Pacitalian parliamentary elections, 2020

Pacitalian parliamentary elections, 2020

30th November 2020
All 715 seats in the Constazione (Majority: 358) All 96 seats in the Senato (Majority: 49)
Registered	349,580,282
Turnout	325,290,468 (93.1%) 70,216,298 cast in person 255,074,170 postal and special ballots
Votes counted	100% as of 7th December 2020 AOTC+0300
First party Second party Third party   Leader Damián Moya Gemma Bianconi Vincenzo Promarche Party Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress Federation of Progressive Democrats Christian Democratic Party Leader since 30th June 2020 16th May 2020 19th January 2008 Last election 338 195 42 Seats won 457 168 29 Seat change 119 27 13 Party list vote 182,040,274 84,843,057 18,462,067 Percentage 56.0% 26.1% 5.7%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   File:Letizia Moratti 2022 (cropped).jpg Leader Pere Capderoig Federica Lanzo Adriun Váll i Bernám Party Partit dels Socialistes d'Emporda Pacitalian Green Party Empordian League Leader since 12th May 2015 3rd April 2019 15th December 2010 Last election 19 86 30 Seats won 20 15 9 Seat change 1 71 21 Party list vote 12,802,207 10,405,454 5,575,910 Percentage 3.9% 3.2% 1.7%
Prime Minister before election Damián Moya PSDC Prime Minister Damián Moya PSDC

Parliamentary elections were held in the Pacitalian Republic on Monday 30th November 2020. Officially, this was the 118th national general election, where Pacitalian voters elected the 715 members of the Constazione Repubblicana, Pacitalia's lower house, and 100 Senators to its upper house (expanded from the previous 96).

The order of election, which dissolved the previous parliament, was issued by Archonate Vittoria Agradossa on Monday 2nd November 2020, officially starting the campaign period — although campaigning by parties and their leaders had already unofficially begun prior to the order. The centre-left Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress, led by incumbent Prime Minister Damián Moya, were attempting to win a second three-year term in power. In contrast, the Federation of Progressive Democrats, with new leader Gemma Bianconi, were attempting to return to government after three years in opposition, having run the country for almost the entirety of the previous three decades.

Buoyed by his government's decisive response to the COVID-19 pandemic, voters delivered Moya and the PSDC a resounding mandate and a second term in office, with a majority of the party list vote, and a strong plurality of votes from electorate seats. The PSDC won outright control of both houses of the Pacitalian parliament and were able to govern alone as a result – the first time since 2004 that any party had won a majority of seats in both houses. Due to the social distancing guidelines resulting from the pandemic, the election also made history as the first where the majority of votes were cast by mail instead of in-person.

Background

Parliamentary elections in Pacitalia are triennial and held on the last Monday of November unless circumstances require them to be re-scheduled. Pacitalians also elect their regional governments triennially, though in the year following the parliamentary vote. Archonates, by comparison, are elected to six-year terms.

Pacitalians elect 715 members of the Constazione using the mixed-member form of proportional representation (MMP). There are 445 Members of the Republican Parliament (MRPs) elected through a party list, with the remaining 270 coming from single-member districts whose members are elected using instant-runoff voting (IRV). The weighting of the two blocs of seats typically leads smaller parties to focus their resources on winning party list seats rather than standing candidates in electorates; this leaves the latter bloc to be captured overwhelmingly by larger parties, and has the effect of increasing the odds of the winning party having a workable coalition or an outright majority.

Senators, by contrast, are elected using solely IRV.

This was the first national election where party leaders did not contest electorate seats. This was by law, as the Constazione had passed an amendment to the Elections Act in 2019, by unanimous consent. The move requires party leaders to run in first position on their respective party's list, in a bid to free up electorate seats for others to run in those seats. The switch to running on a list was proposed after voters submitted a petition with over 500,000 signatures in 2018 requesting the change. The petition argued that party leaders simply did not have the same capacity as other MRPs to provide effective local representation due to their national-level duties and the large population sizes of the electorates.

Previous election and outcomes

The previous parliamentary elections were held in 2017. In contrast to this election, there was initially uncertainty over who would eventually form government, as the incumbent FPD had won a plurality of seats, but appeared not to have the numbers to form a working coalition with other parties. The FPD won 195 seats, while the Democratic Nationalist Party and the Pacitalian Social Congress (who later merged to form the PSDC) won 167 and 161 seats, respectively.

