Parliament of Recommendations

[West_Midlander]

Using Nathan's model:

House of Delegates
42 seats, 22 for a majority
Independents - 15
Republicans - 14
Democrats - 7
Conservative* - 3
Libertarians - 1
Socialists - 1
Others - 1

Senate
21 seats, 11 for a majority
Republicans - 6
Democrats - 6
Independents - 4
Conservative - 2
Libertarians - 1
Socialists - 1
Others - 1

Constitution = Conservative ITTL. Conservative is an ideologically similar sister party (based on the ideology of the Constitution posters in question) to the Republicans like Peace to Labor in Atlasia and the Republicans ITTL are more like the Federalists of Atlasia. Independent LT (as Speaker, read: PM) leads a grand coalition of most Independents, the "Other" member, the Conservatives, the Republicans, and potentially with aid-and-supply from one or a few Democrats and the Libertarian.

KyTrader/coolface, a Republican, was the Deputy Speaker before he was recalled (banned). The current Deputy Speaker is Cao.

NCY is the PPT of the Senate. The right can make 13 with their potential aid-and-supply partners in other parties; however, this coalition is precarious. The right has more leeway in the House. If the right can garner a majority in the Senate, they might elect fhtagn or Rfayette Senate Majority Leader.

Minority leaders in the House and Senate respectively are Ishan and KaiserDave. Ishan probably has loose control over his caucus due to the ideological nature of many of his members (due to their ideology clashing quite dramatically with his). (However, Ishan had the most lower-assembly recommendations among Democrats).

[West_Midlander]

House of Delegates
33 seats, 17 needed for a majority
Independent - 20 (+5)
Republican - 6 (-8)
Democratic - 4* (-3)
Make Midland Great Again* - 3 (new)
Libertarian - 2 (+1)
Conservative* - 1 (-1)

Senate
23 seats, 12 needed for a majority
Independents - 8
Republican - 5 (-1)
Democratic - 3 (-3)
Libertarian - 2 (+1)
Conservative - 1 (-1)
Make Midland Great Again - 1 (new)

Notes: The one Constitution member is shown as a Conservative here, given his ideology. CON is a center-right party, in Midland.

Cao leads the Republicans, with Dr. RI as his deputy. Matthew's wife, Jessica, was the deputy leader of the Republicans before she stepped down due to personal reasons.

The R and D caucuses have gone through big shifts with a lot of resignations since the last election. The new leader of the Democrats is MB who is registered with a minor party in Midland (avatar: Other) but leads the Democrats. The Democratic caucus is ideologically diverse and there is a lot of infighting in the party.

(Muaddib's delegates [2] are shown as Independent here for simplicity's sake).

There are many Independents in Midland, with the Democrats currently courting some of the left-wing Independents. The size of the House of Delegates decreased since the last election. The MMGA party is new and is led by SN. DTC is the lone Conservative. LT can get to 16 seats with SN and DTC's support and may be able to draw in more Independents. Additionally, the Republicans are likely partners for incumbent Speaker LT.

Muaddib serves in the Senate, where he is the probable Speaker. Other prominent Senators include PSOL, Koopa, dfw, and YT, all of whom are serving as Independents. With the support of the MMGA and Conservative parties and of course, the Republicans, the Independent LT-YT coalition has control of the Senate with at least thirteen seats. The Senate increased in size by two seats since the last election. Dfw is President pro tempore emeritus.

[West_Midlander]

House of Delegates
70 seats, 36 for a majority
Republicans: 27 (+21)
Independents: 26 (+6)
Democratic: 5 (+2)
Labor*: 5 (new)
Libertarian: 2
Socialist: 1 (new)
Others*: 4 (+4)

Senate
37 seats, 19 for a majority
Independents: 15 (+7)
Republicans: 9 (+4)
Democratic: 4 (+1)
Labor: 4 (new)
Libertarian: 2
Socialist: 1 (new)
Others: 2 (+2)

Khuzifenq is the leader of the House Democrats. Cao is the leader of the House Republicans. PQG leads the party's moderate caucus (which is made up of mostly Caoites and constitutes 16/27 of the party's lower chamber seats).

Most of the Independents are center-left or center-right populists. Two-term PM LT commands a coalition of eight direct allies out of the House Independents and newcomer Abdullah leads six. Additionally, Laki was elected alongside two allies for this session—all three as Independents.

Notable Independent Senators include Poirot, L.D. Smith, bronz, Thunder98, Lechasseur, and Scott.

John Dule is a Libertarian Senator and dead0man is a (Libertarian) Delegate. AGA is a Democratic Senator. Socialist-avatars from Atlasia who I know constitute the Democratic sister party, Labor. YE leads the Senate Laborites and OBD leads the House Laborites. Leinad and Peanut are the deputy leaders or whips (whichever post), in one house each. The deputy leader and whip post might actually be combined since the caucus is small.

Okthisisnotepic is the Deputy Leader of the House Republicans and SN leads the Senate Republican Conference. Rfayette is the Deputy Leader of the Republicans in the Senate and fhtagn is the party whip. Dr. RI, PiT, and TheReckoning are other notable Republican Senators.

TimTurner and Sprouts are members of minor parties and usually caucus with larger parties. Sprouts is a Senator and TimTurner leads three in the House.

The New Government

No one receives a majority in the House vote for Prime Minister and Labor and the Democrats favor Cao in the second round, viewing him as the 'lesser evil.'

Cao snubs the left in choosing Fmr. PM LT as his Deputy and LT is appointed to a vacancy in the Senate and tapped as Senate Majority Leader shortly thereafter.

In continuing the Republican-LT Coalition/LT Independents alliance and with the support of many Independents in general, the government has ~47-52 votes in favor depending on the issue at hand, with the potential to expand that number if the issue has broad support.

Senate Majority Leader LT has at least 22 members in favor of the government in the Senate.

[West_Midlander]

House of Delegates
70 seats, 36 for a majority
AMP: 25 (new)
REP: 12 (+3)
LTC: 12 (new)
DEM: 9 (+3)
MGP: 3 (new)
LBT: 2
TSP: 1 (new)
Independents: 6 (-22)

Senate
30 seats, 16 for a majority
UPM: 14 (new)
DEM: 7 (+3)
MGP: 1 (new)
LBT: 2
Independents: 6 (-9)

Party Key:

Abdullah's Midlandian Party-AMP: Pro-Abdullah 'personality cult' following Abdullah's ideology

The LT Coalition-LTC is a political party led by LT in the Senate and Laki in the House. It is a big-tent populist party with members from the left-wing to the center-right.

Midland Green Party-MGP: Led by khuzifenq, sister-party of the Democrats

The Democrats-DEM: Generic center-left party

The Republicans-REP: Generic center-right to right-wing big-tent party with populist and centrist factions

The Libertarian Party-LBT: Generic-libertarian party, dominated by its right-libertarian faction

The Sunrise Party-TSP: Sunrise-led party that follows Sunrise-style conservatism

United Populists of Midland-UPM: Not a political party; Senate coalition made up of the AMP, LTC, TSP, and the Republicans.

News:

Seeing a huge surge in personal popularity, Senator Abdullah ran for the House (so he could stand for PM) and formed his own party.

Suffering continued unpopularity in Midland, the left sought to court left of center voters who usually supported populist Independents. Democratic House Leader khuzifenq left the party and formed the Midland Green Party. The MGP has been described as "almost identical" to the Midland Democrats, ideologically.

Thunder98 and Scott were re-elected to the Senate. Chips was elected to the Senate and Geoffrey Howe to the House.

Political newcomer (to Midland), Utah Neolib now leads the House Democrats and Bacon King leads the Senate Democrats. President Johnson is a prominent freshman Senator.

Conservatopia leads the House Republicans and SN leads the Senate Republicans. PM Cao lost a leadership challenge as PM and decided to run for Senate (and was elected). Mopolis, Fuzzy Bear, and OSR are prominent Senators.

Delegate TimTurner ran for Senate as an Independent and was reelected. Delegate Sprouts ran for the Senate as a member of the LT Coalition and was elected. The Labor Party (a sister party to the Democrats) dissolved and MB was elected to the Senate as an Independent. Beesley is an Independent delegate.

Muaddib was elected to the Senate as an Independent and Peanut, a Senator, joined the Democrats. Lfromnj and Santander are major Libertarians in Congress.

In the Senate, the AMP, TSP, LTC, and the Republicans ran on a United Populists of Midland (UPM) coalition. This coalition was called the "United Right" by politicians on the left.

The House stayed the same size and the Senate expanded by seven seats in this election. Abdullah could make a majority government if he formed a coalition with the Greens and the Democrats. However, his party and the right, together would have a large majority, even if he chooses to only seek an aid-and-supply agreement from these parties (the Republicans and the LTC).

LT, leading the Senate LTC and the UPM, broadly, can probably make a Senate majority with the support of 16-18 Senators.

[West_Midlander]

However, it has emerged after the election that Abdullah, one of the leaders, greatly exceeded campaign spending limits. He therefore is exlcuded from taking a seat in this Parliament, and will have to stand trial for the violations.

