2023 Shea Chamber of Deputies Election

312 seats - 157 for a majority

The 2023 Shea Chamber of Deputies Election took place on the 14th of October 2023 to elect 312 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. The election saw the 2nd Alternative Government come into jeopardy after the Conservative Populist Party Won 73 seats in the Chamber, 23.12% of the popular vote, and the most amount of seats. This gave the Conservative Populist Party the power to form a government after President, Nikolas Reverend, approved of Christopher Shaw forming a government. Shaw negotiated with parties in late October and Early November until coming to an agreement between UNITED, UDEM, and MOV, on the 6th of November and entering government on the 11th of November 2023 with Shaw as First Minister.

The election was the first to see a revised electoral system since the foundation of the system in 1999. The system saw the seat counts shuffled around due to major population changes since 1999. The electoral region of Beatrice lost one seat, going from 100 seats to 99 seats, the electoral region of Shantahein gained nine seats, going from 91 seats to 100 seats, the electoral region of Theo & Barnova lost three seats, going from 48 seats to 45 seats, and the electoral region of Athudul lost five seats, going from 73 seats to 68 seats.

The incumbent government sought to win the election through divided ideals. Alternative leader and Prime Minister, Ashton Eline, intended to win the election via pushing for more radical and progressive policies, leading to some calling him and "ultra-progressive." His campaign was largely frowned upon by the right-wing media and moderate-left media, leading to many left-wing voters expressing their newly found admiration of Democratic Labor. Democratic Labor continued their progressive agenda but were notably not as progressive as Alternative during this year's election campaign which is unusual as Democratic Labor is traditionally more progressive. Christopher Shaw, leader of Conservative Populist, decided to take a more moderate approach to the election, hoping to secure moderate and left-leaning voters by using the campaign slogan "preserve what needs to be preserved." His slogan has proved successful and many tossup voters expressed their interest in voting for Conservative Populist. Shaw has been seen as a valiant political figure in Shea who has being successful in uniting his party and the right-wing parties in an attempt to win a clean victory.

The election results led to Conservative Populist winning the most seats, winning 73 seats in total. Alternative and Democratic Labor split most of their voters with Alternative winning 57 seats and Democratic Labor winning 49 seats. Democratic Labor even barely won more voters in the electoral region of Beatrice, winning 17.84% of votes compared to Alternative's 17.37% of votes. United Liberal saw a great victory, winning 37 seats in the Chamber and giving the party their third best election result ever. A new party called United Democracy blasted into the polls in early 2023 and consistently held up until election night. United Democracy won 32 seats, earning them 5th place. National won 26 seats, a notable increase from 2023 and a hopeful uprising for the party. New Left won 22 seat, a decrease of twelve seats from the 2023 election but is still a good result for the party. Movement won the least amount of seats at 16, becoming the party's worst election result ever. This election has been seen as a disgrace for left-wing parties, most notably New Left and Alternative. Many political commentator, Andrew Dale, has noted that the 1st Alternative Government was elected for nine years, the 1st Conservative Populist Government was elected for twelve years, but the 2nd Alternative Government was only elected for three years. Andrew Dale noted that United Democracy was not willing to work with National or New Left, meaning that the possibility of a left-wing government has been ruled out.

After winning the most seats, leader of Conservative Populist, Christopher Shaw, was invited to form a government by President, Nikolas Reverend on the 19th of October 2023. Shaw begun his first meeting with United Democracy on the 20th of October 2023, which led to a "successful" meeting between the two parties according to Shaw himself as well as positive indications from the leader of United Democracy, Caleb Monroe. Talks continued throughout October between individual parties and it wasn't until the 1st of November that Shaw organised a meetings between COP, UNITED, MOV, and UDEM. After countless meetings, the four parties agreed to form a government after signing into a coalition on the 6th of November 2023. The government was formalised on the 11th of November 2023 and the four parties entered government the same day. Christopher Shaw became First Minister and Caleb Monroe became Second Minister. The government holds 158 out of 350 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, giving them a +1 majority government.

## Background

The 2020 Shea Chamber of Deputies Election was the best election result ever for Alternative and New Left and the 3rd best election result ever for Democratic Labor. The election was record-breaking and a massively successful comeback for the left-wing parties. New Left, Alternative, and Democratic Labor, would go on to form a majority government and enter government on the 2nd of December 2023 after lengthy discussions. The 2nd Left-Wing government would have 188 seats in the Chamber of Deputies which was a +31 majority.

The 2nd Left-Wing Government set a much more left-wing and progressive focus on their term in government, hoping to reverse many changes that the 1st Right-Wing Government had implemented as well as introducing new left-wing/progressive policies. One of the first acts that they introduced was the Unemployment Benefits 2020 that introduced unemployment benefits for those who have been actively seeking employment for over a year. Another early act that the government passed called the Equal Marriage Act 2021 that was undoubtably the most important act in the country for LGBTQ+ rights and human rights since the Protection of Marriage Act 2010. The Equal Marriages & Unions Act 2006 legalized civil unions and marriages for same-sex couples but the act was changed when the Protection of Marriage Act 2010 recriminalized same-sex marriages but allowed civil unions. The Equal Marriage Act 2021 once again legalized same-sex marriages in Shea and was generally supported by the public who were becoming more LGBTQ+ accepting.

