1989 Tevitheimer Grand Chancellery Election

1989 Tevitheimer Grand Chancellery Election

6 February 1989
340 members of the Electoral Council 171 votes needed to win
Registered	103,976,083 (XXpp)
Turnout	76,171,660 (73.3%) (XXpp)
Nominee James Clinton Jakob Eraldsen Party Social Union Republican Electoral vote 310 30 Popular vote 44,522,667 30,581,020 Percentage 58.45% 40.15% Jarldom Gulkystheim New Hammerfest Vice Chancellor Jonas Støre Olaf Hrvada Carried 14 2
Map of jarldoms by first-place winner: Dark blue indicates jarldoms won by Clinton/Støre. Red indicates jarldoms won by Eraldsen/Hrvada.
Grand Chancellor before election Wade Mannerheim Social Union Elected Grand Chancellor James Clinton Social Union

The 1989 Tevitheimer grand chancellery election was the fifth sextennial grand chancellery election in Tevitheim and the first since 1977, as the 1983 election was cancelled due to martial law throughout most of Tevitheim due to the Third Great War. Social Union nominee and former commanding general James Clinton and his running mate, Councilor to the Jarl of New Tremblant Jonas Støre won a landslide victory against Republican nominees of Councilor to the Assembly of New Hammerfest, Jakob Eraldsen and his running mate, president of the Industrial Union of Tevitheim, Olaf Hrvada of Nellsheim.

Eraldsen emerged victorious on the third ballot at the Republican convention, defeating Olaf Hrvada, the president of the Industrial Union, the largest union in Tevitheim. Hrvada would become Eraldsen's running mate for the general election. Clinton, a general during the Third Great War, was hailed as a war hero and wildly popular, especially among men under the age of 40 (the primary demographic of those who served under Clinton during the war). Despite a challenge from the conservative Eldegard Alnatingsrepresentant Robert Tonal, Clinton was nominated by a wide majority of the Social Union convention. Due to concerns about Clinton's age (he turned 69 three weeks before election day), he selected the relatively youthful 48 year-old Jonas Støre as his running mate.

Clinton touted his connections to popular incumbent Grand Chancellor Wade Mannerheim, his role as the head of the Reconstruction Authority, a military joint command responsible for rebuilding the wartorn northern regions of Tevitheim, and his retaining of his enormous popularity from the war. At 69, Clinton was the oldest person to ever be elected as grand chancellor, while Eraldsen, who was slightly older than Clinton at 70 years and 121 days on election day, was the oldest person ever nominated by a major party for grand chancellor, a record which still stands. The Clinton campaign produced effective television advertising and was able to neutralize concerns about Clinton's age due to Eraldsen's similarily advanced age. Eraldsen criticized the possibility of the Social Union being power since 1977 and called the party's grip on power "a one party state".

Clinton won the election in a landslide victory, carrying 310 electoral votes, 14 jarldoms, and 58.5% of the popular vote. Eraldsen won 30 electoral votes: 25 from his home jarldom of New Hammerfest, which he won by less than 151,000 votes of 4.8 million cast, and 5 from Elveanna, which is historically one of the most consistently Republican jarldoms in Tevitheim. This was the largest share of the electoral college since Jens Vealund won 100% of all votes when he ran unopposed in 1959. This election also represents the largest share of the popular vote in any two-way election in Tevitheimer history. Clinton became the first Natalian speaker to be elected as grand chancellor, and his victory represents the most recent election in which a grand chancellor's successor was a member of the same political party and the last victory for the Social Union until 2019.

Electoral System

Under Article 2 of the Constitution of Tevitheim, the grand chancellor is elected to a six-year term in an indirect election. Voters vote for slates of electors, who then elect the grand chancellor. Electors are distributed by population, with the smallest jarldom receiving five votes and all others receiving votes in proportion to their relative populations compared to the smallest jarldom. In 1989, territories were not permitted to vote. The least populous jarldom was Elveanna. The most populous Hellighjerte, which had 40 votes. All electoral votes were distributed on a winner-takes-all basis. If no candidate secures an absolute majority of electoral votes in the first round a contingency election is held with each jarldom's delegation casting one vote.