   

Were my recommendations nullified?

Stop the steal! #Abdullah2021

[West_Midlander]

House of Delegates
42 seats, 21 for a majority
AMP: 20 (-5)
DEM: 7 (-2)
REP: 5 (-7)
PCF: 4 (-8)
SOC: 2 (new)
MGP: 1 (-2)
LBT: 1 (-1)
Independents: 2 (-4)

Senate
19 seats, 10 seats for a majority
DEM: 6 (-1)
PCF: 4 (+4)
REP: 2 (+2)
SOC: 2 (new)
AMP: 1 (+1)
MGP: 1 (+0)
LBT: 1 (-1)
Independents: 2 (-4)

Party Key:

Abdullah's Midlandian Party-AMP: Pro-Abdullah 'personality cult' following Abdullah's ideology

The Populist-Conservative Front is a political party formed out of the remnants of The LT Coalition. LT saw a massive decrease in popularity in Midland due to personal scandals so the current Senate Majority Leader joined forces with unaligned populists and cultural conservatives to form the PCF.

Midland Green Party-MGP: Fmr. Party Leader khuzifenq left the Greens. The party is now led by political newcomer, Third way for 2022.

The Democrats-DEM: Political novice (in Midland), ultraviolet, led The Midland Democrats to gain ground in the country as the party became The Official Opposition.

The Republicans-REP: Generic center-right to right-wing big-tent party. Senator & Fmr. PM Cao became the party's leader in the Senate as Conservatopia continued to lead in the House.

The Libertarian Party-LBT: Generic-libertarian party, dominated by its right-libertarian faction

The Socialist Party-SOC: The Socialist Party of Midland rose as The Sunrise Party fell. The party is led in the House by SWE and by AverageFoodEnthusiast in the Senate.

News:

The size of the Midland House shrank dramatically in the face of economic recession, emigration, voter apathy, and decreased voter turnout. Experts also estimate that a large number of the populace did not complete the census due to apathy. The resounding victory for the government, at the polls, led some international observers to question the legitimacy of the results. Despite worsening conditions in Midland, PM Abdullah almost won an outright majority. Though, the government has not curbed free speech, the media, or public demonstration. Strangely, though, the country has been recently blanketed in wordless, propaganda-like posters featuring 2020 American presidential candidate Wayne Messam.

The Senate also decreased in size considerably. The United Populists of Midland Senate coalition broke down as the composing parties ran their candidates separately. The government weakened the power of the Senate during the previous administration making it akin to the British House of Lords. The government is considering making the country unicameral after the next election.

The government endorsed candidates from various political affiliations in eighteen of the country's 19 Senate contests. Oddly, the government chose to only contest PM Abdullah's constituency in the Senate elections. This decision was frequently criticized as being overly cautious. The government received write-in votes in most districts that they did not contest but not enough to win any additional seats.

After the elections, Senate Majority LT stepped down from leadership (but remained in the Senate) and his party formed a grand coalition (led by the Democrats) for control of the Senate. In the House, the government resolved to form an aid-and-supply agreement with the chamber's two Independents, allowing PM Abdullah another term.

Notable congressmen not mentioned thus far:

John Dule, longtime Libertarian congressman
Tack, Democratic Senator
LVScreenssuck, Democratic Senator
BRTD, Senate Majority Whip
Cory, Democratic Delegate
Big Abraham, PCF Senator
L.D. Smith, PCF Senator
beesley, Leader of the PCF in the Senate

[West_Midlander]

The Congress of Midland aka The House of Delegates
36/70 seats for a majority
Abdullah's Midland Party: 28 (+8)
Republican: 14 (+9)
Populist-Conservative Front: 9 (+5)
Independent Democrats: 8 (new)
Spark's Party: 3 (new)
The Beesley Coalition: 2 (new)
Democratic: 1 (-6)
Midland Green Party: 1
Independents: 4 (+2)

Party Key:

Parties named after individuals: Pro-party leader "personality cults" following that person's ideology

The Populist-Conservative Front is now led by Thunder98 and the party deputy is Christian Man. The party lacks a very unified platform, providing a home for cultural conservatives and unaligned populists. Delegates Laki and BigAbraham are left-wing members of the party.

Midland Green Party: The Midland Green Party leadership continued to change hands with Lourdes taking control of the party.

The Democrats: Nine candidates were tied for the leadership of the Democratic Party against party leader ultraviolet. When subsequent rounds failed to produce a majority for any one candidate, ultraviolet opted to cancel the leadership election and to stay in power. The 8 Democrats who also ran for the leadership left the party to become Independent Democrats. The 8 Independent Democrats are Ferguson97, Fubart Solman, here2view, darklordoftech, Western Democrat, SnowLabrador, Illiniwek, and HenryWallaceVP.

The Republicans: Generic center-right to right-wing big-tent party with a populist faction. Political newcomer Tar Heel Gentleman leads the party with Conservatopia, the party's former leader, serving as party deputy. Ghost_white, MT Treasurer, GregTheGreat, DeadPrez, and Girlytree were elected to the House.

Independents: elected Independents to the House of Delegates include Horus, Sprouts, SN, and Mimoha.

News:

The government succeeded in making the country unicameral.

In the face of a Midland that was seemingly a majority-party system (at least in the last election), many incumbent politicians retired from office. However, newcomers ran to take their place.

Turnout dramatically exceeded the previous election and the media in Midland held a consensus that "The Government's Gambit," as it was called, could have gone worse but didn't deliver as the Prime Minister expected. The government was easily able to form a majority with the Republicans, though.

The government actually lost support since the last election, having fallen just short of an outright majority in the last election (with around 48% of seats) to winning just 40% of seats in this election. The continued electoral success of populists and conservatives, in general, in Midland provided the government with a large base of allies in Congress. TGH is Deputy Prime Minister and Thunder98 is the Leader of the Opposition.

[West_Midlander]

-SNIP-

Nothing against your posts, West_Midlander, I think they're great.
But I really do find it odd how you made me choose to align with the Republicans and Conservatives rather than the Socialists and Greens. (And this seems to be a recurring theme of sorts om this forum, where people make me out to be "right-leaning" and such, as weatherboy did a few months back)

I don't quite harbor much of the same hostility that many Atlas Dems have for Conservatives and Republicans, but if one side is gonna push for Universal Healthcare, Fighting Climate Change, and decreasing income inequality, I'd ally with them over the side that places less emphasis on these issues, even if there are some things we agree on. The economic issues and the environment will be my first priorities realistically, rather than abortion restrictions (even if I'd welcome that).

I think I just assumed since you are a Federalist in Atlasia. I will try to reflect this better in the future.

[West_Midlander]

The Congress of Midland aka The House of Delegates
58/115 seats for a majority
Republican: 32 (+18)
Populist-Conservative Front: 27 (+18)
Abdullah's Midland Party: 20 (-8)
United Democrats: 19 (+11)
Tim Turner's Party: 3 (new)
Midland Green Party: 2 (+1)
The Libertarians: 1 (new)
Independents: 11 (+7)

Party Key:

Parties named after individuals: Pro-party leader "personality cults" following that person's ideology

The Populist-Conservative Front is now led by Christian Man and Thunder98 is the party deputy, with the two switching spots from the last election. Christian Man was leading in the leadership race in a landslide, according to polling among party members in Congress. Thunder98 withdrew from the leadership race and instead opted to serve as Deputy under Christian Man.
The party lacks a very unified platform, providing a home for cultural conservatives and unaligned populists. The party is mixed economically including on healthcare.
Big Abraham was re-elected and controls a small caucus within the party. Sprouts and L.D. Smith are members of the party and each controls his own caucus.
LT was also elected after a brief stint outside of Congress and controls a small caucus. The Pieman also controls a small caucus. ShadowOfTheWave and shua are also members of the party. TimTurner was aggressively courted by the PCF but leads his own party.

Midland Green Party: The Midland Green Party is led jointly by Lourdes and Farmlands.

The United Democrats: Former party leader ultraviolet narrowly lost the leadership election and became Deputy Leader under beaver2.0. TiltsAreUnderrated and Ferguson97 became the party's whip and Conference Chair, respectively. Ernest, khuzifenq, Zyzz, Angry_Weasel, SevenEleven, Utah Neolib, Pres Mike, darklordoftech, VPH, and KaiserDave are also in the House. The party was renamed to "The United Democrats," since the party's Independent Democrats reconciled with the Democratic Party before this election took place.

The Republicans is a generic center-right to right-wing big-tent party with a populist faction. Former leader Conservatopia remained in the House and continued to hold clout over his small caucus. He declined to run for the party leadership, seeing that his popularity in the party had not decreased, necessarily, but had waned in favor of newcomers.
Leader THG lost a leadership challenge badly, placing third against two major challengers. However, THG still leads a small caucus within the party.
MT Treasurer was re-elected to the House. PiT, DTC, theflyingmongoose, CELTICEMPIRE, PQG, and Averroës Nix were elected to the House. GregTheGreat was re-elected to the House and won in an upset in the party's leadership election. Newcomer Telesquare who placed a close second became the party's Deputy Leader. FuzzyBear became the party's whip and political novice LoneStarPolitics became the party's Conference Chairman. Muaddib is also a member of the party.

