2022 Zamastan presidential election

2022 Zamastan presidential election

September 20, 2022 (2022-09-20)
305 Majority votes needed to win
Registered	234,822,000
Candidate Sabine Armitage Leanne Dale Jay Gaviria Party Conservative Party Liberal Party Conservative Capitalist Party Electoral vote 201 88 Popular vote, representative by district vote 109.3 million 107.7 million   Candidate Brendan Dennadeer Sylvia Wood Party Progressive Party Progressive Alliance Party

The 2022 Zamastan presidential election was held on Tuesday, 20 September 2022, and was the upper ring of the 2022 Zamastan general election. It was the 110th general election and the 113th totaled Presidential election to decide the President of Zamastan. The nominating process took place in a series of indirect elections, where voters casted ballots selecting a slate of delegates to a political party's nominating convention who then in turn elected their party's presidential nominee, while independent candidates with sufficient following and campaign contribution also made it onto the ballot. The election began at 11:59 PM on Tuesday, 20 September 2020, and concluded at 7:30 PM, 21 September 2020. Sabine Armitage won the election with 201 district votes to Leanne Dale's 88, and carried the popular vote by 1.3 million.

The main candidates in the election were Sabine Armitage (Conservative Party), Leanne Dale (Liberal Party), Jay Gaviria (Conservative Capitalist), and Brendan Dennadeer and Sylvia Wood (both Progressive Party). Multiple people announced their candidacies and later dropped out, notably incumbant President Atticus Moreau (Bloc Mayotte), who was initially seeking a second-term reelection but cancelled his campaign due to multiple scandals; Congresswoman Alisha Fletcher, who challenged Dale for the Liberal Party's nomination; and former-Secretary of State Jean Brunelle, who challenged Armitage to the Conservative Party's nomination.

Moreau's 2020 election marked the first time since 1982 that a political party other than the Conservative Party assumed the Presidency, and it was the first time a candidate endorsing provincial separatism won the Presidency. The 2022 election was also vastly different due to the January 1st, 2021 secession of Mayotte, Auraine, and Alutiana, resulting in 54 fewer district seats for voting and a large voter base decrease for President Moreau. The 110th congressional election had resulted in a liberal majority for a consecutive time, though a far more narrow lead than their prior cycle.

Background

A map of all 305 seats up for grabs in the 2020 election. The candidate that wins the most seats becomes President.

Eligibility

The Constitution of Zamastan gives the qualifications for holding the presidency. To serve as President, one must:

• be a natural-born citizen of Zamastan
• be at least 18 years old
• have not been convicted of a felony
• have not served any political office in any other nation/sovereign land aside Zamastan
• have not been impeached from any political office
• have not sworn a pledge to the state of Zamastan and subsequently rebelled against the state

Campaigns and nominations

The modern presidential campaign begins before the primary elections, which the five major political parties use to clear the field of candidates before their national nominating conventions, where the most successful candidate is made the party's nominee for president. Several nominees, however, have chosen to run aside from political parties. This choice generally makes running for office more difficult for getting exposure, as the political parties' prominence allows for wider name-recognition. This is why most independent nominees tend to be celebrities or household names. For example, president Zacharias Castovia chose not to run along party lines, because his name recognition was enough for people to know who they voted for. The most common previous profession of Zamastanian presidents is that of a lawyer or businessman, as seen with Cain Blackwater's noteriety as an energy tycoon.

Nominees participate in nationally televised debates. Nominees campaign across the country to explain their views, convince voters and solicit contributions. Much of the modern electoral process is concerned with winning swing states through frequent visits and mass media advertising drives.

Election

The president is elected indirectly by the voters of each district through popular election on Election Day (September 22nd on every even-ended year). When each of the 359 districts counts the ballots, whichever candidate has the most votes receives that district's vote. The winner of the election is which ever has the majority of the 359. For example, Marvin Gaviria won his third term in 1950 with 348 votes to 11. In the closest ever election in Zamastanian presidential history, Aiden Avery won the 1980 election against Larry Pattis with 179 votes to Pattis' 175. The remaining 5 district votes went 3 to Wren Ebbets and 2 to Karen Gillebrand.

Voting polls open at 11:59 PM on September 21st and last 17 hours until 5:00 PM on September 22nd. The counting of votes closes around 7:00 PM, which is also when the victor is announced.

