CCU presidential election, 2027/Draft

The **CCU presidential election of 2027** will be the third quadrennial presidential election, set to be held in 2027. This follows For the People President Elden Dunham's eight-year terms from 2019 to 2027. This Election marks the first since 2019 to not be consisted of an incumbent President and second overall after the 2023 Election. Additionally, the Electoral College may expand, depending on the admission of new member states.

With no Incumbent President, the election was regarded as a "four-horse race", between previously-leading party For the People, continuing opponent and opposition party Union, dark horse party Freedom and Independent, which last saw success in 2019.

With Freedom Party and Union Party nominees both from Germany, the election marked the first to have two major candidates from the same state. However, it proved to be to the Union Party's disadvantage, with the region significantly preferring the Freedom Party.

Although Dang initially refused, she stated her possible intent to merge with Freedom Party, to be given a high position in her government of CCU if elected. This would be done to ensure of no vote split. However, talks failed to persuade her to do so and she continued to run her campaign as an Independent.

With no nominee having reached 276 of the votes, with For the People leading with 181 votes, the newly-elected Senate was given the task to do such. With the Moldova runoff election, the Freedom Party narrowly missed the Senate vote by 5 electoral votes. As a result, left-wing For the People Party and right-wing Union Party both qualified to the second round. In a majority left wing Senate, For the People Party Nominee Mia Haskins easily won the vote, by a large margin. She succeeded For the People President Elden Dunham as the President, and became the first Female President.

This marked the first time ever that the Presidential Party was not the leading Party in Senate. As a result, For the People required votes from the Freedom Party alone, or a mixture of them, Independents and Union Party, in order to pass new laws.

In order to achieve 66% votes, for bigger laws, the For the People Party would require votes from both Freedom Party and Independents, but not requiring all votes from these parties. This election, as a result, marked the highest left-majority in CCU history, though some Independents being centre-right.

## Overview

The Freedom Party's lead with 40 votes marks the smallest since the start of the election era, with For the People's 46-seat lead in 2019 second. Following Moldova's runoff election recount, Freedom's lead decreased to 38, just six (6) seats ahead and more than For the People.

## Results

Freedom Party nominee Gould was quickly projected as winners from Austria, Germany and Switzerland, starting off with 50 electoral votes already, despite these 3 having all voted For the People in 2023 (and Union for the former two and For the People for latter, in 2019). This marked "a great loss" to the Union Party, which was then predicted to fall behind Independent Dang, to fourth place, which would mark the Party's biggest loss after placing twice two times. However, being the only right-wing party out of 4 major, Union sustained support from a number of large countries, allowing the Party to sustain a "good amount of seats" although, "could be to no avail, due to left-wing strength but spread out votes and disagreements could help the party block movements and new bills passed by the potential President-Elect." It was then stated that a merge of Union Party and other right-wings was "an option in the table, and quite likely" in order to have greater strength in future elections. The Party would then be known as Union Bloc Party, and in full, Union Right Bloc Party.

Within hours, the CCU confirmed that no Party would be able to surpass the necessary requirement of 276 votes, with only Union Party being able to catch up to 267 votes at maximum, with the electoral votes of remaining countries, unlikely. As a result, the CCU confirmed that per CCU law, the top two candidates would qualify to a run-off CCU Senate vote, with the newly elected seats.

By the end of the election night, it had appeared that Moldova and Slovakia had a percentile/percentage tie, with decimals not being used for determine state winners. As a result, a run-off election was held in both respective states. For Moldova, voters would choose between Freedom Party and Union Party, whilst in Slovakia, voters would choose between For the People and Independent Dang.

Originally, Moldova's runoff election was projected towards Freedom Party Nominee Gabriella Gould at 53% to 47%, however after 100% of votes had been counted, it was updated to 51% to 49%, with Angel requesting a recount. After a recount, it had appeared that Angel had won the runoff election with 50.342% (50.34%) [50.3%], compared to Gould's 49.658% (49.66%) [49.7%]. Moldova being the 'tipping state', gave Angel 4 additional electoral votes and resulted in the removal of Gould's extra 4 votes. As a result,

## Polling

Incumbent President Dunham campagined with Haskins, giving her an early lead in first/some poll(s).

