2024 Alslandic presidential election
 | This article is incomplete because it is pending further input from participants, or it is a work-in-progress by one author. Please comment on this article's talk page to share your input, comments and questions. Note: To contribute to this article, you may need to seek help from the author(s) of this page. |
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Presidential elections are expected to be held in Alsland on 1 March 2024 with a potential second round being scheduled for 21 March if no candidate passes the threshold for an outright victory. Voters will elect the President of Alsland to a four-year term. Incumbent President Hepke Veltman chose not to run for re-election despite being eligible due to poor approval ratings, the first time a President has decided not to run for re-election for a non-health related reason. The sixteenth President of Alsland will be sworn in on 25 April 2024 to begin their term.
Background
Hepke Veltman was elected as President of Alsland in 2020 after narrowly securing victory over Greens candidate Sjearp Groeneveld by 46,000 votes in the second round. Veltman throughout his Presidency has taken a laissez-faire approach to governance and continued the trend started by Torsten Teyber in 2006 to have the Presidency operate in a mild manner more similar to the Presidencies of Estmere or Azmara. Despite holding high approval ratings for most of his term, they collapsed alongside the approval ratings of most other Alslandic politicians in the midst of the SYFA spying scandal and the Alslandic government-debt crisis. Veltman testified to an inquiry under oath that he had been aware of the true extent of Alsland's debt levels whilst he was serving as Premier but chose to continue a long-standing policy of secrecy whilst trying to quietly manage the issue to prevent financial panic. After the inquiry, Veltman's approval ratings cratered and remained in the low single digits until he confirmed he would not run for another term where he faced the possibility of not even winning 10% of the popular vote according to contemporary opinion polls. Veltman called for the traditional Blocist parties to nominate a single candidate to prevent either the left-wing or the right-wing from winning the Presidency. In November 2023 Veltman swore in the 54th Government of Alsland and warned against switching from the Parliamentary system to a Presidentialist system which is laid out in the official constitution, Veltman also broke traditional etiquette in the final months of his Presidency by stating that Alsland, "must pick a side," between the Euclean Community and Valduvia.
In the wake of the perceived public rejection of significant constitutional reform, several candidates came out in favour of exercising their Presidential authority such as Alof Hylkema, Alrik Westra and Yannick Sehlmann. All three candidates stated they would consider appointing a government of their choice and dismiss the incumbent government if it fails to meet their Presidential ambitions if elected. This was rejected by the traditional Blocist parties and the incumbent government who rejected the idea and pressed for talks between the Senate and the President in choosing a government. The current Constitution of Alsland allows the President to appoint a Premier who then appoints a government with Senate approval, this was used extensively between 1934 and 2006 when Alsland had 36 Premiers. Since 2006 Alsland has had 5 Premiers and 1 acting Premier - although Liekele Ykema served between 2010 and 2018, as well as 2022 to the present - the composition of the government has seen little modification since 2010 and this has led to public dismissal of the incumbent government.
Electoral system
- eligibility
- voters
- voting machines
- registration
- public holiday
Date controversy
Candidates
Before the electoral commission's deadline of 1 January 2024, 7 candidates were nominated and eligible to run for the Presidency. The candidate list caused controversy when not a single woman was nominated for the Presidency despite widespread support for some such as Kairi Sokk who had declined to be nominated. Kauri Mekdem is the youngest and first ethnic Bahian to be officially nominated for the Presidency.