The Libertarians: Re-formed and led by dead0man

Independents: Horus was re-elected as an Independent and controls a small caucus of Independents. SN was also re-elected. SN often votes with the PCF, REP, or both. Nutmeg, Progressive Realist, Russian Bear, Dark Horse, Xeuma, Builder Refused, Meclazine, and LBJer are Independents.

Background

Before Abdullah announced his candidacy for Prime Minister, he suffered a blow to the head from an elderly, irate constituent. There were no weapons involved aside from this war veteran's fists and MP Abdullah had the charges dropped against this individual.

PM Abdullah focused mostly on "common sense" issues with broad popular support (e.g. real infrastructure funding) during his first term. However, those around the Prime Minister noticed a marked personality shift and a new focus on social issues for the to-be Prime Minister.

PM Abdullah alienated the left with continued remarks on abortion and other social issues including on same-sex relationships. The Prime Minister slipped on some spilled water in the Prime Minister's Residence toward the middle of his third term, leading him to focus more on the environment and expanding healthcare access. Many considered this to have brought a restoration of the Prime Minister's attitudes prior to his first election. A snap election had to be called as the Prime Minister lost the confidence of the Midland right-wing due to his renewed focus on bread-and-butter left-wing economic issues.

The Prime Minister campaigned for a fourth term on "an American-style Environmental New Deal" and universal healthcare.

Aftermath

Longtime Prime Minister Abdullah left office today following the highest turnout in Midland ever recorded. To properly represent the number of votes cast, the Congress expanded to over 100 seats for the first time ever.

The Prime Minister campaigned aggressively but he could not make up for the built-in conservative advantage in the Republic of Midland. Following his "leftward shift," as the media called it, the Prime Minister's party became the only party to suffer losses. The Prime Minister, however, will remain on as Leader of the Opposition. He says he will work closely with the Democrats moving forward and the two parties may seek to make a coalition in competitive seats for the next election.

The Midland Right won an outright majority of 59 seats including the Republicans and the PCF and 60 seats including SN. According to exit polls 45% of voters identified as conservative, 22% identified as liberals, and the remaining 33% identified as moderates.

The Midland Right was successful in making the Prime Minister, their former ally, look "too radical" or "too left-wing" for Midland (despite the fact that he had been at that point PM for three terms).

GregTheGreat became Prime Minister, serving as the first Republican to hold the office since PM Cao. PCF member Christian Man became Deputy PM. The ministry of fifteen posts is likely to have at least five seats reserved for the the PCF.

[West_Midlander]

The Congress of Midland aka The House of Delegates
86/171 seats for a majority
Republican: 82 (+50)
Abdullah's Midland Party: 33 (+13)
Populist-Conservative Front: 12 (-15)
The Democrats: 11 (-8)
Socialist: 6 (new)
Scott's Party: 5 (new)
Tim Turner's Party: 2 (-1)
Conservative: 2 (new)
The Beeslyites: 2 (new)
Midland Green Party: 1 (-1)
Constitution: 1 (new)
The Libertarians: 1
Independents: 14 (+3)

Party Key:

Parties named after individuals: Pro-party leader "personality cults" following that person's ideology

NOTE: The Conservatives are a personality cult of fhtagn, often called Fhtagn's Conservative Party as an attack or in informal settings; Likewise, the Constitution Party is a right-wing party dominated by its lone member Mr. Reactionary

The Populist-Conservative Front The party lacks a very unified platform, providing a home for cultural conservatives and unaligned populists. The party is mixed economically including on healthcare.

Sprouts, The Pieman, ShadowOfTheWave and Big Abraham were re-elected as PCF members. Fmr. PM LT was also re-elected to his seat along with a small caucus of four. Fmr. Party Leader, and Party Deputy Leader in the last election, Thunder98 was re-elected and leads a caucus of two.

ChristianMan faced criticism from PCF members due to switching to the Republicans and joining the party as its Deputy Leader. ChristianMan left the party while serving as its leader but saw greater political success and influence after joining the Republican Party.

Thunder98 stepped into the role of Interim Party Leader through the November 2021 elections and LT returned as the party's leader following the elections. Thunder98 continued as the party Deputy Leader.

The PCF saw significant losses with ChristianMan's departure to the Republicans. The GregTheGreat-ChristianMan leadership of the Republicans solidified that party's new role as a majority-populist party. The Republicans had previously been headed by moderates and conservatives jointly until center-right populist GregTheGreat came to lead that party and became Prime Minister in the last election.

Russian Bear, a former Independent, leads a caucus of two and became the Party Whip for the PCF after the November 2021 elections. Dark Horse was another former Independent elected as a PCF member in November 2021.

The PCF welcomed some new blood to its ranks but old leadership continued to dominate the party. In the majority-populist country of Midland, a shift to populism by the Republicans removed a strategic advantage that the PCF had had.

Midland Green Party: The Midland Green Party is a left-wing green party led by Lourdes.

The Democrats: Khuzifenq and Alex became co-leaders of the party. Beaver2.0, UtahNeolib, darklordoftech, and TiltsareUnderrated were re-elected and Astatine, MATTROSE94, and jimmie were elected to the House.

The Republicans is a generic center-right to right-wing big-tent party with a populist faction. Since GregTheGreat rose to the leadership, the Republicans are a majority-populist party.

Former party leader Conservatopia remained in the House and continued to hold clout over his small caucus (3 members total). PiT and PQG were re-elected to the House and PQG helped two allies to be elected alongside her (she controls that small caucus of three). PM GregTheGreat was re-elected to the House and ChristianMan became the party's Deputy Leader. Muaddib was re-elected to the House.

ChristianMan controls a large caucus of loyalists (28 caucus members) constituting over 34% of the party's elected members. PM GregTheGreat leads a caucus of thirty-nine in addition to being the party leader. He holds influence over 48% of party members including himself and his party won 48% of seats to the House in November 2021.

Other party members who were elected to the House include Fmr. PM Cao, Del Tachi and TheReckoning. THG was elected to the House and leads a caucus of two and RFayette controls a caucus of three.

PQG is the Party Chair for Outreach, Fmr. Party Leader Conservatopia is the Party Conference Chair and RFayette is the party whip.

The Libertarians: Right-libertarian party led by lfromnj

Socialist: The left-wing to far-left Socialist Party saw a resurgance in November 2021. AverageFoodEnthusiast is the party leader and H. Ross Peron, morgieb, and SWE are also members.

Independents: Spark, Forumlurker, BabyAlligator, LBJer, Grumps, Mr. X, Koopa, and WB were elected as Independents. Some of these members had the support of one or more parties for their House bids. BigSerg and The Pieman are Independents who caucus with the PCF.

The Results

Voter turnout surged as the House increased to 171 seats from 115 seats in the last election. Abdullah's Midland Party saw some gains and the Republicans saw big gains as the Democrats and the PCF fell into decline.

The Republicans easily formed a coalition of 96 seats with the PCF (including the two Independents that caucus with the PCF). GregTheGreat had secured a second term as Prime Minister and ChristianMan, the former leader of the PCF, had to leave the office of deputy PM.

ChristianMan faced a double-edged sword when it came to the election results. He had left the rapidly declining PCF and became Deputy PM of the largest party in Midland which almost won an outright majority in November 2021. His influence and the number of House members in his caucus/under his direct influence increased greatly but he also had to leave the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. This Office had allowed ChristianMan to serve as the chamber's presiding officer when the Prime Minister was absent visiting his constituency, various parts of Midland, or making visits abroad. The Deputy PM, however, made some international visits in coordination with the PM.

PCF Leader LT, who was the Prime Minister of Midland for several terms, became the Deputy PM. The PCF retained 4/15 cabinet posts (having previously held five under ChristianMan).

Fmr. PM Abdullah retained his position as Leader of the Opposition.

[West_Midlander]

The Congress of Midland aka The House of Delegates
127/253 seats for a majority
Republican: 76 (-6)
Abdullah's Midland Party: 47 (+14)
Populist-Conservative Front: 44 (+32)
The Democrats: 28 (+17)
Constitution: 23 (+22)
The Libertarians: 9 (+8)
Midland Green Party: 3 (+2)
Independent Socialist: 3 (new)
Socialist: 2 (-4)
Scott's Party: 2 (-3)
Independent Green: 2 (new)
Independents: 14

Party Key:
The Republicans: PM GregTheGreat retained his position as party leader. However, the Prime Minister's caucus decreased in size in the general election despite a massive increase in voter turnout, suggesting a sharp decrease in popularity for the administration.
Party members by caucus size
• GregTheGreat, 26 caucus members
• Thunder98, 9 caucus members; returned as Deputy Party Leader
• Conservatopia, 8 caucus members; Party Whip and Fmr. Party Leader
• THG, 5 caucus members
• Fuzzy Bear, 5 caucus members
• Cao, 4 caucus members
• TheReckoning, 3 caucus members
• NCYankee, 2 caucus members
• PiT, 2 caucus members
• DabbingSanta, 2 caucus members
• E-Dawg, 2 caucus members
• Ghost_white, 2 caucus members
• PQG, 2 caucus members
Other party members: CELTICEMPIRE, MT Treasurer, theflyingmongoose, Okthisisnotepic., Redban, ExtremeRepublican

Note: As PM GregTheGreat became more unpopular, Deputy PM Christian Man (a PCF member turned Republican) returned to the PCF.

