Gylian federal election, 1990
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All 500 seats in the Chamber of Deputies All 400 seats in the Senate 251 Chamber of Deputies seats and 201 Senate seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 96,1% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Federal elections were held in Gylias on 22 January 1990, to elect the 500 members of the Chamber of Deputies and 400 members of the Senate.
A realigning election in the wake of the wretched decade and the Ossorian war crisis, it marked a breakthrough for Non-inscrits, who gained a plurality of votes and seats for the first time. Voters punished established blocs for their part in the wretched decade, with the Progressive Alliance and National Bloc suffering severe swings against them. Mathilde Vieira became Prime Minister at the head of a "plural coalition" of liberals and non-inscrits.
Electoral system
Both chambers of the Gylian Parliament were elected through single transferable vote, using the Droop quota.
The Chamber of Deputies was elected using 5-member circonscriptions, drawn by Elections Gylias based on regional populations.
The Senate was elected by regions, each electing 20 senators.
Parties were not allowed to nominate more than one candidate per seat. Candidates were not allowed to run for both chambers simultaneously.
Parties
Background
The wretched decade ended in 1986, when the Ossorian war crisis of 1986 galvanised the opposition and toppled the Aén Ďanez government. The Filomena Pinheiro government was formed as a grand coalition comprising every formation but the Revolutionary Rally, Front for Renewal of Order and Society, and "molehill parties". The remainder of the 1980s was largely spent remedying the damage caused by the wretched decade both domestically and internationally. Although the crisis dissipated, Filomena did not implement major changes beyond her mandate as an interim Prime Minister, and these became the main topic of the upcoming election.
Political realignments of various degrees also occurred in the run-up to the election. Filomena's crackdown on the RR and FROS destroyed them as political forces and removed them from Parliament, causing the 5th Parliament to finish with a dramatically different composition than it was first elected. The dérive au droite and exposure of the neoliberal conspiracy caused a great scandal that similarly destroyed right-wing populist parties.
Established blocs suffered a backlash for their delayed action in ending the wretched decade. Although the National Bloc had been the major beneficiary of the 1985 federal election, it had struggled with an internal rift between the Hannaist Civic National Party, National Party of the Republic, and Popular Democratic Union and the increasingly neoliberal Free Economy Party and Independent Freedom Party. The death of widely-respected leader Lea Kersed exposed the fracture, and the latter two split in 1989 to form the Union for Freedom and Prosperity. Although the NB had acted swiftly to reorganise itself and purge right-wingers, it still suffered from the fallout of the neoliberal conspiracy, and the need to replace a figure of Lea's stature.
Opinion polls since 1985 showed gains for the Non-inscrits at the expense of the other blocs, with the NB being the last to maintain their standing until Lea's death. The unexpected beneficiary was the recently-founded New Alliance for the Future, whlie the debut of Love, Nature, Democracy promised to bring a lighthearted note to the campaign. The NB–UFP split hit the NB's popularity, and helped non-inscrits widen their narrow lead to a comfortable 2–3%. The establishment of the Minor Party Alliance also heightened anticipation.
Campaign
The election was conducted in a notably festive atmosphere, reminiscent of the Golden Revolution that had largely been overwhelmed by the wretched decade. The dominant theme was how to best overcome the wretched decade and preserve the Gylian consensus. Among the front-runners, the Progressive Alliance used the slogan "restore eupraxia", the Liberal Union adopted the slogan/unofficial theme song "Chega de Saudade" — partly in reference to half-Lusitan foresitter Mathilde Vieira — and the NAF promised to "build a bridge to the 21st century".
The campaign was notably personality-dominated to a greater extent than past elections, boasting a new crop of charismatic, media-savvy foresitter. Mathilde Vieira's youth and credentials in the anti-Aén opposition proved a boon for the LU, while Governor of Nauras Édith Champion ended the PA's long period of disarray and collective leadership. Mielikki Salonen's campaign was described by Ŋéida Vaşad as "seemingly impervious to embarrassment" — she played along with jokes that the NAF was a personal party and took advantage of caricatures depicting her as a soundbite-spouting technophile. One PPB depicted her buttoning her coat to punctuate the NAF's platform, earning frequent parody but proving memorable.
One of the undoubted "stars" of the election was Moana Pozzi, a famous pornographic actress that served as the foresitter of LND. Moana represented a playfully intrusive presence in the campaign, delivering innuendo-laced speeches and wearing physique-enhancing Kaede Nakano business suits that sent up the typical politician, much to audiences' delight. She famously used the slogan "If you want to waste your vote, vote for us!", explicitly seeking support from disillusioned and apathetic voters, and starred in one PPB where she satirically discussed sex as if it was the economy, criticising other politicians for ignoring the "sex recession".
With the RR and FROS practically destroyed by Filomena's crackdowns, the UFP became the marginal figures of the election. Their right-wing profile and explicit advocacy of capitalism was met with hostility by the electorate; their candidates were frequently heckled and booed out of public meetings, and their campaign rallies disrupted by others. They gained a reputation as "petty and joyless sociopaths" from their attacks on beloved institutions — including statements supporting the privatisation of Gyliair and GNRTS — and an incident where they reported LND's PPB to the Information Bureau for misinformation; the IB instead replied that the PPB was clearly a satirical short film, earning the UFP a flood of mockery.
Results
In accordance with electoral law, the results were embargoed until the full counting and transfers were completed, and were released all at once on 26 January.
