1905 Inglaterran Election

1905 Inglaterran Election

28 May 1905
All 350 seats in the General Assembly 175 seats needed for a majority
Registered	27,289,301
Turnout	19,457,272 (71.3%)
First party Second party   Candidate Max van Raydel Karl Blivin Party Confederalist Social Republican Leader since 1904 1905 Leader's seat Orcakust Påskebyen Seats won 183 163 Popular vote 10,102,215 9,248,041 Percentage 51.92% 47.53
Chancellor before election Joeri Wasindone Confederalist Elected Chancellor Max van Raydel Confederalist

The 1905 Inglaterran Election was held on Sunday, 28 May 1905. As the first election held after the independence of the First Confederacy, it was the first wholly democratic election in an independent former colony in Frigio or Galia. All 350 seats in the Inglaterran General Assembly were up for election in a proportional election.

The election saw a close victory of just under 900,000 votes for Max van Raydel of the ruling Confederal Party over Social Republican Karl Blivin. As a result, the Confederal majority was slim, with 183 seats meaning only a majority of eight. The Social Republicans and two independents formed the primary opposition to the Confederal majority.

Four future chancellors entered politics with this election, Leon Bitte, Micael Bydén, Erik van Vries, and, most infamously, a young Social Republican named Karl Hoeven.

Background

The various Inglaterran provinces had been unified previously, under the Dominion of Inglaterra. Independence was declared in June of 1899, with Joeri Wasindone becoming the first chancellor of a provisional council of representatives from each province. Despite Wasindone's personal popularity, his age, he was 76 years old on election day, led Wasindone to announce his retirement in 1904 and not run in the new elections, leading to a campaign and race to become the leader of the Confederal Party. Max van Raydel, the former governor of Orkakust, became the leader of the Confederal Party in a party conference held in December of 1904.

The Social Republican Party was primarily an alliance made up of left wing politicians in opposition to Van Raydel's conservatism and former pro-Niagaran delegates in opposition to Wasindone and the Confederal Party itself. Karl Blivin, a professor of political philosophy at the University of Rästvall, had favored compromise with Greater Niagara but eventually supported independence but was also a left wing philosopher, allowing him to appeal to both factions of the Social Republicans. He was elected, unopposed, in February of 1905 as the leader of the Social Republicans.

Main issues of the election were a sluggish economy, gutted by a loss of trade with Niagara and Alanna, territorial disputes with Niagara and its colonies in the Antarctic region, government reforms, and a buildup in the Inglaterran Navy to compensate for the loss of imperial protection.