Kerrish parliamentary election, 86 ANE

All 181 seats; 91 seats needed for majority
Prime Minister before election; Helen Kilroy; Labour	Prime Minister after election; Julia Fallon; National Liberal

The Kerrish parliamentary election of 86 ANE was held on Thursday 12 May to elect 181 members to the Kerrish Assembly using the first-the-post method.

The election was a victory for the centre-right National Liberal Party, who fell only 5 seats short of an overall majority. The Labour Party, in power in Kerwan for 25 years, suffered a catastrophic defeat, falling into third place for the first time since the 9 BNE election nearly a century ago. Tionól Ríoga meanwhile increased their number of seats to a level not seen since they were last in government also a century ago. Labour's highly damaging defeat was on the back of a massive decline in popularity for the centre-left party, and the rise in public support for the left-wing populist and nationalist message of Tionól Ríoga. The National Liberals ran on a platform of strong economic performance and the countering of perceived radicalism within Tionól Ríoga.

Background[]

The 81 ANE election had resulted in a Labour-Tionól Ríoga coalition. Their period in government was rocky, with relations between the two parties remaining poor throughout its duration. Tionól Ríoga presented itself as a radical, populist party curbing the excesses of a sterile, centrist Labour-led administration who were allowing the continuing economic downturn to hurt the poorest member in society the worst while protecting the wealthy. Tionól Ríoga's record of presenting popular legislation proved a thorn in Labour's side, who were regarded as the architects of the continuing economic recession all the while being rocked by corruption and incompetence scandals.

Commentators were predicting the government would collapse as early as 82 ANE, leading to fresh elections, yet it held together in order to complete a full five-year term. Prime Minister Fiona Lennox was forced to resign in June 85 ANE due to a build-up of scandals that shook the Labour Party and her growing unpopularity throughout the country; she as replaced by the inexperienced Helen Kilroy. The Assembly was dissolved on 15 April 86 ANE for the elections.

Election[]

The NLP pointed to the disastrous economic record of the government and campaigned for change after a quarter-of-a-century of Labour rule. Their primary voting base was the middle-class throughout the country. Tionól Ríoga declared they would not enter coalition with any party after the election unless they won a plurality of the votes; they ran on a left-wing, democratic socialist platform and capitalising on the popularity of leader Jim Moran, particularly in the Catholic North.

Labour ran a campaign emphasising stability

Results[]

Party	Leader	Seats	±	Votes
National Liberal Party	Julia Fallon	86	+31	1,010,018
Tionól Ríoga	Jim Moran	52	+20	682,174
Labour Party	Helen Kilroy	28	-32	654,981
People's Democratic League	William Foster	6	-12	66,811
Coiste Gnóthaí Kerniach	Aoife Kirkpatrick	5	+2	81,480
Independent	N/A	4	-2	102,765

Socialist Party	John Paul Quinn	0	-5	106,390
Southern Front	George Burnside	0	-1	7,004
Communist Party	Aiden Fitzpatrick	0	-1	6,820
Liberal Democratic Party	Frank Vey	0	±0	5,112
Kerrish Nationalist Party	Kieran McGarvey	0	±0	4,522
Other	N/A	0	±0	10,590