2023 General Election

General Elections were held in Calliebrium on Monday, 19th June 2023 to elect 45 Members of Parliament (MPs) of the lower house, the House of Representatives. Initially expected for 2027, the elections were held early amidst a political crisis and the withdrawal of support by MPs of the ruling coalition, resulting in the collapse of the Coalition of Current Freedoms (CoCF) government led by Emilios Theofanis.

The term of the 1st Parliament was due to expire on 16 July 2027, five years after its first meeting on 16 July 2022. However, the Lord Protector, Sir Isaak Georgios, dissolved parliament at the request of Prime Minister Emilios Theofanis on 14th April 2023. Constitutionally, the elections were required to be held within 90 days of the dissolution, making 18th August the last possible polling day.

Nomination day fell on 15th May 2023, many veteran politicians including Jeremiah Nikolaidis from the Workers' Homeland Integration Party (WHIP), David Gionavic, Jason Addams and Mikhail Toelau, of the Libertarian Republican Party (LRP) were nominated to contest, while Jeremiah Nikolaidis, David Gionavic and Azel Emmanuel were nominated as Prime Minister Candidates from their respective parties. Many politicians from newly registered parties also contested including Diana Talatonu from the St. Peter's National Party (SPNP) and Pastor James Adamios from the Calliebrium Christian Democratic Party (CCDP), contesting under the logo of the National Libertarian Coalition (NLC).

A political alliance was declared between left-leaning parties in the Republic, namely the Workers' Homeland Integration Party (WHIP), Calliebrium Green Party (CGP), United Social Democratic Party (USDP) and the Communist Bloc of Franciston (CBF) although there were no legalised political coalition body, therefore all parties had to contest under their own logo. Under an agreement inked by these parties, none of the parties in the alliance will contest in the same constituencies and vowed to support Jeremiah Nikolaidis as the Prime Minister Candidate. This alliance is popularly dubbed as the Socialist Front.

The elections resulted in a hung parliament, the first election to have had such a result in the nation's history. the Socialist Front became the coalition with the most seats in the House of Representatives with 19 seats, mostly winning in urban and developed areas and some shares in main coastal cities in the Western Islands, the National Libertarian Coalition (NLC) swept the rural areas and western parts of the Western Islands in a landslide; dubbed by many people as "National Wave" (Malay: "*Gelombang Nasional*"). The historically dominant Homeland Coalition (HC) fell to third place, having lost most of its seats to the Socialist Front.

After obtaining support from the Homeland Coalition (HC), WHIP chairman Jeremiah Nikolaidis was appointed and sworn in as Prime Minister on 27 June 2023 by the Lord Protector while National Libertarian Coalition (NLC) opted to become the official opposition.

## Background

After the Proclamation, political scheming runs rampant amongst Cabinet members and also among state-level Chief Ministers and government agencies as the LRP-led government is seen as politically unstable. On April 2023, inner conflict ensued within the Cabinet as a bloc of Ministers led by the Defense Minister Mikhail Toelau signed Statutory Declarations (SDs) and submitted them to the Lord Protector to withdraw support from incumbent Prime Minister Emilios Theofanis, and called for him to resign from both the premiership and the presidency of the party.

Moreover, since 2022 there have been large-scale protests held nationwide against increasing centralisation by the Theofanis Cabinet, and prominent and influential NGOs such as the Save St. Peter Party (SSPP) and the National Organisation for Federalisation (NOF) have garnered international attention to call for federalisation or devolution. The SSPP and the NOF eventually merged after the Home Ministry approved the registration of the SSPP as a political party, subsequently forming the St. Peter's National Party.

On 10th March 2023, the Theofanis Cabinet approved a military occupation in the failed-state of Alfheim and suspended the exiled government in Xernea to form a restoration emergency council to restore the government, called the Council of Restoration led by a Calliebrimium-born Alheimer Lord Governor Jacob Abyburn, an ethnic Englishman. He then established the Colony of New Alfheim and agreed to use Calliebrimium Dollars as the national currency, and installed the Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of Calliebrium as the head of state. This has sparked nationwide protest and calls for the withdrawal of the Calliebrimium military and the independence of the newfound colony.

Calls for federalisation, political instability, the lack of representation of Pacific Islanders in Parliament, the enactment of Anglicanism as the "religion of the Republic" and the occupation of New Alfheim became dominant issues are which to be resolved after the election.

## Contesting Parties and coalitions

Historically dominant parties such as the Liberatarian Republican Party (LRP) and the Greek Liberal Party (GLP), as well as other liberal parties are contesting in the election as conservative or liberal blocs. According to statistics and estimations, the influence of the LRP are dwindling and more seats are expected to be won by other opposition parties. After the resignation of Emilios Theofanis, the Coalition of Current Freedoms (CoCF) dissolved in favour of a new coalition called the National Libertarian Coalition, a coalition consisting of the LRP, the GLP and new parties such as the St. Peter's National Party (SPNP) and Calliebrium Christian Democratic Party (CCDP).

The Homeland Coalition persisted and also approved the admission of the New Alliance Party (NAP) into the coalition. After tense discussions with constituent parties in the Socialist Front, the party insisted on contesting solo. On 27th June 2023, the Homeland Coalition (HC) expressed support and signed statutory declarations (SDs) to support Jeremiah Nikolaidis as Prime Minister.

Although Jeremiah Nikolaidis, chairman of the Workers' Homeland Integration Party (WHIP) were strongly against working with other parties, especially the Communist Bloc of Franciston (CBF), he signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the CBF and two other parties, the United Social Democratic Party (USDP) and the Calliebrium Green Party (CGP), declaring an electoral pact. The unofficial alliance is nicknamed the Socialist Front or Liberal Front with no central authority governing the parties. The coalition went on to win the most seats with 19 seats out of 45 seats albeit not enough to form the government.

## Results

In the general election, no individual alliance won the required 23 seats needed for a majority in the House of Representatives to form the next government.

The Socialist Front won 19 seats, split between the Workers' Homeland Integration Party (WHIP) with 11 seats, the Communist Bloc of Franciston with 4 seats, and with the Calliebrium Green Party (CGP) and the United Social Democratic Party (USDP) winning 2 seats each.

The National Libertarian Coalition (NLC) won 17 seats split between the Libertarian Republican Party (LRP) with 7 seats, the Greek Liberal Party (GLP) with 4 seats, the St. Peter's National Party (SPNP) with 5 seats, while the Calliebrium Christian Democratic Party (CCDP) won one seat.

The Homeland Coalition (HC) is third place with only 9 seats, won by the New Calliebrium Party (NCP) winning 6 seats and the Pacific Homeland Party (PHP) winning 3 seats. The New Alliance Party (NAP) did not win any seats contested.

On 27th June 2023, the Homeland Coalition (HC) expressed support and signed Statutory Declarations (SDs) to support the Liberal Front to lead the government, giving the Socialist Front the seats needed to form the government with 28 MPs supporting. Jeremiah Nikolaidis was appointed as the third Prime Minister of the Republic subsequently after.