Gylian presidential election, 2018

Gylian presidential election, 2018

22 January 2018
Turnout	90,4%
Nominee Ravy Egiði Marzieh Keshavarzadeh Party NB LND Final vote 7.785.032 7.753.954 Percentage 50,1% 49,9%
Results of the final preference distribution by region   Ravy Egiði   Marzieh Keshavarzadeh
President before election Carmen Dell'Orefice President after election Ravy Egiði

A presidential election was held in Gylias on 22 January 2018.

National Bloc candidate Ravy Egiði narrowly defeated Love, Nature, Democracy candidate Marzieh Keshavarzadeh.

Procedure

The election was held through instant-runoff voting.

Candidates were registered with Elections Gylias in accordance with normal procedures. They could either be nominated by a political party or electoral bloc, civic organisations, or self-nomination as independents.

Candidates

Candidate		Nominator		Office(s) held	Details
Ravy Egiði			National Bloc	None	Campaigned on promotion of science.
Marzieh Keshavarzadeh			Love, Nature, Democracy	Governor of Nezyál (2010–2018)	Campaigned on promotion of free love and sexarchism.
Hélène Daucourt			Liberal Union	Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Mathilde Vieira (1990–2008)	Campaigned on promotion of ecological Donatellism.
Ngô Gia Lệ			New People's Party	None	Campaigned on promotion of economic nationalism.
Leonora Weeks			Independent	None	Campaigned on promotion of the arts and culture.
Amanda Leloup			OMFLG–ACFEN	Governor of Nezyál (1970–1978)	Campaigned on promotion of francité.

Results

Candidate		Nominator	First count	%	Final count	%
	Ravy Egiði	NB	3.028.199	17,5%	7.785.032	50,1%
	Marzieh Keshavarzadeh	LND	3.010.895	17,4%	7.753.954	49,9%
	Hélène Daucourt	LU	2.907.071	16,8%
	Ngô Gia Lệ	NPP	2.872.463	16,6%
	Leonora Weeks	Independent	2.768.639	16,0%
	Amanda Leloup	OMFLG–ACFEN	2.457.167	14,2%
Others/write-ins			259.560	1,5%
Total			17.303.994	100%	15.538.987	100%
Registered voters and turnout			19.835.841	90,4%

Maps

First count pluralities by region

Final count majorities by region

Analysis

Marzieh campaigning in Kaşa

The retirement of incumbent Carmen Dell'Orefice left an open presidential race. Notably, the Progressive Alliance sat out the election for the second time in a row.

The National Bloc nominated musician, particle physicist, and television presenter Ravy Egiði. Ravy notably played down his political endorsement, and focused his campaign on promotion of science.

Voters were presented with a choice of four actors vying for the presidency, the most to run simultaneously. Love, Nature, Democracy put forward Marzieh Keshavarzadeh, the recent Governor of Nezyál. Quenminese-Gylian actress Ngô Gia Lệ secured the endorsement of the New People's Party. Famed mounoir actress Leonora Weeks ran as an independent with a campaign focused on promotion of the arts.

The field was completed by Hélène Daucourt, the former Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Mathilde Vieira, who took up the mantle of the Liberal Union candidate, and francité stalwart Amanda Leloup, contesting her 6th presidential election in a row.

Marzieh proved one of the campaign's most popular figures, with much attention to her background – a Persian-descended pornographic actress turned Governor of Nezyál. At one public meeting, she declared herself strongly opposed to establishing official relations with Mansuriyyah, remarking: "We hate each other anyways. Why bother with an embassy when we can just flip each other off through the Tennaiite embassy?".

However, the absence of a PA candidate led to strong competition to consolidate both the left and non-inscrit left vote among Marzieh, Hélène, Lệ, and Leonora.

In the first round, Ravy won a plurality, only 0,1% ahead of Marzieh. Hélène, Lệ, and Leonora followed with strong performances, each winning at least 16% of first preference votes, and Amanda placed last with 14,2%.

The fragmented vote was reflected on the map: Marzieh won pluralities in Mişeyáke and two neighbouring regions, but was surpassed by Amanda in her native Nezyál and Leonora in the non-inscrit friendly Tomes and Sváen. Lệ somewhat surprisingly gained pluralities in the northern regions, picking up the supporters of the absent PA. Ravy won pluralities in only three regions: Nerveiík-Iárus-Daláyk, Ḑarna, and Tandar.

In the final round, Marzieh generally gained transfers from Leonora and Amanda's voters, while Hélène and Lệ's voters proved more unpredictable. The final result was close, and Ravy defeated Marzieh by slightly over 31.000 votes.

On the final map, Marzieh managed to secure majorities throughout central Gylias, picking up two regions each from Leonora and Amanda, but lost Ḑarna and Nauras. Ravy won majorities in the regions that initially went for Lệ, although the contest with Marzieh was closer than the northern regions' rejection of Laura Varnaþ in 2007 and 2010. This was the first time since 2010 that the traditional liberal strongholds split in the final round: Elena went for Marzieh in the final round, but Arxaþ and Alţira went for Ravy.