Dresden Federal Election, 2057

Overview
The 2057 Dresden Federal Election was the fifth federal general election conducted after the Second Constitution was adopted.

The election saw the incumbent Culik government led by Prime Minister Evan Gracie re-elected with an even larger majority. The party took in 61% of the vote and 122 seats, a gain of 14 from the last election.

The Third Parliament saw an extreme budget pass in the early years that significantly cut welfare expediters and further devolved powers to the states, backing up the fact that the constitution laid out the political union among the states as a confederacy, with a weak central government and strong state governments.

During the four and a half years of the government, popularity for the Prime Minister and the Culik Party were generally positive. The Prime Minister's popularity sunk to 39% in the aftermath of the 2054 budget, which many saw to go too far in cuts. His 2055 budget reigned in some of these cuts along with further cutting taxes, which created a federal budget deficit for the first time in Dresden's history. An emergency fix was implemented that taxed energy 0.4% more that the previous rate, which closed the deficit. This act of saving the deficit was seen as heroic by many Dresdians, and his approval shot up to 70% in December of 2055. 2056 was a status quo year with no new major propositions and spending levels around the same level.

The constitution gives a firm 10 year term limit on governments, and the Prime Minister holds the prerogative to call a new election at any time during the Parliamentary term. Evan Gracie indicated that he would try to keep the current Parliament intact for the majority of he possible term. However, when a poll was published in January of 2057 showing that 70% would support Culik in the next election with the PM's popularity at a staggering 78%. Although it had only been four years since the previous election, the Prime Minister indicated that through mass immigration, the population of the country had nearly doubled, and new citizens deserved a say in their government. Parties took notice and began preparing for a general election. In March, the Prime Minister indicated that he would drop the writ during the summer and the election would take place in early July.

Prime Minister Evan Gracie dropped the writ on May 31, 2057 and scheduled the election for July 4, 2057.

Rules and Parties
The FEGB allows each party competing to have equal airtime for one day of their convention. There were to be three debates: two between all party leaders and on final debate between the top three party leaders.

The campaign officially began on June 1, 2057. Having ample notice of the election, parties began recruiting candidates and raising money to stuff the campaign coffers. No new parties were formed and all of the existing parliamentary parties competed in the 2057 elections.

The parties that competed in the election were:
 * Culik (center-right)
 * Leftist Union (center-left)
 * Democratic Party (center)
 * States' Independence Party (right-wing regional soverigntists)
 * Dominonist Party (far-right Christian theocrats)

Culik
At the Culik Party Convention, Prime Minister Evan Gracie was unanimously re-elected party leader. He spoke of a promise to new immigrants that they would be treated as equals in their new country and could instill in themselves a sense of Dresdian nationalist pride, and continuing forward with Culik would be a means to keep the country on the right path. His convention speech was universally praised as being one of the best speeches ever given. He was unopposed as party leader.

Leftist Union
The Leftist Union's convention saw a tight leadership contest between Opposition leader Sue Tiller-Poulsbo and Tancrato Governor Marcus Hallam. Hallam, a member of the Socialist Party of Tancrato, was backed by the party's more liberal wing while the moderate establishment preferred to continue with Tiller-Poulsbo. Tiller-Poulsbo was re-elected as party leader by a slim 51%-49% margin. In her prime-time speech, she spoke of a fairer society and an increased role in the federal government, claiming the states could not and were not adequately helping out their citizens.

Democratic Party
The Democratic Party was making a huge push to surpass the Leftist Union to become the official opposition. The first day of their convention, they re-elected Sylvia Nihal with 85% of the vote on the first ballot (she had only token opposition). Her prime-time speech called for unity of the center and the left to vote for the Democratic Party to oppose the radical agenda of Culik.

The Debates
Two debates were held. The first debate included all party leaders and was held at the DNN studios in Capitol, Emperia on June 9th. The two small right-wing party leaders attempted to stand out, but their platforms were jeered and booed. Prime Minister Evan Gracie came out on top in most post-debate polls, with Sylvia Nihal thought to have come in second place. The second debate was held on June 24th at Raquine Hall in Lyon, Boré, and was between Prime Minister Evan Gracie, Opposition Leader Sue Tiller-Poulsbo, and Democrats' leader Sylvia Nihal. Nihal was thought to had made some headway in the debate, setting out her party's position clearly. Most, however, did not give the Democrats much change of catching up and expected the Prime Minister and Culik to be easily re-elected.

Culik hit 80% in the polls on June 17th; a remarkably high number for a party in a multi-party system. The Prime Minister's less than spectacular debate performance on June 24th was thought to had caused the ever increasing momentum to slip away from Culik, giving the Democrats new light. Although remaining ridiculously ahead, Culik shed nearly 20% of its support in the final two and a half weeks of the campaign.

Aftermath
Culik and Evan Gracie was able to secure a third straight majority government winning a massive 61.3% of the vote and taking 122 of the 200 seats in Parliament. Evan Gracie had been the head of Government in Dresden for a long time and he was given most of the credit for building such a strong nation in such a short period of time. Although, he was not universally loved. In some quarters, particularly in the state of Tancrato, he was vehemently hated.

The rump of the center and the left wing officially joined forces to create the United Democratic Party with Sylvia Nihal becoming leader of the new party and Sue Tiller-Poulsobo becoming deputy leader. The new party held 56 seats in the new parliament upon the first assembly in mid-July. They were committed to bringing down the right in the new parliament and competing to win over the hearts and minds of the public.