The Democrats: Fmr. Party Leader khuzigenq was elected to lead the party again in an upset over Stuart98 who initially led in the leadership vote (party leadership determined by NPV or delegate system in the primary).
Party members by caucus size
• khuzifenq, 6 caucus members
• Stuart98, 4 caucus members; Deputy Party Leader
• TiltsAreUnderrated, 3 caucus members; Party Whip
• MATTROSE94, 2 caucus members
Other party members: darklordoftech, Alex, Zyzz, HillGoose, Ishan, here2view, holtridge, TDAS04, tack50, American2020, Alcibiades, Angry_Weasel, Peebs

The Libertarians
Party members by caucus size
lfromnj, 4 caucus members; Party Leader
dead0man, 2 caucus members
TheFonz, 2 caucus members
Other party members: Damocles

Constitution
Party members by caucus size
Mr. Reactionary, 21 caucus members; Party Leader
Other party members: Grassroots, RoboWop

Socialist: Muaddib, an Independent Conservative, registered as a Socialist and won the party primary in an upset. AverageFoodEnthusiast, Kuumo, and YE exited the party and formed the Independent Socialist Party. The ISP's official ideology is democratic socialism with a social democratic faction.

Green: The green conservative fhtagn and Lourdes ran against each other as the two major candidates in the Green Party primary but no candidate received a majority of delegates. Lord Halifax, who also ran for the nomination, endorsed Lourdes on the second round and fhtagn registered as an "Independent Green."

Populist-Conservative Front:
Party members by caucus size
• Christian Man, 12 caucus members; Party Leader
• Sprouts, 8 caucus members; Party Deputy
• LT, 4 caucus members; Party Whip and former PM
• BigSerg, 3 caucus members
• FDB, 3 caucus members
• Big Abraham, 3 caucus members
• Vaccinated Russian Bear, 2 caucus members
• ShadowOfTheWave, 2 caucus members
Other party members: shua, ElectionsGuy, futuretexan, Green Line, The Pieman, Meclazine, BabyAlligator

Note: The PCF is predominantly right-wing populist but technically open to populists across the economic spectrum.

Independents: Calthrina950, UncleSam, bronz, Hammy, Horus, Cassandra, HCP, TimTurner, hermit, forumlurker, Dr. MB, emailking

*Parties named for an individual are typically personality cults that follow the ideology of the party leader

Notes
Midland again saw record turnout and the Congress was expanded to 253 seats.

Many candidates, both new and old, ran for office and some political upsets occurred during the campaign.

The Republicans saw losses in the general election. The Republicans, dominated by populists, have a lot of overlap with the PCF. The Democrats and Libertarians saw massive gains in this election. Also, the Constitution Party, under the leadership of Mr. Reactionary made huge gains. Opposition Leader and former PM Abdullah and his party made large gains in this election as well. The PCF reversed losses in the last election and made the most gains of any party. Despite losses, PM GregTheGreat returned to power under a three-party coalition of the Republicans, the PCF, and Mr. Reactionary's Constitution Party.

[West_Midlander]

The Congress of Midland aka The House of Delegates
66/130 seats for a majority
Republican: 64 (-12)
The Democrats: 13 (-15)
Populist-Conservative Front: 13 (-31)
Abdullah's Midland Party: 11 (-36)
Constitution: 5 (-18)
Scott's Party: 3 (+1)
Midland Green Party: 2 (-1)
Socialist: 2
Conservative Patriot Party: 2 seats (new)
Beesley's Party: 2 seats (new)
Horus' Party: 2 seats (new)
The Libertarians: 1 (-8)
The TimTurner Party: 1 seat (new)
Independents: 9 (-5)

Party Key:
The Republicans: PM GregTheGreat retained his position as party leader by acclamation at the party convention as he prepared to run for a fourth term. Fmr. PM Cao was considered a shoo-in for the vice chairmanship of the Republican Party. However, DabbingSanta made gains after successive votes at the convention, eventually leaving the party tied on the issue of the vice chairmanship. Fmr. PM Cao stepped aside and took on the role of party whip, allowing DabbingSanta to become the party's vice-chairman.

Some hardliner Cao supporters accused DabbingSanta of unethical schemes having been carried out by the candidate to tie the convention vote. However, Cao spoke highly of his competitor as he stepped aside, ignoring these allegations. Supposedly, DabbingSanta held blackmail over some delegates to shift their votes. However, this is unproven. (I thought my most recent post at the time of writing this was likely to have been recommended by DabbingSanta so I refreshed the page and it was so I counted that "vote.")
Party members by caucus size
• GregTheGreat, 30 caucus members; Party Leader
• DabbingSanta, 8 caucus members; Party Deputy
• Cao, 8 caucus members; Party Whip and Fmr. PM
• Fuzzy Bear; 4 caucus members; Party Conference Chair
• MT Treasurer; 2 caucus members; Party Outreach Chair
Other party members: Thunder98, Lone Star Politics, Averroës Nix, Roll Roons, kwabbit, Kander2020, Conservatopia, OSR, theflyingmongoose, Ghost_white, THG, Cody

The Democrats: Party leader khuzifenq ran for re-election but declined to run for party leader again. Utah Neolib was nominated as the party leader. He left the Party Deputy post vacant.
Party members by caucus size
• Utah Neolib, 2 caucus members
Other party members: swamiG, MATTROSE94, GeorgiaModerate, beaver2.0, VPH, progressive85, khuzifenq, Alex, Ray Goldfield, Sir Mohamed, Angry_Weasel

The Libertarians
Party members by caucus size
dead0man, 1 caucus member; Party Leader

Constitution
Party members by caucus size
Mr. Reactionary, 4 caucus members; Party Leader
Other party members: RoboWop

Socialist: Muaddib ran with the Socialist Party again in an attempt to "hijack" that party, according to some. However, the convention vote tied between him and PSOL. Muaddib and his delegates walked out of the convention and Muaddib ran under his new Conservative Patriot Party, a "personality cult" following his ideology.
Party members by caucus size
PSOL, 2 caucus members; Party Leader

Green: Party Leader Lourdes ran for Leader again, this time unopposed. The Green Party quickly began to develop into a personality cult following Lourdes.
Party members by caucus size
Lourdes, 2 caucus members

Populist-Conservative Front: ChristianMan declined to run for another term as party leader. The Pieman emerged as the PCF leader for the first time and Party Whip and Fmr. PM LT served as Deputy Party Leader. Neptunium entered party leadership for the first time, serving as Party Whip.
Party members by caucus size
• The Pieman, 6 caucus members; Party Leader
• LT, 5 caucus members; Party Deputy
• Neptunium, 3 caucus members; Party Whip
• Christian Man, 2 caucus members; proposed as Party Conference Chair (declined)
Other party members: Big Abraham, Sprouts

Independents: Hermit, Calthrina950, HisGrace, Pink Panther, SawxDem, Progressive Realist, bronze, Laki, Spark

*Parties named for an individual are typically personality cults that follow the ideology of the party leader

Notes
Midland saw a dramatic decrease in voter turnout. All parties lost seats and some dramatically so (e.g., the Constitution Party and Abdullah's party).

Longtime Leader of the Opposition and Fmr. PM Abdullah lost his post as his party slipped to third in the nation. Abdullah's Midland Party tied with the Democrats in the number of seats won; however, the Democrats finished slightly ahead of Abdullah's party in the popular vote. Abdullah took his case to the Supreme Court; however, the court ruled that the Democrats would be the Leader of the Opposition. Abdullah had argued that both he and Utah Neolib should be Co-Leaders of the Opposition, with both parties being recognized as the "second" party in the nation.

GregTheGreat secured an unprecedented fourth term as Prime Minister. The Republicans looked set to win an outright majority, something that has not happened in decades in Midland; however, the Republicans came two seats short of doing so.

Democrats sued against what they called "unfair electoral processes" to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled 8-3 against the move to abolish voter ID, declaring the requirement to vote, constitutional. Also, the Supreme Court rules 9-2 that provincial governments should be able to draw partisan gerrymanders. The Prime Minister and his allies declared that he and his Republicans do have a mandate since Republicans won a plurality of the vote in the election. Independent groups have stated that gerrymandering is limited in Midland, despite the claims of the opposition.

The government formed a majority coalition with the PCF, elevating The Pieman to the post of Deputy PM.

