2040 Morranian Presidential Election

The **2040 Morranian Presidential Election** was held on Wednesday January 4, 2040 and was the third quinquennial presidential election under the Republic of Morra. The election was held concurrently with the 2040 Morranian National Assembly Election. Voting took place using a first past the post voting system and an electoral college, before the certification of results by the National Assembly of Morra on January 10, 2035. Former president Kairos Hemlock defeated acting president Peter Koonz, making the election the first in which an incumbent failed to win re-election.

In the five years since the previous presidential election, the political landscape of the Republic of Morra had drastically changed. During President Sunil Bakshi's second term in office, the issue of the Derigo disease epidemic and the government's role in its spread became a key point of division within the nation, resulting in a mass wave of protests against the regime. In an attempt to stem the unrest, President Bakshi had coordinated a parliamentary debate on the issue, which ultimately backfired and resulted in the collapse of his government, as well as the impeachment of vice president Eris Assecla. In February 2039, President Bakshi was assassinated by members of the Venenum terrorist group, beginning a power struggle between newly ascended President Kairos Hemlock and parliamentary speaker Peter Koonz, with Koonz ultimately succeeding in impeaching Hemlock and securing the presidency for himself. In response, Hemlock formed the Democratic Party of the People and secured registration to take part in the 2040 presidential election to regain power.

With political parties required to register for the presidential election by October 1, 2039, two major political campaigns were able to secure places on the ballot paper; the VVD alliance of pro-government parties, and an alliance of left-wing opposition parties which competed under the banner of the "United Opposition". At the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy annual conference, party leader Peter Koonz and deputy party leader Lammert van Raan were nominated for the presidency and vice presidency by their party on June 18, 2039. On July 24, 2039, the United Opposition alliance nominated PvdA leader Wilhelm De Croo and PPM leader Alexander de Croo as their presidential and vice presidential candidates respectively. However, following the impeachment of President Kairos Hemlock and her formation of the Democratic Party of the People, the united opposition changed their nomination to allow Hemlock to stand for the presidency after polling showed her to be the country's most popular politician. The senior politician Fachnan Opus was then chosen as the united opposition's vice presidential candidate.

Following election day on January 4th, 2040, official results were announced on January 6th, 2040 by the independent Morranian Electoral Commission, with DPV securing 19 out of 26 states in a landslide victory despite the institutional bias of the electoral system in favour of the VVD. Following the election of a new National Assembly, Peter Koonz remained in power in a caretaker position despite having lost the election; on January 10, 2040, acting vice president Lammert van Raan presided over the swearing in of new members of the National Assembly after Koonz refused to swear in DPV members. After the inauguration of the new assembly, Speaker Koonz also refused to certify the results of the presidential election, obstructing all efforts to do so. Subsequently, PvdA leader Wilhelm De Croo motioned for an early vote on the speakership to be held on January 11, 2040, which resulted in De Croo being elected as speaker of the National Assembly at the head of a PvdA-DPV-PPM-LPM coalition government. At the same time as taking up the speakership, De Croo became acting president and signed off the required presidential decree to begin the transition between governments. On January 12, 2040, Speaker De Croo presided over the certification of presidential results, and formally confirmed them to be genuine the same evening. On January 20, 2040, Kairos Hemlock was inaugurated to a second term in office as president, whilst Fachnan Opus was inaugurated to the office of vice president. One of the first executive orders signed by President Hemlock was a decree ordering the arrest of Peter Koonz for treason against the republic, which subsequently disqualified him from holding office as a member of the National Assembly, as well as holding office as leader of the VVD; whilst supported by large swathes of the population, the move caused some concern from foreign observers, who saw it as being harmful to the nation's democracy.