Glytteronian Comhthionól election, 2012
Elections to the Comhthionól Náisiúnta were held on 12 June 2012.
The election resulted in the loss of the Liberty-Centre Coalition's majority, with Liberty losing eleven seats and Centre losing two. The Social Democrats gained five seats but preformed poorer than expected. With 129 seats, the new SDs leader Darragh Ballíck became Opposition Leader. The loss in seats for the government and the SDs was the direct result of the surge in seats for the Free Market Party, which picked up 27 new seats - bringing them to a total of 44. Taoiseach Walker declined to enter a coalition with the FMP, but instead signed a supply agreement with the FMP and the Glytter Democrats for budgetary matters.
Changes in the Glytteronian political landscape were reflected in the election's results, as more voters opted to support the FMP, which saw it rise to become the third party, challenging both the Centre Party and the Glytter Democrats for the role. The surge in FMP support is accredited to the unpopularity of the bailouts offered to governments in the Euclozone. Party leader Pádraigín Ó Baoighill led a very divisive campaign, and accused the government of selling out the country to Euclofederalism and countries such as Caesoux and Hellenos.
Alexis Walker returned as Taoiseach after the election, as none of the other parties opted to trigger a motion of no confidence. Áine Ní Dhubhghaill, who served as Ceann Comhairle in the 29th and 30th Comhthionóls, retired from the legislature and did not stand for reelection. Nicolás Cummins was then elected as Ceann Comhairle for the 31st Comhthionól.
Background
In the 2007 Comhthionól election, the Liberty Party lost its majority. As a result, new party leader Alexis Walker approached Malcolm Fitzpatrick of the Centre Party to form a majority coalition government. Together the coalition had 203 seats, surpassing the 200-seat majority by three seats. The Liberty Party had 176 seats and the Centre Party had 27 seats. The Social Democrats, who made gains, formed the formal opposition with a total of 124 seats. New SDs leader Mícheál Ó Domhnaill was installed as Leader of His Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition, the official opposition to the new Liberty-Centre government. The other left-wing parties declined to join, leaving the SDs on their own. It was also the first election which saw major gains for the Free Market Party, which gained 15 seats, giving them a total of 17 in the 30th Comhthionól.
Walker replaced Liberty Taoiseach Enda Kelley, who decided against pursuing a second term amid the crises which had arisen from the 2005 Recession. The Walker Government pursued bailout policies for Glytteronian banks and members of the Euclozone after Glytter purchased the debt of other Euclozone members from the Gaullican government after agreeing to the Thorailles Pact. The agreement was very controversial and Walker faced intense criticism in from the domestic press and other political leaders, which increased when the government announced in 2011 that it would forgive some of Caesena's remaining debt.
Incumbent parties
The Liberty Party (L; Saoirse) was the largest party in the Comhthionól with 176 of 399 seats. Alexis Walker was the Taoiseach, a post she held following the 2007 election. Since 2007, it had been in a coalition government with the Centre Party, with which it had a total of 203 seats. The party formed a single-party majority government in 2002, but lost its majority in the 2007 election. Under Walker's leadership, the party gradually began to move closer to the political centre and became openly pro-Eucleanist.
The Social Democrats (SDs; Daonlathach Sóisialta) was the second-largest party in the Comhthionól with 124 of 399 seats. Since 2007 it was under the leadership of Mícheál Ó Domhnaill, who worked to change party policy and bring it closer back to the centre. Previously, a government was formed by the SDs was in 1992 and 1997 by Morgan Leneghan, who was a major advocate of Third Way politics. After her defeat in 2002, the party swung heavily to the left.
The Centre Party (C; Páirtí Lárionad) was the third-largest party in the Comhthionól with 27 of 399 seats. Party leader Malcolm Fitzpatrick , who has changed the party platform more appealing to suburban voters by adopting stances that favour small businesses. The coalition government was the first time the party was in government since 1969.
The Glytter Democrats (GDs; Daonlathach Glítteannach) was the fourth-largest party in the Comhthionól with 21 of 399 seats. It saw gains during the 2007 election, where it picked up six seats. Rory Flanagan was the party leader and had implemented policies that shifted the party farther to the right in an attempt to capitalise off of anti-Liberty and anti-EC sentiments that had become prominent since the bailout agreements were made.
