2014 Notoshan presidential election

A **presidential election** was held in Notosha on 5 September 2014 to elect the president of Notosha. The election was constitutionally mandated to fall on this date, as the constitution states that all presidential elections must fall on the first Friday of September, four years apart.

Democratic Notosha proposed the incumbent Gazmadh Xhanari, while the governing New Notosha Alliance proposed Ilzabete Kafriti, the director of the State Intelligence Service. Following the New Notosha Alliance's victory in the 2014 parliamentary election, it became clear that they would decide the winner of the presidential election. Kafriti was ultimately elected after securing 67 electoral votes to Xhanari's 51 electoral voters, while 7 members of parliament were absent or did not vote. Kafriti was sworn into office on 20 September 2014, as the second president of Notosha and the first woman to hold the office.

## Date

The election was set to occur on 5 September 2014, as denoted by the constitution, which states that all presidential elections must fall on the first Friday of September, four years apart.

## Electoral system

The president of Notosha is elected by the State Assembly, not through a popular vote of Notoshan voting-eligible citizens. Each political party represented in the State Assembly is eligible to present a candidate for the election, although the candidates themselves must be unaffiliated with a political party. Due to the *de facto* greater importance of coalitions than parties in Notoshan politics, each coalition typically submits a candidate rather than each party.

Following the selection of each coalition's candidate, the candidates take part in a number of hearings in the State Assembly, where they answer questions asked of them by members of parliament. The election is subsequently held on the first Friday of September. Each member of parliament is given a secret ballot where they may choose their preferred candidate, and the candidate that wins a majority of votes is elected. If no candidate wins a majority, then the last-placed candidate is eliminated and a second round is held the following Friday. If no candidate wins a majority again, this continues each week until only two candidates remain; if neither of the final two candidates win a majority, then the one with a plurality will be elected.

Due to the electoral system, the majority coalition in parliament *de facto* will always be able to elect their choice of president. Because of this, presidential elections are merely a formality, and it is well-known what party the new president will belong to following the previous parliamentary election, which is always held in March of the same year as a presidential election.

## Candidates

Two candidates stood in the presidential election: incumbent Gazmadh Xhanari, who had been proposed by the Democratic Notosha coalition, and challenger Ilzabete Kafriti, who had been proposed by the New Notosha Alliance coalition.

Xhanari was elected as the first Notoshan president in the 2010 presidential election, and had previously served as Prime Minister from 2000 until 2007. He also was a cofounder of the Notosha Liberation Army (NLA), and is considered to be one of the founding fathers of Notosha. Kafriti had been serving as the director of the State Intelligence Service (SHIN) since 2012, after having been deputy director from 2010 until 2012. She previously served as director-general of the Ministry of Justice from 2001 until 2010.

Following the results of the 2014 parliamentary election, it became clear that a New Notosha Alliance-backed candidate would end up being elected president. Democratic Notosha-backed incumbent Xhanari nevertheless declared his candidacy in the election on 20 July 2014. The media reported that the New Notosha Alliance had begun looking for a candidate to back by July 2014, with numerous contenders on their shortlist. In August, the media reported that they had settled on Kafriti, and she later declared her candidacy on 18 August.