Gylian federal election, 1980
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All 395 seats in the Chamber of Deputies All 400 seats in the Senate 198 Chamber of Deputies seats and 201 Senate seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 94,5% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Federal elections were held in Gylias on 22 January 1980, to elect the 395 members of the Chamber of Deputies and 400 members of the Senate.
Held amidst the wretched decade, the bitter campaign ultimately produced little change: the Aén Ďanez government was reconstituted despite mutual hostility between the Revolutionary Rally and Progressive Alliance. Growing support for the far-right Front for Renewal of Order and Society, which increased its seat tally, was a cause for concern.
Electoral system
Both chambers of the Gylian Parliament were elected through single transferable vote, using the Droop quota.
The Chamber of Deputies was elected using 5-member circonscriptions, drawn by Elections Gylias based on regional populations.
The Senate was elected by regions, each electing 20 senators.
Parties were not allowed to nominate more than one candidate per seat. Candidates were not allowed to run for both chambers simultaneously.
Parties
Background
The late 1970s had seen the end of the Golden Revolution and the beginning of the wretched decade. The coalition between the Revolutionary Rally and Progressive Alliance, with Aén Ďanez as Prime Minister, was torn by deep-seated hostilities, as both blocs sought to undermine each other. The feuding began to affect public services; morale worsened among administrative agencies and ministerial incompetence added to woes. The economy began to suffer; growth rates declined from 6,4% in 1976 to 1,2% in 1980.
The RR started from a position of weakness: while it had narrowly won a plurality in the Chamber of Deputies in 1976, its parties individually received middling support, lagging behind larger parties like the Democratic Communist Party and Civic National Party. Since the Aén Ďanez government was a minority, it had to water down much of its program to hope to attract non-inscrit support. The RR's performance at the 1978 regional elections was also poor, as it returned only 6 governors.
In spite of these weaknesses, Aén took a confrontational approach, seeking to push Gylias towards a more statist leftist model. While little of its program would be achieved, this made her a disruptive presence due to her fights with civil society, communal assemblies, municipal and regional governments. This was a dangerous course to take, but at the same time she used it to mobilise and harden her base of support.
New political forces emerged out of frustration with the wretched decade, especially among Non-inscrits. Several right-wing populist "molehill parties" appeared, including the Automobile Freedom Party, Party for Free Traders, and Party for Freedom of Food. People Power-Citizens' Movement was established by anarchists digusted with the PA's participation in government, regardless of their stated goal to isolate and "restrain" the RR. The Humanist Party was created in backlash against the Front for Renewal of Order and Society's use of Gylicism and religion as a wedge issue.
Campaign
The campaign was marred by remarkable bitterness between the RR and PA, even though the two were ostensibly coalition partners. The PA continued to be marred by internal disarray, and participation in the government produced two factions: the "coalitionists" and "oppositionists".
The RR maintained the left-wing populist style that had served them well four years before. Despite now being in government, they took an "anti-establishment" line to mobilise their existing support; observers noted that the bloc largely abandoned attempts to try to win new supporters. Aén treated the campaign as a proxy for the struggle with the PA, going so far as to urge RR supporters to not preference the PA. This resulted in a significant amount of undervotes and exhausted ballots from RR supporters.
The National Bloc continued their Hannaist line and carried out a campaign centred around their charismatic leader Lea Kersed, a tenacious opponent of Aén and advocate of a grand coalition of conservatives, leftists, liberals, and centrists. The Liberal Union and Centre Group still hadn't recovered from the losses of 1976, and thus struggled to be heard in a highly polarised campaign environment.
The backlash against the RR's hardline rhetoric benefited the Front for Renewal of Order and Society, now advantaged by a charismatic leader and a strategy of moderating its extremist image to remain within the bounds of the law. This led to fierce competition with ARENA, which remained popular as a protest vote and thus siphoned off the support FROS was aiming to attract.
The Non-inscrits group saw the emergence of new parties, both "molehill parties", and others, such as the Animal Protection Party (a close ally of the Green Party), Humanist Party, Free and Voluntaryist Union, and People Power-Citizens' Movement. PP-CM in particular adopted a strategy of mainly targeting PA seats to punish the bloc for being part of the coalition government.
Results
In accordance with electoral law, the results were embargoed until the full counting and transfers were completed, and were released all at once on 26 January.
