Gylian presidential election, 2007

Gylian presidential election, 2007

22 January 2007
Turnout	96,2%
Nominee Laura Varnaþ Veronica Rossetti Party PA LU Final vote 5.639.322 5.594.387 Percentage 50,2% 49,8%
Results of the final preference distribution by region   Anina Bergmann   Veronica Rossetti
President before election Anina Bergmann President after election Laura Varnaþ

Presidential elections were held in Gylias on 22 January 2007.

In one of the most unpredictable presidential elections in Gylian history, third-placed Progressive Alliance candidate Laura Varnaþ advanced to the final round through vote transfers, and narrowly defeated Liberal Union candidate Veronica Rossetti, who had won a plurality of first preference votes.

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
Veronica Rossetti			Liberal Union	Governor of Alţira (1990–2002)	Campaigned as the main liberal candidate.
Nicolette Mercier			National Bloc	Governor of Herlan (since 2002)	Campaigned as the main conservative candidate.
Laura Varnaþ			Progressive Alliance	City Councillor of Velouria (1992–2002) Regional Councillor for Nerveiík-Iárus-Daláyk (2002–2006)	Campaigned as the main leftist candidate.
Miranda Belloni			Associazione degli Italiani di Gylias	None	Campaigned on promotion of italianità.
Amanda Leloup			OMFLG–ACFEN	Governor of Nezyál (1970–1978)	Campaigned on promotion of francité.
Dora Eðyn			Centre Group	None	Campaigned on promotion of science.

Results

Candidate		Nominator	First count	%	Final count	%
	Veronica Rossetti	LU	2.943.516	20,7%	5.594.387	49,8%
	Nicolette Mercier	NB	2.559.579	18,0%
	Laura Varnaþ	PA	2.445.820	17,2%	5.639.322	50,2%
	Miranda Belloni	ASITAG	2.417.380	17,0%
	Amanda Leloup	OMFLG–ACFEN	2.246.742	15,8%
	Dora Eðyn	CG	1.421.989	10,0%
Others/write-ins			184.859	1,3%
Total			14.219.885	100%	11.233.709	100%
Registered voters and turnout			15.037.218	96,2%

Maps

First count pluralities by region

Final count majorities by region

Analysis

The first presidential open race since 1991 also proved to be highly unpredictable. The major electoral blocs fielded compelling candidates. The Liberal Union nominated Veronica Rossetti, the matriarch of the Rossetti family and then-former Governor of Alţira. The National Bloc nominated incumbent Governor of Herlan Nicolette Mercier. For the first time since 1967, there was a Centre Group candidate: scientist Dora Eðyn, one of Gylias' leading experts in solar power conversion and a professor at Anca Déuréy University.

The Progressive Alliance's nomination of Laura Varnaþ was seen as a curious choice, due to her descent from the Varnaþ family and her considerably lower profile in regional politics.

An unusual entry was the actress Miranda Belloni, freshly established as one of Gylias' leading actresses. Miranda stood on a platform of promoting italianità, and was endorsed by the Associazione degli Italiani di Gylias (ASITAG). She ran a tongue-in-cheek campaign that heavily capitalised on her Italian sex symbol status. She attracted unofficial support from the People's Party for a Flourishing Nightlife due to her existing ties to Readymade Records, and from Love, Nature, Democracy due to her joking promise to ensure "a sex symbol for each ethnicity".

She produced two highly successful PPBs — one which spoofed Carla Miló and Silvana Perriello's short film Perché vuoi una ragazza italiana ("Why you want an Italian girlfriend") as Perché vuoi una presidente "italiana" ("Why you want an 'Italian' president"), and another which parodied her breakthrough role in Malèna, showing her at a press conference unable to describe her platform due to being constantly interrupted by leading questions. Despite the humorous tone of her campaign, Miranda was sensitive about the ASITAG endorsement, and described herself as "Italian" using air quotes because "I didn't want anybody to think that not acting like me made them less Italian".

In the first round, Veronica won a plurality of first preference votes, and carried the traditional liberal strongholds of Arxaþ, Alţira, and Elena. Nicolette finished second with 18% of first preference votes, and pluralities in 3 southern regions — although notably not Herlan, where she was narrowly overtaken by Amanda. Laura was in third place, with pluralities in the mountainous northern regions and Mişeyáke — the first time since 1986 that a PA candidate had gained a plurality there in the first round.

Miranda's 17% and Amanda's 15,8% represented strong tallies of first preference votes for the colourful candidates, and both were at their strongest in non-inscrit-friendly regions like Sváen, Tomes, Nezyál, and Herlan. Dora Eðyn finished last by a wide margin, with only 10% of first preference votes and pluralities in Nauras and Kausania.

If the first preferences suggested a liberal–conservative showdown, this was overturned by vote transfers: Nicolette generally gained transfers from Dora's voters, but Laura surpassed her due to more transfers from Miranda and Amanda's voters, eliminating her and setting up a left–liberal contest in the final round.

As a consequence of the unpredictable final, the public was greatly amused to see in Elections Gylias' official results that the total number of exhausted ballots surpassed Veronica's plurality in the first count. In the end, Laura won with 50,2% of final preferences to Veronica's 49,8% — the narrowest winning margin for an incoming president since 1986.

This was the third presidential election in which the final candidates tied at carrying 10 regions each, after 1967 and 1995. Notably, Veronica overturned Laura's pluralities and won majorities across northern Gylias. Commentators speculated that Laura's Varnaþ family background particularly harmed her in Salxar, Makarces, Gacar, and Gerşyr, whose left-leaning voters recoiled at voting for a descendant of royalty and preferred the prestige of the Rossetti family name instead.