Several weeks ago, a motion for new elections was introduced by Progressive Socialist Chair Jax Bertoni. Receiving support from a few dozen EJP (Environmental Justice Party) members, a majority of CP (Conservative Party) members and most DN (Doatian Nationalist) members, the motion passed. Elections are due to be held on Tuesday, May 26th. Polls in all 7 regions open at 6am and close at 9pm. Those who aren’t able to cast their ballots on election day, for whatever reason, are entitled to vote through Friday March 29th at their nearest Board of Elections.
Early voting became available on 18/03, with hundreds of thousands already having casted their ballots. As of 11:59pm 25/03, 18% of eligible Doatians had already exercised their civic duty.
The results are shocking so far are shocking, to say the least. Despite having officially formed just a few weeks ago and only being enabled to contest seats for the first time in this special election, the Progressive Socialist party are receiving the majority of votes already cast.
The Doatian Journal projects that many EJP and several PLP seats will flip to the PS, as well as a few CP seats. The EJP is all but certain to lose their majority in the Chamber, putting Chancellor Recardo and the remainder of her agenda in jeopardy.
The Recardo administration faced another blow earlier today when the Doatian Supreme Court issued a restraining order of the Chancellor’s famed security bill and mandated the Chamber to amend several portions of the bill, with a deadline of April 5th.
The Doatian Nationalists are projected to have flipped a few CP and a couple PLP seats, endangering the People’s Liberation Party to extinction in the Chamber. Party members scrambled to update their agenda and deliver an election message that could preserve their party. But the stain of former Chancellor Bernadino continues to plague the party, as well as infighting and a lack of a central message.
There are rumors that should the PLP suffer greatly on election night, the Party’s central committee will vote to either merge with another party or dissolve completely.
Furthermore, a conservative movement threatens to complicate this special election even more, as a growing demographic has become disenchanted with the Conservative Party’s willingness to cooperate with Chancellor Recardo on several issues, such as the economy and immigration, and feel that the Doatian Nationalist are either to extreme or too focused on the few issues mentioned in their agenda. This independent movement may deliver the Chamber’s first independent members in over a decade, and threaten to further erode the CP’s bargaining power in the body, as recently elected CP Chair Ashley Contrell (CP-91) has been working with the party’s central committee on a initiative to reach new voters, establish a modern agenda, and gain a majority by the next general election.
Amid speculation that the Progressive Socialists will end the EJP majority, there were whispers in both of the party’s inner circles that a coalition government is to formed. But, Jax Bertoni and the PS party’s leaders delivered an address yesterday evening putting to bed rumors of a potential merger.
“While we will work with liberal and moderate forces in the Chamber to ensure that government continues to operate and that there is a new Chancellor, as is our civic duty, there will be no coalition government. There will be no party merger. Not for the Progressive Socialists anyway. We saw how the EJP-PLP coalition took a once-great progressive party, and corrupted it. And even after the EJP broke away from the PLP’s neoliberalism, the EJP turned into what it used to stand against. The PS will pursue progressive policies which are good and necessary in Doatia, many of which the majority of Doatians support. If a liberal party fails to gain a majority, cooperation is one thing. A coalition is another. We’re expecting a minority government with a mixed administration, most likely a combination of EJP and PS members, with the incoming Chancellor being from the party that gains the largest vote share. But any kind of coalition to form a majority is out of the question for our party” Bertoni said, in part.
EJP members are furious that their progressive counterparts would threaten to jeopardize a liberal majority over what many EJP members, and reportedly Chancellor Recardo herself, call a “socialist power grab”.
Tune in for election updates this evening.
