Gylian federal election, 1958
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300 seats in the Popular Assembly 151 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 95,1% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Federal elections were held in Gylias on 12–13 April 1958, to elect the 300 members of the Popular Assembly. They were the first federal elections held after the Liberation War, and took place during the transition from the Free Territories to Gylias.
The incumbent Executive Committee of Darnan Cyras, a six-party DCP–SP–SDP–NLP–NUP–PRRA coalition, won a new mandate, defeating the opposition. which comprised the statist communist RCR and the centrist MCP and RDC.
Electoral system
The Popular Assembly was elected using open list proportional representation, with the entire country as a single constituency. The electoral threshold was initially set at 5%, with independent lists being exempt. Voters were allowed to distribute their votes between individual candidates of a list. Seats were allocated using the Webster method.
Parties
| Party | Main ideology | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Communist Party (DCP) | ||
| Socialist Party (SP) | Democratic socialism | |
| Social Democratic Party (SDP) | Social democracy | |
| National Unity Party (NUP) | ||
| National Liberal Party (NLP) | ||
| People's Radical Reformist Alliance (PRRA) | ||
| Moderate Centrist Party (MCP) | ||
| Rally of the Democratic Centre (RDC) | ||
| Radical Communist Rally (RCR) | ||
| Conservative Party (CP) | ||
| Restoration Party (RP) | Reactionism | |
Background
The end of the Liberation War launched the process of transition from the Free Territories to Gylias. As part of this process, the directly-elected Popular Assembly was established, succeeding the indirectly-elected General Council.
Darnan Cyras constituted an Executive Committee to oversee the transition, which saw the expansion of the Free Territories' economic system to cover all of Gylias, the consolidation of communal assemblies' dominant role in governance, and the beginning of the popular drafting process that produced the Constitution and six codes.
Darnan and his allies' adoption of a withering away of the state position, rather than immediately abolising the state after Xevden's defeat, provoked controversy in anarchist circles. Sofia Westergaard described the election as remarkable in Tyranian history for being mainly fought over the issue of abolition of the state.
Wishing to avoid delays to the election, the Executive Committee announced the Popular Assembly would be elected using nationwide proportional representation with exemptions for independents, borrowing the electoral system then used in Akashi. The election was held over a weekend, to maximise voter turnout.
Another factor in the election was the continued "constructive"–"recalcitrant" battle within Gylian conservatism. The "recalcitrants" set up the Conservative Party and Restoration Party, causing disgusted "constructives" to mainly join the Moderate Centrist Party and Rally of the Democratic Centre or stand as independents. Initially, the election threshold was set at 5%, with a view to keep the CP and RP out of the Popular Assembly.
Campaign
The campaign marked the emergence of the Gylian consensus and broad agreement on preserving the anarchist principles of the Free Territories. As a result, there were strong forces pushing parties to the left.
The DCP, SP, and SDP formed a left-wing bloc. Despite disagreements, the DCP maintained close ties with anarchist groups such as the Anarchist Federation, and it remained the largest anarcho-communist party.
The NUP, NLP, and PRRA formed a liberal bloc. Their illustrious history in Alscian politics, and the towering figure of Donatella Rossetti made them significant competitors for the left. Donatella's vision of "government as an engineering marvel with an elegance of structure" remained the leading alternative to anarchism it had become in the Free Territories.
The MCP and RDC formed a centrist bloc. They were the unofficial centre-right formation of the race, due to their large base of "constructive" conservatives. This would be the first of several elections where the centre-right made stamping out the reactionary right-wing its main focus.
The RCR represented the authoritarian and statist current of the left that had been targeted by the Lucian Purge. They attacked the DCP's anarchism and called for the construction of communism by authoritarian means if necessary, earning comparisons to the Ruvelkan Socialist Republic.
The CP and RP formed a far-right bloc. They largely represented the Xevdenite remnants of the right, including reactionaries and traditionalist conservatives opposed to the anarchist social revolution. They were a non-entity in the campaign, hated by most of the public, attacked by the other parties, and having their PPBs censored by the National Broadcasting Office and Gylian National Broadcasting Service for hateful and disciminatory content.
Results
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| Party | Votes | % | Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Communist Party | 809.023 | 20,1% | 63 | |
| Socialist Party | 555.687 | 13,8% | 44 | |
| Social Democratic Party | 504.312 | 12,5% | 39 | |
| National Liberal Party | 449.871 | 11,2% | 35 | |
| National Unity Party | 437.212 | 10,8% | 34 | |
| People's Radical Reformist Alliance | 419.000 | 10,4% | 33 | |
| Radical Communist Rally | 201.700 | 5,0% | 16 | |
| Moderate Centrist Party | 200.792 | 5,0% | 16 | |
| Rally of the Democratic Centre | 126.422 | 3,1% | 10 | |
| Conservative Party | 119.715 | 3,0% | 0 | |
| Restoration Party | 40.503 | 1,0% | 0 | |
| Other parties | 44.285 | 1,1% | 0 | |
| Independents | 123.456 | 3,1% | 10 | |
| Total | 4.031.978 | 100% | ||
| Registered voters and turnout | 4.288.882 | 95,1% | ||
Analysis
The left-wing bloc was victorious, collectively winning 46,4% of the vote and 146 seats — five short of a majority. The liberal bloc made a strong second place finish, collectively winning 32,4% of the vote and 102 seats. The public thus affirmed its confidence in Darnan's left–liberal coalition, which now held a supermajority in the Popular Assembly.
The battle for supremacy over Gylian conservatism weakened the centrist bloc somewhat, which collectively only won 8,1% of the vote and 26 seats. Standing alone, this made the RCR the smallest party in the Popular Assembly.
Independent lists collectively won 3,1% of the vote and 10 seats, a good performance but definitely below their General Council record, while other parties collectively won 1,1% of the vote and no seats.
The far-right bloc did the worst out of all parties: the CP gained less votes than independents and the RP less votes than other parties, prompting ridicule.
This election was held before regions were established and with one nationwide constituency, making it difficult to assess regional dynamics. If one compares to the 1961 presidential election and assumes similar dynamics, it is plausible that the liberal bloc won pluralities in the former Alscia, the centrists did well in the Nerveiík peninsula, and the left bloc swept most of mainland Gylias.
Aftermath
When the final results were first certified, they caused some surprise, as they seemed to indicate the RCR had narrowly passed the 5% threshold but the MCP had narrowly fallen short of it.
However, on 21 April 1958, Darnan publicly announced a revision of the electoral law, applied retroactively. The revision reduced the threshold from 5% to 3%, thus qualifying the MCP and RDC for seats, while still narrowly shutting the CP out of the Assembly. He bluntly explained: "The purpose of the threshold was to keep the reactionaries out, not the centre. Now that we know the results, we corrected that mistake."
Darnan's retroactive change and frank admission that the threshold was mainly intended to harm the CP and RP caused some controversy and criticism. However, he correctly deduced that the centrists would hardly protest against a rule change that benefited them, and the public would be more satisfied to see the reactionaries humiliated than outraged. The Popular Assembly took office on 28 April 1958.
The near-loss of the election was a profound shock to the MCP and RDC, especially since if they'd formed a common list they would've easily passed the first threshold. After the Law on Electoral Representation of 1960 was adopted, the centrists were the first to form an electoral bloc, the Centre Group, prompting other parties to form similar blocs.