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| Parties and blocs | Chamber of Deputies | Senate | |||||||||
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| FPV | % | ± | Seats | ± | FPV | % | ± | Seats | ± | ||
| Revolutionary Rally | 1.666.422 | 21,1% |  0,1%
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85 |  1
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933.131 | 11,8% | 0,5%
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40 | 1
| |
| Progressive Alliance | 1.642.964 | 20,8% | 0,2%
|
80 | 5
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1.761.838 | 22,3% | 1,6%
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65 | 1
| |
| National Bloc | 1.599.031 | 20,2% | 1,1%
|
68 | 8
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1.265.821 | 16,0% | 0,9%
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64 | 9
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| Non-inscrits and independents | 1.209.836 | 15,3% | 1,5%
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88 | 11
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2.135.623 | 27,0% | 3,9%
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134 | 9
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| Centre Group | 878.606 | 11,1% | 0,8%
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33 | 1
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791.323 | 10,0% | 1,3%
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40 | 10
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| Liberal Union | 839.385 | 10,6% | 0,6%
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33 | 2
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952.479 | 12,0% | 1,7%
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51 | 10
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| Front for Renewal of Order and Society | 79.822 | 1,0% | 0,5%
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8 | 7
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76.651 | 1,0% | 0,4%
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6 | 2
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| Total | 7.916.066 | 100% | — | 395 | — | 7.916.866 | 100% | — | 400 | — | |
| Registered voters and turnout | 8.458.840 | 94,5% | |||||||||
Analysis
Despite the rancour of the campaign, the final results showed little change from 1976. The RR once again won a narrow plurality of first preference votes in the Chamber of Deputies, increasing their lead over the PA. However, Aén's encouragement of supporters undervoting backfired, gaining only one seat in each chamber. The NB again finished a comfortable third, although Lea was disappointed by the modest improvements: increases of 1% in first preference votes for both chambers, and a gain of 8 deputies and 9 senators. However, the NB did take comfort in now being the second-largest electoral bloc in the senate, one seat behind the PA.
The dramatic swings of the last election gave way to more modest ones, in the range of 1% to 3%. The LU tied with the CG for deputies but won only 10,6% of first preference votes, their worst performance. The non-inscrits lost 11 deputies in total but gained 9 senators. Despite their high-profile media campaign, the PP-CM fell short of their ambition of pressuring the PA, although they became the third largest non-inscrit party, making for a respectable entrance into Parliament. The "molehill parties" performed poorly, failing to win any deputies and only winning seats in the Senate.
The FROS hit 1% of first preference votes and increased their seats in both chambers. Most of its tally was due to the Anti-Communist Freedom Front, but for the first time the Movement for National Action, Radical Unity, and Revolutionary League of the Nation won a seat each.
At the regional level, contradictory trends of consolidating support and weakened pluralities were in evidence. The RR kept their pluralities in the northern circumscriptions and took pluralities in the previously tied Ḑarna and Nauras. Elsewhere, the PA secured pluralities in Sváen and Nezyál, while non-inscrits, mainly leftist, took pluralities in Mişeyáke and Herlan. The NB won all seats in Nerveiík-Iárus-Daláyk, and 3 seats in Nauras, ending their previous confinement to Nerveiík-Iárus-Daláyk. However, this meant that the FROS won seats in the mainland.
Aftermath
The new Parliament was sworn in on 1 February 1980. Between the RR's gain of one deputy and the PA's loss of 5, the Aén Ďanez government was largely returned intact. However, the PA defected on the first approval vote and voted against the government, causing Parliament to reject it. President Reda Kazan then gave a mandate to Lea, who proposed a PA–LU–CG–NB grand coalition. The PA gave this serious consideration, worried about their loss of support reflected in the challenge of the PP-CM. However, the internal vote went narrowly against the grand coalition.
With the mandate returned to Aén, the PA used their defection to push for more concessions, deepening the grudge between the two blocs. In the end, the coalition was reconstituted and narrowly secured parliamentary confidence. However, this caused a public backlash and revealed the weak position of the PA, struggling with finding suitable replacements for the formidable figures of the Golden Revolution. The "oppositionists" grew vocal in advocating that the PA reconstitute itself in opposition rather than carry on damaging its reputation in government.
