Election Night: First Round Results Analysis

What a spectacular election night! The Social Democrats have lost their parliamentary majority, though they still retain a plurality, and, for the first time since February 2020, the presidential election will be heading into a second round, between the top two candidates, the SDP's GeorgeChambers and the DNP's TylerHarris.

In this article, I will analyse tonight's election results, the new composition of the Parliament and its future over the next few months, what the results mean for each party, as well as what tonight's results tell us about tomorrow's second round of the presidential election.

Let's start with the parliamentary elections. Tonight was a so-so night for the Social Democrats; the SDP, in fact, with these parliamentary election results, might have finally gotten what they were looking for. They were tired of the last few months of being the almost unchallenged force in Demarcian politics, and they knew very well how bad it makes them seem, as well as how bad for democracy it is that there is barely any opposition to their agenda present in Parliament.

Now, the opposition to the Social Democrats has finally been revived, and Demarcia has entered an era of three-party politics. The next three months in Parliament will be dominated by clashes between the three major parties of Demarcian politics, all three now being in Parliament and having decent representation; the SDP having 4 MPs and the DNP and Greens each having 2 MPs.

The next president, be it GeorgeChambers or be it TylerHarris, might face a hard time passing their agenda, given that no party controls a majority. Perhaps the new governing party will have to make arrangements with opposition parties in order to gain their support for certain motions; perhaps, even, two of the parties might consider uniting to form a coalition. Nobody knows for certain; but there are so many possibilities right now thanks to this situation our politics finds itself in.

The Demarcian National Party, regardless of whether they in the end win the presidency or not, had a spectacular night. They have officially been revived as a force in Demarcian politics, after half a year of complete absence, and as a result of their revival, the opposition to the Social Democrats in general has been revived and reinvigorated. TylerHarris now faces the challenge of mounting a formidable opposition to the Social Democratic policies in Parliament, if GeorgeChambers becomes president, and if TylerHarris becomes president instead, he has the challenge of getting his policies through historically divided Parliament.

The Green Party had nothing short of a disaster. While they gained one seat in Parliament thanks to having more than just one or two candidates this time, they dropped in their vote percentage, they failed to get into the second round of the presidential election, and their party's image is now tainted by a bigotry scandal and military coup threats scandal. However, the Greens are in a very unique position now - they are set to be a major kingmaker in the Demarcian Parliament, and are already a kingmaker right now, with the second round of the elections about to take place.

Already, the Social Democrats have noticed the Green Party's kingmaker role and are appealing to their voters and making massive policy concessions. Their announced policies include; building a new airbase, massively improving the current army base, increasing all Environmental Protection Act fines by at least 25%, coordinating nuclear energy, and its research and improvement, with the Greens, as well as establishing a Press Secretary position.

It remains to be seen whether the Greens will be convinced by the Social Democrats' overtures - especially given how the relations between the two parties have become frosty recently over the scandals that had occurred. However, both parties have expressed openness towards cooperation and the Greens are said to be listening to the overtures of the Social Democrats, and are expecting overtures from the DNP as well.

The overall trend of the country following this election seems to be a return to a more balanced politics, where the Government doesn't control the nearly entire Parliament, and where there are three parties with various different ideas and views. This election resulted in a massive decline of the Social Democratic vote, though it still remains the most popular party. The DNP has been revived and the Greens have been relegated to third party status, but have survived this election.

The next three months in our politics will be very, very exciting, and at times probably very dramatic. We are only about to find out just how dramatic.

Laura Cooper,

Demarcian Inquirer.