Xiaodongese general election, 2011
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215 seats in the State Presidium (108 for a majority) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 58.64% ( 6.76%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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File:Xiaodong electoral map FPTP+SNTV 2011 (transparent).png Seats won by parties
■ – National Regeneration Bloc
■ – People's
■ – Duljunese Democratic | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 9th general election of Xiaodong was held on the 18th September 2011 to elect all 215 delegates of the State Presidium of Xiaodong. The election saw the governing Xiaodong Regeneration Society win another supermajority with Yuan Xiannian being elected to another term as First Minister.
Yuan called a snap election to be held in July 2011 after announcing the government needed a mandate to pass "historic reforms". The Yuan government was fairly popular after having presided over economic growth and the expansion of several popular social programs. The opposition in comparison looked divided and unable to project the image of a government in waiting. However, following the announcement of the election several opposition parties announced they would form the Democratic Alliance (DA) with Chu Sian-cheng, then-Governor of East Thianchin nominated as the leader of the UDA coalition.
The campaign was dominated by debate over planned constitutional reform proposed by the Yuan government which the Regeneration Society supported and the DA opposed. Other issues such as the economy and foreign policy played a small role due to both campaigns emphasising similar stances on both issues.
The election saw the government win a greater share of the vote than in 2009, but lost 19 seats due to the unity of the opposition. The election also saw the lowest turnout in a Xiaodongese election with only 58.64% of voters participating.
Electoral process
Xiaodong uses a parallel voting system with 115 seats being elected by first-past-the-post and 100 by single non-transferable voting system. All citizens in Xiaodong who are over the age of 21, not currently incarcerated and not deemed mentally ill are able to vote in elections. In 2008, the Xiaodongese government passed the Law on Electoral Spending which restricts electoral spending to 金8,500 million ($80,664,320) per party (previously there were no spending caps). Unlike the last election donations had to be approved via the Bureau for the Removal of Public Corruption rather than the Ministry of the Interior, who was criticised in the last election for withholding electoral donations from opposition parties.
The Regeneration Society has been accused of using gerrymandering in regards to single-member districts, with the less populous but more pro-government north having more seats than the opposition supporting southern regions.
Background
Xiaodong had been ruled since 1934 by the Xiaodong Regeneration Society, which has won all multi-party elections since the first one in 1988. The most recent election was called in 2009 by First Minster Yuan Xiannian, who was still popular since his leading the Regeneration Society to a landslide win in 2006. The 2009 election saw a heavily divided opposition lose seats to the Regeneration Society who took 170 of the 215 seats in the State Presidium of Xiaodong.
The 2009 election confirmed the social liberal People's Party as the main party of the opposition, as the right-wing Progressive Party lost ground and The Republicans saw their parliamentary caucus lose all their seats. Disunity amongst opposition parties in the 2006 and 2009 elections had resulted in supermajorities for the Regeneration Society, prompting talk amongst the opposition parties of an anti-government alliance.
In 2011 negotiations for a coalition of opposition parties started to gain momentum as the People's Party, Progressives, Reform and Duljunese Democratic Party agreed on a common program of increased investment, constitutional reform, privatisation and decentralisation. As a result of high opinion ratings and hoping to catch the opposition of guard, Yuan hinted in May that the government was planning major constitutional and economic reforms that needed to be addressed as "times have changed". The planned constitutional reform included plans to reform the judiciary, strengthen executive power and amend economic principles enshrined in the constitution.
In July, Yuan announced an election was to be held in September, requesting to State Chairman Jiang Zhongyu to dissolve the State Presidium on September 18th. An hour after Yuan's announcement of a snap election People's Party leader Chen Xianfeng held a press conference where he confirmed the opposition parties would run under a single electoral list known as the Democratic Alliance. The Governor of East Thianchin, Chu Sian-cheng, was nominated as the DA's candidate for First Minister as the DA hoped to capitalise on his historic win in the 2008 Thianchinese regional election.
