2020 Slirnian general election

The 2020 Slirnian general election is scheduled for Thursday, May 5, 2020. These are planned to be the sixth elections in Slirnia to elect the future composition of the Parliament and the next holder of the office of the Prime Minister, since the creation of this office in 1995. With the information provided by the Slirnian Electoral Court as of April 2020, voters will be given with the choice to elect their candidate and parliament composition from the eight political parties and their leaders that were previously registered.

After the elections, the political leader with the most votes, will be holder of the informal title, elected Prime Minister, and his or her future duties as Head of Government will be subject first, of a meeting with the Presidency of Slirnia and later of their performace at the parliament presenting the political programme. The rest of the political parties will be given with the option of handing in their confidence or not to the recently elected Prime Minister; in the case of not giving it, the Prime Minister will hold a new meeting with the Presidency and will expose the programme of his or her party for a second time, where only a simple majority is going to assure him or her, an administration of at least five years. This process can be repeated within no more than two months from the first ballot.

2020 elections in Slirnia come after the 17 years of almost ininterrumpited administrations of the Sotirian Democrats, with the exception of the four years terms of Aleksandar Keşco in front of the Slirnian Democratic Centre. The completion of the process of denationalisation and privatisation of most of the Slirnian economy, several cuts in the budget and the deterioration of a neo-liberal platform proposed by the centre-right governments, have remained key points in the political discussion since 2019 and in the same line, the future of the Euclean membership talks and the different views on regional integration, have positioned parties with moderated views such as the Social Democrats and the Slirnian Democratic Centre as the preferred for winning the elections.

Background

Electoral system

Following the previous the elections in 20011 and by the powers given by the Constitution of Slirnia, new general elections should happen after five years after the formation of a new government. During general elections, Slirnians vote the composition of the unicameral legislature, the Parliament of Slirnia, which is composed by 179 members. After the elections, seats are allocated to each party using the D'Hondt method and the Presidency is in charge of holding talks between all the political leaders to appoint the one which will be capable of commanding the confidence of the legislature and having in mind the election's results. The vote in Slirnia is based on the idea that suffrage must be universal, compulsory and secret.

Voters in Slirnia have the choice to vote between specific candidates (and their respective factions) inside a party, to vote for the entire party or to vote absentee. Parties and independent candidates should register before the elections in the Electoral Court of Slirnia, which oversees and controls the procedures during elections and referendums. However, independent candidates are almost non-existent and there were none registered for the 2020 general election. Parties must cross the 2% election threshold to enter to be allowed to have a seat in the Parliament.