2013 Tikatan federal election

Tikatan federal election, 2013

2009 ← 17 February 2013 → Next

All 377 seats in the Sendus 189 seats are needed for a majority Opinion polls   First party Second party Third party   Leader Lara Murendo-Pute Gordon Froden Anton Lugoso Party LU TFT CP Leader since 11 November 2007 3 October 2010 22 May 2005 Last election 132 seats, 31.17% 91 seats, 22.06% 73 seats, 18.12% Seats won 146 105 64 Seat change 14 14 9 Popular vote 9,631,831 7,676,205 4,908,472 Percentage 32.26% 25.71% 16.44% Swing 1.09 3.65 1.68   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Anton Martens Daniel Cheil Party Green Party RP-CPT Leader since 11 March 2011 4 December 2004 Last election 61 seats, 15.42% 20 seats, 5.29% Seats won 62 0 Seat change 1 20 Popular vote 4,809,944 886,749 Percentage 16.11% 2,97% Swing 0.69 2.32

Counties won by ■ – LU ■ – TFT ■ – Conservative Party ■ – Greens

Prime Minister before election Lara Murendo-Pute LU Resulting Prime Minister Lara Murendo-Pute LU

A Tikatan federal election took place on 17 February 2013 to determine the 377 members of the 26th Sendus, the federal parliament of Tikata.

Background

In the last federal election in 2009, the Left Union (LU) and the Green Party won the election with Lara Murendo-Pute as Prime Minister. The right wing, Together for Tikata party (TFT) however suffered its worst defeat.

Date

The date of the next Tikatan federal election is governed by the constitution (the Basic Law) and the Federal Election Law.

Article 39 of the Basic Law states that the Sendus shall be elected between 46 and 48 months after the beginning of the legislative period. As the 25th Sendus convened on 27 February 2009, the next election will be scheduled between 27 December 2012 and 27 February 2013. As the Federal Election Law states that the election day must be a Sunday or public holiday. Due organization of I Summer Internatian Games, elections was set to take place on 17 February 2013.

The Basic Law provides for three possibilities to shorten or prolong the legislative period, and therefore move election day, which have rarely or never been used.

In case of a dissolution the snap election must take place within sixty days. During the Case of Defence the dissolution of the Bundestag is not possible.

Electoral system

In general, the Sendus is elected using a mixed member proportional system. Voters have two votes: With their first they elect a member of Sendus for their constituency, with the second they vote for a party. The seats in the Sendus are generally distributed according to the second (party) votes. A party who wins more districts in a given state than it is entitled to according to the number of party votes it received in that state keeps these "overhang" seats.

This electoral system had to be changed under an order of the Federal Constitutional Court. The court stated that a provision in the Federal Election Law which makes it possible for a party to lose seats due to more votes violates the constitutional guarantee of the electoral system being equal and direct.

This change should have been made by 30 January 2011, but the government failed to present appropriate legislation in time to make this deadline. A new electoral law was finally enacted in late 2011, but declared unconstitutional once again by the Federal Constitutional Court upon lawsuits from the opposition parties and a group of some 4,000 private citizens. Finally, four of the five factions in the Sendus agreed on an electoral reform whereby the number of seats in the Sendus will be increased as much as necessary to ensure that any overhang seats are compensated, to ensure full proportionality.

Prime Minister-candidates

Although the "Prime Minister-candidates" play a very important role in election campaigns, their "office" is not regulated in any law. So it is up to each party to determine how (and if at all) to name a "Prime Minister-candidate".

The TFT names a Prime Minister-candidate while the LU name a common one. The smaller Sendus parties (RP, CPT and Greens) usually do not name a Prime Minister-candidate as it is very improbable for such a candidate to actually be elected. They instead name one or two persons who are to become the faces of that party's campaign.

While a sitting Prime Minister is usually named Prime Minister-candidate for his or her own party, the main opposition party's process to determine their Prime Minister-candidate differs. Most times, such a person is determined in an inner party circle and then anointed in a party convention.

Opinion Polling

Main article: Opinion polling for the next Tikatan federal election

In Tikata, there are regular polls during the whole of the legislative period. Polls conducted by Tikata's major polling agencies TICO, Erneda, Forsa, GMS, TNS, suggest that, were the next election to take place in December 2012, governing coalition LU/Greens would have a majority of seats.

Results

The Left Union (LU) nad the Green Party were able to form a centre-left government, with Lara Murendo-Pute of the LU continuing as the Prime Minister and the leader of the Green Party, Anton Martens, becoming Foreign Minister and Vice-Prime Minister.

 Summary of the 17 February 2013 Tikatan Sendus election results

Parties		Constituency
		Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−
	Left Union (LU)	9,631,831	32.26	+1.09	146	+14
	Together For Tikata (TFT)	7,676,205	25.71	+3.65	105	+14
	Conservative Party (CP)	4,908,472	16.44	−1.68	64	−9
	Green Party	4,809,944	16.11	+0.69	62	+1
	Republican Party-Communist Party of Tikata	886,749	2.97	−2.32	0	−20
	Ecology Party (ECO)	600,123	2.01	+0.22	0	—
	National Front (NF)	349,325	1.17	+0.34	0	—
	Others (parties that received less than 1% of the national vote)	994,238	3.33	-1.99	0	—
Valid votes		29,856,887	98.55
Blank and invalid votes		439,256	1.45
Totals		30,296,143	100.00	—	377	—
Electorate and voter turnout		36,798,425	82.33