The Public Transport Benefits Act 2021 that gave anyone over 60 or between the ages of 12 and 20 free public transport. The Death Penalty Act 2021 removed the death penalty as a form of capital punishment. The Child Benefits Act 2022 amended the Child Benefits Act 2003 by allowing child benefits for the working bracket and low middle bracket tax rates. The Free School Meals Act 2022 gave all primary schools children free meals and gave low-income families who had a child in secondary school free school meals. The last major act by the government was the Maternity & Paternity Leave Act 2023 that increased fully-paid maternity leave to 12 months, 6 months of half-paid maternity leave, and 12 months of unpaid maternity leave (two and a half years in total). The act also introduced paternity leave for male parents, giving 6 months of fully-paid paternity leave, 3 months of half-paid paternity leave, 3 months of quarter-paid maternity leave, and 6 months of unpaid maternity leave (one and a half years in total.)

Many acts by the 1st Left Wing Government were deemed very progressive and left-wing by right wing and some centrists media. Along with Ashton Eline's plans for the government's 2nd term that would involve more radical policies, polling for both Alternative and New Left began dropping. The right slowly gained more and more traction throughout 2022 and 2023 until they were seriously contending the upcoming election. On the 18th of June 2023, Prime Minister, Ashton Eline, set the 14th of October 2023 as the date for the 2023 Shea Chamber of Deputies Election.

## Electoral System

Shea's electoral system is proportional representation with four electoral regions that include: Beatrice, Shantahein, Theo & Barnova, and Athudul. The regions will see changes in their seats as just recently in 2020 Shantahein surpassed Beatrice in population leading to the government to request a new change in seats. Beatrice used to 100 seats but will now have 99, Shantahein used to have 91 but will now have 100, Theo used to have 48 but will now have 48, and Athudul used to have 73 but will now have 68.

## Campaigning

### Left Campaign

Alternative has already released their manifesto for the election which includes: allowing abortions until the 30th week, reintroducing the inheritance tax, allowing same-sex marriage in religious venues, decreasing the voting age from 20 to 18, relaxing immigration laws, and introducing hate speech laws. Alternative's leader, Ashton Eline, has been described as an "ultra-progressive" and "ultra-radical" by Joseph Jameson - a very well-known conservative political commentator. Eline is quite young for a politician at 46 years old and his policies have been linked to his age and his upbringing in a working class family. New Left has prioritized renationalizing the Shea News Corporation, creating a state health service, and decreasing the number of private schools in the country. Democratic Labor has prioritized allowing same-sex marriages in religious venues, relaxing immigration laws, lowering the voting age to 18, allowing abortion up to the 30th week of pregnancy, and legalizing prostitution with regulations.

### Moderate Campaign

Movement has given a vague idea of what they want if they are in government that includes restricting abortion even further, promoting family values, restricting the use of guns among citizens, and increasing immigrant quotas. United Democracy has taken a more progressive approach on social issues, pushing for allowing abortions until the 30th week of pregnancy, legalizing prostitution, lowering the voting age to 18, allowing same-sex marriages in religious venues, relaxing immigration laws and border security, recognize transgender people, and legalize cannabis. United Democracy's social issues have been seen as even more progressive than Eline's campaign and many hard left and right-wing news outlets warned people about voting for the party and the consequences of doing so. United Democracy has, however, promised to cut back on state pensions and child benefits, only allowing child benefits for those in the working bracket, and denationalizing the energy sector.

### Right Campaign

Christopher Shaw, the leader of the Conservative Populists, proposed a less threatening set of policies compared to his predecessor in the 2020 election. Shaw has stated that he intends not to change abortion law and that conservatives should focus on "moving forward" and to not to "conserve everything." Shaw has stated that he wants to decrease funding healthcare and social services by removing some programs and instead transport most of that funding to the military. Shaw has also stated his intention to demilitarize harbors and airports, increase immigration quotas if COVID-19 cases remain low, start up a program for immigrants to learn English, and reverse the Natural Resources Act 2005. United Liberal has promised to denationalize the energy sector, increase immigration quotas, tighten border security, cut some welfare programs, criminalize same-sex marriages, introduce a free speech law to allow all forms of free speech, and scrap free school meals. National wants to criminalize same-sex marriages and civil unions, ban same-sex adoption, scrap unemployment benefits, reintroduce the death penalty, scrap paternity leave and decrease maternity leave pay, and only allow LGBT people in the military if they come out.

## Results

Main Article: *2023 Shea Chamber of Deputies Election Results*

## Aftermath

Conservative Populist won the most seats in the election at 73 and so, on the 19th of October 2023, President, Nikolas Reverend, invited the leader of the Conservative Populist Party, Christopher Shaw, to form a government.

Shaw begun negotiations to form a coalition on the 20th of October 2023 between his party and United Democracy. Shaw and United Democracy leader, Caleb Monroe, came out of the meeting with high hopes, with Shaw remarking that the meeting was "successful" and Caleb Monroe indicated that it was successful as well. Further meetings on the 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 27th, and 30th of October between United Democracy, Movement, and United Liberal, were either somewhat successful or very successful.

COP, UNITED, MOV, and UDEM, finally came together for the first time to discuss a coalition between the parties and although the first meeting was reported to be a disaster, the second, on the 3rd of November, was a major success. Two more meetings were held on the 4th and 6th of November to "seal the deal" according to leader of Movement, Andy Kirkson. The 6th of November meeting finally sealed the deal after all four parties agreed to enter into a coalition. The coalition would hold 158 out of the 350 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and would give them a +! majority government. Chrsitopher Shaw said that the coalition talks were the party's most successful coalition talks ever.

On the 11th of November 2023, Christopher Shaw became First Minister alongside Caleb Monroe and Second Minister.