Parties standing
Main parties
New parties
Campaign
Campaigning began in earnest in early August 2011 when the parties manifestos were released. First Minister Yuan Xiannian launched the campaign by promising to implement his "Xiaodong 2034" program that he had announced the previous year, which aimed to make Xiaodong a developed country by the year 2034 whilst being in the top ten economies and having one of the highest life expectancies in the world. Yuan accused the Democratic Alliance of being financed by foreign powers. The slogan of the Regeneration Society's campaign was "Strong and Prosperous Xiaodong".
The Democratic Alliance launched their campaign in a press rally in central Baiqiao, where representatives from each party promised to end corruption and have a less Tuthinian dominated foreign policy. However, there were splits in the DA campaign as infighting broke out over who were contest each seat. The Progressive Party accused the People's Party as mainly contesting marginal or opposition friendly seats whilst the Progressives were tasked with running in safe government held seats. This division led to the East Sea Daily to criticise the DA as being incompetent.
The campaigns of the Regeneration Society and DA largely mirrored each other. Both the Regeneration Society and the DA emphasised the need to speed up privatisation, implement more deregulation and see an increase in wages. They also both called for a hawkish stance against Senria and maintaining close links with Tuthina, although the DA stated they would "review Xiaodong's close relations with Ankoren and other rogue states".
On the issue of constitutional reform the parties more clearly differed. The Xiaodongese constitution -as of 2011 a modified document of the original 1935 constitution passed after the Corrective Revolution - had long been criticised for entrenching an overly bureaucratic and inefficient judicial system as well as a complex and lengthy legislative process that hampered reform. As well as this the economic principles enshrined in the constitution (which define Xiaodong as a socialist state) had come under attack by business, whilst human rights groups criticise the lack of freedoms and rights protected in the constitution. As such both parties pledged a form of constitutional reform - however the reforms envisioned differed markedly. The Regeneration Society advocated for streamlining the judicial and legislative systems and granting the executive more power to give the government more opportunity to reform at a faster pace. The DA opposed this on the grounds it led to an elective dictatorship instead calling for a move towards a semi-presidential system, proportional representation, an independent judiciary and more separation of powers.
Because of the closeness of the parties in terms of policy the election devolved into personal attacks and increasing negative campaigning. Yuan was questioned by the opposition for financial corruption, with Chu questioning Yuan's wealth reported to be between 金300-600 million. The opposition also printed several pamphlets and advertisements comparing Yuan to Führer of Teutonia Friedrich Ulrich. The Regeneration Society campaign stated Chu had criminal connections and questioned how the DA accumulated so much money to finance its campaign. The DA stated such money came from individual donations, a claim that was mocked both by the government and on social media.
Endorsements
| Newspaper | Endorsement | |
|---|---|---|
| Xiaodongese Observer | style="background-color: Template:Xiaodong Regeneration Society/meta/color" width=5px| | Xiaodong Regeneration Society |
| East Sea Daily | style="background-color: Template:Xiaodong Regeneration Society/meta/color" width=5px| | Xiaodong Regeneration Society |
| Xiaodong Evening News | Democratic Alliance | |
| The Sun | Democratic Alliance | |
| Global Times | style="background-color: Template:Xiaodong Regeneration Society/meta/color" width=5px| | Xiaodong Regeneration Society |
| Xiaodong Human Rights Moniter | Democratic Alliance | |
Opinion polls
Results
Template:Xiaodongese general election, 2011
Analysis
The election was perceived to be neither a success for the government nor the opposition. The Regeneration Society had entered the election hoping to increase its number of seats and its share of the vote - whilst they were successful in achieving the latter the unified nature of the opposition resulted in them to lose seats. The intention of Yuan to catch the opposition off guard whilst they were negotiating a merger backfired as they ended up becoming more unified as a result, resulting in considerable embarrassment for Yuan.
The opposition meanwhile lost a large number of voters, although this was predominantly attributed to the low turnout. Nevertheless the opposition increased their seats thanks to their votes not being divided amongst the parties. The election also confirmed the People's Party as the largest party of the opposition as well as seeing southern Xiaodong vote for opposition candidates.
Despite the lower share of seats for the government Yuan promised that the Regeneration Society's plans to reform the constitution had not changed as the Regeneration Bloc had won the two thirds majority needed to amend the constitution, subsequently setting up a commission shortly afterwards to examine the issue. Template:Elections in Xiaodong