Campaign

Nominations

Social Union Nomination

The moderates of the Social Union, primarily in the in the southern and eastern parts of Tevitheim, were led by incumbent Grand Chancellor Wade Mannerheim, who had taken office via emergency election and appointment by the governments of the various jarldoms. Moderates tended to be economically distributionist and moderately conservative on social issues, willing to accept the reforms and increased liberalization pushed by Republican politicians during the war. Moderates were also concerned about increasingly isolationist tendencies in the Social Union, and were worried that the Social Union would be blamed for the war and its initial failures, and hand over power to the Republicans. Thus, the moderates favored the nomination of Mannerheim, whose popularity from the war remained steady. Mannerheim's popularity was so great that a 1988 resolution by the legislature declared Mannerheim as being eligible to run in 1989, regardless of constitutional text. However, Mannerheim declined nomination, ostensibly out of constitutional concerns but in reality due to health issues. Thus, the popular general James Clinton was selected.

The conservatives, who were more capitalist in outlook and more socially conservative, were based in the far west and north of the country. The north in particular was a bastion of isolationism due to much of a war that was perceived as being started because of Tevitheim's international entaglements being fought in the northern jarldoms. The conservatives, led by Jomfra Councilor to the Legislature Adrian Olsson tended to be more hawkish but isolationist in foreign affairs and opposed social reforms pushed during the war. Olsson had previously sought nomination for the 1977 Tevitheimer Grand Chancellery Election and was considered the frontrunner for 1983 had that election been held. As Olsson was 66 years old, he felt it was his last chance to run for grand chancellor (had he failed, his next chance would be at age 72 in 1995). His feelings were correct, as Olsson would die at the age of 71, in 1994.

Preliminary surveys of delegates found that neither Clinton nor Olsson would be able to achieve victory on the first ballot. Worrying about appearances of party disunity, party leadership delayed the first ballot to the second night of the convention, giving the campaigns 24 hours to try and secure a majority before balloting. Several delegates, particularly from northern cities (which tended to agree with both moderate and conservative policies to some degree), were considered swing voters and both campaigns courted these delegates heavily. The Clinton campaign allegely offered the position of Chancellor for Foreign Affairs to key delegate Alberto Razzi, who endorsed Clinton. Razzi's endorsement swayed several jarldom delegations over to Clinton.

With the support of these delegates, Clinton defeated Olsson on the first ballot. To heal the wounds and reunite the party, he visited with Olsson. Olsson was persuaded to congratulate and endorse Clinton, but he was bitter for the loss. Clinton promised certain concessions to Olsson and his supporters. Clinton had apparently given little thought to his vice chancellor. When asked, he replied he assumed the party would pick someone. As Olsson was both perceived as being older (66 to Clinton's 68 years) and refused the position, it fell to the conservative but relatively young Alnatingsrepresentant Jonas Støre of New Tremblant. Støre was an aggressive campaigner and interventionist, but was not seen as extreme as some of the other conservatives. Most historians have ascribed Clinton's nomination due to his perceived electability compared to the conservative Olsson.

Nominees

Candidate	Born	Most recent position	Home Jarldom	Ballot
Nominee for Grand Chancellor of Tevitheim
James Clinton	January 15, 1920 (age 68) Kirkeby, Ditka	General of the Army	Gulkystheim	First Ballot: 2,127 votes
Nominee for Vice Chancellor of Tevitheim
Jonas Støre	November 18, 1936 (age 51) Søndaby, Søndaga	Alnatingsrepresentant from New Tremblant	New Tremblant	Did not stand

Candidates not Nominated

Candidate	Born	Most recent position	Home Jarldom	Ballot
Adrian Olsson	April 13, 1922 (age 66) Edwardville, Jomfra	Councilor to the Legislature from Jomfra	Jomfra	First Ballot: 1,145 votes

Republican Nomination

The expected candidate for the Republican nominaton was incumbent Chancellor for Defense Affairs, Arald Barons. Barons had served in the government of national unity formed by Grand Chancellor Wade Mannerheim during the war and received praise for his conduct of the war and relationship with Mannerheim and Tevitheimer military commanders. However, as the convention approached Barons' popularity began to plummet, according to polls of Republican delegates and voters. The bloody and indecisive occupation of the Haganland territory was dragging onto its third year and the Car Wash investigation reported several allegations of widespread corruption among members of the Defense Affairs department, including some who were connected to Barons. These factors left Barons at a low political ebb. Polls showed that Barons was no longer the preferred chance among Republicans, though the anti-Barons faction could not agree on a candidate.