The Free Market Party (FMP; Páirtí Margadh Saor in Aisce) was the fifth-largest party in the Comhthionól with 17 of 399 seats. It picked up 15 seats in the 2007 election, having previously had two. The party was the subject of controversy in 2005 following a prominent leadership dispute which fractured the party, which saw two of its TCs leave for the Glytteronian Independence Party. It was led by Pádraigín Ó Baoighill, who began to pursue right-wing and populist rhetoric.
The Labour Party (PLO; Páirtí an Lucht Oibre) was the sixth-largest party in the Comhthionól with 17 of 399 seats. The party was established in 1998, when it entered the Comhthionól, and had since been led by Ivan Melnikov, who had presided over a series of wins and loses. Ties with the Social Democrats had begun to normalise after a major falling out over the direction of the SDs during the 90s led to a split.
The Greens (G; na Glasaigh) was the seventh-largest party in the Comhthionól with 13 of 399 seats. It performed well in the 2007 election, picking up several seats. Under Peadar MacCarthaigh the party was a heavy critic of the government.
The Glytteronian Independence Party (PNG; Páirtí Neamhspleáchas na hGlíttechtann) was the eighth-largest party in the Comhthionól with 4 of 399 seats. The party split off from the FMP in 2005 following an inter-party dispute, starting with 2 TCs, and has since been led by Malachy McBride. It won two additional seats in the 2007 election and campaigned on a single issue: Glytteronian withdrawal from the Euclean Community.
Campaign
The campaign formally began on 1 April as mandated by Glytteronian electoral law. Political ads were first run on television by Liberty, the SDs, and the FMP on 1 April. The ads had been previously prepared and were ready to air on the first day of the campaign. The Centre Party focused its ads on local television and radio stations and print publications in the country's rural countries while Labour launched a mass social media campaign and placed ads in print publications in the major cities. The Glytter Democrats did not begin running advertisements until late April following an inter-party dispute between Rory Flanagan and the party's Director of Communications and Media, Niamh MacKay. MacKay was eventually sacked, further complicating the Glyt Dems ability to effectively campaign.
Walker and Fitzpatrick launched a joint national tour on 12 April. The Liberty and Centre parties campaigned together throughout the campaign and generally did not nominate candidates in constituencies that heavily leaned towards one of the parties, preventing them from competing with one another in secure constituencies. Resources were allocated accordingly and Liberty focused on the suburban vote while Centre focused on the rural vote. The FMP sought to make inroads into both urban and rural centers. Pádraigín Ó Baoighill, who had heavily shifted the party to the far right, campaigned heavily in Bulfawst and Spálgleann as well as in the Highlands, campaigning primarily to appeal to voter bases that were traditionally loyal to the SDs and Centre but had become disenfranchised with the two parties in the wake of the bailouts. While on the campaign trail, the FMP garnered significant attention due to the divisive nature of its rhetoric. Baoighill and FMP candidates regularly accused the government of selling the nation out to Euclofederalism, Kesselbourg, and South Euclea. The SDs focused on the urban vote and hoped to compete with Liberty in the country's major urban centers. However, SDs leader Mícheál Ó Domhnaill was regularly critcised and ridiculed for what appeared to be his distaste for campaigning and his lack of enthusiasm.
The Comhthionól was formally dissolved by the King on 12 May and the cabinet became a as a caretaker government for the duration of the recess. After the Comhthionól went into recess, the campaign kicked off as the party leaders who were sitting TCs were free to campaign.
Debates
The first of two debates was held by GBF on 23 April with all sitting party leaders invited to attend. The second debate was hosted by TRN on 21 May. Ó Baoighill preformed well in both debates and managed to outshine Mícheál Ó Domhnaill, who was also forced to place defence against a tag-team of Walker and Fitzpatrick. Support for the FMP subsequently skyrocketed. During the second debate, Ó Baoighill drew national attention when she accused the Taoiseach of being a "traitor" to the nation and claimed she had "betrayed the trust of her people". This was something Walker denied, and accused Ó Baoighill of hurling insults because there was "no real party platform for her to stand on, other than one built on xenophobia". An exchange like this was previously unheard of in Glytteronian politics since the 1980s.