2039 (May) Persian Congress Election

The **May 2039 Persian Congress Election** was held on Wednesday May 11, 2039, and was the sixth congressional election to elect representatives to the National People's Congress of Persia. The election was only the third to be held on a day other than November 11 and the first time that a snap election had been caused by the rejection of a government budget. The election saw members to the 8th Persian Congress elected; elected representatives were sworn into office on May 16, 2039.

Following the snap 2038 congressional election, which produced a hung parliament for the first time in a decade, Persia entered into a prolonged political crisis as President Hassen Ahmed grew increasingly unpopular and prime minister Salman Al-Khalifa's minority government struggled to pass any legislation. Despite surviving several votes of confidence between September 2038 and March 2039, the Al-Khalifa government fell in April 2039 after failing to pass a budget for the year, triggering new elections scheduled for May. Whilst the Persian congress was dissolved on April 16, 2039, Al-Khalifa's government remained in office in a caretaker capacity until after the election with significantly reduced powers to set policy, whilst President Ahmed assumed full control over the state bureaucracy as head of state.

During the election campaign, political parties were effectively forced to set out a stance on the Union for Persia government and their approach to them; the main opposition Progressive Party and Halqa both rejected entering into coalition with the UfP, with Halqa and the Islamic Conservative Party open to collaborating with the UfP on issues on a case-by-case basis, whilst the newly founded People's Party and Persian Worker's Party both remained open to coalition with the UfP if concessions were given. The emergence of new political parties at the start of the campaign added additional pressures to the dominant two parties, with the People's Party gaining popularity with secular conservative voters previously loyal to the UfP, whilst both Halqa and the new Persian Worker's Party drew voters away from the Progressive party and disenchanted left-wing voters from the UfP.

In order to be eligible to receive seats in the National People's Congress of Persia, political parties must register with the Electoral Board at least eight months before an election and give notice of any and all candidates that they intend to stand at the next election within four months of their registration; candidate lists may then be updated at any point until the dissolution of congress for an election. Elections to the National People's Congress of Persia take place using a regional proportional representation system - the country is divided into 153 constituencies, which each elect at least 3 representatives based on the distribution of votes in the constituency, with more populated regions such as Dubai and Amman receiving more representation than the sparsely populated Arabian desert constituencies. Since 2029, elections have been conducted using electronic voting devices at poling booths, which has enabled near instantaneous publication of results following the closing of polling.

Following the conclusion of voting on May 11, 2039, the results of the congressional election were announced by the Electoral Board on May 13th; the Union for Persia won 219 seats, the Progressive Party won 215, Halqa won 82 seats, the People's Party gained 43 seats, the Islamic Conservative Party won 29 seats, and the Persian Worker's Party gained 12 seats. Continuing the trend from previous elections, the previously dominant Union for Persia and Progressive Party lost a combined total of 70 seats to emerging smaller parties, leaving no party able to form a government by themselves. Representatives were sworn into office on Monday May 16, 2039 by clerks of congress, and the eighth National People's Congress began the same day.

After the election, prime minister Salman Al-Khalifa remained in office on an caretaker basis, as no party could form a government by themselves; despite remaining in office, Al-Khalifa pledged to resign as leader of the Union for Persia due to the party's poor electoral performance. Similarly, Progressive party leader Geena Kulmuni resigned and was replaced by Amal Alamuddin on May 27, 2039. The change in leadership for the two largest political parties granted increased political headroom for negotiations, and on June 9, 2039, the two parties agreed to form a rotational grand coalition government until the November congressional elections, with Al-Khalifa as prime minister for the first half of the term before Alamuddin would take office on August 26, 2039. The new government took office on June 10, 2039 and was met with significant opposition from the general public, which blamed both major parties for the ongoing political and economic crisis affecting Persia. After Amal Alamuddin became prime minister in August, former prime minister Tamim bin Hamad was elected as leader of the Union for Persia and attempted to unpick the coalition between the two parties, but ultimately failed to force further snap elections. However, bin Hamad was successful in rebranding the Union for Persia as a populist conservative party and briefly became the most popular politician in the country in the run-up to presidential and legislative elections in November 2039.