Valruzia

[Aethan]

5705 elections: Losses for all big parties as smaller parties become key

Big gains for the new Socialdemocratic–Agrarian Party as the People's Front of Kampania makes its way to the national parliament

January 5705

Szczepan Kozak (left) and Klara Zabielska (right) are the biggest winners of the night

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Forward Valruzia, the country's major center–right party, has something to celebrate: they have become the major force in Valruzian politics for the first time in its history, the first conservative party in the nation to become the biggest party and the first time that a party different from Sovereign Valruzia or the Communist Party of Valruzia wins a national election. But there's not much else to celebrate, as some senior officials say after the results of the 5705 Valruzian elections have been completed. Despite this cornerstone for the conservative party, it has lost seats for the first time in over twenty years, coincidentally after its longtime leader, Fryderyk Konik, stepped down and announced that it would not lead the party towards this election. Forward Valruzia has won the first position in the elections, but only because Sovereign Valruzia, the party of current Chancellor Krystian Barela, has suffered a heavier blow, losing 2.6% of its vote and more than 20 seats. The Communist Party of Valruzia, for its part, has continued its downward trend, reaching a new low of 17.37% and 108 seats, its second-worst result only behind that of the constituent elections in 5626. 

All in all, this is the first time that Valruzia's three largest parties have suffered a loss in both seats and votes in a national election. But this is also the first time since the democratic transition that the combined result of the three parties (NW, SW and KPW) falls below the 70% threshold, a shocking result for a nation that, since 5630, has been accustomed to see the three parties collecting over 80% of the aggregated vote. 

Apart from them, the far-right of Valruzian Alliance has failed, for the second time in a row to gain representation, triggering the party into an already existing deep crisis, while the conservative communists of Workers' Vanguard and the Yeudi-based party of Our Homeland have both also lost votes and seats. 

There are only two real winners of the electoral night: the newly born Socialdemocratic–Agrarian Party, formed after the agreement between the socialdemocratic Dignity and Progress and the agrarists of Agrarian Voice; and the regionalists of People's Front of Kampania, who have succeeded in surpassing the 3% electoral threshold nationwide only by contesting the elections in the Kampanian Voivodeship, a major feat for the party.

Forward Valruzia: 25.67% (–0.67%), 159 seats (–10)

Sovereign Valruzia: 23.76% (–2.58%), 148 seats (–22)

Communist Party of Valruzia: 17.37% (–0.86%), 108 seats (–9)

Socialdemocratic–Agrarian Party: 13.08% (+8.33%), 81 seats (+51)

Workers' Vanguard: 8.29% (–2.93%), 51 seats (–21)

Our Homeland: 5.80% (–1.04%), 36 seats (–7)

People's Front of Kampania: 3.01% (+0.23%), 18 seats (+18)

"Golden Boy" athlete-turned-politician Szczepan Kozak, reelected Marshall of the Kampanian Voivodeship and founder and leader of the People's Front of Kampania, appeared euphoric before the media and the supporters gathered in the party's headquarters once the results were final and his party had achieved 3.01% of the votes, practically at the threshold of representation that grants seats to parties that obtain at least 3% of the votes nationally following the latest electoral reform.

"Thanks to the more than 3 million citizens of Kampania who have placed their trust in us, almost 21% of the citizens who turned out to vote and who have made us the second regional force, just 5 points behind the party that won the elections in the region, we have ensured that our voice, the voice of the citizens of our region, will be heard in the Sejm. And I guarantee you that they will listen to us. Anyone who needs our votes will have to listen to the demands of our region."

The electoral result of the FLK may now rise questions about the viability of more regional parties, especially in those Voivodeships with the biggest population share such as Valusia or Ruzia and which will therefore require a much lower share of votes at local level to gain representation. However, other political experts argue that the FLK's popular support might be a niche cause in the Kampanian Voivodeship, and whose model cannot be easily translated to other Valruzian regions.

For the Socialdemocratic–Agrarian Party, born just four years ago thanks to the merge of Dignity and Progress and Agrarian Voice, tonight has been a "remarkable night". According to its recently elected leader, Klara Zabielska, the result shows that there is "a big space for a moderate, progressist alternative voice in Valruzian politics to channel both the requirements of the countryside and the urban population eager for sensitive, leftist policies to benefit everyone in our nation". With 81 seats, the party has become the fourth largest party in the Sejm, including the third largest party in both Chynberg – Valruzia's most rural region – and Valusia – Valruzia's most populated Voivodeship – and will therefore become now a leading voice in Valruzian politics, a result that its predecessor, Dignity and Progress, could only dream of. 

Now, negotiations to form the next government are shaping up to be the most difficult in a long time, given that since election night the new leader of Forward Valruzia, Kondrad Sekula, has claimed his right to form a government as the leading electoral force, although no other political party seems willing to give him their votes to become the new Chancellor. The current chancellor, Krystian Barela, has also hinted at the possibility of being re-elected to the post, which would make him Valruzia's second longest-serving head of government at the end of the legislative term, although his current allies, the KPW and, above all, the Socialdemocratic-Agrarian Party, do not seem very keen on the idea, and some internal sources suggest that there is such a degree of discontent with Krystian Barela and his Forward Valruzia government two legislatures ago that they could demand Sovereign Valruzia its leader's head as a bargaining chip to approve another candidate from the party as the new chancellor.