Gylian presidential election, 1961

Gylian presidential election, 1961

22 May 1961
Turnout	95,2%
Nominee Reda Kazan Hildegard Riese Party PA UNR FP vote 2.216.758 606.179 Percentage 50,1% 13,7%
Results of the first preference distribution by region   Reda Kazan   Hildegard Riese   Donatella Rossetti   Junko Maruo
President after election Reda Kazan

A presidential election were held in Gylias on 22 May 1961. It was the first presidential election, held after the Constitution was adopted and the post established.

Several well-known political and civic figures ran for office, establishing the tone and character of subsequent presidential elections. Reda Kazan, supported by the Progressive Alliance, unexpectedly won a majority of first preference votes, and was elected without any further distribution.

Procedure

The election was held through instant-runoff voting.

Candidates were registered with Elections Gylias in accordance with normal procedures. They could either be nominated by a political party or electoral bloc, civic organisations, or self-nomination as independents.

Candidates

Candidate		Nominator		Office(s) held	Details
Reda Kazan			Progressive Alliance	None	Campaigned on promotion of culture, the arts, and socialised luxury.
Hildegard Riese			Union for a New Republic	None	Campaigned as the main conservative candidate.
Donatella Rossetti			Liberal Union	Governor of Alscia (1908–1939) Delegate to the General Council (1939–1958) Member of the Popular Assembly (since 1958)	Campaigned as the main Donatellist–liberal candidate.
Arlette Gaubert			Centre Group	Chief executive of Gaulette (1914–1939) Delegate to the General Council (1940–1958) Member of the Popular Assembly (since 1958)	Campaigned on promotion of industrial paternalism.
Françoise Chatelain			OMFLG–ACFEN	None	Campaigned on promotion of francité.
Junko Maruo			Veterans for a Just Peace	None	Campaigned on Liberation War veterans' issues.
Luiza Monteira			Centre of Constitutional Monarchists	None	Campaigned on promotion of monarchism.

Results

Candidate		Nominator	First count	%
	Reda Kazan	PA	2.216.758	50,1%
	Hildegard Riese	UNR	606.179	13,7%
	Donatella Rossetti	LU	451.316	10,2%
	Arlette Gaubert	CG	424.768	9,6%
	Françoise Chatelain	OMFLG–ACFEN	331.850	7,5%
	Junko Maruo	VFJP	199.110	4,5%
	Luiza Monteira	CCM	141.589	3,2%
Others/write-ins			53.096	1,2%
Total			4.424.668	100%
Registered voters and turnout			4.682.882	95,2%

Map

First count pluralities by region

Analysis

In contrast to the 1958 Popular Assembly election, which used nationwide party-list proportional representation, this was the first federal election to use ranked voting and regional counts, allowing for a better measurement of federal political trends.

Reda Kazan's stature as an iconic figure of the Free Territories, backed with the support of the Progressive Alliance, proved an insurmountable advantage. Her campaign themes included promotion of culture and the arts, support of socialised luxury as rationing was recently abolished, and a promise to use her stature to preserve the Free Territories' revolutionary heritage. This helped her construct a large coalition that propelled her to victory.

Reda won pluralities or majorities in almost all regions. The exceptions were Arxaþ and Alţira, where the bulk of the vote was monopolised by Donatella Rossetti, Hildegard Riese, and Arlette Gaubert; Elena, which Donatella won by a plurality; Herlan, where the ongoing Arnak Trials propelled the VFJP's Junko Maruo to a plurality; and Nerveiík-Iárus-Daláyk, which Hildegard Riese won by a plurality.

Although Reda's victory was somewhat expected, its scale surprised the public. Reda won 50,1% of first preference votes, amassing a 1,6 million vote lead over the second-placed candidate, Hildegard. She was thus elected on the first count, with no further preference distribution necessary.