2021 Parliamentary Election

372 seats - 187 for a majority

## Background

In 2017 the inflation rate was at 0.50%, in 2018 the inflation rate was at -0.70%. The inflation rate hadn't dropped since 2009 and it was said that the reason for the drop was economic stability and the exit from ANSEC (The Australian-New Zealand-Sheaman Economic Community) and that this had greatly dropped inflation rates and improved people's lives. In 2019 however the inflation rate rose to 0.90%, still very low but was not expected to rise so much. Then in 2020 mostly because of the COVID-19 Pandemic but also because of the war in Greater Lady Duffs the inflation rate rose to 4.20% and in 2021 fell to 3.50%. Another reason for the economic struggle was most likely a cause of ANSEC EXIT. After leaving ANSEC the economy grew and inflation rates dropped however after two or possible up to three years it led to the economy starting to crash and inflation rates rising.

The 2nd L'Doufean war in Sheaman was said to have been poorly handled by Prime Minister Hazel Willow who was said to have infuriated L'Doufean, Lord Jean Caddam who decided to call off the 6 years armistice in July 2019 and led to the continuation of the war. A new armistice was signed in March 2020 with a sigh of relief from both sides as the COVID-19 Pandemic had crippled the nation and both sides agreed to an armistice because of that.

Hazel Willow was Prime Minister from March 2014 - February 2021 and she faced a leadership election in January 2021 and won the leadership election with 55% of the membership vote. The said after the vote that she would continue on as Prime Minister and serve the country but only a month later she resigned. This resignation was said to have come at the worst possible time with the next general election due by the 31st of March 2021 meaning there had to a new Prime Minister and a new cabinet very soon. A leadership election was held between the 15th and the 20th of February 2021 and it ended up with Jarl Novechaevar being elected as leader of the Conservative & Unionist Party and Prime Minister. The C&U was facing a bad election that next month and polls predicted that P&D would receive more seats than the C&U party.

## Campaign

All of the parties campaigned excessively for this election as it was the first election that saw another party (P&D) being the top party in opinion polls and miles ahead of C&U. S&L was also another party that had seriously risen since the last election in the polls and had became a serious contender in the election since the 1950s.

### Policy Positions

#### 2nd Tedusian War & Military

The C&U Party claimed that they had continued to keep the peace and managed to keep the war at peace for 6 years and managed to sign armistice in March last year. They said that they had handled the situation much better than any other party could and that a conservative leadership showed strength and power. Jarl Novechaevar also sad that the party would promise to continue the war effort until the L'Doufean government surrenders and they would deliver harsh punishments to the government to ensure that no war like this would happen again. The C&U party said that only strong right-wing leaders can keep a nation from disaster and that the war would've been worse without the high GDP spending in the military. The current GDP spending for the military was 4% since the February 2021 which was a rise of 0.1% since the last. However, the C&U party promised to rise the spending to 4.5% of the GDP and claiming it would greatly improve their handling of the war effort in Greater Lady Duff's.

P&D said that the war in Greater Lady Duffs was completely unnecessary and claimed that the C&U party were just prolonging the war by saying they want to continue it and fight them. They claimed that it had already costed so many lives and killed so many people who didn't deserve it. P&D blamed the C&U for killing so many people and being aggressive rather than peaceful and said that if they were elected that they would put and end to the war in Greater Lady Duff's and finally end the killing of so many people. They wanted to maintain the current military budget until January 2022 or until the war ended and decrease it to 2.5% of the GDP.

S&L said that they intended to end the war immediately and offer the L'Doufean government a constitutional grant to a referendum on independence that would be monitored and controlled by the Sheaman government to ensure a free and fair referendum happens. If the the people of Greater Lady Duffs wanted independence then they would agree to make Greater Lady Duff's and independent country. if they said no to independence then negotiations would take place to bring the state back into national elections. S&L wanted to immediately bring down the Military spending to 2% of the GDP.

