Two leaders of political parties in Lauchenoiria have resigned their position in advance of the April 2024 elections, citing their desire to retire from federal politics at the election. Damian Andrés of the Left Alliance, and Katherine Wright of the Feminist Party, both intend to step down as members of parliament in April. Both parties will now run leadership elections to choose new leaders to take them into the elections.
Wright, who turned 62 this year, has stated her intention to fully retire from all work. In Lauchenoiria, state pension age remains 60 – though there have been debates about changing this, with several parties wishing to raise it, and one to lower it. Andrés, who recently became a father to twins, declared that he wishes to return to his home province of Ecanta; and that he “may remain involved in politics, at a local level” but wished to be closer to family in raising his twins.
Candidates for both leadership elections are expected to begin announcing soon, with a few individuals expected to run for each party. No timeline has been set by either party as of yet, but it is likely they will wish to conduct elections fairly rapidly to ensure their new leaders have time to build up their name recognition prior to the April elections.
One suspected candidate for the feminist party is Cassidy Laurens, the former leader of the Social Democratic Party who defected to the Feminists after allegations of being pro-Kerlile. Due to her actions, the SDP was wiped out in the 2020 election, but has been making gains in the polls recently after their new leader, María Nieves Medina, worked on a revamping of their image and policies to distance the party from any alleged Kerlian sympathies. Laurens, however, became very popular with Lauchenoirian gynarchists, and is therefore a strong contender in the Feminist Party.
The Left Alliance competition will be harder to predict, with internal factions of socialists, left-libertarians, democratic communists, and numerous other left-wing ideologies. The main common factor in the party remains support for a socialised economy while rejecting the political authoritarianism associated with the Communist Party in Lauchenoiria. The party, despite having communists among their ranks, enjoys far less stigma than the Communists due to this.
Polling ahead of the elections indicates that the election is likely to be very close; with Sandra Pavía’s new Together for Lauchenoiria enjoying increasing support, at the expense of the Conservative Party who have fallen to their lowest post-war point. The Left Alliance continues to gather support from former Communists, while the Social Democratic Party is likely to regain representation, and the Pacifists are set to lose everything. However, with over half a year until the elections, it is still all to play for.