[West_Midlander]

The Congress of Midland aka The House of Delegates
84/167 seats for a majority
Patriot: 31 seats (-33)
The Democrats: 29 seats (+16)
Populist-Conservative Front: 28 seats (+15)
Abdullah's Midland Party: 18 seats (+7)
Constitution: 16 seats (+11)
Main Street Republican: 16 seats (new)
Socialist: 12 seats (+10)
Midland Green Party: 3 seats (+1)
The Libertarians: 1
Unaligned Independents: 13 (+4)

Party Key:
The Republicans --> The Patriot Party: PM GregTheGreat saw approval ratings in the 20s leading party vice-chair Dabbing Santa to step into the race and Cao, the party whip, also ran. Unexpectedly, the Prime Minister entered the race and won by a hair at the convention. Dabbing Santa led for most of the race and it appeared that no candidate would secure a majority among the major three candidates running.

Cao seemed to be tied again with Dabbing Santa on the vice premiership vote leading Cao to form the Main Street Republican Party and he was joined by theflyingmongoose, PQG, Cody, and NCYankee in leaving the old Republican Party which was quickly renamed to the Patriot Party. Patriot success, however, seemed dampened by tensions between the PM and the Deputy Party Leader who along with Cao refused to drop out once the PM entered.

Party members by caucus size
• GregTheGreat, 9 caucus members; Party Leader
• DabbingSanta, 8 caucus members; Party Deputy
• PiT, 3 caucus members; Party Whip
• BigSerg, 2 caucus members
• DT, 2 caucus members
• Conservatopia, 2 caucus members; Fmr. Party Leader
Other party members: DeadPrez, Ghost_white, LordDrachir, heatcharger, THG

Main Street Republican: Center-right splinter party. Some considered NCYankee to be politically homeless after the Republicans splintered. He campaigned somewhat independent from his new party in the election.
• Cao, 8 caucus members; Party Chair and former PM
• theflyingmongoose, 2 caucus members
• PQG, 2 caucus members
Other party members: NCYankee, Cody

The Democrats: Khuzifenq returned as party leader and Badger served as his deputy. Democrats saw gains during this election while the PM's party bled support.

Interestingly, in this election hardliners and newcomers arrived at both the Patriot Party (formerly the Republicans) and the Democrats.
Party members by caucus size
• Khuzifenq, 5 caucus members; Party Leader
• Badger, 4 caucus members; Party Deputy
• Zyzz, 2 caucus members; Party Whip
Other party members: WD, Mr. Illini, FazyRoxy, Ferguson97, TarHeelDem, Forumlurker, Liam, President Johnson, OBD, BlueSwan

The Libertarians
Party members by caucus size
Alex, 1 caucus member; Party Leader

Constitution: Personality cult following Mr. R and his ideology. Mr. R's Constitution Party rebounded in this election.
Party members by caucus size
Mr. Reactionary, 16 caucus members; Party Leader

Socialist: Muaddib ran with the Socialist Party again in an attempt to "hijack" that party, according to some. However, the convention vote tied between him and left-wing candidates who joined forces to vote for no party leader to ensure Muaddib would not become the party leader. The convention vote tied again and as a result no party leader as selected. Muaddib remained registered with the Socialist as a "Socialist In Name Only." The Socialist party includes socialist elements but some members are left-wing but not socialist.
Party members by caucus size
Muaddib, 4 caucus members [NO FORMAL LEADERSHIP]
Other party members: morgieb, YE, King TChenka, omegascarlet

Green: Party Leader Lourdes ran for Leader again. The Green Party quickly began to develop into a personality cult following Lourdes.
Party members by caucus size
Lourdes, 3 caucus members

Populist-Conservative Front: Christian Man became party leader again and LT served as his deputy. The PCF, the Patriot Party, and Mr. R's Constitution Party coordinated campaign efforts in this election.
Party members by caucus size
• Christian Man, 8 caucus members; Party Leader
• LT, 7 caucus members; Party Deputy
• Sprouts, 4 caucus members; Party Whip
• Big Abraham, 3 caucus members; Party Conference Chair
• The Pieman, 2 caucus members*
Other party members: shua, ShadowOfTheWave, ElectionsGuy

*The Pieman was censured by the party on a narrow vote (but not expelled) due to controversial comments she made about Jewish refugees during WW2.

Independents:
Democratic-caucusing: TimTurner, Koopa, Scott, Horus (2 caucus members), Xing, WB
Socialist-caucusing: Crane (2 caucus members), MB, PSOL
Main Street Republican-caucusing: Spark
Unaligned: Xeuma, beesley, Cathcon, ugabug, MormDem, Calthrina950, Progressive Realist (2 caucus members), PinkPanther (2 caucus members), AverageFoodEnthusiast (3 caucus members)

**Party figures at the top of this post will include caucusing Independents.

***Parties named for an individual are typically personality cults that follow the ideology of the party leader.

Notes
Voter turnout improved somewhat since the last election.

Abdullah's party rebounded as did the Constitution Party

GregTheGreat sought a fifth term as PM. By election day his approval rating had improved to 40%. The PCF also made solid gains in this election but due to hemorrhaging of support from the old Republican, now Patriot, party the right lost -2 net seats, leaving their position practically unmoved. However, since the House expanded by about 30 seats due to improved turnout this seemed like a poor outcome for the Midland right.

Some called for a restoration of the Senate or the establishment of a House of Lords-esque body but these initiatives didn't go anywhere.

Deputy PM The Pieman's personal popularity was racked by her controversial comments during the election campaign, knocking her out of party leadership in the PCF and dropping her approval rating to 19% in Midland. The Pieman apologized for this remark and won re-election in her constituency with about 40% of the vote over 34% for the Democratic candidate.

Approval Ratings for Major Figures in Midland on Election Day (among those w/o a mentioned approval rating thus far):
Democratic Leader khuzifenq 44%
Patriot Deputy Dabbing Santa 46%
Fmr. PM LT 50%
PCF Leader Christian Man 54%
Mr. R 43%
Lourdes 29% (due to a large DK %)
"Socialist" Delegate Muaddib 41% (sizeable DK %)

The Socialists also saw big gains in this election. PM GregTheGreat remained on as PM. The four major right of center parties had a combined 91 seats (54% of seats). Excluding theflyingmongoose (Main Street R) who was reluctant to work with the governing coalition and including Muaddib (SOC) the government had 93 seats, approximately 56% of seats. Christian Man became Deputy PM once again and Khuzifenq became Leader of the Opposition.

[West_Midlander]

The Congress of Midland
84/166 seats for a majority
The Libertarians: 37 (+36)
Socialist: 35 seats (+23)
Republican: 29 seats (-18)
Populist-Conservative Front: 17 seats (-11)
Abdullah's Midland Party: 13 seats (-5)
Midland Green Party: 10 seats (+7)
Christian Democrats: 8 seats (new)
Good Government Party: 7 seats (new)
Tim Turner's Party: 3 seats (+3)
Liberal: 1 seat (new)*
Independent Socialist: 1 (new)
Independent Green: 1 (new)
Independents: 4 (-9)**

*led by AGA

**Laki, Cathcon, Dr. MB, Xeuma

Party Key:
The Republicans: Fmr. PM Cao and PM GregTheGreat came to the negotiating table as Dabbing Santa retired from politics (at least for the time being). The two resolved to rejoin the Republican Party as many members of the party retired and as the right splintered among many other parties. GregTheGreat and Cao ran against each other for the leadership but Fmr. PM Cao did not campaign actively being viewed by some as a "sacrificial lamb" candidate for party leader. PM GregTheGreat won 62% of the primary vote (won 18 recommendations to 9 to 1 to 1). Cao became the Republicans' Deputy Leader after the leadership race.

Other party members include Zenobiyl and Thunder98.

The Democrats: The Democrats, like the Republicans, imploded in this election cycle.

Utah Neolib emerged as the party's leader and sole member. She switched to the Good Government Party before inauguration day for the new Congress.

The Libertarians: Fmr. Republican Leader Conservatopia joined the Libertarians and delivered amazing success to the party. The party is considered by some as a personality cult surrounding him.

Socialist: Mr. R left the Constitution Party and entered the Socialist Party running against longtime Socialist-In-Name-Only Muaddib. Muaddib was the initial frontrunner for Socialist leader but Mr. R gained momentum as the campaign went on, eventually winning 64% of the vote. Muaddib was tapped as party deputy.

AverageFoodEnthusiast ran as a Socialist but pledged to serve as an Independent Socialist. The Socialist Party was accused of being a Socialist-Party-In-Name-Only.

Green: Party Leader Lourdes ran for Leader again but lost in a landslide as fhtagn entered the Green Party winning over 90% of the primary vote as her supporters flooded the small party. Lourdes served as an Independent Green in the new Congress.

Populist-Conservative Front: The Pieman toppled PCF leader Christian Man in a close primary vote of 44%-32% on the first round. Christian Man exited the party and formed his own Christian Democratic Party (ideology is self-explanatory) but did not rule out cooperation with the PCF.

Other PCF party members include LT and Sprouts.

Good Government Party: The GGP was formed as the Democrats imploded. The party is officially big-tent and anti-corruption and center-left to left-wing in practice.

Party members include WB, wxtransit, Scott, Ishan, Utah Neolib, and tmth. WB was chosen as party leader by acclamation at the party convention.