Nominations and Candidates

Conservative Party Candidates
Name	Born	Experience	Campaign Announcement Date Drop Out Date
Sabine Armitage	Providence, Northern Isle (1989-11-21) November 21, 1989	Congresswoman for Northern Isle-19 (2016-incumbent)	July 5th, 2021
Jean Brunelle	Point Tarin, Jade (1972-05-03) May 3, 1972	Secretary of State (2000-2008)	August 4th, 2021 November 6th, 2021

GLP Candidates
Name	Born	Experience	Campaign Announcement Date Drop Out Date
Alisha Fletcher	Wingerton, Zian (1960-10-06) October 6, 1960	Congresswoman for Zian-11 (2008-incumbent)	File:AlishaFletcher2022ElectionLogo.png January 15th, 2022 May 15th, 2022
Leanne Dale	Hope, Northern Isle (1968-12-09) December 9, 1968	Senator for Northern Isle-2 (2006-incumbent)	File:LeanneDale2022ElectionLogo.JPG October 3rd, 2021

Bloc Mayotte Candidates
Name	Born	Experience	Campaign Announcement Date
Atticus Moreau	Alutia, Alutia (1971-10-25) October 25, 1971	Incumbant President of Zamastan Governor of Alutia (2006-2016)	September 7th, 2021 February 10th, 2022

Progressive Party Candidates
Name	Born	Experience	Campaign Announcement Date
Brendan Dennadeer	Terrabone, Jade (1961-05-06) May 6, 1961	Leader of PoverTea movement Civil Rights Activist	File:Dennadeer2022ElectionLogo.JPG May 29th, 2021
Sylvia Wood	Landeda, Landeda (1979-10-16) October 16, 1979	Senator for Landeda-4 (2014-incumbent)	File:SylviaWood2022ElectionLogo.JPG March 20th, 2022

Conservative Capitalist Party Candidates
Name	Born	Experience	Campaign Announcement Date
Jay Gaviria	Tirzah, Zian (1987-02-17) February 17, 1987	Congressman for Zian-24 (2016-incumbant) Son of Thomas Gaviria and grandson of former-President Marvin Gaviria	September 28th, 2021

Party nomination campaigns

GLP

Senators Leanne Dale and Alisha Fletcher became the frontrunner candidates for the Green Liberal Party nomination process. Dale announced her candidacy earliest among the party candidates on October 3rd, 2021. Fletcher followed suit on January 15th, 2022. Dale led initial party polling in a wide sweep even through February of 2022, with a Tofino Times poll accounting 56% preference for Dale over Fletcher at a near 30% among declared candidates. However, this lead narrowed into March, and with Sylvia Wood's candidacy announcement for the Progressive Party, the two candidates met for a debate on March 23rd, 2022. Eventually, Fletcher dropped out on May 15th and endorsed Dale, meaning for the first time since the 2004 election and Camren Ellison's reelection bid that the Liberal Party was unified behind a single nominee.

BCP

Congresswoman Sabine Armitage, on the heels of her close second-place finish in the 2020 election, announced her candidacy on July 5th, 2021, relatively early for a general election. Quickly in national polling she maintained a far lead among prospective candidates. Barely a month following her announcement, former-Secretary of State Jean Brunelle announced his candidacy on August 4th, 2021. Brunelle's popularity had diminished extensively since his firing by former-President Cassious Castovia and inflammatory comments made by former-President Camren Ellison, and many Blue Conservative Party officials called for him to drop out. Armitage's popularity kept growing within the BCP ranks, and continued questions about Brunelle's legitimacy plagued his campaign until he dropped out on November 6th, 2021.

Because no other high-profile candidates reached above 5% in polling within the BCP, all planned debates were cancelled and Armitage was declared the official candidate of the BCP on April 2nd, 2022.

General election campaign

The August-September 2022 issue of Tarin magazine showcasing Sabine Armitage and Leanne Dale from the second debate.

Debates

First Debate

The first debate was held at the University of Sutton in Sutton, Zian, on June 11th, 2022. The debate was attended by Sabine Armitage, Leanne Dale, Jay Gaviria, and Sylvia Wood. ZNN anchor Aiden Reventon moderated the debate. .

Taking place only hours after the government of Terehan declared that they had detained a Caspiaan and 8 Zamastanian oil contracters and had sentenced them to death, the candidates all cited the incident in their opening statements, offering sympathy for the hostage's families, and they were all offered the chance to weigh in on the Moreau administration's response. The topics of the debate were separated into three categories; Foreign Policy, Abortion Rights, and the Economy.

Opening with a segment devoted to questions of foreign policy, specifically in regards to the ongoing Terehan crisis and the Yuan-Gangkou dispute, both Armitage and Gaviria took the approach of even greater intervention. Armitage, on the subject of Yuan, called for a complete boycott of Yuaneze trade and stated that while she was pleased the crisis had been quelled, she believed it only served to embolden Yuan. Armitage went on to criticize WEDA, saying "we have to wait for WEDA now, and that diminishes Zamastanian power. If we were able to do what we need to do without bothering with the long waits, we would be in a much more effective position." Senator Dale hit back on Armitage's comments by advocating for more involvement in WEDA, insinuating that Armitage's proposed policies could spark a war with Yuan.

