1978 Seketese General Election

1978 Seketese general election

November 13, 1978 (1978-11-13)
All 193 seats to the Commons Council of the Hérvynsken 97 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	92.9%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Patjik Moulette Michjeal Simonson Þorn Manneir Party Socialist Democrats Kjedorate Leader since May 1969 September 1978 March 1977 Last election Decriminalized Decriminalized 141 Seats before 0 0 138 Seats won 70 56 42 Seat change 70 56 96 Popular vote 1,013,423 896,367 887,581 Percentage 29.3% 25.9% 25.6% Swing 29.3pp 25.9pp 51.0pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   UNA Leader Jeameson Treirþe Marc Joulette Simon Creatin Party Liberals Labour National Union Leader since June 1974 July 1968 May 1977 Last election 7 32 pre-creation Seats before 8 31 0 Seats won 9 6 4 Seat change 1 25 4 Popular vote 276,945 156,367 134,987 Percentage 8.0% 4.5% 3.9% Swing 0.1pp 5.6pp 3.9pp
Prime Minister before election Office Established Prime Minister after election Patjik Moulette Socialist

The 1978 Seketese General Election was the first fully democratic election after the 1970 Seketese Revolution and the first since the Kjedorates took power and suspended democratic elections in the 1920's. It was the first election the new pro-democracy Socialist Party (SY) and Democratic Party (DY) ever competed in.

After a tight three-way election, The two biggest pro-democracy parties formed a grand coalition (SY and DY) along with the Liberal Party. The Kjedorate Party formed Chief Opposition for the first time in its history, and it was the first time since 1950 that the Kjedorates were not in power. The Labour Party won its lowest amount of seats in its history, holding onto only small mining towns in rural Seketan. The newly formed National Union Alliance won a few seats in the working areas of Conelibek.

Background

Since the 1920's Seketan had been ruled by the authoritarian Kjedorate Party under Loren Allis. While technically there were still elections for the Commons Council, they were highly rigged with many liberal and pro-democracy candidates being banned or coerced into not running. This enabled the Kjedorates to easily win all elections between 1925-1973 with only token opposition, usually from the Liberal Party and Labour Party.

Around the 1970s several economic and social crises sprung up, such as hyperinflation and the stagnation of Seketans oil and gas sector, in a period of time known as Zemasy. Under these conditions unrest started to build, leading to many underground revolutionary and pro-democracy groups forming, such as the Workers Liberty Association, the Democratic Seketan Movement and the Student Democratic Union. Groups like these organized major protests across the country such as the Conelibek General Strike. These protests culminated in the 1978 Seketese Revolution, wherein the Kjedorate government caved to domestic and international pressure, allowing for free and open elections to be held in November.

Campaign

Given the short time period given between when the Kjedorate government announced elections and the actual election date, only roughly a dozen of political parties were able to be formed and registered with the new Seketese Free Electoral Commission (SFEC) in time, including the already existing Kjedorate Party, Labour Party, and Liberal Party. Competing parties were allowed to start formally campaigning on October 14 for a 1 month campaign period. Due to many of the new parties being rushed in their creation, the SFEC gave all parties Đ200,000 SKD (about Đ1.2 million SKD in 2021) to campaign, with a spending limit of Đ500,000SKD (Đ3 million SKD today)

Major Parties

While the SFEC received and approved 14 applications for political parties, only about 6 were considered serious contenders to win seats as they were either prominent revolutionary leaders within their ranks or were previously legalized parties.

Socialist Party

Moulette in an interview with Jorgi Raemes

See also: Socialist Party (Seketan)

The Socialist Party was founded by Patjik Moulette after merging many left-wing revolutionary groups after the announcement of free and open elections. Moulette himself was the leader of the Democratic Seketan Movement, which he founded while a school teacher in Conelibek. The party attracted many students and middle class voters with their moderate platform and Moulettes personal charisma. The Socialist Party is pro-democracy and social democratic, sitting on the center-left of the Democratic Party, and right of the Labour Party.

Moulette and the Socialists were widely expected to win the election given their broad support amongst many demographics. During the campaign period they led polls, though there were fears that there may be vote splitting between the pro-democracy parties.

Democratic Party

See also: Democratic Party (Seketan)

The Democratic Party initially was a loose alliance of democratic movements that emerged during the 1978 Revolution. When the Kjedorate announced free elections, many of them formally integrated into the Democratic Party, including members of the Free Now! movement, Students for a Democratic Seketan, and factions of the Democratic Seketan Movement. 2 weeks before the campaign period they elected Michjeal Simonson, a former lawyer and human rights activist, as their leader.

During the campaign the party had large amounts of infighting, largely between the centrist liberal faction and the populist/libertarian faction. Despite the internal tensions, they were contenders for official opposition, with the Kjedorates polling above them for most of the campaign.

Long lines in stores were common sights as inflation skyrocketed

Kjedorate Party

See also: Kjedorate Party

Ever since the 1920's the Kjedorate party had ruled Seketan under and authoritarian government. The party positioned themselves as ultraconservative, economically libertarian, and pro-unionism, rejecting Fjeskan and Wilsk calls for more autonomism. They elected Þorn Manneir as their Prime Minister candidate, however he was not de jure the "leader" of the party a position still held by Etyjen Pesan until after the election in 1978.

There had been discussions within the immediate post-revolution Hérvynsken about whether the Kjedorates should be allowed to run, with the Democratic Party threatening to boycott the election if they were allowed. Ultimately a compromise was met wherein the Kjedorates were allowed to participate, but they couldn't use any of their old imagery like Alisee, which were notorious symbols of the dictatorship.

Surprisingly the Kjedorates polled in second most of the election, with many Seketese conservatives opposing the revolution and still seeing them as the only viable right-wing option.

Results

Party	Acym.	Leader	Seats		Votes
			Seats	+/-	Votes	%	+/-
	Socialist	SY	Patjik Moulette	70	70	1,013,423	29.3%	29.3pp
	Democratic	DY	Michjeal Simonson	56	56	896,367	25.9%	25.9pp
	Kjedorate	KY	Þorn Manneir	42	96	887,581	25.6%	51.0pp
	Liberals	ELY	Jeameson Treirþe	9	1	276,945	8.0%	0.1pp
	Labour	OeUC	Marc Joulette	6	25	156,367	4.5%	5.6pp
	National Union	UNCA	Simon Creatin	4	4	134,987	3.9%	3.9pp
	Independent	IND	N/A	6	7	86,458	2.5%	1.5pp