Belhavian Imperial presidential election, 2012

Flag of Belhavia
51st Presidential election
← Previous election November 2008			→ November 2016
24 seats (one-third of the chamber) up for election in the Imperial Senate.
November 6th, 2012
	File:090911 coleman reuters 163 regular.jpg	File:TerryMcAuliffe.jpg	File:Sarvis-2--1--JPG.jpg
Nominee	Eli Goldman	Jacob HaNavi	Sal Russet
Home Province	Freeport	West Dakos	Arkania
Party	Conservatives	Liberal Democrats	Libertarians	Independents
Running Mate	Jacob Grossman	Murray Finkelstein	Ari Levitz
Popular Vote (%)	50.3% ( 0.6%)	45.6% ( 1.9%)	4.1% ( 1.3%)	<0.01% ()
Popular Vote	63,881,009	57,912,773	5,207,021	4,322
Imperial Senate	41 ( 2)	25 ( 2)	4 ( 1)	0 ( 1)
President before election Eli Goldman Conservative			President-Elect Eli Goldman Conservative

The Belhavian presidential election of 2012 was the 51st quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. The Conservative nominee, incumbent President Eli Goldman, and his running mate, Vice President Jacob Grossman, were re-elected to a second term, defeating the Liberal Democratic nominee, former Governor of West Dakos Jacob HaNavi, and his running mate, Senator Murray Finkelstein of North Dakos.

Background

Conservative Then-Senator Eli Goldman narrowly won the 2008 presidential election over centrist Liberal Democrat Governor Jacob HaNavi, the son of former Liberal Democratic President Berel Levine (1977 - 1981). However, although Goldman's margin was small, his Tories built on their majority in the Imperial Senate through the defection of much of the Senate's Libertarian caucus, creating the Conservative-Libertarian Caucus with the Conservative Party.

Once elected, Goldman and his Senate Tories moved quickly to pass major tax cuts in the spring of 2009. As part of the tax reform proposal, an exemption to the National Retail Sales Tax that only taxed the sales of food and medicine at 12% (which favored lower-income citizens) was repealed. This caused the new administration some embarrassment as liberal groups organized rallies of the poor protesting the "tax hike".

In late 2009, Goldman led the Senate to pass a more stringent kosher (kashrut) regulatory oversight law, which pleased Orthodox Jews and some Conservadox and traditional Conservative Jews but alienated secular Jews and non-Jewish voters, who included pork and meat-and-cheese in their traditional, ethnic diets.

However, Goldman was viewed more broadly as a competent and effective administrator and leader, and scandals involving government waste or incompetence were fewer than recent years. By the 2010 midterms, the economy was seeing signs of life as economic growth moved above 2%. In 2010, a combination of Goldman's strengths at the top of the Tory ticket and several flawed Lib Dem challengers resulted in historic gains for the Conservatives, the best since 1998, when the Conservatives gained a seat in the first term of Yehuda Fiedler.

Since the late 2000s, Belhavian politics has been experiencing an expanding libertarian tilt among newer voters. Goldman strictly enforced the socially-conservative White Terror laws, and acted upon the Goldman Doctrine, a neoconservative foreign policy of force projection against the "rogue states". HaNavi, his 2008 opponent, sought to use these events to build a winning case in 2012.

Voting System

The president and the Senate is elected through a plurality majority popular vote by eligible, registered voters in a first-past-the-post electoral system.

Campaign and Issues

In December 2010, HaNavi kickoff his comeback campaign to win the Lib Dem presidential nomination and take on Goldman again. The incumbent president, for his part, pivoted in early 2011 to re-connect with his libertarian supporters disappointed in his foreign and national security policies.

Throughout 2011, HaNavi attempted to reach out both to disaffected libertarians, as well as ramp up support among the Lib Dem liberal base. He tried to take liberal social stances, but nuanced enough to retain rightist swing voters at the periphery of the center-left opposition party.

Goldman invested in data-driven statistics, and sought to rev up his GOTV effort. In late 2011, Goldman suffered a decline in his approval ratings, and he and HaNavi were statistically tied in public polling.

In early 2012, HaNavi began to barnstorm the earliest primary provinces, contested by several more liberal candidates, such as former Senate Minority Leader Eric Nofkasky. Nofkasky, an outspoken and gaffe-prone liberal stalwart, competed with Novian as his closest competitor. The duo battled it out through the late winter and spring of 2012.

The primary damaged HaNavi's standing a bit as he stacked out more left-wing positions to win over the left-leaning base voters. Goldman, meanwhile, fundraised aggressively and sought to define HaNavi in the summer months with extensive ad campaigns while HaNavi replenished his campaign coffers after the bruising primary season.

In the late summer and fall, the two general election nominees fought each other again, campaigning on contrasting themes. HaNavi tried to build a liberal-libertarian coalition, blasting Goldman for not repealing the White Terror laws, his aggressive foreign policy, and strong social conservatism, while the President portrayed Novian as a flip-flopping liberal like his father, unpopular former President Berel Levine.

Results

On November 6th, 2012, with 57% turnout, Goldman bested HaNavi 50%-46%. The Conservative incumbent won 13 provinces and 3 Crown Territories, compared to Novian's 12 provinces and 1 Territory. The Libertarian, Sal Russet, won one Territory (the Jointly Administrated Territories).