2024 Theodoran Senate election
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Snap elections were held in Theodorous and the Parathalassias on November 15th, 2024 to elect the 30 members of the principality's unicameral Senate. The governing Theodoran Spring party, contesting as a part of the leftist Spring+ coalition, won a plurality of the vote and seat count, and later formed a minority government led by incumbent Mesazon Stefanos Androulakis.
Background
2022 election
The 2022 Senate election delivered a victory for the leftist Theodoran Spring party, which won twelve seats. The Spring formed a pact with the then-centrist Movement for our Rights (MfoR), which agreed to provide confidence and supply to Spring Mesazon (head of government) Stefanos Androulakis in exchange for certain concessions on minority rights issues.
MfoR withdrawal
The Movement for our Rights experienced a polling surge in early 2024, culminating in a record second-place finish in June's European Parliament elections. Apparently seeking to "ride" the national-populist wave that was sweeping across Europe, the MfoR adopted populist, anti-immigrant stances and withdrew from its coalition with the Spring in July, depriving the party of its working majority. Mesazon Stefanos Androulakis held talks with the opposition Centre Union, eventually agreeing to schedule elections for November after the passage of a new electoral law abolishing separately-elected minority seats, which had been seen as giving an advantage to the MfoR.
Campaign
Theodoran Spring
The governing Theodoran Spring formed an alliance, called "Spring+", with several minor parties, including the social-liberal Populares and the left-wing New Synaspismos. The minority interests Theodoran Tatar Advocacy Centre later joined the alliance after splitting from the MfoR. The Spring+ campaigned on economic issues, focusing on the popular welfare spending and anti-austerity policies that it had implemented while in government.
Centre Union
The main opposition Centre Union diverged from its usually low-key and technocratic campaign style, instead attacking the Spring directly and criticising the government for its sluggish economic growth and perpetual conflicts with Brussels. It promised industrial de-regulation and privatisation but vowed to maintain popular social spending programs.
Minor parties
The formerly-centrist MfoR ran a populist campaign, railing against the European Union's migration and asylum policies and perceived corruption. The Communists criticised the government for its "submissive" attitude towards Brussels, arguing that it had failed to deliver on its anti-austerity promises. The Optimates presented themselves as a voice of competence and moderation, filling, for some voters, the niche vacated by the Centre.
Debates
Debates were held on November 2nd and 7th, the former between all major party and alliance leaders and the latter including only Androulakis and Alexandrides. Voters ranked Androulakis' performance as the best in both debates, with 42% and 57% backing the Mesazon in the multi-party and head-to-head debates, respectively, while Optimates leader Mihalis Bouras was seen as performing well in the former, coming in second at 36%.
Polling
Polls throughout the campaign period showed the two major parties statistically tied at around 35%. The MfoR consistently declined from its high-water mark of over 30% to a low of only 6%. The Communists appeared poised to lose representation until the very end of the campaign, when their numbers recovered slightly. The Optimates appeared to gradually gain support, peaking at around 10%. The newspaper Basileia's final poll of the campaign period showed the Spring+ somewhat ahead of the Centre Union, the first poll to show a statistically signficant lead for either party since August.
Results
Turnout for the election was 91%, a record high, largely attributed to the implementation of mandatory voting. 72% of voters cast their ballots in the General electorate, and 28% in the Minorities electorate; the two electorates were thus allocated 22 and 8 seats, respectively. The governing Spring+ alliance won a solid victory, followed by the opposition Centre Union. The highly polarised vote distribution made the election the least multi-party in Theodoran history, with 80% of seats going to one of the two main parties.
| Parties | Votes | % | Seats | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring+ | 62,183 | 44.81 | 14 | ±0 | |
| Centre Union | 42,505 | 30.65 | 10 | +3 | |
| Movement for our Rights | 10,738 | 7.74 | 2 | -2 | |
| Optimates | 10,026 | 7.23 | 2 | +2 | |
| New Union | 9,924 | 7.15 | 2 | -5 | |
| Golden Dawn | 3,313 | 2.39 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Total | 138,689 | 100% | 30 | 0 | |
| Eligible voters and turnout | 151,963 | 91.26% | |||
The Spring+ alliance, led by incumbent Mesazon (head of government) Stefanos Androulakis, won by a large margin, netting nearly 45% of the popular vote and 14 seats, ten in the General electorate and four in the Minorities electorate. Of these seats, twelve were allocated to the Theodoran Spring, one to the minority interests Theodoran Tatar Advocacy Centre, and one to the social-liberal Populares. While the Spring ballot line officially gained two seats, the alliance's seat count was unchanged from its member's combined results in the previous election.
The main opposition Centre Union, led by Referendary Sophia Alexandrides, came solidly in second place, winning ten seats, an increase of 3 from the previous election. It performed strongly in the General electorate, winning eight seats, but poorly in the Minorities electorate, where it won two.
The populist Movement for our Rights, which had polled strongly earlier in the year, even coming second in June's European Parliament elections, saw a significant decrease in its vote share, losing two seats. However, the party saw its best-ever performance among ethnic Greeks, and won one General seat as well as one Minorities seat. The New Union, formed by the Communist Party of Crimea and the hard-right Russian National Movement, saw a collapse in its vote share, losing five seats compared to its members' combined total in the previous election. It ultimately won two seats, one in each electorate, both of which went to the Communists. The centre-right Optimates, once a major party but having lost parliamentary representatio years before, re-entered the Senate, winning two seats in the General electorate.