### **For the People Party**

With Haskins seeking to become the Party's next Nominee, many candidates, and most, ultimately decided to withhold entering the race and primaries, due to her strength, power and solid position. Additionally, she led odd bettings and bookmakers to become the next President. However, some candidates decided to try their luck on her to become *dark horses*. However, Haskins ultimately was chosen and elected as the First Female *For the People* Nominee, in contrast to the past and first two elections.

Haskins ended up winning primaries by 90.7%, with other prominent candidates having already dropped out due to poor performance in polling and post-debates. 6.6% of the vote also was 'No preference', with other candidates just making up 2.7% of the vote. This marked a new record for CCU Party primaries. Her popularity also led her name up the bettings, and in a close battle with Freedom Party Nominee Gabriella Gould.

* Mia Haskins, Irish television entertainment executive for RTÉ (2011–); For the People candidate, 2019

### **Union Party**

* Gaston Angel, German television executive for NDR (2015–); Union candidate, 2019 and 2023
* Aubrey Connell, Union candidate, 2023
* Kieth Coronado, Portuguese businessman; Administrator and Secretary of PTSolutions (2012–)
* Aura Overby, Bulgarian television producer for BNT (2016–)
* Quinn Castellanos, Italian television executive for RAI (2015–)
* Houston Schulze, German television executive for WDR (2016–)
* Rolf Yoder, Russian businessman and television producer for several channels (2013–)

Prior to the primaries, the Union Party Committee (UPC) agreed that should no candidate receive 50% of votes, any candidates above 15% would qualify to a second round. Should this persist, any candidates above 30% would qualify to a third round. The UPC argued that "2023 had proven a flaw, and that no candidate receiving enough support should be ignored." As a result of this method, the UPC confirmed that no decimals would be used for the first round, rounding each candidate to full numbers. However, starting from the second round, rounding would be used if needed for qualifying to a third round; not for victorious/victory reasons. Seven candidates were registered by the deadline, with eight write-in candidates joining after the deadline. This made it the largest primary in CCU election history, let alone Union, as a result of no Incumbent Party ruling the election.

In the end, Angel, Yoder and Cornando qualified to the second round, with 17% for the former two and 15% for the latter. In an unprecedented move, Connell stated she "had formed a coalition with Write-in candidate [Bradley]", which meant the two could qualify to the second round with Connell as President and Bradley as Vice President, marking the first occasion of such coalition. Per UPC rules, a coalition could only be formed with a candidate who isn't listed as running, which allowed her to do such. However, most candidates have refuted doing such, due to the Write-in candidate having to run as President, at least as written in the ballot. Bearden, despite several negotiations, was not able to convince Overby, the only candidate able to qualify him to the second round. The UPC reaffirmed that "the procedure was regular, and no wrongdoings had been done, or hacks."

It became evident that no candidate was able to reach 30.0%, and as such, per UPC law, it would "decrease by 5% each time" in order to allow at least "two candidates" to qualify to a third round. As a result, Bradley and Angel progressed to the third round, with each above the 25.0% threshold at 27.7% and 27.3% respectively.

Angel won the third round with 55.9% of the vote, compared to Bradley's 44.1%. This compared to Bradley's 7th place in the first round but 1st with coalition and narrow victory in the second round. She subsequently conceded the election, stating that "Angel would give us our best interests in an election which will be a tough fight." Angel therefor became the first male Union nominee, after Evalyn Staples and Dakota Crowe, who had achieved 226 and 225 electoral votes respectively. In 2019, Angel lost to Staples with his second placing of 27.0%, beating his future "beater" Dakota Crowe, who had 15.9% as a write-in candidate. In 2023, Angel won the first round with 23.9%, a lower percentage than his 2019 result, to receive 47.0% in the second round to Crowe, who narrowly qualified after a recount. Angel, as the only major male candidate, stated he was "honored to [finally] represent his Party, and ready to unseat others and lead the CCU moving forward." He subsequently received endorsements from top officials in his Party, and primary opponents.