Eventually, Barons' main opponent became the populist Alnatingsrepresentant Frans Andersen, who had chaired several nationally televised investigations into corruption in the military and incompetence among senior leadership during the early days of the war and was known as a crusader against corruption and an advocate of what Andersen called "better government". A poll conducted in late October showed Barons' weakeness. Nationally, Barons was the choice of only 36% of Republicans, compared with 21% for Andersen . Among non-Republican voters, Barons had only 18% to Andersen's 36%. On the first ballot, while several candidates took votes, Andersen's number exceeded that of Barons. Upset at his apparent repudiation on the first and second ballots, Barons announced he would step out from the race and not seek nomination by the Republicans if he did not win on the third ballot.

Eventually, one candidate emerged who had few political weaknesses, New Hammerfest Councilor Jakob Eraldsen. The grandson of former Oberjarl Frans Eraldsen, he came from a political dynasty in New Hammerfest and was well known as an excellent orator, intellectual, and political moderate. In October of 1989, both Barons and Andersen had touted Eraldsen as a possible running mate for their elections, but Eraldsen downplayed any hopes to be the national nominee. However, Eraldsen never explicitly rejected the idea, and party bosses in favor of Barons approached Eraldsen with the possibility of him being nominated on the third ballot as an alternative to both Andersen and Barons. Eraldsen accepted.

After the convention nominated Eraldsen, the delegates turned to selecting a nominee for vice chancellor. After narrowing it down to Alnatingsrepresentant Jens Spartsen and union president Olaf Hrvada, Barons and a group of political insiders chose Hrvada, a dovish social democrat from Nellsheim. It was hoped that Hrvada would balance the ticket geographically and appeal to the left-wing factions of the Republicans.

Nominees

Candidate	Born	Most recent position	Home Jarldom	Ballot
Nominee for Grand Chancellor of Tevitheim
Jakob Eraldsen	January 18, 1921 (age 67) New Hammerfest, New Hammerfest	Councilor to the Assembly of New Hammerfest	New Hammerfest	Third Ballot: 2,248 votes
Nominee for Vice Chancellor of Tevitheim
Olaf Hrvada	May 14, 1935 (age 53) Roseland, Nellsheim	President of the Industrial Union	Nellsheim	Did not stand

Candidates not Nominated

Candidate	Born	Most recent position	Home Jarldom	Ballot
Frans Andersen	May 21, 1930 (age 58) Vårdame, Hellighjerte	Councilor to the Legislature from Elveanna	Elveanna	First Ballot: 1,213 votes Second Ballot: 1,755 votes Third Ballot: 1,009 votes
Arald Barons	August 29, 1925 (age 63) Wangby, Eldegard	23rd Chancellor for Defense Affairs	Eldegard	First Ballot: 1,776 votes Second Ballot: 1,823 votes Third Ballot: 943 votes
Oskar Horvats	July 4, 1947 (age 41) Adelsønn, Ditka	Alnatingsrepresentant from Ditka	Ditka	First Ballot: 1,211 votes Second Ballot: 589 votes Third Ballot: None

Results

Candidate for Grand Chancellor	Party	Home Jarldom	Popular Vote		Electoral Vote	Vice Chancellor
			Count	Percentage		Candidate for Vice Chancellor
							Home Jarldom	Electoral Vote
James Clinton	Social Union	Gulkystheim	44,522,667	58.45%	310	Jonas Støre	New Tremblant	310
Jakob Eraldsen	Republican	New Hammerfest	30,581,020	49.15%	30	Olaf Hrvada	Nellsheim	30
All Other Candidates			624,782	0.82%	0	All Other Candidates		0
Discarded Votes			443,191	0.58%
Total			76,171,660	100%	340	Total		340
Required for Victory					171	Required for Victory		171

Popular Vote Clinton   58.45% Eraldsen   40.15% Others   0.82%

Electoral Vote Clinton   92.65% Eraldsen   7.35%