Pacitalian archonal election, 2023

This article is about the recent archonal election in Pacitalia. For this year's parliamentary elections, see Pacitalian parliamentary elections, 2023.

Pacitalian archonal election, 2023

27th November 2023 (1st round) 11th December 2023 (2nd round)
Registered	365,757,066
Turnout	78.2% (first round) 77.7% (second round) Votes can be cast in person or by postal or special ballot
Votes counted	100% as of 12th December 2023 AOTC+0300
Candidate Abeo Bamidele Franco Russo Party PDC PSDC Popular vote 151,863,162 132,229,091 Percentage 53.46% 46.54%
Archonate before election Vittoria Agradossa Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress Archonate-elect Abeo Bamidele Christian Democrats

An election was held in Pacitalia in 2023 to elect the Archonate, or head of state. Voters selected party nominees in a series of closed primary elections on 21st August. Those nominees contested the first round of the election, on 27th November, held concurrently with parliamentary voting.

No candidate won the required simple majority of votes in the first round, so the top two candidates – the Christian Democrats' Abeo Bamidele, and the Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress' candidate, Franco Russo – moved to a runoff on 11th December. Bamidele subsequently defeated Russo by seven points.

Bamidele will be sworn into office on 1st January 2024, succeeding incumbent Archonate Vittoria Agradossa of the Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress.

Background

Under Pacitalia's constitution, the Carta Proposera, the Archonate serves as the head of state. Archonates serve a six-year term from 1st January of the year following their election. The role has a "one and done" term limit, prohibiting consecutive or non-consecutive elections. If no candidate secures a majority of votes (50 percent plus one vote) during the first round of voting, a second round is held, usually two weeks later, between the top two candidates; all other candidates are eliminated.

The archonate appoints a prime minister to form and head a government to serve under their discretion. The archonate bases their decision on whom to ask to form a government based most often on the most recent election results. Alternately, the archonate will judge the appointment of a government upon whether or not that government possesses, or will possess, the confidence and supply of a constituent majority of representatives seated in the lower parliamentary chamber.

The archonate is also the supreme commander of the armed forces of the Republic. They serve as Grand Master (maestro suppremo) of both the Capostication, the highest civilian honour in the Republic, and the Ordinale Merità Repubblicana, the highest possible Pacitalian military decoration. Like in other countries, the archonate, as head of state, is the republic's primary official representative abroad — this differs from the Minister of International Relations, who is a member of the prime minister's cabinet, heads the Directorate of Foreign Affairs, and is responsible for overseeing Pacitalian diplomacy primarily on behalf of the government.

Compulsory voting

Though voting in Pacitalia is compulsory, and non-voters face fines, Pacitalian electoral law only requires voters to cast at least one vote of some kind to avoid a penalty. In other words, voters can attend a polling station and only need to cast at least a party list, electorate or senatorial vote in the parliamentary election, or vote for Archonate, while choosing not to vote in other contests. This causes different turnout figures when compared to the overall number of people registered and eligible to vote.

Primary elections

Pacitalian political parties held their primary elections on 21st August. The purpose of the primary elections was to nominate a candidate to contest the election; some parties, particularly smaller and/or regional parties, opted not to hold primary elections and instead planned to endorse an ideologically aligned candidate from other, larger parties. The eDemocrats were unique among parties for holding a "semi-open" primary, permitting non-party members to vote in their primary without having to join, provided they could prove they were not members of other parties.

Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress

The PSDC, which currently holds the archonacy and controls parliament, uses a simple plurality system with the candidate with the most votes being the winner. No runoff is required in the primary. The party selected former Republican Central Bank governor Franco Russo as their candidate for archonate; this is the second time he has carried the party banner in an archonal election, the first time being in 2016. Russo narrowly defeated former interior minister Sorinel Vulpes.

Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress archonal primary, 2023
Candidate	Votes	Percentage
Franco Russo	3,520,587	47.2%
Sorinel Vulpes	3,413,609	45.8%
Francesca Perronta	518,373	7.0%
Total votes	7,452,569

Federation of Progressive Democrats

The FPD uses an instant runoff method with ranked balloting; primary voters rank their choices and their votes are redistributed (or "spun") to other candidates if their first preference is eliminated before a candidate reaches a simple majority. The FPD nominated former Antigonian regional president Maria Bosa Sanremo as their candidate.

