24th General Election

The **24th General Election** took place between the 26th of October 2016 and the 17th of November 2016, with the 24th Parliamentary Term starting on the 18th.

The General Election is worthy of being noted for several reasons. The Greens failed to stand after forgetting to submit their manifesto before the deadline, Jammy Duel was elected as an Independent after leaving the Conservative Party and Labour achieved an extraordinarily high result with 17 seats, perhaps picking up Green votes.

## Candidates

In the General Election, there were five parties and two independents:

- Having spent the term as the Official Opposition, the **Labour Party** were keen to return to Government. In their manifesto, as well as highlighting their strong legilsation output and being 'the party of fairness, Labour put forward four main objectives: a stronger economy, restoring the NHS, providing a better education system and improving national security. Their slogan was 'only Labour offers hope and opportunity.'

- The **Conservative Party** were hoping to top the standings for the second successive time following their narrow victory in the 23rd General Election. They pointed out that in Government, they had increased NHS funding, reduced STEM tuition fees and produced an excellent budget. Among other things, they pledged to abolish small tax bureaucracy, tackle cybercrime, review foreign aid spending and limit the amount of IVF treatments available on the NHS. Their slogan was the same as their one for the 23rd General Election: 'let us govern, don't be stubborn.'

- The **Liberal Party** had also served a term in Government but unlike their coalition partners, they were planning to be in the Opposition for the 24th Parliament unless they topped the standings. In their manifesto, they stated that they had legalsied euthanasia and passed a motion on drug decriminalisation, and promised to close tax loopholes, invest further in mental health services, create more garden cities and maintain Trident. They also had the same slogan at the last General Election: 'socially liberal, economically sensible.'

- **UKIP** were desperate to return to power, having only been in Government once since April 2014 - in the disastrous Liberal-UKIP-Green Government. They put forward the following policies: the abolishment of inheritance tax, the introduction of a points based immigration system, the prevention of economic migrants entering the UK and the improvement of mental health services. Their slogan was 'let's restore Britain's glory.'

- The **Socialist Party** were seeking to emulate their surprise success in the 23rd General Election where they won five seats. In their manifesto, they pledged to strengthen trade unions' rights, introduce a real living wage, reduce student loans, increase NHS funding, renationalise the railways and end the partition of Ireland. Their slogan was 'standing for the millions, not the millionaires.'

- **Jammy Duel** left the Conservative Party, after being with them for 19 months, to stand as an Independent. In his manifesto, which was the first ever to use a 'gif' format, he promised to fight for lower and fairer taxes, work towards a freer market, support freedom of speech and introduce greater disincentives for the use of dangerous substances. He also used his manifesto to attack the Conservative Party. His slogan was 'the true Conservative option.'

- Despite having never posted in the MHoC before, a candidate called **TheBigMan2** stood in the election. He vowed to lower the price of fuel, lower income, corporation and inheritance tax, cap immigration to 50,000 people per year, keep inflation lower than 3% and not sell off any sector of the NHS. However, Rakas21 commented that his manifesto background resembled a jar of urine. TheBigMan2's slogan was 'the logical alternative.'

## General Election Process

It was a shock to everyone when it was revealed that the Green Party was not standing in the election. Some members welcomed their absence with Jacob E announcing that 'it has been a desire of mine to see the TSR Green Party close since the LUG coalition: a dream has come true.' Liberal member Paracosm jokingly urged everyone to vote Green and 04MR17 suggested that perhaps the message didn't get to their tree-house in time. As the situation unfolded, it appeared that the Green Party had prepared a manifesto but had forgotten to submit it. Strangely enough, an almost identical event had happened ten years previously. The Green Party didn't release a statement and following the resignations of Kyx as Leader and Lime-man as Chair respectively, many expected the Green Party to close down.

Also in the election, Snufkin attacked his former party, the Liberal Party, claiming that they were tricking people into believing they were a Liberal Democrat Party and that people should not vote for them as they did not want to be in Government next term. The Liberal Party Leader, PetrosAC, responded that his party were the only party who would not compromise on their political views.

Many members wished TheBigMan2 good luck with his campaign and were surprised by his candidacy. However, as the General Election progressed, suspicions were raised about whether TheBigMan2 was a dupe account of a former member called DarrenBCFC who had previously launched attacks on the Speaker, Saracen's Fez, even creating unofficial Motions of No Confidence in him. When TheBigMan2 threatened to kill Tanqueray91 if he ventured to Birmingham and shared political views such as 'no one hates immigration more than me', members knew it had to be DarrenBCFC. Although there was no statement from the Speaker, TheBigMan2 received no valid votes and his account was banned.

Throughout the election, GaelicBolshevik posted several memes concerning Socialism, gulags and the Bourgeoisie. These prompted mixed opinions but certainly contributed to the creation of the Stupid Oaf (Gulag) Bill in the the next term.

Quamquam123 wrote a poem to satirise the absence of the Green Party and TheBigMan2 from the General Election. This can be found in the links below.

Members noticed that the turnout was one of the lowest ever and this posed questions of whether the Mass PM should be reintroduced. In the 24th Parliamentary Term, Quamquam123 passed an amendment to reintroduce the Mass PM which was then used for the 25th General Election.

In the days leading up to the conclusion of the General Election, a predictions thread was set up by Aph again and jamestg conducted some forecasting by obtaining the views of members in the UK Politics forum. Although James' forecasts were quite different from the results, SoggyCabbages, Joep95 and adam9317 did exceedingly well with their predictions, all 4 seats out from the results.

### **Exit Poll**

On 9th November, Saracen's Fez released the exit poll. It was as follows:

Members were surprised by the Labour Party's success in the exit poll but many predicted the gap between them and the Conservative Party would be significantly reduced after the votes were verified. Labour Party Leader RayApparently said that 'it's a promising exit poll but I'm taking this with a massive pinch of salt.' UKIP Leader Unown Uzer claimed that the election was rigged. 04MR17 agreed with him as he could not believe that UKIP had received as many votes as they did.

### **Results**

Just 2 days later, Saracen's Fez revealed the official results. They were as follows:

Some people suspected that a combination of Jammy Duel's independent candidacy and the absence of the Green Party contributed to the Labour Party's high seat total. Their total of 17 seats was a party record.

The voting patterns for the General Election were as follows:

A week later, as many had expected, a Labour-Socialist Government formed and the Conservative Party became the Official Opposition.

## External Links

* 24th General Election Notification Thread
* 24th General Election Debating and Voting Thread
* Quamquam123's Poem
* 24th General Election Predictions Thread
* 24th General Election Results
* State Opening of the 24th Parliamentary Term