Gylian presidential election, 1968

Gylian presidential election, 1967

22 January 1967
Turnout	95,1%
File:EiínDairyn(small).jpg Nominee Eiín Dairyn Ludmila Canaşvili Party Ind CG–UNR Final vote 2.432.960 2.413.574 Percentage 50,2% 49,8%
File:Gylias-elections-presidential-1967-final.png Results of the final preference distribution by region   Eiín Dairyn   Ludmila Canaşvili
President before election Eiín Dairyn President after election Eiín Dairyn

Presidential elections were held in Gylias on 22 January 1967.

Incumbent Eiín Dairyn was re-elected, defeating Ludmila Canaşvili, who was supported jointly by the Centre Group and Union for a New Republic. Both candidates enjoyed notable support from famous artistic figures during the election, and Ludmila was the first presidential candidate to make foreign policy an issue, promising to support Karvelebi independence in the Zemplen Conflict.

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
Eiín Dairyn	File:EiínDairyn.jpg		Independent	President of Gylias (since 1958)	Campaigned on promotion of the arts and culture.
Ludmila Canaşvili			Centre Group–Union for a New Republic	None	Campaigned on promotion of socialised luxury, polymathism, and support for Zemplen independence.
Ser Şanorin			Independent	Senator for Tomes (since 1962)	Campaigned on promotion of aristerokratia.
Violet Bonham			Liberal Union	None	Campaigned as the main liberal candidate.
Maria Elena Durante			Movement for Emancipation and Democracy–New People's Party	Senator for Ḑarna (since 1962)	Campaigned on promotion of economic nationalism and left-wing populism.
Françoise Chatelain			OMFLG–ACFEN	None	Campaigned on promotion of francité.
Luiza Monteira			Centre of Constitutional Monarchists	Deputy for Nerveiík-Iárus-Daláyk (since 1962)	Campaigned on promotion of monarchism.

Results

Candidate		Nominator	First count	%	Final count	%
	Eiín Dairyn	Independent	1.278.207	24,0%	2.432.960	50,2%
	Ludmila Canaşvili	CG–UNR	1.262.229	23,7%	2.413.574	49,8%
	Ser Şanorin	Independent	921.374	17,3%
	Violet Bonham	LU	665.733	12,5%
	Maria Elena Durante	MED–NPP	575.193	10,8%
	Françoise Chatelain	OMFLG–ACFEN	410.091	7,7%
	Luiza Monteira	CCM	149.124	2,8%
Others/write-ins			63.910	1,2%
Total			5.325.861	100%	4.846.534	100%
Registered voters and turnout			5.662.563	95,1%

Maps

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First count pluralities by region

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Final count majorities by region

Analysis

Ludmila Canaşvili campaigning in Velouria

In contrast to the unique circumstances of the previous election, some realignments took place. The most significant was that Eiín Dairyn had enjoyed support from centre and centre-right voters in 1961, running against a Progressive Alliance candidate, but was identified more with the centre-left in this election. The Progressive Alliance chose not to field a candidate, tacitly supporting Eiín for re-election.

Riding high on her existing fame, Ludmila experienced a surge in opinion polls when she announced her candidacy. She mounted a vigorous whistle-stop campaign across Gylias, travelling standing up on a landaulette and wearing the "Mila suit" she'd wore in The Red Shoes, which helped attract large crowds to her events. Some opinion polls even gave her a lead over Eiín, making for an exciting contest.

In the first count, Eiín performed worse than 1961, with a 4,2% loss in first preference votes. Violet Bonham won pluralities in Arxaþ, Alţira, and Elena, cementing their status as Liberal Union strongholds. Ser Şanorin performed very well in Mişeyáke and Nezyál, and finished third overall. Maria Elena Durante campaigned heavily in northern Gylias, and won pluralities in Salxar, Makarces, Gacar, and Gerşyr.

Both Eiín and Ludmila were identified with arts and culture, attracting heightened attention and support from Gylias' artistic scenes. Ludmila also highlighted her Karvelebi identity during her campaign, filming one PPB on the Ruvelka–Syara border, attacking the Syaran occupation of Zemplen and calling for Zemplen independence.

Since both the final candidates were equally respected and popular, several commentators likened the final round to a coin flip. Columnist Denise Sarrault jokingly dubbed the final result "a contest between a white hat and black hat", in reference to Eiín and Ludmila's usual wardrobe.

In the final count, Eiín largely gained vote transfers from Maria Elena's voters, while Ludmila received the most transfers from Françoise and Luiza's voters. Françoise voters overwhelmingly backed Ludmila in second preferences, as she had made a point of not using English in her campaign. Transfers from Ser were mostly evenly split, since both Eiín and Ludmila could be identified with aristerokratia. Although Violet ran a centre-left campaign, her voters' preferences unexpectedly transferred more to Ludmila.

Ludmila won Nerveiík-Iárus-Daláyk, the most populated region, in the final count, and took much of southern and western Gylias, plus Violet's regions. The final result was close: Eiín and Ludmila were tied for regions carried, and Eiín won 50,2% of the final count to Ludmila's 49,8%, a narrower margin than 1961. Ludmila came within 20.000 votes of unseating Eiín, the closest an incumbent president came to losing reelection.

The People's Voice commented that since Ludmila's campaign was almost entirely devoid of policy and boiled down to asking voters "Do you want Ludmila Canaşvili to be your president?", her narrow loss was commendable and a reflection of her illustrious reputation. The quality of the contest was such that jokingly expressing a wish that Ludmila would've won became a famous idiom in Gylias, and even Eiín paid tribute to Ludmila as "an opponent I felt honoured to nearly lose to".