Party to form government in the 1996 parliamentary elections, and despite the combined votes of the National Labour Party and the Sotirian Democrats outnumbering the Democratic Labour Party, the Democratic Labour Party were able to secure an eleventh consecutive majority government, having continuously formed government in every election since 1960, although Dale Morse of the National Labour Party was able to become President of Imagua and the Assimas, defeating Isidoro Libero.

In the aftermath of the 1996 election, the Sotirian Democrats, having failed in their attempt to regain representation in the Chamber of Commons negotiated a merger with the National Labour Party to end "four decades of socialist rule." After several months of discussions, the two parties merged to create the Sotirian Labour Party in March 1997, with the two parties officially merging the following month. This led to some small factions forming separate parties, with Ted Branson forming the New Labour Party, and Edwin Burke forming the Sotirian Defence Party, both professing to be the successors of National Labour and the Sotirian Democrats respectively.

From the start, the Sotirian Labour Party performed better in polls, while the Democratic Labour Party was seen by the Imaguan public as having "run out of ideas" and no longer innovative after having formed government for the past forty years. This was not helped by both the recent conviction of former Prime Minister Pietro Muro on corruption charges, and Baigent Powell's shady activities being revealed in 1997, leading to an investigation into its activities, and to the firm ultimately being shut down in 1999 after a trial that year was dismissed due to lack of evidence.

In June 1999, Erico D'Antonio was nominated to be the Sotirian Labour candidate for the Prime Ministership, but in August, following Dale Morse being diagnosed with brain cancer, Morse announced that he would not run for a second term: this led to a second convention in November, which named Erico D'Antonio the presidential nominee, and Agnes Ingram as the Sotirian Labour candidate for the Prime Ministership.

In September 1999, Gerald Larsson was named the Democratic Labour nominee for the presidency, while Ladislao Colacino was nominated to run for the Prime Ministership on behalf of the Democratic Labour Party.

Campaign

Ladislao Colacino (second from left) at a campaign rally in Porto Cangolosi, March 2000

On 28 January, 2000, Dale Morse granted Gerald Larsson's request to dissolve Parliament, starting a 56 day-long campaign. From the start, the election campaign was marked by a substantial Sotirian Labour lead, due to a strong combination of anti-incumbency against the Democratic Labour government, criticism over the Democratic Labour Party's corruption, and due to the campaigning of Agnes Ingram, who as the first Bahio-Imaguan woman to lead a political party, was able to dispel criticism from the Democratic Labour Party that the Sotirian Labour Party inherited the "racist tendencies of the Sotirian Democrats."

In both the Estmerish language and Etrurian debates on ITS, Agnes Ingram performed well, presenting the Sotirian Labour Party's plans for government, which included attracting investment from the information technology sector, relaxing immgiration requirements, increasing economic ties with the Arucian Cooperation Organization by permitting freedom of movement from ACO states, and to make government services run more efficiently by promising to "cut red tape" and take "tough action on obstructionist unions."

Unlike Ingram, who ran a largely "positive campaign," Ladislao Colacino ran a negative campaign, with Colacino accusing the Sotirian Labour Party of "plotting take your pensions away," attacking labour rights, and to dismantle the national parks system set out by Gerald Larsson "in order to open up land for development." Colacino also promised that if elected, he would "get the job done" and build social housing in Cuanstad to ease the city's looming housing shortage.

While most Imaguan political pundits predicted a Sotirian Labour victory from the start, with Ian Vilcinskas saying "the question isn't so much if the SLP will win, it's how much," some pundits, particularly in the Democratic Labour Party were hopeful that the popularity of the Greens, New Labour, and the Sotirian Defence Party would be enough for the DLP to eke out a minority government.

However, as the campaign wore on, most voters expressed their intention to vote for the Sotirian Labour Party, with the hopes of the Democratic Labour Party of securing another government becoming more and more fanciful. Thus, by 24 March, 2000, it was expected that the Sotirian Labour Party would form government.