The C&U party said that they wanted to decrease the taxes for all tax bands by 2.5% and to increase personal allowance from £32,499SH to £34,999SH. This was seen as a really good offer from the C&U party that led them to rise slightly in the polls but P&D then decided to offer a 5% cut of taxes for the Minimum rate and Medium rate and 2.5% for the Higher Rate. S&L promised a 1.5% cut of taxes for all tax bands and to increase personal allowance from £32,499SH to £36,999SH

#### Young Prime Minister

Most of the parties in the election claimed that the current Prime minister, Jarl Novechaevar was too young and inexperienced at the age of 31 and said that an older more experienced and more mature leader would be best suited for the nation an also claimed that he would turn out being very reckless and aggressive if he were allowed to stay in government.

#### Inflation & Tax

In 2019 the inflation rate was at 0.9%, then in 2020 rose massively to 4.2% and then stay high in 2021 at 3.5%. P&D, NG and SOCS all said that the C&U party failed to keep the economy on track and that they had massively increased inflation rates that hadn't been seen since 2010 and that if they were to continue increasing then a recession would happen and happen soon. The current tax bands for 2021 are Minimum Rate - 15% (£32,500SH or £13,000 GBP), Medium Rate - 30% (£87,500SH or £35,000 GBP), Higher Rate - 40% (£150,000SH or £60,000 GBP), Additional Rate - 45% (£300,000SH or £120,000 GBP) and Wealthiest Rate - 50% (£750,000SH or £300,000 GBP).

#### SNHS Pay Rise

In 2021 the average SNHS nurse was paid £75,000SH or £30,000 which P&D considered an "atrocious" amount of pay for those saving lives and treating million a year. P&D not only wanted to give nurses a pay rise of £5,000SH but they also wanted to increase spending on the SNHS. Callum Novechaevar, Vice Prime Minister, said that in these tough times people have to make tough decisions financially and there is a point where the government needs to focus on the economy getting back on track rather than immediate pay rises in SNHS nurses. S&L wanted to increase spending on the SNHS and wanted to give SNHS Nurses a pay rise of £3,000SH

#### Drugs

In 2019 the percentage of crimes that were drug crimes was at 8% but in 2020 it rose to 12% due to the COVID-19 Pandemic and its effects on people's lives leading to more drugs and unhappiness. And so far in early 2021 drug crimes had risen to 13%. The C&U party said that they wanted to increase funding for people with drug problems and mental health issues as well as increases jail sentences for drug crimes from 8 years to 12 years for Class A drugs. They then wanted to increase Class B drugs jail sentences from 4 years to 7 years and class C drugs from 1 year to 4 years for the possession of illegal drugs. They also wanted to increase prison sentences for crimes related to supply and production. They wanted to increase Class A drugs from 20 years in prison to 25 years in prison, class B drugs from 10 years in prison to 15 years in prison and Class C drugs from 8 years in prison to 12 years in prison.

## Results

Although polls had long predicted a P&D victory under an S&L coalition it instead ended up being a C&U victory under an S&L coalition. S&L made a gain of 8 seats in the election, although they were predicted to win around 45-55 seats they ended up with only 28. S&L Leader, Susan Monroe, claimed this as a victory for S&L and that this would only mean further success for the party in the future. The C&U party claimed that they had done what no party could've by completely destroying the polls and outmatching their opponent (P&D) and that a strong Conservative government would continue to prosper in government for another four years. P&D said that the polls were not taking into count more old voters and that it didn't give sufficient data for the election results. Luthando Kuran also claimed that many L'Doufeans had cast illegal ballots when they weren't allowed to vote. It's estimated that around 30-60,000 L'Doufeans had illegally voted under fake names and registering in another state. These findings turned out to be true but inevitable would've not completely changed the face of the election results.

## Aftermath

After the results of the election both P&D and the C&U party scrambled to create a coalition that would take power. P&D initially entered into coalition talks with S&L, SOCS, NG, and LD but S&L was not willing to be in a coalition with SOCS because of their history of ruining the country and being to left-wing so they opted out of the coalition talks quickly. After that news the C&U party made a swift attempt to ease S&L into a coalition with them. S&L agreed to coalition talks under the conditions that A - Susan Monroe would become Deputy Prime Minister B - S&L would hold 50% of cabinet positions. They also wanted to incorporate some of their policies such as; taking the S&L tax cut plans and agreeing to increase Nurse wages and increase spending on the SNHS. The C&U party agreed to those terms but tweaked the cabinet positions to 25% which S&L eventually agreed to. The C&U - S&L Coalition was finalized on the 1st of April 2021 and a government was formed.