The FPD, led by Maurizio Conte, attempted to form a coalition government through multiple avenues, including initially partnering with the Christian Democrats and the Greens. The Greens refused to work with the Christian Democrats due to differences on social values, and the agreement – such as it was – fell apart. Before resigning as formateur, Conte also proposed a "grand coalition" with the PSC, with unofficial support coming from the Greens, but this did not materialize. Conte was forced to step down, having only served seven months as Prime Minister. Agradossa then named Moya as formateur, leading to an agreement in January 2018 between the DNP and PSC to form a coalition government with a minority of seats, supported by other left-wing parties such as the Empordian Socialist Party and the Radical Anticapitalists.

Despite the lack of a majority in the Constazione, the DNP-PSC coalition was able to govern for the entirety of the term leading up to the 2020 election. Though the Radical Anticapitalists threatened to pull their support for the government after the two parties had agreed to merge, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic quickly relegated political battles to a secondary concern.

Major issues

COVID-19 pandemic

Main article: COVID-19 pandemic in Pacitalia

"Dirty Fingers" scandal

Main article: Lanchi bruttare

Results

Default table sort is by total seats won.

Elected to the Constazione Repubblicana, 2020
Party	Party list votes		Electorate votes		Party list seats	Electorate seats	Total seats
Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress Damián Moya	182,040,274	55.96%	151,151,231	46.52%	250 / 445	207 / 270	457 / 715
Federation of Progressive Democrats Gemma Bianconi	84,843,057	26.08%	112,847,461	34.73%	117 / 445	51 / 270	168 / 715
Christian Democrats Vincenzo Promarche	18,462,067	5.68%	20,769,501	6.39%	25 / 445	4 / 270	29 / 715
Partit dels Socialistes d'Empordà Pere Capderoig	12,802,207	3.94%	9,638,947	2.97%	18 / 445	2 / 270	20 / 715
Pacitalian Green Party Gabrielo Brunate	10,405,454	3.20%	15,251,153	4.69%	14 / 445	1 / 270	15 / 715
Libertad Marquería Juntos Inés Salvador Blanco	5,066,788	1.56%	4,126,577	1.27%	7 / 445	4 / 270	11 / 715
Lliga d'Empordán Adriun Váll i Bernám	5,575,910	1.71%	5,032,522	1.55%	1 / 445	8 / 270	9 / 715
Defence of the Republic Primo Demasso	3,161,142	0.97%	4,974,495	1.53%	4 / 445	0 / 270	4 / 715
Radical Anticapitalists No official leader	1,811,570	0.56%	826,103	0.25%	2 / 445	0 / 270	2 / 715
Consensus Fiorenzo Basso	779,323	0.24%	390,852	0.12%	0 / 445	0 / 270	0 / 715
Pacitalian Ecological Movement Hectór Rodríguez and Agata Amoretta (co-leaders)	342,676	0.11%	106,414	0.03%	0 / 445	0 / 270	0 / 715
Independent candidates			249,281	0.08%	n/a	0 / 270	0 / 715
Totals	325,290,468		324,939,296

Elected to the Senato Repubblicana, 2020
Party	Votes		Seats
Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress Damián Moya	152,752,840	47.39%	72 / 100
Federation of Progressive Democrats Gemma Bianconi	109,354,709	33.93%	19 / 100
Partit dels Socialistes d'Empordà Pere Capderoig	10,845,759	3.37%	7 / 100
Christian Democrats Vincenzo Promarche	20,913,031	6.49%	2 / 100
Pacitalian Green Party Gabrielo Brunate	15,334,125	4.76%	0 / 100
Lliga d'Empordán Adriun Váll i Bernám	5,419,686	1.68%	0 / 100
Libertad Marquería Juntos Inés Salvador Blanco	4,297,028	1.33%	0 / 100
Defence of the Republic Primo Demasso	2,702,845	0.84%	0 / 100
Radical Anticapitalists No official leader	373,478	0.12%	0 / 100
Consensus Fiorenzo Basso	311,785	0.10%	0 / 100
Pacitalian Ecological Movement Hectór Rodríguez and Agata Amoretta (co-leaders)	90,039	0.03%	0 / 100
Independent candidates	87,406	0.03%	0 / 100
Total	322,306,799

Election aftermath

Composition of Pacitalia's lower house, the Constazione, following the 2020 election.

Composition of Pacitalia's upper house, the Senato, following the 2020 election.