Norcustsur Assembly general election, 2014

Norcustsur Assembly general election, 2014

November 1, 2014 (2014-11-01)
All 325 seats to the Norcustsur Assembly 163 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Oskar Mendler Olaf Petersen Yakov Fromm Party Fascist Democratic Party (Radictistan) National Conservative Party (Radictistan) Labor Party of Radictistan Seats before 167 60 52 Seats after 156 85 45 Seat change 11 25 7 Popular vote 16,956,820 9,239,293 4,891,390 Percentage 47.8% 26.1% 13.8%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Irina Lansky Pavel Armonov Party Liberal Democratic Party (Radictistan) Green Party (Radictistan) Seats before 44 2 Seats after 37 2 Seat change 7 - Popular vote 4,021,810 217,396 Percentage 11.3% 0.6%

The Norcustsur Assembly general election of 2014 was held on Saturday 1 November 2014 to elect members to the Norcustsur Assembly, the unicameral legislature of the County of Norcustsur. The election took place within the ongoing Norcustsur internal conflict which had damaged the standing of the political left and center. The vote resulted in large gains by the far-right National Conservative Party, primarily at the expense of the leftist Labor Party and the Fascist Democratic Party. The FDP lost its majority resulting in a hung assembly. A coalition government was created between the FDP and Liberal Democratic Party.

Electoral system

All county legislatures in Radictistan are elected through a system of party-list proportional representation. In Norcustsur ballots are prepared on the basis of a closed list system, meaning that the voter is given the choice of party but has no influence on the choice of candidates. The party list is decided by party leaders or through some kind of internal poll of registered party members. Apportionment of seats is by the D'Hondt method. There is no minimum share of votes required for a party to be awarded seats in the Assembly.

Campaign

The general election was seen by political scientists and many voters as a referendum on the government's handling of the security crisis in Norcustsur. The National Conservative Party (NKP) focused its campaign on a "law and order" platform, in particular casting blame on the Fascist Democratic Party (FDP) for allowing the Communist Party of Radictistan to mount attacks with near impunity. In particular, the government's policy of treating captured terrorists in the same manner as all other criminal suspects and the FDP's unflinching support for civil liberties even in times of conflict came under fire. The NKP campaign also made a strong effort to portray the Labor Party leadership as dangerous radicals possibly aligned with the Communist insurgents.

Violence

The Communist Party of Radictistan made numerous threats of violence against voters and candidates through its pirate broadcasts and on social media. The Radictistani government responded by deploying an additional eleven thousand Royal Security Police and twelve thousand Army personnel. Two infantry brigades, one each from 19th Light Division and 36th Airborne Division, made up the bulk of the Army reinforcements.

While the city of Hartfer continued to be the predominating target of KPR attacks, the campaign period saw an increase in the number of attacks taking place elsewhere in Norcustsur, particularly in rural areas, as part of the strategy to intimidate the electorate where they lived. For the first time, security personnel outside major cities began to be ambushed with some frequency. The pre-election period saw the increased use of large improvised mortars known as Kaserneknackers ("Barracks busters"). The mortars were used primarily against police and military targets as well as industrial facilities.

Two days before the election the KPR ambushed a motorcade belonging to the Statmeister of Hartfer, Mikhail Borovets. Three municipal police officers were killed in the attack but Borovets escaped.

The run-up to the election also saw a significant increase in the frequency and level of loyalist violence. A KPR mortar attack on an NKP rally which killed six people sparked a wave of revenge attacks against Labor Party figures, union officials, leftist intellectuals, and other persons associated with the Radictistani left. A wave of looting also ensued, mostly targeted at businesses owned by and predominately serving Labor supporters.

Election

Security

Just nine days before the election, the Radictistani parliament approved an admendment to the Internal Security Act authorizing the use of military personnel for election security. The additional 23,000 military and police personnel were deployed at polling and ballot-counting sites, transportation facilities, utility plants, and other strategic sites throughout Norcustsur, particularly in major cities.

A comprehensive no-fly zone was enacted on the day of election over all cities with a population over 100,000. The flight restrictions were enforced by Royal Radictistan Air Force aircaft and Army personnel with manportable surface-to-air missile systems. Severe restrictions were placed on travel by private vehicles within major city centers.

Turnout

Voter turnout was low compared to previous County elections with the number of ballots cast down 36% compared to the 2011 general election. The low rate of participation was attributed primarily to the numerous threats issued by both the KPR and the various anti-Communist groups.

Violence

The KPR and loyalist militant groups carried out 93 attacks on election day against polling sites, candidates, security forces, and other civilian targets. Forty-eight of the attacks were in the city of Hartfer. A majority of the attacks were carried out by gunfire, usually from snipers or with automatic weapons in hit-and-run actions, and using improvised mortars. Mortar attacks were especially deadly when directed against queues formed at polling stations. The worst such attack, which occurred in Hartfer, killed eighteen people. Due to the restrictions placed on non-official vehicles, militants carried out only a small number of car bombings. Several proxy bombings were carried out over the course of the day: four by the KPR and one by loyalist paramilitaries.

Election day saw the first use by the KPR of small remotely piloted aircraft as improvised missiles. Four aircraft were loaded with explosives and directed towards concentrations of people waiting to vote. One aircraft fell short of its target after receiving fire from Army soldiers and the second struck an obstruction and was destroyed. The two other drones were flown into the voting queues killing five.

In addition to voters, a number of candidates came under attack. Two Labor Party candidates were killed in suspected loyalist attacks. Rolf Kuhlow was shot by masked gunmen while leaving his home in Luerkraft. Mikhail Robertsen was killed by sniper fire as he stood in a voting queue. One National Conservative candidate, Jon Peters, and FDP candidate Christopher Tam were killed by suspected KPR militants.

The Royal Radictistan Army suffered seven fatalities over the course of the day. Three were killed by mortar fire and four by gunfire. The three mortar casualties were the result of a KPR mortar attack on a checkpoint in downtown Hartfer. Two soldiers were fatally shot protecting polling sites in Hartfer, one soldier was shot at a polling site in Redclay and the fourth soldier was killed in an ambush of a convoy transporting ballots to a counting site in Hartfer.

Twenty-eight policemen were killed. The Royal Security Police suffered nine fatalities and the County of Norcustsur Police twelve while seven Municipal and Department police were killed. The worst casualty incident came when four County police and one Municipal policeman were killed when their vehicle struck an IED in Hartfer.

Nineteen KPR cadres were confirmed to have been killed by security forces and private citizens. Six were captured of which one committed suicide prior to being interrogated by police. Security forces killed two known loyalist paramilitaries and captured a third.

Results

  Summary of Norcustsur election results, 2014

Parties		Votes	%	+/-	Seats	+/-
	Fascist Democratic Party	16,956,820	47.8%		156	-11
	National Conservative Party	9,239,293	26.1%		85	+25
	Labor Party of Radictistan	4,891,390	13.8%		45	-7
	Liberal Democratic Party	4,021,810	11.3%		37	-7
	Green Party	217,396	0.6%		2	0
	Libertarian Party	93,561	0.3%		0	0
	Radictistan Liberal Party	24,882	0.1%		0	0
Total		35,445,152	100%		325