After a long campaign fought for over a month, the May 2015 Mercian General Election finally came to a close at 00:00 British Summer Time (BST), on June 1st 2015. 67% of the electorate (itself comprised of 100% of the population) voted. As the results were counted up, through the rounds of vote runoff in each voting range (using the Single Transferable Vote method), it emerged that the National Liberal Party, with 6 out of 11 seats, had a small majority, although this was largely attributed to fielding as many candidates as possible in all the voting ranges, and having candidates take seats that would have been otherwise left fallow, despite getting no first-choice votes.
The election in Loringia and Kernollond was fairly lacklustre; Loringia had 4 votes for 4 candidates contesting 4 seats, and Kernollond had 3 votes for 3 candidates contesting 3 seats. Loringia returned 3 National Liberal MPs and 1 Würtige Unionist MP to the Mercian Parliament House, but what was evident was that last place candidates with no votes actually gained their seats; in Loringia, Duke Lobao of the Würtige Unionist Party received mostly third or fourth choice votes, and no first choice votes, but got the fourth seat so as not to leave it fallow. Similarly, in Kernollond His Lordship Richard I received no first choice votes, but gained the third seat to have a full House. No first-choice votes in these ranges ticked the ‘none of the above’ option, so the risk of a non-election in Loringia and Kernollond was happily avoided.
It was in Wibertsherne that the true election really took place; 9 votes for 6 candidates contesting 4 seats. With the guarantee of 2 eliminations, it was clear that Wibertsherne was the battleground voting range on which the entire Mercian General Election hinged. In the opening round, surprise support for the Humanist People’s Alliance emerged early on in the Wibertsherne vote count, as Baron Newton, Party Leader of the HPA, surged into the first seat with 4 first-choice votes, the highest of the election with 44% of the Wibertsherne electorate’s vote. In the second round, Baron Billbrough of the National Liberals gained a seat as his vote share increased, leading to the other National Liberal candidate, Baron Simpson, being eliminated in the third round. Count Frisch was comfortably given the third seat, being a popular third choice for most voters. The fifth round was a race between the two lowest voted candidates; Baron Whyatt Miranda of the Humanist People’s Alliance, and Baron Velazquez, who was running on an Independent National Socialist platform. Although their vote shares were peculiarly close, more voters supported the socialist HPA rather than the Strasserist Nazi ideology proposed by Velazquez, and Baron Whyatt Miranda took the fourth seat, meaning that 2 Humanists, 1 National Liberal and 1 Würtige Unionist were returned to their seats. The final results meant that the National Liberal Party had 6 seats, both the Humanist People’s Alliance and the Würtige Unionists had 2 seats apiece, and Baron Aaron Chahal, an Independent running on a Liberal Democrat platform, took the final, eleventh seat in the Mercian Parliament House.
Following the successful election, His Lordship Richard I posted a straw poll to most prominent Mercian politicians asking them whether the election for the First Minister should actually go ahead, or whether the First Minister should be the Party Leader of the Political Party with the most seats in the Mercian Parliament House, appointed to the position by the Lords.
His Lordship Richard I released the following statement explaining his reasoning for this Amendment:
In the 6th December Partisan Democracy Act and its Amendments, the election of the First Minister occurs separately to the election of the Parliament. However, this may not befit the stature of a position meant to lead the legislature, rather than control the executive. Also, the relations between the titles of MP and First Minister, held as they would be by one person, are not clearly defined, and finally, a separate election could mean total disorder if the electorate voted in a First Minister that was not part of the largest party in the Parliament House, meaning there would be confusion and no connection between the Government and the Loyal Opposition.
This idea received support from all three Party Leaders and Marquis Cassidy, former First Minister of two terms and current Convenor of the Crossbench (unaligned voting MPs who do not contest elections). Therefore, although the Amendment to the 6th December 2015 Partisan Democracy Act is yet to be fully written, Baron Fionbarra Ó Cathail, Party Leader of the National Liberal Party, is the new incumbent First Minister of the Mercian Parliament House. He is expected to be making a statement on his plans for the premiership over the next four months.
In the three years and eight months that Mercia has existed as a nation in one form or another, the May 2015 Mercian General Election was the first time that the citizens of the country democratically elected a government. The next election nominations and voting periods are scheduled for the last two weeks of September 2015.
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