Notes
Early in the campaign, not many candidates announced runs for office. Some expressed concern about the consolidation of the Green and Socialist parties into the hands of right-wing politicians and the collapse of the Democrats.

Despite projections of a major collapse in voter turnout, voter turnout was on par with the previous election.

PM GregTheGreat sought a sixth term in office as his party fell to being the third-largest party. Conservatopia stunned election observers as his party rode into first-party status. Prominent members of the media said that Conservatopia's Libertarians would go nowhere and the Socialist Party was long considered an impotent vanity project of Representative Mr. R, however, that party made it to second party status.

Conservatopia became Prime Minister with Mr. R as his deputy. The largest two parties formed a coalition with aid and supply from GregTheGreat's Republicans. GregTheGreat refused an outright coalition with Conservatopia but agreed to vote with the government on key areas of agreement to allow Conservatopia, as the leader of the largest party, to lead a government. As a result, The Pieman became Leader of the Opposition as she was excluded from the new government.

Some local party officeholders from the Greens and the Socialists and some left-wing (especially socialist and communist groups) non-electoral organizations accused Libertarian supporters of ballot box stuffing.

April 2022 Midland Vote by Ideology (approximations based on the results)
Conservative/(Right-)Libertarian 44%
Left/Liberal 29%
Moderate 27%

PM Conservatopia's approval rating was 75% as he took office but the high approval rating was considered to be due to the hope of many Midlanders to finally see a new government and due to his honeymoon period as PM. Soon after the election, however, Fmr. PM GregTheGreat who turned down an offer to be the Government's official Whip as the leader of the third-largest party was considered to be an early frontrunner to succeed Conservatopia as PM in a rematch.

[West_Midlander]

The Congress of Midland
57/112 seats for a majority
Republican: 34 seats (+5)
The Democrats: 16 (+16)
Good Government Party: 12 seats (+5)
Populist-Conservative Front: 11 seats
Socialist: 10 seats (-25)
The Libertarians: 9 (-28)
Socialist National Union: 5 (new)
Abdullah's Midland Party: 3 seats (-10)
Green Conservative Party: 2 seats (new)
Green Left Party: 2 seats (new)
Tim Turner's Party: 1 seat (-2)
Independents: 7 (+3)**

*party numbers include non-party members who caucus with a particular party

**LBJer (Democratic caucusing), MormDem (GGP caucusing), MB, Spark, beesley (GGP caucusing), Koopa (Democratic caucusing), Forumlurker, Nutmeg, CentristRepublican, Horus, and Cokeland Saxton.

Party Key:
The Republicans: Fmr. PM GregTheGreat who was polling well in the general election (as the hypothetical party leader for this election) and who retained a lot of personal popularity was renominated. He faced no other major candidates and won 76% of the primary vote against various write-in and minor candidates. Cao was selected as the party's Deputy Leader.

Other party members include NC Yankee, PQG, UlmerFudd, kongress (caucuses with the Democrats), and OSR.

The Democrats: The Democratic Party rose from the ashes as many new voters and candidates flooded into the party. Newly elected MPs included leecannon, President Johnson, Pielover, SnowLabrador, Storr, Person Man, Georgia Moderate, Ferguson97, sea757232, Zyzz, Badger, and beaver2.0. Former Party Leader khuzifenq was also elected to another term and rose out of the fray to lead the party again. Khuzifenq led on the first ballot at the convention with just 14% but he eventually was chosen as party leader.

The Libertarians: PM Conservatopia saw some late success during the campaign but a deep depression dramatically reduced the popularity of the incumbent administration. GregTheGreat ran very successfully as an outsider candidate who would bring the country back from the brink despite his being a five-term PM seeking a sixth term. Lfromnj was elected as a Libertarian MP and served as the party's Deputy Leader leading into the election.

Socialist: Mr. R led the Socialists again but his close association with the administration tanked his party in the polls. Muaddib served as the Socialist deputy leader. Early polls showed that Mr. R could be in danger of losing the nomination to a united front of left-wingers in the party. Muaddib was written in by 13% of party voters during the primary and Mr. R won an outright majority of 53% of the vote. He entered the convention with over 2/3rds of pledged delegates with Muaddib's support.

Cassandra, Fubart Solman, CalamityBlue, and AverageFoodEnthusiast exited the party formally and formed the left-wing to far-left Socialist National Union. The party narrowly voted to choose a formal leadership after much debate and AFE was selected to lead the new SNU.

Green: Lourdes ran for party leader again and led in the early polling. However, fhtagn gained momentum and deadlocked the convention vote. This led the party to dissolve and two successor parties were formed, the Green Conservative Party led by fhtagn and the Green Left Party led by Lourdes.

Populist-Conservative Front: Christian Man and The Pieman ran against one another in the party leadership election. Each one stood at around forty percent of party delegates. LT's delegates were released at the convention and mostly unified behind Christian Man allowing him to succeed The Pieman as party leader. After losing the leadership election, The Pieman considered joining GregTheGreat's Republicans and taking her supporters with her or forming her own party but she ultimately declined and vowed to run for party leader again in the next election.

After this, The Pieman became the party's deputy, a post she was tapped for by Christian Man in a move to mend intra-party divisions. Fmr. PM LT declined to serve as the party's whip, instead opting to just serve as a backbencher for this term.

Good Government Party: The GGP resolved to not unify with the restored Democrats. Scott was chosen as the party's leader by acclamation. Ishan served as the party's deputy, Weatherboy as the party's whip, and wxtransit as the party's conference chair.

Some feared that the party would serve as a spoiler in case the Democrats and the GGP together could form a minority government but this fear did not come to fruition in this election.

Notes:
(Each election/post to my Parliament takes place "every four years" unless otherwise noted).

The Republicans saw some gains under Fmr. PM GregTheGreat and this was enough to secure them first party status, a great improvement from third party status in the last election. Turnout was expected to decrease dramatically since the past election and voter turnout did decrease significantly but not by as much as feared. Voter turnout was reduced and was the lowest voter turnout since the very low turnout of the 1992 Midland general election thirty years ago.

The GGP saw success, rising to third party status and a left of center party was restored to being the Party of the Opposition taking the place of the "Socialist in Name Only" Socialist Party of Mr. R. Khuzifenq served as Leader of the Opposition. Abdullah's AMP, the Socialists, and the Greens saw big losses, and the latter two parties split into two parts each. The governing Libertarians also saw huge losses, the most of any party.

GregTheGreat and his Republicans were accused of ballot stuffing (i.e., his recommending a lot of my posts after "losing" the last "election" [post] in Midland).

The left had hoped they might form a coalition government when more of the election results came in. Conservatopia's refusal to work with the first party Republicans made a coalition extremely difficult. GregTheGreat was eventually able to negotiate an incredibly narrow 1-seat majority with the support of Mr. R's Socialists, the PCF under Christian Man, and fhtagn's Green Conservatives. Mr. R served as the government's whip for the coalition, Christian Man served as the deputy PM, and fhtagn as the coalition's conference chair, a mostly ceremonial role. GregTheGreat's Coalition of the Many as he called it, striking a populist tone, was finalized securing him a sixth term as PM.

The incoming PM also called his coalition the Coalition for All Midland. Opponents of the new government called it the Coalition of the Old Guard since most of the leaders of the coalition were veterans of governmental service, especially to-be sixth term PM GregTheGreat.

The new government's opponents also called the governing coalition the Coalition of Fools, the Coalition for the Rich, The Troupe of Xenophobes, and The Rats Following the Pied Piper.

Adding more context: On election day, PM Conservatopia's job approval rating was 30% due to the poor economy. GregTheGreat had an approval rating of 50%.

Democrats appealed to the public after the election arguing if the old Senate was restored then the Democrats would have been the largest party in that chamber. This led to a movement for the restoration of the Senate as an almost equally powerful body to the House. This move had a 57% approval rating among the public and the government opposed the move. However, the 40% threshold for the opposition to bring a bill to the floor was passed and the vote for restoring the Senate passed by a vote of 58-50. The governing parties bled just enough support for the vote to pass alongside a mostly united informal coalition of opposition parties.

GregTheGreat's approval rating slipped to 40% for opposing the reform and opposition parties began talks of forming a Coalition for Midland Democracy after the next election. The Prime Minister called the developments, "Sad!" and referred to the coalition as "Very unbased!" and as the Catch-All Unfit-To-Govern Coalition.

GregTheGreat then survived a vote of no confidence by 57-55.

EDIT: Taking a quick glance at the numbers suggests that the left might have had as wide as a 24-seat majority controlling the Senate with 37 Senators to just 13 for the government. However, presumably the Coalition for Midland Democracy would include just enough members to make a coalition since the more parties in a coalition the more unstable it would become. A Democratic-GGP coalition with the support of many left of center Independents could easily hold a majority with khuzifenq being the Senate Majority Leader in that scenario and Cao possible serving as Senate Minority Leader assuming those two ran for Senate ITTL.

