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BARVATA RETAINS OFFICE, BUT ONLY JUST
The Labour Party has WON the general election, but at a huge net LOSS. Labour remains as the largest single party in the House of Representatives, now relying on an 11 seat working majority after a net loss of 47. A total of 54 MPs within the Labour Party identified with the Valerian Labour faction and this afternoon PM Barvata signed a special arrangement with their leader, Nellie Hermin, on the basis that South Staynes be allowed two votes; one to hold a name referendum and another for a devolution referendum. Labour lost seats in the Marislia region but gained many seats in Justelvard for the first time.
The Conservative Party won 600 seats, their lowest since the 1998 general election. Benjamin Wardola expressed that their net loss ‘comes down to the popularity of MARIP’.
The Marislian Independence Party (MARIP) made a net gain of 83 seats and won 3.5% of the MBE (translating to 39.45% of the popular vote in Marislia), resulting in 89 out of 155 seats won in Marislia and has been hailed as a huge victory within the party. Their leader, Romilda von Anzitter, said her party’s landslide victory in the Marislian region has led to calls for an independence referendum, to which the Labour Party had expressed its opposition before and during the election. Although nationalist MPs outnumbered union oriented ones for the first time in history, the unionist popular vote remained higher (60.5 percent).
The Democratic Party improved their vote share to 22.9% and won 205 seats, a net gain of 58 since the last election and the most amount of seats they have held since 2005. Their leader Osbourne Saudaran has been hailed for his dedication to the party and success in this election, thrusting the Democrats into its most powerful position of the past few decades as their party had consistently declined since the 1990s.
The Liberal Party won 14 seats, a net loss of 13 seats. The Greens lost 9 of their 11 seats that they gained and entered parliament with for the first time in 2019. The Justelvardic Unionist Party (JUP) won 15 of their 33 seats, facing losses to all three major parties, all of which seats won from metropolitan Morstaybishlian parties for the first time.
The election saw a trend where minor parties saw decline, besides both the MARIP, which gained the most seats of any independence party in any general election in Morstaybishlian history; and Jūs Herekore which gained one seat in the Western Outliers Provinces. Due to MARIP being abstentionist and winning 89 seats, the working majority was significantly less than working majorities of the past, allowing Labour to govern without a coalition. This polarisation of seats to the bigger parties has been put down to several crises that has hit the MBE since early 2020, including the 2020 Puntalian Crisis, July and August Caltharus terrorist attacks, the 2020 Aegis independence crisis and the 2021 Joralesian attacks.
The loss of seats for Franklin Barvata put him very close to the edge, having to rely on a special agreement with the Valerian Labour faction of his party to operate government. If enough Labour politicians rebel against legislation in the future, it could force a second general election. The prime minister has been invited by King Lambertus VII to form government this evening, and is expected to reveal his second cabinet in the days to come. Political commentators have noted this general election has been the worse result for the top two parties since the 1940s, when the Labour and Liberal parties held minority governments over a three year period.