Xiaodongese general election, 2009

Xiaodong general election, 2011
215 seats in the State Presidium (108 for a majority)
Turnout	65.46% ( 4.37%)
	File:Xiaodong electoral map FPTP+SNTV 2009 (transparent).png Seats won by parties ■ – Xiaodong Regeneration Society ■ – People's ■ – Duljunese Democratic; ■ – Reform ■ – Progressive ■ – New Frontier ■ – Independents
First Minister before election; Yuan Xiannian; Xiaodong Regeneration Society	First Minister ; Yuan Xiannian; Xiaodong Regeneration Society

The 9^th general election of Xiaodong was held on the 4^th May, 2009 to elect all 215 delegates of the State Presidium of Xiaodong. The elections resulted in a landslide victory for the Xiaodong Regeneration Society repeating their success from 2006 with Yuan Xiannian entering his third term as First Minister. The election saw the Regeneration Society get the highest number of votes in both single and multi member districts ever in a Xiaodongese election with over 19 million in each.

First Minister Yuan Xiannian called a snap election in late February 2009 stating that the first successful nuclear test in 2008 required the government to seek a new mandate from voters. The government had reached record levels of popularity following double digit economic growth for the past two years, the government's perceived success in dealing with the 2007 Shenkong Hostage Crisis and low unemployment. The Regeneration Society had strong backing from major newspapers such as the Xiaodongese Observer, East Sea Daily, Xiaodong Evening News and the Global Review endorsing the Regeneration Society.

The opposition was heavily divided between several small parties; the People's Party, Progressive Party and Xiaodongese Republican Party. None of these parties had any real chance to win, so they largely concentrated on attempting to become the largest opposition party. The People's Party ran a largely successful campaign, whilst the Progressive and Republican parties were beset by controversy and problems. The other two parties in the State Presidium, the New Frontier Party and Duljunese Democratic Party, largely focused on retaining their voter bases whilst the Reform Party following electoral success in East Thianchin provincial election decided to contest seats in the State Presidium for the first time.

The massive victory for the Regeneration Society was seen as an approval of Yuan Xiannian's policies. Of the opposition parties, the People's Party confirmed themselves as the largest opposition party as the Progressive Party lost seats and the Republicans were ejected from the State Presidium. Turnout was 65.46%, a decline from the previous election.

Electoral process

Xiaodong uses a hybrid electoral system to elect the 215 delegates of the State Presidium, the unicameral legislative chamber. 115 delegates are elected via a first-past-the-post system in single member electoral districts and 100 are elected via a single non-transferable vote system in five member electoral districts. Single-district seats are distributed based on population statistics on a nationwide basis whilst multi-member districts are based on prefectural borders regardless of population.

The 2009 general election was the first to be held under the Law of Electoral Spending which was the first that restricted electoral spending to 金8,500 million ($80,664,320) per party, with there being previously no spending limits for parties. The move was part of a greater anti-corruption effort within the electoral system, with all donations having to be approved by the Ministry of the Interior - however the system was criticised as being open to abuse by the incumbent government.

Electoral re-redistricting was implemented in 2008 to redraw the boundaries of single-member districts, based on data from prefectual governments and the National Statistics Authority. The electoral redistricting was criticised for giving more seats to northern regions that generally vote for the Regeneration Society and less seats for southern regions which are more supportive of opposition parties. The government however dismissed criticisms of the redistricting process and accused the opposition of attempting to disenfranchise northern voters and stoking regionalism.

Voter eligibility

In order to vote in the general election one had to be:

be the age of 21 or over on polling day.
be a registered citizen of Xiaodong.
be a resident of Xiaodong or able to produce legal proof of address in Xiaodong.
not be mentally incapacitated or currently serving in incarnation.

In total there were 49,008,985 registered voters by the 18^th April, the last day people could legally register to vote.

Timetable

26 March	First Minister Yuan Xiannian announced his intention to dissolve the State Presidium.
28 March	State Chairman Yang Zhengming approves of the First Ministers request to dissolve the State Presidium.
1 April	Formal dissolution of the State Presidium; start of campaign period.
18 April	Last day members of the public could register to vote.
22 April	Last day in which members of the public could apply for proxy voting or postal voting.
24 April	Last day for candidates to file nomination papers.
4 May	Polling day
8 May	New State Presidium Assembled

Background

The 2006 general election had seen the Xiaodong Regeneration Society won around 58% of the vote and a supermajority in the State Presidium, whilst the opposition parties had largely split between the People's, Progressive and Republican parties. This increase in support for the Regeneration Society was attributed to First Minister Yuan Xiannian who was seen as supporting nationalist sections of society and supporting new fiscal policies reversing the neoliberalism of the Yang Zhengming and Han Guanzheng.

