NationStates Jolt Archive


Chiovitti and PSC emerge victorious on election night

Pacitalia
17-10-2006, 07:41
From PNN.pc

http://kfox.gamehorizons.net/chiovittivictory.png
Prime minister-elect Fernando Chiovitti waves to supporters
amidst a hail of red and purple confetti (purple signifying the
victory of Pacitalian socialism) after defeating the incumbent
Federation of Progressive Democrats in Monday's federal vote.

PSC win; Chiovitti to be prime minister
Reports suggest the two parties will block each other's coalition attempts; grand coalition most likely


Marco Bantafugra, PNN.pc chief correspondent

TIMIOCATO -- Wave the victory banners... but not too proudly.

After leading opinion polls for nearly the entire campaign, the Pacitalian Social Coalition escaped with a close-as-they-come victory in Monday's election, unseating the incumbent Federation of Progressive Democrats for the first time since February 1988 and winning their first election since March 1981.

The PSC took 265 of the 647 seats in the Constazione Ampoliticato Federali, Pacitalia's lower parliamentary body. The defeated FPD, on the other hand, will not get their commonplace majority this time. In a stunning twist they lost Monday by just one seat in the race to win the lower house. And in an even more shocking development, the FPD won the popular vote by nearly 20 million ballots.

Chiovitti strode onto the stage to raucous and exalted cheering, and started simply by saying "we did it". That earned him an even louder response to which he raised both arms in the air in a gesture of triumph.

"Thank you, everyone, for doing everything in your power to bring the moderate ideology back into power. We are your government now, and we are where your trust belongs! We are now in a new age, so breathe that victory in, my friends, and keep looking forward!"

FPD leader Albinanda Serodini was not dismayed by the results. "We expected either defeat or a very close race," she said in her concession speech. Congratulating Mr Chiovitti on his victory, she told supporters "the odds were simply not in our favour because we still have some rebuilding to do within the party. It's no surprise to me, and it should not be to you. We are still going to be an effective opposition to this government and we will take an active role in the reconstitution of our political and electoral system. The Federation is committed to moving this country forward no matter who is in charge."

Despite defeat the mood was still upbeat at FPD party headquarters: Sambuca's Conagresso.

The FPD received their first major positive of the evening when they officially retained control of the Senatoro, albeit in a lopsided coalition with the Greens (the FPD has 139 seats, the Greens just 16). It creates an interesting dynamic in which the anchor party of the lower-house coalition will be the PSC, while the upper house remains dominated by the right-of-centre FPD. Both parties implied they would block the other's attempts to set up three-party coalitions with the NPA and Greens; but NPA leader Aria Speranza made it crystal clear her party would not enter any coalitions, saying it "goes against the NPA's foremost policy to fight partisanship in our political system".

That comment eliminates the two most likely scenarios and means it is now much more probable a grand coalition of the PSC and FPD will emerge in the days forthcoming. Neither the PSC and Greens, nor the FPD and Greens, have sufficient combined numbers to gain control of the Constazione. Similarly, an all-leftist coalition (the PSC, Greens, Workers, Communists and Anarchists) falls five seats short of a majority, and an all-rightist coalition (FPD, NPA, MFS, Greens and PdT) would not even occur because of the NPA's policy, and also because the separatist MFS considers itself the sworn enemy of the Federation.

Pressed on the possibility of a grand coalition, which Chiovitti says he is "actively considering", Serodini responded that it would be "analysed by [her] party and if it is the right thing for Pacitalia at this time, we will freely cooperate with the PSC in forming a coalition government".

Today's vote represented an intriguing directional swing of nearly 12 percent right to left, according to ElectionsPacitalia. This compares to a weighted swing of 7.6 percent from the FPD to the PSC. The ProDems won half of Pacitalia's provinces Monday despite the fact that three-quarters of the sixteen saw swings from the incumbents to the victors. The biggest swing was in Sephalusia where voters flipped 25.4 percent to the PSC.

Positive numbers were abound for ElectionsPacitalia Monday. Turnout jumped 1.5 percent from the January vote, with 79.7 percent of eligible voters casting a ballot. Just over three billion votes were counted in this election, with the PSC and the FPD each earning over a billion of those votes -- the first time any party has won that many. Spoiled tabulations (always excluded from the total turnout) were their lowest since 1981, with only 192,022 counted by the federal elections watchdog, or approximately 296.8 per constituency.

All nine party leaders were once again re-elected to their respective constituencies. In addition, Archetenia Nera and Ramón Ambardoza, both running for the FPD leadership, were elected to the CAF; however, their fellow leadership contestant, Andreos Samothrakidis, was defeated in his race. Samothrakidis immediately told reporters he would not step out of the leadership contest despite the loss to a PSC candidate.

And finally, the Partia di Traditionale followed through with its promise following the release of all election results. Quirinamo and his executive had agreed to disband the party if it did not win eight seats in the CAF and/or two in the Senatoro and/or at least five percent of the popular vote. They fulfilled none of those criteria, so the party will cease to exist on 1st January, 2007, and its members will either sit as independents or join new parties.

Final results in the Constazione Ampoliticato Federali:
Pacitalian Social Coalition: 265 seats
Federation of Progressive Democrats: 264 seats
Non-Partisan Association: 45 seats
Pacitalian Greens: 44 seats
Margherian Freedom and Solidarity: 14 seats
Workers' Cooperative Alliance: 7 seats
Partia di Traditionale: 5 seats
Communist Party of Pacitalia: 2 seats
Anarchist League of Pacitalia: 1 seat

Final results in the Senatoro Federali:
Federation of Progressive Democrats: 139 seats
Pacitalian Social Coalition: 117 seats
Non-Partisan Association: 20 seats
Pacitalian Greens: 16 seats
Margherian Freedom and Solidarity: 1 seat

Popular vote:
Federation of Progressive Democrats: 34.61 percent
Pacitalian Social Coalition: 33.97 percent
Non-Partisan Association: 11.13 percent
Pacitalian Greens: 9.79 percent
Margherian Freedom and Solidarity: 4.36 percent
Partia di Traditionale: 1.95 percent
Workers' Cooperative Alliance: 1.72 percent
Communist Party of Pacitalia: 1.55 percent
Anarchist League of Pacitalia: 0.92 percent

Turnout: 3,028,605,328 of 3,832,453,050 eligible voters (79.7 percent, +1.5% from 1/2006)

Swing: 11.8 percent from right to left, 7.6 percent from FPD to PSC
Pacitalia
17-10-2006, 15:51
Bump