Houston Schulze, who placed 8th in the first round of the primaries, was selected as his running mate as the other German in it. He was criticized by some for his decision, but ultimately defended his decision and received mixed to positive and neutral reactions.

### **Freedom Party**

When asked about 2027 candidacy, Gould stated in 2023 that "[she] was not thinking about it, given that there was 3 years to decide." She reiterated this comment in both 2024 and 2025 numerous times, and stated that "there was no point in asking, as the answer will always stay the same." In January 2026, Gould stated that she was "considering a run, but it would depend on the logistics of a consecutive run." Her Vice President nominee, Toi Koehler, ruled out a run in 2025 but stated that "a Vice Presidential run would be a different story."

On March 19, 2026, Gould announced that she would once again run for President under the Freedom Party. She stated that it was "time to bring down the two leading Parties, in an effort to give CCU states more freedom." Furthermore, she stated that "We may have started small back in 2023, but I do believe we can get just 254 more electoral votes if we try even harder."

Other previous candidates declined to run in the next months, endorsing Gould and stating "she's our best shot." Eventually, some new candidates approached with their name. However, they failed to receive more than 9.2% of the overall vote. Gould won with 81.7%, the highest amount of any CCU primary yet, and confirmed that Toi Koehler would be her Vice Presidential nominee. Delgado subsequently conceded, stating that "such a landslide should mean that good things will happen for [us] in January. I give my full endorsement to the deserved winner Gabriella Gould."

* Gabriella Gould
	+ Toi Koehler

 Popular vote
 Gabriella Gould | 1,896
 Kristen Delgado
 Troy Barr (Write-in)
 Mabelle Schuster
 Kathline Mayfield (Write-in)

### **Global Union Party**

* Corie Roper, Global Union nominee, 2023
* Russ Easter

As in 2023, candidates with "higher margins" would qualify to the next round, until a candidate reached 50% of the vote. The Law of the Party Committee affirms that when no candidate reaches 50%, the runner-up automatically qualifies, with any candidate that's margin is lower than the previous qualifies. Should they have a margin higher, they would then not qualify and therefore be eliminated. Per these rules, the top five candidates, including two Write-in, qualified to the next round. As the margin between Pence and Colbert was 1.5%, Mackenzie required at least that margin, but due to his margin of 3.1%, failed to qualify.

### **Independent**

* Jami Mercado, Independent Write-in candidate, 2019; Independent nominee, 2023
* Jasmin Kong, Union candidate, 2023
* Trenton Samuels, Better Together nominee, 2023; Better Together candidate, 2027
* Elois Dang, Independent nominee, 2019; CCU Senate Minority Leader (2019–2023)

Dang stated that she "could not sit out another election and allow the Independents to continue to be 'embarrassed' in elections." She argued that after Mercado had been disqualified in 2023, it "was not right for him to try again." Many praised her campaign, but some stated that "she should join the cause of [Freedom] or another." Dang stated that "the time for allowing Parties beneath us to rule over, is over. Bipartisanship is what shall get us through."

## Withdrawn/suspended parties

### **Better Together Party**

* Trenton Samuels, Better Together nominee, 2023

From the last election, many voters left the Party in favor of joining the ever-growing Freedom Party. Samuels, nevertheless, stated that "We cannot trust anyone else, at least not now. With the Better Together Party leading the Union, discrepancy would not even be a fact." Samuels was criticized for his speech, albeit predicted for reelection due to the decrease in primary voters.

Despite some ex-Better Together members suggesting a merge or integration, Samuels stated that "Our Party differentiates and is one you can trust." Subsequently, Gould stated that "[he] is only there for the sake of being a nominee of a barely-existent Party."

