ULC leadership election, 573AER

The United Left Coalition leadership election of 573AER was a snap leadership election, called by Alberto Garzón, as he wanted to see how popular he was within the party and get a Deputy Leader, General-Secretary and a Press Secretary elected. 
== Electoral System ==
The members of the party go to the party headquarters, in which the main lobby is turned into a polling station for a day. Because the party members are also voting for their faction's leader, they are required to show their party membership card. The members are given a ballot paper with their faction's name on top of it and the list of candidates. The members then go into a private ballot box to tick the candidate they are voting for, fold it up and put it in a box at the registration desk. The results would later be counted up by the party's electoral monitor, currently consisting of 3 members. 
Candidates are to recieve 50% of the vote to become party leader, 25% of the vote to become deputy leader, 15% to become general-secretary and 5% of the vote to become the Press Secretary (sometimes referred to as Party Spokesperson)
The party rules say that a leadership election is to be held every 12 years at the most. A party leader is only allowed to serve a maximum of 36 years as party leader. After their 36 years are up, they are requested to resign and a new leader will be elected. 
== Candidates ==
The nominees, who are nominated by the party leader and electoral monitor from the most active members of the party, have to collect signatures from 1% of the party to run for leadership. The leader and electoral monitor are required to nominate at least 2 other candidates to run for the leadership. In this leadership election, 6 nominees received signatures from 3 members. 6 other nominees were selected but did not receive the required amount of signatures. Here are the short descriptions of the party members:
# Alberto Garzón, Communist candidate. born to a cafe owner in 541AER, founder of United Left. 
# Cayo Lara, Communist candidate. Friends and former neighbour to Alberto Garzón. He was one of few people who protested alongside him before the party was formed. 
# Naffaroako Batua, Socialist candidate. Born in 535AER. Met with Alberto Garzón as a child in 553AER, as her and Alberto's father became good friends. 
# Dolores Ibárruri, friend to Alberto Garzón's maternal grandmother. She helped his father raise him after the death of his mother.
# Christian Picquet, Democratic Socialist candidate. Met with Garzón in 571AER during a protest in Poliqen. 
# Barbara Nowacka, Social Democratic candidate. Moved to Zarantin from Orebro in 568AER to work for Garzón's father. 
== Results ==
Alberto Garzón was re-elected leader of the ULC.
Candidate 	Popular Vote	Percentage
Alberto Garzón 	226 	75.3%
Cayo Lara 	42 	14%
Naffaroako Batua 	9 	3%
Dolores Ibárruri 	8 	2.7%
Christian Picquet	8 	2.7
Barbara Nowacka 	5 	1.7%
== Aftermath ==
Alberto Garzón had won the leadership election with 226 votes. A deputy leader or a general-secretary was not elected, but Cayo Lara was elected as the Press Secretary of United Left.
=== Factions ===
Alberto Garzón is elected as leader of the Social Democrats, Democratic Socialists, Communists and Socialists. Cayo Lara is elected as leader of the Eco-Socialists, Green Politicians and Trade Unionists. Both Garzón and Lara formed their factions into the 1st and 2nd Committees of United Left.
Category:The Imperial Constitution