1920 Federal and Presidential Election

The **1920 Federal and Presidential Election** happened at the same time on the 29th June, 1920, with results on the 30th and inaugurations on the 1st July. The election decided the arrangement of the first Congress and the first Government, including the first elected President of the country.

## Background

### Dominik Schrek's Presidency

When **Dominik Schrek** came to power of the country in 1918, following the Allied capture and occupation, he ruled and reformed without having an elected mandate to govern. Despite this, his reforms were fundamental and phenomenal in forming the political landscape of the newly formed country. His shaping of the nation had earned him a cult of personality status and he was quickly adopted as a political icon by 1920. Had he decided to continue as President, the likelihoods would have been he would have ruled with consent as a dictator. Schrek wanted to be seen as the "**Iron President**", not as a **Kaiser**.

Believing he didn't have the right mandate to govern, he conducted several democracy reforms. The first and most popular of which, the "**Blooming of Political Thought**", paved the way for an introduction of new political parties and movements. Schrek announced he would not continue to stand, wanting to move away from politics and live a private life with his family, but stated he would return if need be.

### The Left Versus The Right

The election had severely divided the nation, which soon moved away from Schrek's ideal of national unity and one independence ideology, into a battle between the left wing and the right wing. Presidential candidate **Gorden Braun** campaigned fiercely for the left wing throughout the months. Opposing Presidential candidate **Adal Von Sturt** campaigned fiercely for the right and capitalist wing on behalf of the **Roessen National Party**. Adal won the support of the **British Victory Party** after **Simon Clarke** dropped out of the Presidential race. After **Wilber Schaffel** dropped out of the Presidential race leading the **Roessen Liberal Party**, he threw federal support behind the **Roessen Red Coalition Party**, but stated he did not support the hard-line beliefs of its party leadership, namely in the form of Gorden Braun and **Vön Zvanzon**.

### The Political Kerfuffle

The **Roessen Times** called the situation "the Political Kerfuffle", in the way that Adal Von Sturt was largely in the lead against Gorden in the Presidential race while the RRCP dominated the most seats in Congress. It soon became a competition as to who would win the legislative, and who would win the executive. If Adal won the Presidential election, there would be a struggle of power between Congress and the President, and whoever his choice of Chancellor would be. For a while, there was a debate as to whether Adal would stay true to his party and appoint **William Friedrich**, or to try and appeal to the RRCP by appointing Wilber Schaffel.

### Fascism Versus Communism

The rise of fascism, especially German nationalism in **Wolfszing**, oversaw continuous violence between the two sides. Violence had escalated to full potential in May 1920, when **The Battle of Süd-Stadt** occurred. The Wolfszing constabulary's decision to blame the communists for the attack, despite it being witnessed as a fascist-aggravated assault, solidified the **Germany First Party** presence in the area, while also giving rise to **Avraham Levin** and his Jewish sect. Avraham would go on to be elected in **Kirchfelden**.

## Results

### Presidential

Adal Von Sturt won 1,561,781 to Gorden Braun's 1,420,782. Adal, having won approval from the **British Victory Party**, was propelled into the Presidency, becoming the **President of the Roessen Republic**, while Gorden continued to fight for his seat in **Boulles**.

### Federal

Out of the Provincial and City Governorship seats, the Roessen Red Coalition Party took 12 out of the 28. The British Victory Party would take the next highest, with 5 seats. The Roessen National Party and the Germany First Party would take 4 seats from this. The **Gaelic Defence Party** took 1 seat. The two remaining seats were occupied by independent candidates Avraham Levin and **Franz Hildebrand**.

In the other Congressional areas, the RRCP would take the majority of the 250 with 126 seats. The RNP took 81, and the BVP and GFP, after a miscalculation in one of the cities, gained 21 each. The GDP gained an extra seat as a result.

The final results came to:

RRCP: 138

RNP: 85

GFP: 25

BVP: 26

GDP: 2

Independent: 2

## Aftermath

### Appointments

The RRCP's total seat count was one away from gaining an exact 50% in Congress. Needing to ensure that policy would get implemented, Adal as President decided to appoint Gorden Braun, his opposing candidate in the election, as **Chancellor**. Wilber Schaffel, who had joined the RRCP closer to the election as a social democrat, was appointed the **Vice Chancellor**.

This was seen as a clear attempt by the President to curb the so-called "Political Kerfuffle" as much as possible - to some in his party, they had felt betrayed, especially William Friedrich who thought he had been promised the Chancellorship.

### Inauguration

Adal, Gorden and Schaffel were all inaugurated into their positions on July 1st, as Congress was prepared to be opened for the first time, democratically.