So I had this premise that I've screwed around with before that I decided to come back to recently, and that premise is British Patagonia. So, here's an election infobox I made for British Patagonia this morning that I feel like sharing.
Background:
The past 2 years for Patagonia have been defined by the governance of a tenuous 4-party coalition in the unicameral House of Commons that had to make continuous compromises to stay in power. The three main parties of the coalition were the left-wing populist Red Star Alliance, or RSA for short, the centre-left Labour Party, the left-wing nationalist Social Credit Party, or Socreds for short, and the centrist Social Democratic Party, or SDP for short. Due to the leftists in the RSA and Socreds regularly disagreeing with the centrist SDP on issues of the economy and social programs, Prime Minister Julia Collier didn't get much done during her term in office. The opposition, consisting of a motley crew of the right-wing populist party known as Patagonia First, the centre-right National Liberal Party, the confessional Christian Democratic Party, former National Liberal PM Marc Lapierre's Civic Nationalist Party, and the ruralist Centre Party, could not form an opposing government with the SDP as it would consist of six parties, and the rest of the parties in the House refused to work with Patagonia First or its leader and founder, Llewellyn Dominic.
The political situation seemed hopeless, with the possibility of four years of a continuously stagnant administration from the RSA, the same party that had produced the most decisive and divisive Prime Minister of recent times, Alexander Stewart, who had served from 2010 to 2014, and had also founded the RSA itself. And it was not the fault of Prime Minister Collier, as she was very similar in policy and personality to Stewart. The problem was the tenuous coalition, which was barely holding the country back from a snap election. In addition, the Labour, National Liberal, Social Democratic, Christian Democratic, and Centre Parties went through internal shakeups during this time, replacing their leaders, most of whom had served as leader through several elections. One of the resigning leaders, Labour's Philip French, had served as Prime Minister from 2016 to 2017, and had previously expressed interest in running for Prime Minister again.
Then, in March of 2019, Collier announced she would step down as Prime Minister following a snap election to be held approximately two months from then, following the SDP's departure from the governing coalition. She wanted the election to serve as a referendum on the RSA's leadership, and to potentially lead to more stable government. This was quite optimistic, to say the least, as at the time, Patagonia First was leading the polls, followed very closely by Labour, with the RSA trailing in third. The RSA's new Prime Minister candidate was undecided at this time, so they held a party convention to determine who would get the spot. The at first leading contenders for the RSA leadership were veteran politician and 1980s Labour Party leader Bob Roberts, Collier's Finance Minister James Edward Price, and Stewart's former Justice Minister Susan Moss-Driscoll. None of the three were considered particularly appealing choices. Then, unexpectedly, Stewart himself entered the race for leader.
Stewart, who is generally accepted to have come to power as part of the Latin American "pink tide" despite Patagonia technically not being part of Latin America, is extremely divisive within Patagonia, with most of the populace being very opinionated when it comes to his leadership. RSA supporters almost universally have a positive opinion of him, as he was the founder of the party. As such, he was elected to be the RSA's new Prime Minister candidate in a landslide. His chances were viewed as slim, as the RSA was only polling in third, and while he led the RSA to a landslide victory in 2010, he also led them to defeat in 2014 at the hands of the National Liberals following only one term. His supporters dismissed his 2014 defeat when discussing his 2019 chances, as it is rare in modern history for a Patagonian Prime Minister to be elected twice consecutively. But, the polls would quickly change in the RSA's favor.
Stewart would breathe new life into his stagnating party, and quickly jolt them up to third in the polls. In addition, the new Labour leader, Dave Byrd, would prove to not be the most likeable candidate, quickly squandering his party's poll numbers and hemorrhaging votes to the RSA, falling down to third place. But Labour would quickly take second place once again, as Patagonia First was caught outright lying in one of its ads, saying that immigration from Argentina was at an "all-time high" when it had in fact only continued to fall since the inauguration of President Macri in Argentina. The National Liberals, who had imploded since the end of the National Liberal premiership of Marc Lapierre in 2016 in what media has called "pasokification of the right", continued to poll relatively low. The Socreds, who have not held the premiership since the 1970s, were polling above their result in the last election. The SDP polled around the same as the last election, as did the Centre Party. The Christian Democrats were polling lower, and Lapierre's Civic Nationalist Party was polling even lower.
When the election came, the RSA won in a relative landslide by Patagonian standards, but not by as much as they did in 2010. Labour came in second, gaining seats, followed by Patagonia First who lost seats. The National Liberals performed better than expected, gaining two seats. The Socreds gained one seat, while the SDP and the Centre Party lost one each. The Christian Democrats lost a fair share of seats, and Lapierre's Civic Nationalists lost almost half their seats. The RSA ended up forming a coalition with the Labour Party and the Socreds, taking a majority in the House.