The government recorded high popularity following the 2007 Shenkong hostage crisis when the terrorist group the People's Liberation Front for Duljun held over hundred people hostage - the government deployed special corps that rescued all but 12 of the hostages, which was seen as a firm response to terrorism by the government. Following the crisis support for nationalist opposition parties, most prominently the Republicans, collapsed as the government saw its support go over 60% in opinion polls.

The government following controversial new education laws and a corruption scandal in the summer of 2008 saw its popularity dip and resulted in an opposition party to win elections in East Thianchin forming the first opposition-aligned government outside a prefectual level since 1936. However the government regained it's poll ratings in November when it conducted the first successful Xiaodongese nuclear weapons test. The Xiaodongese government had started a nuclear weapons program 30 years earlier but had previously imposed a policy of strategic ambiguity in regards to its nuclear status - however following the tests the Ministry of Defence and Military Planning announced Xiaodong had a "substantial stockpile" of nuclear weapons, albeit under a no-first use policy. In January 2009 the government confirmed it was researching production of inter-continental ballistic missiles with Yuan suggesting such developments requiered the approval of voters and that the government needed a fresh mandate.

Critics suggested that moves towards an early election were partly to affirm Yuan's personal popularity and so ensure he could appoint a candidate to succeed Yang Zhengming as State Chairman whose seven year term was set to end in October 2009, with the most common potential successor being mooted being Finance Minister Jiang Zhongyu who reportedly the Yuan government wanted to marginalise. Such speculations however were denied by the government's press office.

Unlike other elections where the economy, historical revisionism and democratic politics were the main issues the 2009 election saw the focus shift to security issues due to the 2008 nuclear tests. Corruption was another major issue in the election as was regionalism, which increased following the success of the regionalist Reform Party in the East Thianchinese elections in 2008. Unlike previous elections the economy which was experiencing double digit growth was not seen as the main issue as all parties supported the same increased investment and inflationary monetary and fiscal policy. Historical revisionism was also a minor issue as nationalist politicians led the main parties.

Parties standing

File:Shinzo Abe at CSIS.jpg
First Minister Yuan Xiannian recorded high approval ratings throughout his four year term.
The governing party in the 2009 election, the Xiaodong Regeneration Society expected to go into the election with the intent of increasing its supermajority. The Regeneration Society is a nationalist party with strong neosocialist and national conservative elements which had since 2005 been led by Yuan Xiannian who had led the party to a landslide victory in 2006. The Regeneration Society between 2006-9 had overseen double digit economic growth and the successful resolution of the 2007 Shenkong Hostage Crisis, giving the government an extremely high approval rating (in August 2007 Yuan's personal approval rating peaked at 95%).
The main opposition party in the election was the centre-left People's Party which had emerged as the second largest party in the 2006 election following the collapse of the Millennium Progressive Party. That year the People's Party had replaced their president, centrist-liberal Li Zhikai with the charismatic left-wing populist Ye Jiuguo. Ye represented a more nationalist wing of the People's Party, saying in his leadership campaign that Senria was a "third rate country". Ye's victory in the leadership campaign saw a rise in the polls for the People's Party.
The third largest party going into the election was the Progressive Party, an economically liberal conservative party that was created as a result of a split in the former Millennium Progressive Party between its pro-Feng Zhenggao and anti-Feng factions, with the Progressives being the descendent of the latter. The Progressives went into the election with the hopes of seeing off the other descendent of the MPP, the Republicans as well as overtake the People's Party as the largest opposition forces.
The Xiaodongese Republican Party was the other party that split off the MPP, being like the Progressive party predominantly right-wing. However following the conviction of Feng Zhenggao in 2006 the Republicans declined in the polls and by 2009 there was serious doubts their delegates would be re-elected.
The Reform Party contested its first election on a national level, having previously only stood in East Thianchin. The Reform Party within East Thianchin was riding on a wave of popularity following a historic victory in the 2008 regional election. Whilst not running for a seat in the State Presidium, Governor and Reform Party leader Chu Sian-cheng announced the Reform Party would run in every seat in East Thianchin. The Reform party is a centre-right party that supports economic liberalism.
The Duljunese Democratic Party participated in its third election since the creation of the Duljunese regional government in 2002. The DDP, a regionalist and social democratic party based in Duljun, had traditionally fared poorly in parliamentary elections due to consistently low turnout amongst ethnic Duljunese, who constitute the majority of its supporters. The 2009 election campaign was led by the DDP's long-term leader Ulhicun.
The smallest party in the State Presidium, the New Frontier Party, went into the election with the aim to maintain its seat share. The NFP is a political front for the Righteous Harmony (Yundong) Movement, a spiritual movement led by charismatic preacher Li Rongguo mostly supporting conservative policies. The NFP have almost always managed to ensure its 2 million registered members to vote for the NFP in elections and aimed to replicate this trend in 2009.