According to the rules of the Better Together Party, the top two candidates of a primary would then progress to the run-off, regardless of their initial result. Due to a lack of registered Better Together voters, the system from 2023 was unable to be changed by Samuels himself.

Samuels won the first primary with 58% of the vote, beating three other opponents who ammassed 42% of the vote. 482 Better Together registered voters made their vote, compared to 2023's number of 3964, with 3482 voters lost. In the second primary, Samuels won with 53% losing 14 voters, with 16 additional voters also casting their vote. Samuels stated that "quality has always been over quantity." Gross conceded the election, stating that "If this was a proper party, of course I would not concede. But given the nature of the supposed corruption and lack of interest in the party, I do give the race to him." His competition in the open field of candidates ignored him from then on, as evident by his low showing in polls.

However, it later become apparent that some votes were not "properly handled" and some close votes had been made. As a result, a recount took place. Following the recount, Samuels vote count was decreased to 247 with Gross' vote count being increased to 249.

Per the Better Together rules established in 2023, if a candidate wins by "a decimal point, two or three, in which a tie is established via rounding" a revote would then take place, should a recount not manage to change the result.

Gross subsequently reversed her concession and stated that she "was sure that the right candidate would win the third primary." Samuels stated that "it is obvious that a third vote is necessary to decide our candidate, once and for all."

Samuels later conceded the primary, stating "I am understanding of the Better Together voter's decisions to ultimately elect Gross, and may she bring us success in the main election. It was well fought, and I thank you all for supporting my campaign, which isn't over just yet.."

Gross later suspended her campaign, stating that the main cause was now the [Freedom Party], and that it was "not time for allowing smaller Parties who can take votes away from nominee candidates who have a better chance at something." By this point, she had been polling at her peak high for herself and the Party, receiving over "17% in polls." Samuels stated his "discontent of what happened" and argued that Gould had hired Gross "for the sole purpose of interfering with the Party's sovereignty in the election." Gould denied this, and stated that "Gross simply outright knew it was the right decision for the sole purpose of the election's direction."

Samuels later attempted to create a Truth Party and be "voted as the Nominee", however the CCU overrided the decision due to lack of registered voters by the time of the primaries. Samuels then announced his campaign as an Independent.

### **Veracity Party**

* Jame Davenport
* Maynard Conroy
* Elisha Swartz
* Michaela Bruno

Four candidates were registered, however the primaries were cancelled by the CCU before they could start, due to lack of registered voters. Some formed an Independent campaign, but suspended due to lack of support.

### **Truth Party**

* TBA
* Possibly Trenton Samuels

### **Breakthrough Party**

Earlier listed as a competitive and competing Party, but was ultimately taken out of the list.

## Declined candidates

### **For the People Party**

Notably, both of Dunham's Vice President's declined to run in 2027.

* Elden Dunham, British television executive for BBC (2014–2019); Incumbent (3rd) CCU President (2019–) (Ineligible per constitution, unless amendment)
* Maura Carlin, Third CCU Vice President (2019–2023)
* Tyron Ferrer, Second CCU President (2012–2018) (Ineligible per constitution, unless amendment)
* Katherin Galloway, Fourth CCU Vice President (2023–2027)

### **Union Party**

* Dakota Crowe, Union Write-in candidate, 2019; Union nominee, 2023; CCU Senate Union (Minority) Leader (2023–2025)
* Evalyn Staples, Dutch Head of Entertainment executive for AVROTROS (2012–); Union nominee, 2019; CCU Senate Minority Leader (2019–2021)
	+ Originally, Staples launched a campaign, but suspended it later due to "prior commitments."

### **Independent**

* Elayne Harpaz, First CCU President (2010–11) (Ineligible per constitution, unless amendment)

## Previous presidential leaders

**Independent/non-affiliated**

* Elayne Harpaz (2010–2011)
* Tyron Ferrer (2012–2018)

**For the People**

* Elden Dunham (2019–present)

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