Background:
The past 2 years for Patagonia have been defined by the governance of a tenuous 4-party coalition in the unicameral House of Commons that had to make continuous compromises to stay in power. The three main parties of the coalition were the left-wing populist Red Star Alliance, or RSA for short, the centre-left Labour Party, the left-wing nationalist Social Credit Party, or Socreds for short, and the centrist Social Democratic Party, or SDP for short. Due to the leftists in the RSA and Socreds regularly disagreeing with the centrist SDP on issues of the economy and social programs, Prime Minister Julia Collier didn't get much done during her term in office. The opposition, consisting of a motley crew of the right-wing populist party known as Patagonia First, the centre-right National Liberal Party, the confessional Christian Democratic Party, former National Liberal PM Marc Lapierre's Civic Nationalist Party, and the ruralist Centre Party, could not form an opposing government with the SDP as it would consist of six parties, and the rest of the parties in the House refused to work with Patagonia First or its leader and founder, Llewellyn Dominic.
The political situation seemed hopeless, with the possibility of four years of a continuously stagnant administration from the RSA, the same party that had produced the most decisive and divisive Prime Minister of recent times, Alexander Stewart, who had served from 2010 to 2014, and had also founded the RSA itself. And it was not the fault of Prime Minister Collier, as she was very similar in policy and personality to Stewart. The problem was the tenuous coalition, which was barely holding the country back from a snap election. In addition, the Labour, National Liberal, Social Democratic, Christian Democratic, and Centre Parties went through internal shakeups during this time, replacing their leaders, most of whom had served as leader through several elections. One of the resigning leaders, Labour's Philip French, had served as Prime Minister from 2016 to 2017, and had previously expressed interest in running for Prime Minister again.
Then, in March of 2019, Collier announced she would step down as Prime Minister following a snap election to be held approximately two months from then, following the SDP's departure from the governing coalition. She wanted the election to serve as a referendum on the RSA's leadership, and to potentially lead to more stable government. This was quite optimistic, to say the least, as at the time, Patagonia First was leading the polls, followed very closely by Labour, with the RSA trailing in third. The RSA's new Prime Minister candidate was undecided at this time, so they held a party convention to determine who would get the spot. The at first leading contenders for the RSA leadership were veteran politician and 1980s Labour Party leader Bob Roberts, Collier's Finance Minister James Edward Price, and Stewart's former Justice Minister Susan Moss-Driscoll. None of the three were considered particularly appealing choices. Then, unexpectedly, Stewart himself entered the race for leader.
Stewart, who is generally accepted to have come to power as part of the Latin American "pink tide" despite Patagonia technically not being part of Latin America, is extremely divisive within Patagonia, with most of the populace being very opinionated when it comes to his leadership. RSA supporters almost universally have a positive opinion of him, as he was the founder of the party. As such, he was elected to be the RSA's new Prime Minister candidate in a landslide. His chances were viewed as slim, as the RSA was only polling in third, and while he led the RSA to a landslide victory in 2010, he also led them to defeat in 2014 at the hands of the National Liberals following only one term. His supporters dismissed his 2014 defeat when discussing his 2019 chances, as it is rare in modern history for a Patagonian Prime Minister to be elected twice consecutively. But, the polls would quickly change in the RSA's favor.
Stewart would breathe new life into his stagnating party, and quickly jolt them up to third in the polls. In addition, the new Labour leader, Dave Byrd, would prove to not be the most likeable candidate, quickly squandering his party's poll numbers and hemorrhaging votes to the RSA, falling down to third place. But Labour would quickly take second place once again, as Patagonia First was caught outright lying in one of its ads, saying that immigration from Argentina was at an "all-time high" when it had in fact only continued to fall since the inauguration of President Macri in Argentina. The National Liberals, who had imploded since the end of the National Liberal premiership of Marc Lapierre in 2016 in what media has called "pasokification of the right", continued to poll relatively low. The Socreds, who have not held the premiership since the 1970s, were polling above their result in the last election. The SDP polled around the same as the last election, as did the Centre Party. The Christian Democrats were polling lower, and Lapierre's Civic Nationalist Party was polling even lower.
When the election came, the RSA won in a relative landslide by Patagonian standards, but not by as much as they did in 2010. Labour came in second, gaining seats, followed by Patagonia First who lost seats. The National Liberals performed better than expected, gaining two seats. The Socreds gained one seat, while the SDP and the Centre Party lost one each. The Christian Democrats lost a fair share of seats, and Lapierre's Civic Nationalists lost almost half their seats. The RSA ended up forming a coalition with the Labour Party and the Socreds, taking a majority in the House.
