Gylian presidential election, 1995

Gylian presidential election, 1995

22 January 1995
Turnout	94,5%
Nominee Anina Bergmann Senea Lieni Party PA NB Final vote 4.889.548 4.660.351 Percentage 51,2% 48,8%
Results of the final preference distribution by region   Anina Bergmann   Senea Lieni
President before election Anina Bergmann President after election Anina Bergmann

Presidential elections were held in Gylias on 22 January 1995.

Incumbent Anina Bergmann was re-elected, defeating National Bloc candidate Senea Lieni. This was the only presidential election to coincide with a federal election, as subsequent reform of the Gylian Parliament's term of office stabilised the electoral calendar.

Procedure

The election was held through instant-runoff voting.

Candidates were registered with Elections Gylias in accordance with normal procedures. They could either be nominated by a political party or electoral bloc, civic organisations, or self-nomination as independents.

Candidates

Candidate		Nominator		Office(s) held	Details
Anina Bergmann			Progressive Alliance	President of Gylias (since 1991)	Campaigned as the main leftist candidate.
Senea Lieni			National Bloc	Governor of Tomes (1982–1990)	Campaigned as the main conservative candidate.
Ilona Stahler			Love, Nature, Democracy	Minister without portfolio with responsibility for sexual hygiene (since 1994)	Campaigned on promotion of free love and sexarchism.
Alike Demetriou			Independent	None	Campaigned on promotion of the arts and culture.
Françoise Chatelain			OMFLG–ACFEN	None	Campaigned on promotion of francité.
Brigitte Nyman			Animal Protection Party–Green Party	None	Campaigned on promotion of animal rights and environmentalism.

Results

Candidate		Nominator	First count	%	Final count	%
	Anina Bergmann	PA	2.419.450	22,7%	4.889.548	51,2%
	Senea Lieni	NB	2.184.966	20,5%	4.660.351	48,8%
	Ilona Stahler	LND	1.684.022	15,8%
	Alike Demetriou	Independent	1.492.172	14,0%
	Françoise Chatelain	OMFLG–ACFEN	1.481.513	13,9%
	Brigitte Nyman	APP–GP	1.108.470	10,4%
Others/write-ins			287.776	2,7%
Total			10.658.370	100%	9.549.899	100%
Registered voters and turnout			11.473.752	94,5%

Maps

First count pluralities by region

Final count majorities by region

Analysis

This was the only presidential election to fall on the same date as a federal election. (The 1976 one had been held months after its federal counterpart, coinciding with the municipals.) The government adopted special regulations to alternate campaign days, but the concurrence still provoked fears that the presidential election would be overshadowed or affected by the federal one. This gave the presidential campaign something of a lower profile than usual.

In the first count, incumbent Anina Bergmann slightly improved on her 1991 performance, increasing her first preference vote by 1,6%. National Bloc candidate Senea Lieni came second, with 20,5% of the vote and pluralities in four regions — although notably not Tomes, which she had been governor of, and where she came second. Incumbent minister Ilona Stahler capitalised on the strong sympathy vote caused by Moana Pozzi's death, finishing third overall with pluralities in Nezyál and Sváen — although narrowly beaten by Anina in Mişeyáke. As the foresitter of Love, Nature, Democracy after Moana's death, she was the only one to benefit from the simultaneous federal and presidential elections.

Alike Demetriou's performance was a surprise, since she'd registered as a lark. Although her campaign was officially focused on cultural policy, it actually revolved around the playfully nostalgic persona she had perfected in her acting career. The knowingly elegiac tone of her campaign unexpectedly struck a chord amidst the atmosphere of national optimism and nostalgia for Groovy Gylias, leading to a fourth place finish with pluralities on the western coast. She also took the role Moana had fulfiled in 1991 as the staunchly unilingual candidate. One popular campaign stunt was appearing in a segment of The Havomar Report, in which she discussed her candidacy in Hellene while her interviewer sagely nodded despite not understanding her at all.

Françoise Chatelain's gains continued, with a 1,3% increase in first preference votes. She won pluralities in Arxaþ, Alţira, and Herlan, benefiting from the absence of an official liberal candidate. Brigitte Nyman finished sixth, with a still respectable 10,4% of first preference votes and pluralities in Nauras and Ḑarna. She was the first candidate to be endorsed by the Green Party, which mainly focused on legislative elections, but her campaign was based on her signature issue of animal rights.

In the final count, Anina generally gained transfers from Ilona and Françoise voters, while Senea generally gained transfers from Alike voters. Brigitte's voters were surprisingly split, although the regions she'd won pluralities in were notable strongholds of green conservatism.

Anina gained Françoise and Ilona's regions, which appeared on the map as a sweep of the eastern coast, while Senea gained Alike and Brigitte's regions, which appeared as a sweep of the western coast except for Sváen. The results in Arxaþ and Alţira were very close, leading some commentators to speculate that Senea winning them would've carried her to the presidency. As it was, Anina won re-election with 51,2% of the final vote to Senea's 48,8% – only a 0,4% difference compared to the final round of 1991.