Confirmed candidates
| Candidate name and age, political party |
Political office(s) | Campaign logo | Details | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alof Hylkema (64) Left Alliance |
.jpg)
|
Minister-President of the Dellish Community (2008–2012) Other offices
|
Logo of Alof Hylkema | Hylkema was a member of the Presidium of the Alslandic Section of the Workers' International between 2007 and 2015 and was the party's General-Secretary between 2015 and 2020. Between 2008 and 2012 he served as the Minister-President of the Dellish Community at the head of a popular front government. He was nominated after six rounds of voting by ASAY delegates. Hylkema is the frontrunner in the contest having led polls in the first round by a considerable amount. Hylkema identifies the current issues in Alsland to be a result of a decade of neoliberalism and government mismanagement, he supports strengthening relations with Valduvia whilst similarly maintaining postive ties with the Euclean Community. Similarly to right-wing candidates, he opposes a 'passive presidency' and has stated he will resume use of the Presidency's constitutionally granted abilities and move away from pure parliamentarianism towards a semi-presidential system. He is seen as close to former social democrat President Bonne Zijlstra. | |
| Kauri Mekdem (24) Green Future |
.jpg)
|
Member of the Folkssenaat for A21 (since 2022) |
Logo of Kauri Mekdem | Mekdem is the sole Senator from the youth-centric A21 party. He was chosen as the Green Future coalition's nominee after receiving the support from various figures from within the coalition. Before entering politics Mekdem was a student at the University of Yndyk studying Nursing and became the youngest person ever elected to Folkssenaat at 23. He is the youngest nominee for President in Alslandic history. | |
| Allert Gorter (72) Liveable Alsland |
.jpg)
|
Member of the Euclean Parliament (since 2004) Other offices
|
Logo of Allert Gorter | Gorter is the candidate from the ruling liberal Liveable Alsland party and a supporter of Liekele Ykema's government. He is currently the longest serving Member of the Euclean Parliament from Alsland having previously represented the National Bloc until 2015. Gorter was drafted as the nominee after the party failed to have a notable volunteer for the candidacy. His campaign has focused on his diplomatic career and ability to unify a divided nation, despite this Gorter has consistently polled lowest out of any Presidential candidate owing to the unpopularity of the incumbent government. | |
| Murk Jorna (62) National Bloc |
|
Secretary of the President of Alsland (since 2020) Other offices
|
Logo of Murk Jorna | Jorna was chosen as the Presidential nominee for the National Bloc on similar accounts as Gorter, having previously not sought the role but was drafted after other notable candidates failed to be agreed upon. Jorna was selected due to his relative distance from Federal Politics owing to his role as the Chief Secretary of the President of Alsland and a prior successful political career prior to 2005. Jorna's candidacy has been criticised due to his lacking name recognition nationally and links to Hepke Veltman who decided against running for re-election due to historically low approval ratings. | |
| Luka Bodenschatz (50) Independent |
|
Minister of Finance (2022–2023) Other offices
|
Logo of Luka Bodenschatz | Bodenschatz was Minister of Finance in the 53rd Government of Alsland from 2022 to 2023. During this period Bodenschatz was a proponent of neoliberal economics and was instrumental in the various austerity packages passed in the year. Since his dismissal he has vocally promoted positions closely aligned to right-libertarianism and has blamed Alsland's current economic problems on: "unsustainable economic theories". Prior to entering politics he was the Director of the Alslandic Council of Business from 2020 to 2022 and also the head of the Algemiene Postbank and Director of the Alslandic Institute of Fiscal Affairs. | |
| Yannick Sehlmann (68) Orange Party |
.jpg)
|
Orange Party spokesperson for Immigration (since 2021) Other offices
|
Logo of Yannick Sehlmann | Sehlmann has been the Orange Party's spokesperson for Immigration since 2021, during which period he was accused of racism for his comments about the Súdlikthús district which he said was "full of illiterates and thieves." Sehlmann was initially a frontrunner for the Presidency but since the Orange Party's 2023 split, his polling numbers have collapsed and is now polling in second position. Sehlmann identifies as a National Conservative but much like his party holds syncretistic beliefs. He holds Euclosceptic viewpoints and opposes sanctions being placed on Paretia, additionally he supports maintaining Alslandic neutrality. | |
| Alrik Westra (37) Alliance for Alsland |
.jpg)
|
None | Logo of Alrik Westra | Westra is the nominee from the group Alliance for Alsland which is a Senate faction not independent from the Orange Party. Westra is the furthest right candidate in the election and has called himself the campaign's extremist. Prior to entering politics Westra was a TV contributer for AFM24 and co-hosted the network's flagship evening debate show. His campaign has at times adopted conspiratorial and populist beliefs and has accused the other candidates of all being controlled by the EC. He has promised to use the powers of the Presidency to their maximum extent and opposed what he terms as the impotent Presidency. | |
