2036 Morranian National Assembly Election

The **2036 Morranian National Assembly Election** was held on Wednesday November 12, 2036 and was held to elect the 4th National Assembly of Morra, marking the third occasion that all 300 seats in the legislature had been up for election. The 2036 election was the first time that a snap election had been held, and the first time in 6 years that a National Congress had not lasted it's full five year term. The election also marked the first time that the governing People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) lost control over the National Assembly of Morra. Turnout was 86%, with 26,522,415 ballots being cast in the election.

On August 29, 2036, 18 months into the term of the 3rd National Assembly of Morra, Speaker Peter Illich was arrested by the Morranian police force on charges of forced entry and attempted homicide after attempting to murder a political opponent; despite this arrest, Illich claimed legal impunity from criminal charges due to his position as speaker. In response, mass protests were sparked across Morra, demanding Illich's resignation and further arrest. In the evening of September 16, 2036, President Sunil Bakshi made a televised address stating that Illich had been removed from his leadership of the VVD and subsequently his position as Speaker of the National Assembly; in Illich's place, Vice President Eris Assecla became acting leader of the VVD until a new leader could be elected, whilst former Corporate Union leader Frank Wassenberg became acting speaker. On October 1, 2036, Wassenberg was elected as leader of the VVD and was appointed as speaker by the National Assembly in the same day.

In an attempt to pacify political unrest and to prove that the VVD-led coalition still had the consent of the public to govern, Speaker Frank Wassenberg formally dissolved the National Assembly on October 29, 2036, marking the first time a snap election had been called in the legislature's history. During the election campaign, the Pvda, Progressive Party, DENK and the Liberal Party produced a joint "*United Opposition Coalition*" manifesto designed to outline what the opposition-led government would achieve if they gained a majority of seats in the legislative branch. Several opposition leaders accused the VVD of attempting to take advantage of the short campaigning time to force an advantage in the election results.

In order to be eligible to receive seats in the National Assembly, political parties and independent candidates were required to register with the central government by November 2, 2036. In order to be elected to the National Assembly, political parties and independent candidates must be registered with the civil service. Following the election, the political party will be given a percentage of seats in the chamber, rounded to the nearest whole number, proportional to the percentage of overall valid votes cast for the party. After the results are known, independent candidates are placed onto a *de-facto* party list in ranking of total votes cast, and the remaining vacant seats are allocated to independent candidates in the order of highest to lowest vote share until all seats in the National Assembly are taken.

On November 17, 2036, the results of the National Assembly election were made public by the Morranian Electoral Commission, with the VVD receiving 96 seats, the PvdA receiving 75, the APA receiving 41, the Progressive party receiving 37, DENK receiving 26, the New Party receiving 10, the Liberal Party receiving 8 and independent candidates gaining 9 seats; the election marked the first time in Morranian history that opposition parties gained a majority in the National Assembly. On November 19, 2036, newly elected members of the National Assembly of Morra were formally sworn into office by speaker Frank Wassenberg. In the evening of November 19th, PvdA opposition leader Marianne Thieme motioned for an early election for the speakership, which was agreed to 153-147 by the opposition dominated congress; as such, Thieme was elected as speaker and implemented the *"United Opposition Coalition"* proposal, forming a government between the PvdA, Progressive Party, DENK and the Liberal Party, whilst being supported by independent members of congress.

Just 42 days into the Thieme administration, half of the government and several independent congresspeople unexpectedly withdrew from the government in the evening of December 31, 2036, leaving only the PvdA and the Progressive party as members of the government in a minority status with no coalition in place to replace them. Following his party's withdrawal from government, Geert Wilders resigned his leadership of DENK on January 2, 2037, and repeatedly claimed that the VVD and President Sunil Bakshi had forced him to withdraw from the government under threat of arrest; on January 5, 2037, Wilders was hospitalised after being poisoned by an unknown toxin. On January 14, 2037, Speaker Marianne Thieme released a televised statement in which she exposed the role that the VVD-led administration of Peter Illich had played in the release and spread of the Derigo disease outbreak in Morra; the following day, President Bakshi formally dissolved the National Assembly of Morra and called for fresh elections. During the election campaign, Speaker Thieme was assassinated by unknown assailants, leaving the PvdA without leadership - subsequently, the VVD-led government alliance was returned to power by the new elections. However, the political impact of the 2036 elections deeply reshaped Morranian politics and ultimately forced the government to respond to the Derigo disease outbreak, with the disease being effectively eradicated by 2039.