[West_Midlander]

The House of Commons & Senate of Midland
31/61 seats for a House majority; 21/40 seats for a Senate majority
The Democrats: H 19 (+6) / S 16 (—)
House Leader: alex
Senate Leader: Alben Barkley
Populist-Conservative Front: H 13 (+2) / S 5 (—)
House Leader: Christian Man
Senate Leader: Pink Panther
Republican: H 10 (-24) / S 8 (—) in the Senate
House Leader: GregTheGreat
Senate Leader: NCYankee
Conservative Party of Midland: H 5 (new) / S 1 (—)
House Leader: None official (Mr. R in practice)
Senate Leader: None official
Good Government Party: H 4 (-8) / S 4 (—)
House Leader: None official
Senate Leader: None official
Socialist: H 4 (-6) / S 2 (—)
House Leader: AFE
Senate Leader: King TChenka
The Libertarians: H 4 (-5) / S 2 (—)
House Leader: lfromnj
Senate Leader: Conservatopia
Green Party of Midland: H 1 (-1) / S 1 (—)
House Leader: None official (Lourdes in practice)
Senate Leader: None official
Independents/Other*: H 1 (-6) / S 1 (—)

*Independents/Other Party members: LBJer, Skunk, Dr. MB, TimTurner, thumb, Progressive Realist (all Democratic caucusing); Spark (PCF caucusing); David Hume (no caucus)

Independent/Other #s include only noncaucusing Independents/Other Party members. Caucusing party members are included in that party's total.

Additional Party Information
The Republicans: Fmr. PM GregTheGreat retained his post as Republican leader, winning 30% of delegates in the first round and winning by acclamation by round three.

Other party members include NC Yankee, PQG, kongress (caucuses with the Democrats), DT, E-Dawg, and TheReckoning.

The Democrats: Congresspeople elected for the Democrats include former party leader khuzifenq, incumbent MP Badger, Utah Neolib, TiltsAreUnderrated, South Dakota Democrat, WD, VBM, and GWBFan.

Populist-Conservative Front: The Pieman retired from Congress and Christian Man became the party leader once again with 58% of party delegates in the first round.

ShadowOfTheWave became the party's whip in the House and freshman Senator HockeyDude was active in party leadership before being recalled shortly after the election.

After the PCF made a coalition agreement with the Democrats, ShadowOfTheWave resigned as party whip.

Good Government Party: GGP party members voted once again to not merge with the Democrats, by a margin of 53%-47%. The national convention became deadlocked and after several rounds of balloting, the party resolved to adopt an unorganized, unofficial party leadership scheme for the next government.

In the face of declining public support for the AMP, Fmr. PM Abdullah's party became defunct as the former PM joined the GGP. Party veterans Scott, Ishan, WB, and party newcomer Abdullah were the frontrunners for the leadership.

The Election:
Midland saw its lowest voter turnout in 42 years, the fourth-lowest voter turnout in Midland history.

Christian Man supporters celebrated as the PCF surged past the Republicans as the results came in. However, the Democrats had a late-night surge meaning that a Christian Man-led coalition would only make up 28 seats with the Republicans and Conservatives. The GGP ruled out a coalition with the right ahead of the election. Likewise, a Democratic-GGP-Socialist-Green coalition would also only yield 28 seats. After many negotiations and securing some concessions, 11/13 PCF members agreed to join a Democrat-led coalition under Alex, the first Democratic PM in Midland history. The coalition government was also joined by the GGP which signed an aid-and-supply agreement with the Democrats allowing the Democrats an effective 34-seat majority. GregTheGreat conceded the election on election night and became the Official Opposition Leader and Christian Man became Deputy PM once again.

In the Senate, 3 PCF caucus members joined the Democrats along with aid-and-supply from the whole GGP giving the Democrats a 23-seat majority.

[West_Midlander]

The House of Commons & Senate of Midland
42/83 seats for a House majority; 16/31 seats for a Senate majority
Republican: H 44 (+34) / S 10 (+2) in the Senate
House Leader: GregTheGreat
Senate Leader: heatcharger
Populist-Conservative Front: H 10 (-3) / S 3 (-2)
House Leader: Christian Man
Senate Leader: BG-NY
The Democrats: H 8 (-11) / S 8 (-4)
House Leader: BigVic
Senate Leader: Fubart Solman
Conservative Party of Midland: H 5 (—) / S 1 (—)
House Leader: Mr. R
Senate Leader: None
Good Government Party: H 3 (-1) / S 2 (-2)
House Leader: Ishan
Senate Leader: AGA
Socialist: H 3 (-1) / S 2 (—)
House Leader: AFE
Senate Leader: H. Ross Peron
Green Party of Midland: H 1 (-1) / S 1 (—)
House Leader: Lourdes
Senate Leader: ReallySuper
The Libertarians: H 1 (-4) / S 1 (-1)
House Leader: theflyingmongoose
Senate Leader: None
Independents/Other*: H 8 (+6) / S 3 (+1)

*Independents/Other Party members: Abdullah, leading a caucus of five; also, Farmlands, Muaddib (Republican-caucusing), Spark, Goldwater (Democratic-caucusing), LBJer (Democratic-caucusing), Koopa (Democratic-caucusing), nerd73 (Democratic-caucusing)

Party caucusing I/O members excluded from the totals above (and added to party totals)

Additional Party Information

The Republicans: Fmr. PM GregTheGreat retained his post as Republican leader winning 72% of delegates in the party primaries and winning at the party convention by acclamation.

The Democrats: Huge numbers of Democrats retired as the party saw big losses. Newcomer BigVic emerged as the party's leader.

Populist-Conservative Front: Party leader Christian Man held onto his position as his party lost seats in Congress.

Good Government Party: The GGP leadership imploded as the party saw losses again. Ishan and AGA emerged at the forefront of the decimated party.

The Election:
Midland saw increased turnout but accusations of ballot stuffing by GregTheGreat's Republicans were widespread.

The Republicans won an outright majority, securing another term as PM for GregTheGreat as a divided Senate resulted in a Republican-PCF-GGP-CON coalition of 16 seats. Fubart Solman became Official Opposition Minority Leader in the Senate and heatcharger was elected Senate Majority Leader.

[West_Midlander]

(Snippy-snip)

Hey Mid, do I get benefits with this cabinet position?

Just free coffee in the House chamber. It's not very good.

[West_Midlander]

The House of Commons & Senate of Midland
24/46 seats for a House majority; 13/24 seats for a Senate majority
Republican: H 14 (-30) / S 6 (-4) in the Senate
House Leader: Cao
Senate Leader: PQG
Midland Left Coalition: H 11 (+8) / S 6 (+4)
House Leader: ZMUN M441
Senate Leader: Goldwater
Populist-Conservative Front: H 10 (—) / S 3 (—)
House Leader: Christian Man
Senate Leader: shua
Socialist: H 3 (—) / S 2 (—)
House Leader: AFE
Senate Leader: T'Chenka
Conservative Party of Midland: H 1 (-4) / S 1 (—)
House Leader: Mr. R
Senate Leader: None
Green Party of Midland: H 1 (—) / S 1 (—)
House Leader: None official (Lourdes, in practice)
Senate Leader: None official
The Libertarians: H 1 (—) / S 1 (—)
House Leader: citizenZ
Senate Leader: None
Independents/Other*: H 5 (-3) / S 4 (+1)

*Independents/Other Party members: theflyingmongoose, rosin, Horus, Muaddib

Party caucusing I/O members excluded from the totals above (and added to party totals)

Additional Party Information

The Republicans: Former PM Cao returned to lead the party. Other party members include courts, Cody, and heatcharger, the party's whip in the House.

Midland Left Coalition: The Good Government Party became a new home of the left under the name the Midland Left Coalition. Party members include PinkPanther, WB, Goldwater, TimTurner, Ishan, and ZMUN M441, the party's leader.

The Election:
PM GregTheGreat retired marking the end of an era and the declining Democratic Party dissolved. Voter turnout declined from the last election and Midland seemed on track to suffer its lowest voter turnout election in the country's history, however, that did not happen.

Christian Man's party initially led in early returns but the left and the Republican Party outperformed the polls, securing the two top results in the race for the House. Cao returned to the Prime Minister's Residence as Christian Man became deputy prime minister again, signing a coalition deal between the Republicans and his party.

Politicos believe the coalition, while narrow, with just 24 seats, to be able to stand until the next election. In the Senate, Republican Senator PQG was easily elected to serve as Senate Majority Leader with cross party support since neither the left nor right had enough votes to choose a candidate for the position alone as the Senate is divided 12-12 ideologically.

This is PM Cao's third term as PM after 46 years out of the position (in timeline). Assuming he became Prime Minister in his 30s, he would be at least 84 now.

