2021 general election

Contains fictional materialThis article is fully fictional and none of this should be taken seriously.
*For past elections, see Elections in Salva.*

The **2021 Salvanian General Election** was the fourth sexennial Salvanian general election, held on January 1, 2021, which resulted in incumbent president Mirzÿ Amirbeyzov's re-election by a wide margin.

The 2021 elections resulted in the largest eligible voter turnout in Salvanian history, at 72.1% of eligible voters voting, at 7,298,006 votes counted for candidates. This election marked the first time that all three government branches were represented in the Salvanian Parliament by the Liberal Coalition, with the incumbent Liberal Coalition gaining control over the Chamber, and maintaining the Presidency and Senate.

President Mirzÿ Amirbeyzov was sworn in for his second term on January 10, 2021, along with the newly elected Senate and Chamber.

President Amirbeyzov's opponent Elariz Saleh lost the election, with 32% of the popular vote, compared to Amirbeyzov's 52%, which many observers declared a landslide victory for the Liberal Coalition in all government chambers.

## Background

With a record-breaking 72.1% of eligible voters going to the polls, the Salvanian people showed an overwhelming amount of support for the major political parties.

This election was the most positive regarding the success and leadership of the major political parties. National Party Salva (NpS) leader Bilal Ibrahimbeyov lead his party to the largest vote share his party had ever seen, with 12% of the total popular vote, behind Conservative Front leader Elariz Saleh. The NpS had historically been one of three major parties in the Chamber, with the party's vote share trailing the Conservative Front by 1,459,601 votes.

## Campaigns

### Mirzÿ Amirbeyzov (LC)

*Main article: Amirbeyzov 2021*

Incumbent president Mirzÿ Amirbeyzov announced his bid for re-election on July 29th, 2020 during a rally in Salvadoro. The event was attended by thousands of citizens and the media.

The event was also covered by several foreign news outlets, including those from the United States, Russia, China and Germany. Social distancing of 9 ft was enacted and masks were made mandatory at the event, to prevent spread of the coronavirus at the event. Amirbeyzov's campaign slogan for the election is "Devoted, together".

Amirbeyzov pledged to complete the work he started in his first term, in what Amirbeyzov said was to make Salvanians "happier, healthier, safer and more productive" for the coming years. Amirbeyzov also mentioned in the speech that he would attempt to decrease crime in Salva by funding more community policing techniques, along with worker protection.

The next day, an independent poll found that 92% of Liberal Coalition voters favored Amirbeyzov's 2020 presidential campaign. The same poll also found that only 8% of the public favored his opponent in the LC race, Mikhail Fyarkov.Fyarkov announced his own campaign on August 6th, 2020. Amirbeyzov was later re-elected in a landslide victory with 52% of the vote, compared to his opponent Elariz Saleh's 32%.

### Elariz Saleh (CF)

Elariz Saleh, Amirbeyzov's longtime opponent announced his candidacy on July 1st, 2020, and immediately became the front runner in the CF primary. He previously ran against Amirbeyzov in 2015, only to lose the presidency by a small margin.

He is running on a platform of fiscal responsibility and more support for Salvanian war veterans. He pledged to fight corruption in the government and to end the influence of outside forces in Salvanian affairs. Saleh has called Amirbeyzov an "Incompetent, unfit, tyrant who is ruining Salva."

Amirbeyzov, despite facing two major opponents to his presidential bid, held a wide lead over both Saleh and Ibrahimbeyov.

### Bilal Ibrahimbeyov (NpS)

Longtime National Party Salva leader Bilal Ibrahimbeyov has resecured his candidacy, as he has since 1997. Since 2015, Ibrahimbeyov has shown much stronger numbers than he has in previous elections. Ibrahimbeyov is running on a campaign of rebuilding the inner cities, fixing the roads and other public works projects. Ibrahimbeyov has been described as an ultra-nationalist, supporting conscription and higher military funding along with tight regulation of immigration.

He has also vowed to withdraw Salvanian troops from the Dagestan region of Russia. Ibrahimbeyov has been highly critical of the incumbent president, calling him "a buffoon with delusions of grandeur". He has also called for an increase in domestic intelligence. Ultimately, Ibrahimbeyov finished in third with 12% of the popular vote, being the highest vote share ever seen for the NpS.

### Sevinc Asfini (GP)

Asfini is a known environmentalist and animal rights supporter, and has pledged to make her first year in office completely focusing on the environment, as well as creating strict regulations on animal testing. She has also pledged to make the banning of harmful pesticides a priority. She has run on a fairly liberal platform, pledging to maintain the right to privacy and not to ban private property. Asfini finished fourth with 3.6% of the popular vote.

### Imran Novruzsoy (PC)

The People's Choice is a small, right-wing, but influential force in Salvanian politics. In the past the party has been critical of "extremism" on both sides of the political spectrum. In 2020, presumptive candidate Imran Novruzsoy came out in support of banning the National Party Salva, calling it "A nazi trojan horse" and "An enemy of human rights", though this is widely criticized by the Liberal Coalition and the Conservative Front for being "a violation of free speech and opinionated expression". The party has also taken a restructuring the intelligence services along with the military, the criminal justice system, and electronic security system as a priority. The People's Choice was predicted to finish last in the 2021 elections, with projections showing around 5% of the total vote. The PC extremely underperformed expectations, receiving only 0.4% of the popular vote, with just under 30,000 votes.

## Scandals

### Saleh-Russia

*Main article: Saleh-Russia scandal*

In early December of 2020, a month before the election, an investigation was announced by the National Security Commission along side the Board of Election Authorities against Elariz Saleh and his campaign for allegedly collecting money from foreign Russian sources to fuel his campaign. Saleh and his campaign have denied all allegations, though NSC director Mikhail Garakhanov has stated that the investigation will continue due to the very unnatural and high risk scenario concerning national and election security. The investigation is ongoing as of January 2021.