The newly formed Huenyan Federation is holding its first-ever national elections today. According to the Huenyan Election Commission, as many as 30 million Huenyans are expected to cast their votes today. This is despite a spate of terrorist attacks during early voting, and on Election Day itself, by ethnic Xiomeran nationalists intent on derailing the vote.
Huenyan election officials cautioned that a full election report will not be available until later in the day on January 1st, 2022, when the final count is expected to be completed by the HEC. Exit polling today, however, has revealed that a sharp shift may be occurring from trends seen during early voting. Tiacihitli, the interim Vice-Speaker and Unification Party candidate, is still expected to manage a narrow win. However, in the wake of continuing insecurity in the country, his previously strongest rival, Yucuyche of the Green Party, appears to be dropping rapidly in the polls. The Party of Huītzilōpōchtli and its candidate Acxopotl are now locked into a tough fight for second place with the Huenyan Centrist Coalition and its candidate, Quauhxochuepo. More moderate votes on Election Day seem to be giving the HCC a resurgence, but Acxopotl’s tough-on-security platform has hit at the perfect moment to win over many Huenyans as terrorism continues to grip the country.
- Tiacihitli (Unification Party): 39.5%
- Quauhxochuepo (Huenyan Centrist Coalition): 23.75%
- Acxopotl (Party of Huītzilōpōchtli): 21.25%
- Yucuyche (Green Party): 7.1%
- All other candidates: 8.4%
The second and third place finishers are important because their positions will likely dictate who holds the key to coalitions in the Chamber of Deputies, the elected house of the Huenyan legislature that is also being voted on today. The HCC and the Party of Huītzilōpōchtli are likely to also be able to demand seats on the Vice-Speaker’s Cabinet in exchange for cooperation. Elections for regional legislatures, as well as local elections, are also taking place today.
Election Day violence marred the otherwise celebratory feel of the country. In the town of Canchuara, in far western Huenya, an attack on a polling station resulted in the deaths of five terrorists and three local residents defending the polling station. A foreign election observer from Lauchenoiria, Paul Ramirez, was also kidnapped. The Golden Blade terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack, but have not yet issued demands concerning the two poll workers they now are holding hostage. The terrorist group also claimed responsibility for the assassination of three local candidates from the Unification Party in the cities of Ixtenco, Acalan and Naotapan. The Huenyan government confirmed the attacks today, and said that the Federal Intelligence Service is investigating.
Despite the violence, however, Huenyans seem undeterred in their determination and enthusiasm to end their momentous year of independence by casting their votes. Voting lines were long at many polling stations, and people were openly celebrating after their votes. “We won’t live in fear, we don’t care about the terrorists,” Quila, a schoolteacher from Ixtenco, told DTNS outside her local polling station after she cast her vote. “We’ve been waiting centuries for the chance to do this. No one is going to stop us. It’s a new year coming, and we’ll celebrate it as a free country.”