Armitage and Dale went back and forth for several minutes regarding their records on the military, and Rep. Jay Gaviria chimed in while invoking his grandfather, President Marvin Gaviria. "I can promise everyone that if I am elected President, we'll be back in the days of my grandfather, President Gaviria. Those days were marked with a show of force everytime we were faced with problems. Gaviria won the World War. He supported our allies. We can do both." Gaviria was countered by Senator Sylvia Wood, who lambasted the representative by saying "your whole campaign is being run as if you are your grandfather. You are not your grandfather." Wood's soundbite was met with roaring applause and laughter from the audience, who were reminded by Reventon to remain quiet. Wood continued, pivoting the conversation away from foreign policy to social issues by saying Gaviria's grandfather would be ashamed of his strict conservative ideology, which she claimed was in contrast to Marvin Gaviria's more socially liberal policies.

On the subject of abortion, Reventon asked the candidates whether they supported abolishing the constitutional ban on third trimester abortions. Dale and Wood supported abolishing it, while Armitage and Gaviria supported maintaining it. Dale called the ban "one of the most unfortunate situations in Zamastan," while Wood said she would "by executive order destroy the ban." Armitage scoffed at both and interjected, citing the rarity of third trimester abortions and the exception clause which allows women to get abortions in the third trimester if their health is at risk. Jay Gaviria went further, however, maintaining that he wished to expand the ban to cover the entire second trimester as well. To this, all three of the female candidates on stage disagreed.

When the conversation pivoted to the economy, Senator Dale was the first to advocate for raising taxes on the wealthiest 1% of Zamastanians while leaving the current rate for middle and lower classes capped. Under her proposals, Dale claimed that she would be able to fund new programs to assist the country's growing homeless population seek affordable housing. Wood implied that she seeks to increase taxes across the board, though with a higher rate for the wealthiest 1%. To this, both Armitage and Gaviria disagreed, calling for sweeping cuts that would lower the tax rate for every individual Zamastanian regardless of income.

Ahead of the debate, Tofino Times polling placed Congresswoman Sabine Armitage (BCP) and Senator Leanne Dale (GLP) in a dead heat, with Armitage in an extremely narrow lead at 41.3% and Dale at 41.1%. The virtual tie is evident of a major rift between ideologies within the Zamastanian voter bloc as previous elections have been difficult to determine outcomes. However, the line between the conservative and liberal candidates make the race essentially a two-way street, which was certain to cause issue for the other two candidates who will be on the debate stage. Congressman Jay Gaviria (Conservative-Capitalist Party) and Senator Sylvia Wood (Progressive Party), who were polling closely together at 8.4% and 8.3% respectively, was notable because it signifies that the right and left divide is even more apparent.

Second Debate

The second debate took place on July 24th at the University of Tofino. This debate only hosted Armitage and Dale, as the two were polling at 42.6% and 43.1% respectively, and the other candidates had each dropped below 5% in credible polling. This debate was moderated by Patricia Cebelli, senior political correspondant for the Jade Tribune newspaper.

The debate was focused on international affairs, specifically in regards to Yuan as Xi Jingyi had been ousted and replaced with Qin Chen, viewed generally as a more moderate figure.

Dale was widely seen as the victor in the second debate, catching Armitage off-guard with fact checks that the congresswoman was unable to recover. When Armitage tried to justify her plan to increase defense spending by ℤ2 trillion by saying that ship for ship “our Navy is smaller now than any time since 1920,” Dale fired back with a simple retort, stating that what the Zamastanian military may be behind on quantitatively, they are years ahead in quality. Stating her goal is to maintain the current size of the Zamastanian military, Dale said any future investments or cuts will be meant to phase out aging units for more streamlined, modern, and efficient firepower.

In another instance widely seen as a blunder for Armitage, she sought to paint the government of President Haajid Swati as a proxy Yuaneze state. Despite popular opinion being viciously against her, she then completely bollixed her Ausianan geography or geopolitics, depending on the ask, saying “Yuan wants Tasiastan because its their key to Central Ausiana." Whether or not this was a gaffe, it appeared as though Armitage had ignored the expansive Alliance of Central and West Ausianan Cooperation (ACWAC), whose member states are indebted to Yuan and surround Tasiastan, effectively isolating it. In fact, most of the member states are in Central Ausiana. Dale took the opportunity to bash Armitage, calling her an "apologist for authoritarians", a "betrayer of our allies," and a "failed cartologist".

Third Debate

The third and final debate took place on August 28th at the Caribar Manoir Sichelieu in Tregueux. The debate began around an hour after the results of the first provincial elections in the 110th congressional election took place. Riding the high of conservative sweeps in the Cantalle provinces during the presidential debate, representative Armitage gloated to Senator Dale, saying "this is an indication of what the country wants. Traditional conservatism is what our country was formed on, its what the people want, and I am incredibly proud of my party tonight."

Senator Dale used some of the time during the debate to try and rally liberal voters across the country, saying "there is little time left but a lot of potential for our movement. We've accomplished so much in the past two years with the majorities we've held in Congressional Hall, and we can accomplish a lot more if we come together and vote for progression and change and effective cooperation."