Valruzia

[Aethan]

5700 elections: Nowogard decides winner in nail-bitting elections

Margin of 1,893 votes gives victory to current Chancellor's party over former partners

January 5700

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In the latest elections in Valruzia in the 57th century, for the first time since the return of democracy the vast majority of citizens went to bed yesterday without knowing the final results, due to a dead heat between Sovereign Valruzia, led by Chancellor Krystian Barela, and Forward Valruzia, led by former government partner and former Deputy Chancellor Fryderyk Konik.

Following a failed motion of no confidence as a result of the Barela-Gajda scandal and a bitter election campaign, the citizens of Valruzia have spoken to decide which party they want to lead their next government, and the result will undoubtedly bring more headaches than solutions in the coming months, which are likely to be filled with tough negotiations.

As a result, many citizens woke up this morning to several surprises left behind by the previous election day. The first, and most shocking, is the victory of the party of current Chancellor Krystian Barela by just 1,893 votes over Forward Valruzia, which thus fell less than 2,000 votes short of making history as the first party outside SW or KPW to take first place since the return of democracy, and the first truly conservative party to do so. This was a blow to many who had hoped that the conservative wave sweeping Terra would finally reach the shores of Valruzia with the first conservative-led government in more than seven decades. However, it seems that they will have to wait at least until the next opportunity.

Speaking to thousands of supporters gathered at the Forward Valruzia headquarters this morning, Fryderyk Konik – who has announced that this has been his last election campaign after leading the party for two decades and improving results after each election – thanked everyone for "their trust" and asked them not to give up on the attempt to achieve "a government of healthy conservatism necessary for Valruzia". He also took the opportunity to warn the acting chancellor to forget about trying to reach an agreement with them again, after their "dishonourable expulsion" from the government during the last term.

For his part, the chancellor and leader of Sovereign Valruzia, Krystian Barela, who aspires to be re-elected and end the new term as the second longest-serving chancellor after Szymon Nowik, has asked all parties to show "vision and a willingness to reach agreements that prioritise the interests of all Valruzians", but he has also made it clear that he will not "repeat the mistakes of the past". According to several political analysts, Barela is expected to attempt a radical shift to the left to move closer to the KPW, a former reliable partner of Sovereign Valruzia, and to gain its support along with that of Dignity and Progress in order to form a single-party minority government. Barela's priority position to start negotiating the next government comes thanks to the single seat allocated to the most-voted party in the capital city, which has made de difference and allowed his party to break the seat tie with second-placed Forward Valruzia.

Sovereign Valruzia: 26.34% (+1.07%), 170 seats (+16)

Forward Valruzia: 26.34% (+1.68%), 169 seats (+20)

Communist Party of Valruzia: 18.23% (–3.88%), 117 seats (–17)

Workers' Vanguard: 11.22% (–1.91%), 72 seats (–7)

Our Homeland: 6.84% (–0.11%), 43 seats (+1)

Dignity and Progress: 4.75% (+0.73%), 30 seats (+6)

Valruzian Alliance: 2.87% (–0.30%), 0 seats (–19)

People's Front of Kampania: 2.78% (New), 0 seats (New)

But this has not been the only surprise of the night. For the first time since the democratic transition, no far-right party will be represented in the Sejm, as Valruzian Alliance has fallen below the 3% threshold and therefore has lost all its seats, a shocking result that no poll correctly predicted and that leaves the 70-years old party in a very weak position now, with only a handful of regional representatives in the regional parliaments of Gryfit and Chynberg and three mayoralties in Chynberg. Its newly elected leader, Melchior Tomaski, has acknowledged that the results are "catastrophic" but has refused to resign, claiming that he sitll needs more time to "rebuild the party strength" and will start a nationwide tour to listen more closely to the worries of the "average citizens". 

The third big surprise is the strength shown by the regionalist People's Front of Kampania, who has achieved a 18.2% in the Voivodeship, becoming the second most-voted party just behind the Communist Party of Valruzia, who has fallen below the 30% threshold for the first time in the region. However, this result only accounted for a 2.78% at a nationwide level, meaning they have obtained no representatives in the Sejm. Its leader, founder and newly elected Marshall of Kampania, Valruzia's "Golden Boy" Szczepan Kozak – who has made history after obtaining 57% of the vote over Anton Sajdak, until then marshall of the Voivodeship, thus becoming the very first Marshall of Kampania from outside the Communist Party of Kampania – has taken the opportunity to "showcase the flaws of the current electoral system", as he claimed that despite his party accounting for almost a fifth of all Kampanian voters, those voices "will have no representation in the national parliament because of a "flawed electoral reform that should have never happened". However, the FLK will still have representation at a national level, as its good result has given them 2 of the 10 Kampanian seats in the Parliament of the Regions. 

And the last surprises of the night came from the Marshall elections. Apart from the Kampanian result, which has brought down KPW's last and only stronghold and diminished their strength, the night was good also for Forward Valruzia, as a 7,000-vote difference has made possible the election of the first conservative Marshall of the region, NW's Henryk Dobosz. And in Valusia, the Nowik family makes another breakthrough as the latest of them, Józef Nowik – youngest son of former Chancellor Klaudia Nowik – has been elected as new Marshall of the region.

Now, with three regions at the hands of the conservative Forward Valruzia, one kept by Sovereign Valruzia and one given to the regionalist People's Front of Kampania, parties will start lengthy negotiations to decide who will be the next person to sit at the Marble House for the next five years.