[West_Midlander]

The House of Commons & Senate of Midland
43/85 seats for a House majority; 24/46 seats for a Senate majority
Populist Front: H 18 (+8) / S 6 (+3)
House Leader: Christian Man
Senate Leader: Spark
The Democrats: H 17 (+17) / S 13 (+13) in the Senate
House Leader: Alex
Senate Leader: darklordoftech
Conservative Party of Midland: H 16 (+15) / S 3 (+2)
House Leader: Mr. R
Senate Leader: Muaddib
Midland Left Coalition: H 9 (-1) / S 7 (+1)
House Leader: ZMUN M441
Senate Leader: MormDem
Republican: H 8 (-6) / S 5 (-1) in the Senate
House Leader: Cody
Senate Leader: GregTheGreat
Socialist: H 5 (+2) / S 2 (—)
House Leader: omegascarlet
Senate Leader: AFE
Green Party of Midland: H 2 (+1) / S 2 (+1)
House Leader: Lourdes
Senate Leader: ReallySuper
Independents/Other*: H 10 (+5) / S 8 (+4)

*Independents/Other Party members: Abdullah, Horus, Laki (controls a caucus of 3), Hammy, jfern, Averroës Nix, SawxDem, DaleCooper

Additional Party Information

The Republicans: Longtime party backbencher Cody led the party into the election. Former PM GregTheGreat attempted a political comeback but withdrew from the leadership contest at the party convention, agreeing to serve as the party's Senate Leader. Other party congresspeople include heatcharger, Roll Roons, and greenchili02.

Midland Left Coalition: ZMUN M441 led the Midland Left Coalition into the elections again.

Other MLC party members include WB, TimTurner, Scott, Goldwater, and the party's Senate Leader MormDem.

Populist Front: At the party convention, Christian Man won renomination as party leader with the support of 56% of party delegates. At Christian Man's urging, the party dropped the "Conservative" from their name solidifying their shift to the center. That motion had the support of 61% of party delegates but platform concessions to the party's conservative wing had to be secured to keep those individuals from bolting the party.

Longtime Independent and party newcomer, Spark, is the party's Senate leader. Thunder98, LT, Sprouts, and SN are among the party's other members.

The Democrats: The Democrats saw a meteoric rise from the ashes becoming the second-largest party in Midland overnight. Alex, the only Democratic PM in Midland's history, re-entered politics to lead the party. Darklordoftech became the party's Senate leader. Other party members include NYE, jeb_arlo, Liam, khuzifenq, Interlocutor, unempprof, Progressive Pessimist, Badger, NYDem, and Blue3.

Conservative Party of Midland: Mr. R's Conservatives saw huge gains in this election. Other party members include Muaddib and DTC.

The Election:
Old Man Cao, as he was called, retired from government. Cao's son, Cao Jr., expressed interest in running for his father's old seat in a future election.

The Republican Party surprisingly imploded as many party members refused to stand for reelection, retiring instead. In other parties, however, and in the revived Democratic Party, surprisingly, there was a lot of new blood in Midland politics.

The once dominant Republican Party fell to fifth party status and the MLC fell in support and was badly outperformed by the Democrats. Notably, the PF's shift-to-the-center strategy worked for them despite media predictions that it would not, or that the party's right-wing would bolt. Mr. R's Conservatives rose back to prominence which almost no one expected. In what was forecast as a David-and-Goliath rise from no representation in the last election to the Prime Minister's residence for the Democrats, that party fell short placing second in what was essentially a three-way race.

Alex would not once again be the next Prime Minister of Midland.

This election, in fact, marked the first time that the PCF, now PF, won the most seats in a Midland election. Christian Man came back from his falling short three cycles ago and emerged as the leader of the country's first-place party. His victory, however, was not absolute. Christian Man became Prime Minister but he had to form a tenuous, and extremely narrow, 43-seat government (i.e., with a 1-seat majority) with the Conservatives and the MLC.

The Senate Majority Leader vote was very hard fought. That contest turned into a race of people instead of parties and Senator Spark fell short. The MLC and the country's left-wing fell into the arms of the Democrats making darklordoftech the country's next Senate Majority Leader, ushering in a period of divided government and badly hampering Christian Man's political agenda. Relations were stressed between the new government and its minor coalition partner, the MLC, as a result. However, Christian Man was forced to cooperate with that party and to grant large concessions to avoid a vote of no confidence and a highly possible Democratic government that could result should the MLC shift toward that party in the lower chamber of government. Only time would tell if the Prime Minister would bite the bullet of a snap election.

[West_Midlander]

The House of Commons
71/141 seats for a majority
Conservative Party of Midland: 38 (+22)
Party Leader: Mr. R
Deputy Leader: LT
Midland Popular Coalition: 32 (+23)
Party Leader: Christian Man
Deputy Leader: Laki
Republican: 26 (+18)
Party Leader: Young Texan
Deputy Leader: Cao
Socialist: 21 (+16)
Party Leader: Classic Liminal
Deputy Leader: Scott
The Democrats: 11 (-6)
Party Leader: Ray Goldfield & Utah Neolib
Deputy Leader: None
Green Party of Midland: 5 (+3)
Party Leader: Khuzifenq & ReallySuper
Deputy Leader: Lourdes
Libertarian Party of Midland: 2 (+2)
Party Leader: Conservatopia & theflyingmongoose
Deputy Leader: None
Independents/Other*: 4 (-6)
Vacant: 2

*Independents/Other Party members: Progressive Realist, Cathcon, MarkD, Anarcho-Statism, Spark (withdrew before the election but won anyway and declined to serve; special election scheduled)

Additional Party Information

The Republicans: Fmr. PM Cao (retconning his retirement, just assume everyone lives to 1000 ITTL) did not stand for election to the House but entered the race when polls showed a write-in campaign for him had enough votes to win in his constituency. A Cao comeback seemed possible, however, Young Texan emerged as a dark horse in the race. As a result, Cao refused to enter as YT had the support of 50% (but not an outright majority) of party delegates at the outset of the convention. YT won by acclamation and tapped Cao as his deputy.

GregTheGreat emerged with a small caucus in this election and agreed to serve as the party's whip.

Other party members include OSR, TheReckoning, and courts.

Midland Popular Coalition: The Midland Left Coalition saw a great rejuvenation as PM Christian Man merged his Popular Front party into the MLC, now MPC, and conservative members deserted for the Republican Party.

Christian Man was nominated by the party with 65% of delegates on the first round and Laki was elected party deputy unanimously.

Other party members include SawxDem, WB, Abdullah, MormDem, Wulfric, ZMUN, and the party's whip, Spiral.

The Democrats: Former party leader khuzifenq left the party for the Greens as the Democrats saw some losses. The party agreed to a joint leadership with no official deputy as Ray Goldfield and Utah Neolib became deadlocked at the party convention with no one able to attain a majority after more than ten votes.

Other party members include Clarko95, President Johnson, Snow Labrador, Peebs, Interlocutor, dw93, and Alben Barkley.

Conservative Party of Midland: LT, a former Popular Front member and PM, joined the Conservatives and served as Mr. R's deputy. Mr. R. had the support of about 64% of party delegates over LT who declined to stand for the leadership. Both were confirmed by acclamation. The Conservatives cooperated carefully with the Republicans in this election and did not run against each other in any race.

The Greens: Fhtagn ran as a Green candidate but switched to the Conservatives after losing the nomination with under 30% of the delegates. Really Super and khuzifenq were tied with fhtagn but both agreed to lead the party jointly and Lourdes, the longtime party leader, was tapped as Deputy.

The Socialists: The Socialists did very well in this election. Classic Liminal was the initial frontrunner until veteran politician Scott entered the race for party leader. The two were effectively tied heading into the convention. Many delegates abstained and both candidates rebuked Western Democrat who was under investigation for electoral fraud at the time of the convention. Classic Liminal won a plurality of votes at the convention, 48%, winning the nomination over Scott at 38% of delegates after AFE's supporters broke for Classic Liminal. On the previous round, the party delegates voted in a voice vote to not require a pure majority (including abstentions) and that a plurality or a majority without counting abstentions would suffice. Scott was tapped for party Deputy and AFE was tapped as party whip.

Other party members included Oppo and gerritcole. WD was expelled by the party after Classic Liminal's nomination and he was expelled by the full House after taking his seat given his indictment for electoral fraud.

The Election:

Christian Man shifted to the left and eventually joined the Midland Left, avoiding a snap election. The party also cooperated on a constitutional change to return to unicameralism. This move was strongly opposed by the Democrats since it weakened their power federally and it had the support of 50% of Midlanders with 46% opposed.

In this election, every party gained seats except the Democrats and the Libertarians re-emerged. Voter turnout increased increasing the size of the House in the pre-election census (terrible idea but it's the only way to justify a legislature changing size so much). In fact, turnout increased by about 40% from the previous election.

Christian Man lost in an upset and agreed to serve as Deputy PM again, this time under a Grand Coalition between the three largest parties under Mr. R who finally won the Prime Minister's Residence after several campaigns. Mr. R, though, said he would make significant efforts to work with the opposition parties as well. The three largest parties notably have a supermajority together.

After the election, some Democratic politicians decried the outcome citing the fact that 52% of Midlanders voted for a left-of-center party while 48% voted for a right-of-center party. Christian Man, however, accepted the election results and denounced the claim as inaccurate since he is a Christian Democrat, and not solidly on the left or right. Also, notably, if Christian Man's caucus within the MPC is counted alone it would constitute nearly 15% if he is counted for the "center," putting the right solidly ahead with a plurality.