June 3019 Wiltshire Legislative Elections

Last Election (April 3019 Wiltshire Legislative Elections), Next Election (September 3019 Wiltshire Legislative Elections)

The **June 3019 Wiltshire Legislative Elections** were held on Thursday June 13, 3019 and elected the third Wiltshire Provincial Assembly. This election was the first to feature the Mixed-Member proportional electoral system and saw the Provincial Assembly increase to 120 seats.

The Labour Party had been in power in Wiltshire since the last election (April 3019 Wiltshire Legislative Elections) and was seeking re-election. The Labour leader, Rita Smith, had been Director the Labour's entire tenure in office and was behind many reforms such as the switch to MMP and increased economic activity. Labour faced a real challenge because of the economy's stagnation in the past quarter.

The biggest challenge came from Wiltshire First and their leader, Bernard Canterbury. Canterbury had led Wiltshire First for less than two months but had turned the party into a strong electoral force. Opinion polls showed them replacing the Conservative Party (Wiltshire) as the major right of centre political party. In addition, this was the first election where 16 and 17 year olds will be granted the right to vote.

## Electoral System

This election was under the MMP system and so, for the first time ever, Wiltshirians got two votes. The first vote is an electorate vote. These votes determined the District Representatives in the 60 districts across Wiltshire. This election was held in the exact same way as previous elections (FPTP). However, the second vote (called the Party Vote) elected the remaining 60 members based on the party list. These seats were granted proportionally to the amount of the party vote a party has won. The party leader who is able to obtain a majority of the support in the assembly will become the Director.

### **Voter eligibility**

To vote in the legislative elections, one had to be;

* on the Electoral Register
* aged 16 or over on polling day
* a Novanite Citizen resident in the Province
* not legally excluded from voting (for example, a convicted person detained in prison or mental hospital)

Individuals had to be registered to vote by midnight six days before the election (7th June). You could only register to vote in one district, and people with multiple homes were advised to pick their primary residence.

## Date of the Election

The date of the election sparked some controversy in Wiltshire. Director Rita Smith announced the date of the election on May 20th. Conservative and Socialist leaders both called this a 'political stunt' and argued that the people had only recently voted. They argued that because there was a stable government, there shouldn't have been an election a month earlier than the deadline.

However, the Elections Act of 3015 did give the government the authority to decide when an election is called. Although, Director Rita Smith and Wiltshire First leader Bernard Canterbury had both said that they favour increasing the term of the Assembly to 4 or 5 months. Many are calling for a 6 month term (to mirror the federal Presidential elections).

## Political Groups and Leaders

The order of parties in this list are based on their results in the election (by seat number).

### **The Labour Party**

The Labour Party was the ruling political party in Wiltshire and was first elected in April 3019 Wiltshire Legislative Elections. Labour was led by incumbent Director Rita Smith. Labour is a left of centre political party that was elected based on worker's rights advocacy and economic protections. Many feared a recession and Labour's economic policies have been argued to be a steadying force for the markets.

Labour was in coalition with the Socialist Party and is pro-Novanite.

### **Wiltshire First**

The Wiltshire First Party is a political party formed in 3017 to combat the rising Socialism of Frank Eddington is a nationalist political party that operates within Wiltshire. In the past the party has been far-right. But, now under the leadership of Bernard Canterbury, they are considered more of a nationalist party than a far-right one and is anti-Novanite.

### **Liberal Alliance**

The Liberal Alliance Party is a centrist political party that operates within Wiltshire and is anti-Novanite. As well as this, they are pro universal healthcare. Despite their economic centrism, they have a policy of social Libertarianism. The Liberal Alliance is currently led by Lucy Hobbs.

### **The Green Party**

The Green Party is a left-wing environmental party that is anti-Novanite (because of their pro-capitalistic ideals). The Green Party is led by Don Halloway.

### **The Communist Party**

The Communist and Social Order Party is one of the oldest third parties in Wiltshire. They are in favour of a 'complete economic revolution' and favours a change to a communist system of government. Despite being Communist the party denies being authoritarian. However, they do call for a 'social' revolution as well.

The Communist Party was led by Walton Baker.

### **The Socialist Party**

The Socialist Party is no longer the party of Frank Eddington. The Socialist Party has distanced itself from Eddington to become a centrist political party that is pro-Novanite. They were in coalition with the Labour Party. However, despite now being considered a centrist party, the party is still very strongly in favour of universal healthcare and has said that they will champion it in government with or without Labour.

The Socialist Party was led by Deputy Director Harry Melbourne.

### **The Conservative Party**

The Conservative Party was the official opposition party in Wiltshire and came second to Rita Smith's Labour Party in April 3019. Prior to that election, the Conservative Party was in government under Samantha Schrӧder. The Party was led by Dylan Rowlands and is anti-Novanite.

However, the party is very pro-capitalist and pro-business. The party is in favour of trickle down economics and lower taxes.

## Incumbent Assembly

Because of the Proportional Representation Act (which switched the election to the Mixed Member Proportional electoral system and lowered the voting age to 16) the Wiltshire Provincial Assembly was increased to 120 members on the 1st of June, 3019. The proportion of seats that parties had before the change was kept the same as after. Here was the make up of the Assembly before the election.

#### **Government**

* The Labour Party (42 seats) (Light red)
* The Socialist Party (19 seats) (Dark red)

#### **Official Opposition**

* The Conservative Party (28 seats) (Blue)

#### **Other Opposition**

* The Communist Party (9 seats) (Lime green)
* Wiltshire First (7 seats) (Dark Grey)
* The Liberal Alliance (6 seats) (Orange)
* The Green Party (3 seats) (Dark green)
* Independents (6 seats) (Light grey)

## Results

Here are the final results of the election according to the Federal Elections Commission.

### **Resulting Government**

Following the election, the Wiltshire First Party formed a formal coalition with the Liberal Alliance Party and the Green Party to form the National Coalition, led by Fillmore Grey.