Micronesian General Election, 2016

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The 2016 Micronesian General Election will be held on February 22, 2016. The election was called on January 18, 2016, when House speaker John Robinson called for the election on the advise of of President David Ray, only eight months after the last election. David Ray called the election due to being unable to get the opposition to agree on the budget for the upcoming year. Both the Green Party (Colm Parker) and the Reform Party (Peter Wright) will be coming in with new leaders, while the Liberal Party, the Micronesian National Party, and the Alliance Party will both retain their leaders going into the election. The Libertarian Party did not contest this election after their poor showing in the last election. Matthew Turner and the Micronesian National Party won the election with 41 seats, with the Green Party supporting the MNP with 21 seats, becoming the official opposition. The Liberal Party finished third with 20 seats, causing David Ray's resignation. The Reform Party and the Alliance Party both gained two seats.

Timeline

  • January 15 - After two months of intermittent negotiations over the upcoming budget, the Green Party formally announced that they will not support the Liberal Party budget. This comes after the MNP and the Reform Party have already disclosed their disapproval of any Liberal budget for the 2016 year. Talks of having an early election were common but were held back due to discussions on how to enforce the new laws that were passed in 2015 making voting compulsory.
  • January 18 - The election is officially called in the country, with 101 seats available for election in the country.
  • January 21 - The writers' debate is officially scrapped due to cost overruns and lack of interest from the electorate and the writers. The writers will instead submit some questions into the Peoples' debate.
  • January 23 - An ad for the Reform Party is pulled from the air after it claimed that Green Party leader Colm Parker is "willing to raise taxes in the name of the Alliance," which was later proven to be completely false. Reform Party leader Peter Wright apologized for the error.
  • January 25 - Reform Party leader Peter Wright makes a statement saying that the only way people will come out and vote is to know who are the frontrunners, and advocates the return of public opinion polling in the country. The party then released a false "opinion poll" claiming that they had 35% support in the country, "enough to win the election." The Reform Party is then charged with submitting a political opinion poll, which is currently outlawed in the country to avoid manipulating the public opinion. Wright then stated later in the day that he is "guilty" of trying to submit facts.
  • January 27 - Green Party leader Colm Parker releases a statement disproving Peter Wright's "claims" of there being 35% support for the Reform Party. He also submits an opinion poll, this time saying that 80% of people advocates for "environmental concerns." He then says that if people can word a survey the correct way, it can act like a political opinion poll but appear like something completely different.
  • January 28 - Reports emerge that President David Ray has not been working hard to fix the economy, but has instead been working on creating "a new Liberal brand" for the party. The reports also add that Ray's "circular language" isn't winning over the opinion of his cabinet. The same day, the MNP releases attack ads criticizing Ray's mental attitude over the economy and his frequent euphemisms during his speeches.
  • February 5 - Projected date for the Leaders' Debate.
  • February 15 - Projected date for the Peoples' Debate.
  • February 22 - Election Day.

Standings

Party Party Leader Seats
2015 Elected
National Matthew Turner 33 41
Green Colm Parker 17 21
Liberal David Ray 36 20
Reform Peter Wright 13 15
Alliance Chuck McGann 2 4