Federation of Progressive Democrats archonal primary, 2023
Candidate	First ballot		Second ballot		Third ballot
Maria Bosa Sanremo	1,442,430	41.3%	1,534,423	44.0%	1,807,910	53.4%
Hassan Beryami-Ami	1,108,235	31.8%	1,120,501	32.1%	1,577,184	46.6%
Pino Bernardin	816,030	23.4%	834,429	23.9%
Simone Fernicola	122,657	3.5%
Valid votes	3,489,352

Christian Democrats

The Christian Democrats also use an instant-runoff system. However, in this primary, the party's membership selected preacher Abeo Bamidele on the first ballot, with a decisive majority of votes. He defeated Sambuca mayor Marco Merazzi and former prosecutor Mauro Divincenzo.

Christian Democratic Party archonal primary, 2023
Candidate	Votes	Percentage
Abeo Bamidele	4,187,925	57.0%
Marco Merazzi	2,120,650	28.9%
Mauro Divincenzo	1,038,696	14.1%
Total votes	7,347,271

Pacitalian Green Party

The Greens use instant-runoff voting with a ranked ballot; however, to prevent excessive rounds of tabulation, the constitution has a "mercy" rule that provides a path to win the nomination with as little as 45 percent of the vote, if four or fewer candidates ran or are remaining in the vote after others were eliminated, and if only one other candidate is within 20 percentage points of the leading candidate. These conditions were met this year, with former Pacitalian lawmaker Madonna Ferrache defeating Arcedan Beyoglu and former prime minister Gabrielo Brunate on the first ballot, despite not reaching 50 percent plus one vote.

Pacitalian Green Party archonal primary, 2023
Candidate	Votes	Percentage
Madonna Ferrache	402,565	48.2%
Arcedan Beyoglu	320,418	38.4%
Gabrielo Brunate	112,550	13.5%
Total votes	835,533

Defence of the Republic

Defence of the Republic does not have a formal electoral system mentioned in its party constitution. In 2023, only two candidates ran – Yusuf Osman, a member of the Pacitalian parliament, and businessman Angelo Retuzzi – resulting in a simple majority on the first and only ballot. Osman defeated Retuzzi approximately 52 percent to 48, capturing the nomination.

Defence of the Republic archonal primary, 2023
Candidate	Votes	Percentage
Yusuf Osman	433,301	51.8%
Angelo Retuzzi	402,754	48.2%
Total votes	836,055

eDemocrats

The eDemocrats' party constitution stipulates a "semi-open" primary, which permits non-members to vote in their primary as long as they are not members of another party at the time they vote. This is verified against an Elections Pacitalia database in order to prevent fraud, as elections law limits voters to participating in only one primary. All other active political parties use a closed primary (no non-member voting) as of 2023, providing a further guardrail against possible voter fraud.

Ironically, despite a semi-open primary, only the party's founder, Marco Arancella, contested the primary, and was therefore acclaimed.

eDemocrats archonal primary, 2023
Candidate	Votes	Percentage
Marco Arancella	Unopposed

Other parties

Other parties did not run their own candidate and either plan to endorse another candidate, or will not endorse anyone.

• Endorsing Franco Russo: Partit dels Socialistes d'Empordà, Libertad Marquería Juntos
• Endorsing Madonna Ferrache: Verts Empordans, Movimento Ecologicare Pacitaliana
• Endorsing Maria Bosa Sanremo: Lliga Empordán
• Endorsing a centre-right candidate TBD: Podemos-Derecha Unida
• No endorsement: Radical Anticapitalists

Opinion polling

Main article: Opinion polling for the 2023 Pacitalian elections

First round

Results

2023 Pacitalian archonal election first round
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage
	PDC	Abeo Bamidele	108,705,106	38.03%
	PSDC	Franco Russo	103,322,602	36.14%
	eDem	Marco Arancella	43,369,110	15.17%
	FPD	Maria Bosa Sanremo	15,031,330	5.26%
	VdR	Yusuf Osman	11,101,292	3.88%
	PVP	Madonna Ferrache	4,328,057	1.51%
Total votes		285,857,497
Turnout		78.2%

Second round

Results

2023 Pacitalian archonal election first round
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage
	PDC	Abeo Bamidele	151,863,162	53.46%
	PSDC	Franco Russo	132,229,091	46.54%
Total votes		284,092,253
Turnout		77.7%