Campaign

The campaigning period officially started on the 1^st April when the State Chairman Yang Zhengming officially dissolved the State Presidium. The announcement of the snap election and relatively short campaigning period caught the opposition off guard which did not expect the government to call an early election. Critics of the government accused Yuan of wasting public finances by approving of a costly election for what was seen as reasons of political expediency. As a result the Republican Party announced it would boycott the elections, but after party delegates voted against the motion rescinded this promise.

Regeneration Society

A Regeneration Society rally in central Baiqiao

The Regeneration Society ran a "feel-good campaign" that largely sought to capitalise on the governments - and especially Yuan Xiannian's - high approval ratings. The Regeneration Society's campaign begun in Weigang with a rally where Yuan Xiannian pledged that the next Regeneration Society government would loosen its fiscal discipline and increase welfare spending as well as continue nuclear weapons development. Yuan also promised the Regeneration Society would maintain loose monetary policy, raise wages and promote development and investment.

On the 5^th April the Regeneration Society released its manifesto, which emphasised the Regeneration Society's success in testing the first successful nuclear weapon in Xiaodong. The manifesto called for as a result a tough foreign policy, higher military spending and the development of the inter-continental ballistic weapons. As a result of the successful nuclear weapons test Yuan confirmed that the Xiaodongese government would expand the building of nuclear power plants.

The manifesto also outlined welfare and education reforms which called for much greater investment in those two areas. Welfare reforms included greater access to housing grants, the creation of a poverty fund and new subsidies for food and fuel. The manifesto justified higher spending on the grounds that double-digit growth meant the government had the means to increase spending.

People's

People's party campaigners meeting supporters

The People's Party under new leader Ye Jiuguo started their campaign shortly after the announcement of a snap election with a rally in Baiqiao. Ye criticised the Xiaodongese government for calling a snap election as a waste of money but promised to present to voters a program that addressed regional and social inequality and would end the "divisive and short-sighted policies" of the Yuan government.

The People's Party ran a largely populist campaign calling for higher wages and greater investment into underdeveloped areas. The manifesto aimed to clearly differentiate from the Regeneration Society, with the People's Party explicitly rejecting nationalism and irredentism and focusing on southern development and democratic reform. The People's Party also called for democratic reform to a semi-presidential system and proportional representation alongside a defence of economic liberalism calling for lower taxation and deregulation in the coal industry. The People's Party also supported de-nuclearisation, having the support of the Yuxiang Anti-Nuclear Foundation, one of the largest civil society groups in Xiaodong.

The People's Party clear pitch to liberal-left and middle class voters meant it was able to clearly define itself in opposition to the Regeneration Society, giving its campaign a clear distinction from other opposition parties.

Progressive

Republicans

Other parties

Endorsements

Newspaper	Main endorsement
Xiaodongese Observer	style="background-color: Template:Xiaodong Regeneration Society/meta/color" width=5px\|	Xiaodong Regeneration Society
East Sea Daily	style="background-color: Template:Xiaodong Regeneration Society/meta/color" width=5px\|	Xiaodong Regeneration Society
Xiaodong Evening News	style="background-color: Template:Xiaodong Regeneration Society/meta/color" width=5px\|	Xiaodong Regeneration Society
The Sun		People's Party
Global Review	style="background-color: Template:Xiaodong Regeneration Society/meta/color" width=5px\|	Xiaodong Regeneration Society
Xiaodong Human Rights Monitor		People's Party

Opinion polls

Results

File:Xiaodong SP 2009.svg

Template:Xiaodongese general election, 2009

Analysis

Template:Elections in Xiaodong

Xiaodongese general election, 2009

Contents

Electoral process

Voter eligibility

Timetable

Background

Parties standing

Campaign

Regeneration Society

People's

Progressive

Republicans

Other parties

Endorsements

Opinion polls

Results

Analysis

Navigation menu

Xiaodongese general election, 2009

Electoral process

Voter eligibility

Timetable

Background

Parties standing

Campaign

Regeneration Society

People's

Progressive

Republicans

Other parties

Endorsements

Opinion polls

Results

Analysis

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