Aftermath
Reactions
Domestic
- Stefanos Androulakis, leader of the Spring+ alliance, called the election "a resounding vote of confidence in our anti-austerity and people-centric project," and asserted the right to form a third consecutive government.
- Sophia Alexandrides, leader of the Centre Union, thanked voters for "rallying behind moderation" and delivering her party its "best result in over a decade." She later called for repeat elections, claiming that assembling a ruling majority would prove impossible.
- Anna Denkova, leader of the Movement for our Rights, blamed the new electoral system for her party's losses, arguing that "the establishment parties have conspired to deprive us of our representation." She ruled out a coalition with either the Centre or the Spring.
- Mihalis Bouras, leader of the Optimates, thanked voters for returning his party to parliament and expressed willingness to work with all parties except for the Communists.
- Vasily Ivanov, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Crimea and leader of the New Union alliance, declared that his party "remains the voice of Crimea's workers" and ruled out the CPC's participation in any "bourgeois alliance."
Government formation
Once results were finalised, Mesazon Stefanos Androulakis, leader of the Spring+ alliance, claimed victory, asserting his right to form a government. As the Spring+ alliance fell two seats short of a majority, it will require the support of either the Communists (New Union), the Optimates, or the MfoR, or the abstention of the Centre Union in the investiture vote to be held on November 20th. Androulakis announced that he would first seek the latter. However, Centre Union leader Sophia Alexandrides announced that her party would vote "no" on Androulakis' investiture and instead seek snap elections. With Androulakis having rejected a coalition with either the Communists or the MfoR, a Spring-Optimates alliance remains as the only mathematically feasible coalition not ruled out by either party, but wide ideological disparities between the two appeared poised to stymie negotiations.
Senate presidium elections
On November 18th, the first session of the Senate was convoked, presided by Father of the House Vasily Ivanov of the Communist Party of Crimea. Elections for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Senate were held immediately. The Spring+ alliance and the Optimates voted in unison for Optimates leader Mihalis Bouras as Speaker, leading to his successful election with 16 votes. This vote was seen as confirming that the Spring and the Optimates intended to enter into a pact.
Incubent Speaker and Centre Union member Andreus Aktan'oghlu came in second place with 10 votes, those of his party. He was thus elected as the Deputy Speaker. MfoR nominee Anna Denkova came in third with two votes, while the Communists cast blank ballots.
| Election of the Speaker of the Senate | |||
| Ballot → | 18 November 2024 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Required majority → | Simple majority | ||
| Mihalis Bouras (Optimates) | 16 / 30
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| Andreus Aktan'oghlu (Centre Union) | 10 / 30
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| Anna Denkova (Movement for our Rights) | 2 / 30
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| Blank ballots | 2 / 15
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| Invalid ballots | 0 / 15
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| Absentees | 0 / 15
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Investiture vote
An investiture vote (officially, an "appointment recommendation" to the Prince) for Androulakis was scheduled for November 20th. It was widely assumed in the media that Androulakis would recieve the support of 16 senators — twelve from his Spring+ alliance and two from the Optimates — but Optimates leader Mihalis Bouras announced on the morning of the investiture vote that his party would abstain instead. Spring senator Pavlos Koustoulidis tabled a motion to delay the investiture vote, but only 14 senators voted in favour, and the investiture proceeded as planned. In the first ballot, Androulakis received 14 votes in favour, 14 against, and two abstentions, against the 16 votes in favour required for a successful recommendation.
Androulakis then held emergency meetings with both the Optimates and the Communists in advance of his second and final investiture attempt on the 22nd of November. He announced to the press the morning before the vote that he had secured sufficient support for an investiture. Half an hour before the vote, the Communists' two senators left the Senate Curia building, informing the press that they would not take part in the vote, thereby allowing Androulakis to take office with 14 votes. When the vote was held, 14 votes in favour, 12 votes against, two absentions, and two absentees were recorded, achieving the simple majority necessary for Androulakis' successful investiture.
| Appointment Recommendation Stefanos Androulakis (Theodoran Spring) | |||
| Ballot → | November 20 | November 22 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Required majority → | 16 out of 30
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Simple
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Yes
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14 / 30
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14 / 30
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No
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14 / 30
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12 / 30
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Abstain
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2 / 30
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2 / 30
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Absent
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0 / 30
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2 / 30
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Cabinet reshuffle
After his investiture, Androulakis presented his new Council of the Logothetes (cabinet) to the Senate on December 1st. The new cabinet was composed of only eight ministers — the Mesazon, four senior Logothetes, and three junior Court Secretaries — compared to 14 ministers in Androulakis' previous cabinet. The appointment of a smaller cabinet was one of the Optimates' conditions for allowing Androulakis' investiture to proceed, and left one of the constitutionally-mandated ministerial posts — that of the Water Logothete — vacant, with the former minister's responsibilities transferred to the new Court Secretary for Communities, Water Management, and Agriculture.
Six of the eight ministerial posts, including that of the Mesazon and all four Logothetes, went to Androulakis' Theodoran Spring party. The Spring's smaller coalition partners, the Populares and the Theodoran Tatar Advocacy Centre, were allocated one Court Secretary each; Populares leader David Christou was appointed as the Court Secretary for Culture, Tourism, and European Integration, while TTAC leader Mustafa Abdurahman’oghlu became the Court Secretary for Communities, Water Management, and Agriculture.