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| Parties and blocs | Chamber of Deputies | Senate | |||||||||
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| FPV | % | ± | Seats | ± | FPV | % | ± | Seats | ± | ||
| Non-inscrits and independents | 2.510.200 | 25,5% |  8,9%
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255 | 119
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3.464.711 | 35,2% | 11,1%
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171 | 37
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| Liberal Union | 1.988.472 | 20,2% | 8,1%
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64 | 9
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1.653.612 | 16,8% | 4,7%
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61 | 11
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| Progressive Alliance | 1.850.657 | 18,8% |  0,1%
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63 | 22
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1.624.083 | 16,5% | 2,5%
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60 | 
| |
| National Bloc | 1.771.906 | 18,0% | 6,0%
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60 | 40
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1.594.554 | 16,2% | 5,2%
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55 | 15
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| Centre Group | 1.378.149 | 14,0% | 2,1%
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55 | 1
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1.210.680 | 12,3% | 0,8%
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50 | 6
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| Union for Freedom and Prosperity | 196.878 | 2,0% | New | 3 | New | 187.016 | 1,9% | New | 3 | New | |
| Revolutionary Rally | 127.971 | 1,3% | 14,0%
|
0 | 70
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78.743 | 0,8% | 8,9%
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0 | 32
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| Front for Renewal of Order and Society | 19.688 | 0,2% | 1,0%
|
0 | 20
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29.529 | 0,3% | 1,9%
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0 | 10
| |
| Total | 9.843.921 | 100% | — | 500 | — | 9.842.928 | 100% | — | 400 | — | |
| Registered voters and turnout | 10.331.230 | 96,1% | |||||||||
Analysis
In a historic result, the non-inscrits won a plurality of first preference votes for the first time in a federal election. Previously, they had secured pluralities in the Chamber of Deputies since 1976, but now they collectively won a majority of 255 seats, a gain of 119 over 1985. Much of their breakthrough came from voters punishing the established blocs for their failures during the wretched decade, particularly the delay in overthrowing Aén Ďanez and the close scare of the neoliberal conspiracy.
The Minor Party Alliance proved effective, and the biggest winner among non-inscrits was the New Alliance for the Future, which finished third overall. Similarly strong gains went to Love, Nature, Democracy, the Green Party, People Power-Citizens' Movement, and, somewhat surprisingly, ARENA.
It was a night of mixed fortunes for established electoral blocs. The most disappointing night was for the NB, which lost 6% of first preference votes and 40 Chamber of Deputies seats, a result made worse by the great expectations of its first-place finish in 1985. Its decline was largely blamed on voters revolted by the dérive au droite and instead preferencing non-inscrits ahead, particularly the centre-right Union for a New Republic and market anarchist parties. By contrast, the CG managed a small swing in its favour, although this meant it only gained a seat in the Chamber of Deputies and 6 in the Senate.
Mathilde Vieira led the LU to second place overall, with a swing of 8,1% in first preference votes that brought less seats due to the non-inscrit gains. Nevertheless, it was a major victory, as it was the first time since the Popular Progressive Front that liberals had won more seats than the left-wing in a federal election. By contrast, the PA's first preference vote declined by only 0,1% in the Chamber of Deputies and 2,5% in the Senate, but it lost 22 deputies. Overall, it was considered a good result on account of the reputational damage the PA had suffered from participating in the Aén Ďanez government, and Édith Champion received credit for her vigorous campaigning.
Given the strong opprobrium earned by the UFP during the campaign, the fact that it managed to win 2% of first preference votes and 3 seats in each chamber was somewhat remarkable, although their poor result brought renewed mockery. Given the crackdowns carried out by the Filomena Pinheiro government, less surprising was that the RR and FROS collapsed to less than 1% of first preference votes, and were shut out of Parliament entirely.
Regionally, the electoral map was scrambled by the non-inscrits' breakthrough. 8 regions returned ties, outnumbering the 6 regions with non-inscrit pluralities. The LU carried pluralities in Arxaþ, Alţira, and Elena, but the PA fell behind non-inscrits in their traditional strongholds of Mişeyáke, and managed a tie in Salxar, Makarces, Gacar, and Gerşyr. It only carried Tomes and Tandar. For the first time, the NB failed to carry Nerveiík-Iárus-Daláyk, which was tied instead. Their tie in Ḑarna was similarly disappointing in contrast to the continued success of Governor Margaret Roberts. Their only plurality was in Nauras.
Aftermath
The new Parliament was sworn in on 1 February 1990, once again with no obvious government to be formed. It was clear that the non-inscrits would play a significant role in the government formation, given their collective majority in the Chamber of Deputies.
Mathilde Vieira was first given the mandate to form a government. She aimed for a reconstruction of the old PA–LU–IRAM alliance of the Golden Revolution, believing that would be the most reassuring option for Gylians. However, negotiations to include the PA in the coalition were unsuccessful, so she settled for accepting their confidence and supply from outside the government. Talks to include the NAF and LND progressed more smoothly, while she also reached out to the NB out of respect for their role in Filomena's grand coalition.
The final proposal presented to Parliament was unexpected. Mathilde proposed a LU–NAF–LND–IRAM minority cabinet, which would include a few ministers from the PA and NB without their full participation. Her shrewd negotiation paid off, and the cabinet was approved. Although this was a seemingly weak foundation for a government, Mathilde made it work through her proficiency at parliamentary negotiation and dealmaking. Her "plural coalition" inaugurated an era nicknamed the "liquid Parliament", in which the other blocs took an ambiguous role, alternately supporting and opposing the government depending on issues, blurring the line between government and opposition.