Opinion polls

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Results

↓

45	22
S	D

	Party	Leader	Candidates	Seats				Votes		Status
				1996	Dissol.	2000	Change since dissol.	Popular votes	%
	Sotirian Labour	Agnes Ingram	67	28	30	45	15	472,295	55.90%	Government
	Democratic Labour	Ladislao Colacino	67	39	35	22	13	272,055	32.20%	Official Opposition
	New Labour	Ted Branson	32	N/A	2	0	2	41,498	4.90%	Unrepresented
	Sotirian Defence	Edwin Burke	67	N/A	0	0		28,206	3.34%
	Greens	Summer Nicholson	45	0	0	0		22,897	2.71%
	West Arucian Section	Jack Singleton	65	0	0	0		2,322	0.28%
	Assiman Independence	Battista Guglielmino	12	0	0	0		2,159	0.26%
	Farmer's	Greg Kukanauskas	27	0	0	0		1,974	0.26%
	Statehood	Jason Cook	12	0	0	0		914	0.11%
	Independents	N/A	33	0	0	0		235	0.03%
	Prohibition	Marianne Hjortsberg	38	0	0	0		192	0.02%
Total votes		Valid votes						844,747	99.9%
		Rejected votes						145	0.01%
Totals			465	67	67	67	67	844,892	100%
Registered voters/turnout								1,034,061	81.71%

Aftermath

Analysis

File:ImaguaPolCelebrations.jpg

Celebratory crowds in Cuanstad, 24 March, 2000

Most political analysists argue that the end of four decades of Democratic Labour rule over Imagua and the Assimas in the 2000 elections stem "largely from a strong anti-incumbency factor" and from ordinary voters perceiving the Democratic Labour Party as being "very corrupt and dominated by the Imaguan financial sector" to the point that they "no longer cared about ordinary Imaguan people." Pundits also noted the "jubilant atmosphere" in the evening of and the day after the election, with crowds lining the streets in "every town" to celebrate the victory of the Sotirian Labour Party.

Daniel Sims from the Cuanstad Sentinel argued that the Sotirian Labour Party "performed better than expected" because Dale Morse's cancer caused the party to "move Erico D'Antonio to the Presidency, and enable a Bahio-Imaguan woman to take the helm," with Sims arguing that by choosing Agnes Ingram to lead them, the Sotirian Labour Party was able to "dispel allegations that they were continuing the racism of the Sotirian Democrats that have long plagued it."

However, Orfeo Maroni of the San Pietro Gazette argued that the Sotirian Labour Party won "not because of the DLP's corruption, but because the Sotirian Labour Party was able to offer innovative ideas to voters tired of the Democratic Labour Party's complacency," with Maroni arguing that "the Democratic Labour Party needs to undergo some serious soul-searching if they ever want to return to government," and that without it, the DLP "will become a party of the Etrurians and the big city elites," while the Estmerophones on Imagua will "forever be loyal to the Sotirian Labour Party."

Transition

In the aftermath of the 2000 Imaguan election, due to the declining health of President Dale Morse, concerns arose as to what would happen between March 24th and April 23rd if Dale Morse died in office. This was because in Imaguan politics, when the President dies, the Prime Minister automatically succeeds the President, and their Deputy automatically becomes the Prime Minister, as the Prime Ministership is vacant. However, it is constitutional convention for the new Prime Minister to request a snap election to confirm their legitimacy.

However, as a Prime Minister-designate was already chosen, there was a concern that should Dale Morse die, the outgoing Prime Minister Gerald Larsson would succeed Morse as President, with the result that his deputy, Eleonora Lavorgna would request a snap election, which would override the government elected in the 2000 parliamentary elections. To allay fears of a constitutional crisis, on 27 March, 2000, President Dale Morse, President-elect Erico D'Antonio, Prime Minister-designate Agnes Ingram, outgoing Prime Minister Gerald Larsson, and outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Eleonora Lavorgna agreed that if Morse died between 24 March and 23 April, 2000, Larsson would become President, appoint Lavorgna to be Prime Minister, who in turn would appoint Ingram as Deputy Prime Minister, and then Larsson would resign in favour of Lavorgna, who would serve until 23 April, 2000, when the President-elect and Prime Minister-elect were officially sworn in. A joint press release by all five was released the following day to announce the agreement had been signed.

As Dale Morse did not die before the inauguration date of the incoming government on 23 April, 2000, the agreement was moot, although the agreement is seen as providing precedent should a President or Prime Minister die during a transition period. Despite this issue, the two sides cooperated in ensuring a smooth transition between the outgoing Democratic Labour government and the incoming Sotirian Labour government.