The 2470 Imperial Parliamentary Elections

The 2470 Imperial Parliamentary Elections were a major election held near the end of the 25th century and the first ones held after the democratic reforms passed the Imperial Council of Governors

The Imperial Parliament
The Imperial Parliament was set up not long after the Empire was founded but it was given "advisory" power and not empowered to create or amend laws. Its budget was repeatedly slashed and interest in it was low, with low voter turn outs and a media narrative of its irrelevance.

It was slated for being closed completely on more than one occasion. However, there was a ground-swell of support for the Parliament and several governors, Lord Stafford Collingwood chief among them, spoke of the need to reform the parliament and to empower it.

Reform Movement
After the Conclave of 2459, Empress Aurora Valane agreed to Chancellor Stafford Collingwood's reform bill, though her allies objected to two of the measures. The Emperor's mother, however, as Lord-Governor of Mars, voted against the measure, stating that House Valane approved on the first element but not the others. The full slate of reforms narrowly passed a contentious vote in the Council during a time of great instability which appeared to reach its zenith with the assassination of Lord Stafford Collingwood.
 * The Imperial Parliament shall be empowered to vote on and pass laws which shall become Imperial law
 * The Imperial Parliament will have a veto over laws passed in council on a vote of 2/3rds of the Parliament
 * The Imperial Parliament gains one vote in the conclave

The Years of Chaos
After the vote, the violent "pro-democratic" movement, made up of a wide array of disparate opposition groups increased the level of violence in the Empire, rather than decreasing it as hoped by the late Lord Collingwood.

There was extensive terrorist activity within the Empire, though there was evidence to show that much of the funding had come from foreign actors such as the Karkouri Regime and the Dhau Empire.

The Years of Chaos saw an unprecedented wave of security measures brought into the Empire under "Operation Rampart" and terrorist attacks on a dozen worlds, with the August Uprising on Mars putting the Martian capital into a state of siege for 4 weeks.

The political tone became increasingly bitter and fraught, with the right and left each accusing the other of being the one to increase the tension within the Empire.

Parties
As a backdrop to this, the Imperial Parliamentary elections of 2470 were hotly expected and contested, with a huge amount of outside money pouring in from various sources.

Hundreds of political parties contested the election, then forming alliances and blocs going into the parliament. Broadly the most relevant ones were:
 * Anarchists -many worlds had already banned anarchist parties but a few anarchist parties were able to stand candidates. The anarchist platform was to break the Empire down and for local rule to replace the Imperial government.  Whilst the anarchists were considered to be left-wing, they did not offer any political support for the slow and measured approach of the other left-wing parties, calling them "counter-revolutionaries"
 * Radical Left - there had always been radical left wing parties, ranging from Marxist parties to those that simply wished to move immediately back to democracy. This movement saw an uptick in its support during the Years of Chaos as left-wing students and other disaffected people were drawn to support the left.  The Radical Left were also dismissive of the moderate left wing parties
 * Federalist -Democratic Alliance (DFA) - the largest left-wing alliance made up of half a dozen parties with a broadly left wing or social democratic message. They broadly agreed on the need to return to democracy but for this to be a slow process.  They also stood in opposition to the power and influence of the Hansa and the Council of Governors.  Their leader, MP Nathalie Gelhorn, was seen one of the few relevant MPs in the old parliament
 * The Alliance for Prosperity (AFP) - the largest alliance in the old parliament, this alliance of right wing, center right and centrist parties supported the Imperial government and either opposed the return to democracy or insisted it be a very gradual process. They were also pro-Hansa and pro-military.  The AFP was noted for lacking strong central leadership
 * The Destiny Party - a newly emerged centrist or center-right Party that had a very well funded campaign. Espousing a populist message of being pro-imperial, pro-military, pro-business and AI friendly, the Destiny Party promised that if elected they would make the Parliament relevant and make sensible decisions in line with the majority views of the people of the Empire.  Destiny were expected to make a splash but were starting with 0 MPs so would need to win big to capture a major swathe of seats
 * The Radical Right - a loose alliance of radical right wing parties, some of whom openly espouse a fascist ideology and oppose the return to democracy. With a somewhat muddled set of beliefs and ideas, the Radical right was often seen as a dysfunctional political body but it saw an uptick in its support during the Years of Chaos.  The Radical Right was not invited to join with the AFP as part of their bloc
 * Separatists - largely banned from standing across the Empire, Separatist MPs stood on a campaign to end their worlds membership to the Empire, sometimes simply standing on this issue and were often from the more radical end of the spectrum.

Campaign Finance
The rules on campaign finance were vague and enforced by an underfunded Imperial Parliamentary commission on Campaign Finance (IPCCF). As expected, huge amounts of money was donated to various parties from various sources but major lobbying groups such as ADVANCE (on behalf of AI rights) Horizon (on behalf of the Valtinist movement) and Sunderland (pro military and anti-AI).

There was also a lot of money and political capital expended by the Council of Governors. Lord Maddox Collingwood, son of the slain Lord Stafford Collingwood, called for a ban on Imperial Governors involving themselves in the campaign.

The largest source of donations however was the Hansa who spent lavishly, largely supporting Destiny and the Alliance for Prosperity, though Killian-Calburn made donations to the DFA.

An estimate by Liberty Watch, a center-left group based on Mars, put the figure of A$24 billion spent on the election. They also showed that this would be enough money to fund UBI across Mars for 12 years.

Controversies
There were complaints made by liberals that several planets did not have open and free elections, with anarchists banned on most worlds and some Governors vetting the list of candidates before they were allowed to stand.

Imperial lawyers confirmed that the Court of Appeals ruling in Packard v Pandev would apply in these cases and therefore planetary governors had the right to restrict the ballot within the context of Imperial law.

There were also complaints that on several worlds there was voter suppression with voting platforms only accessible during specific times and voting booths located in difficult to reach areas. Legal appeals were launched on these issues by several parties

Complaints about the proportion of seats going to Mars and Earth were also a source of complaint, with nearly 50% of the parliamentary seats going to these two worlds. The Imperial Government pointed out that nearly 50% of all citizens of the Empire live on these two worlds.

There were also complaints that a huge amount of money had been spent by the Governors and by the Hansa to influence the election. A cross parliamentary group was formed, to be reconstituted after the election, to rule on campaign finance laws and to empower and properly fund the IPCCF

Results
The vote took 4 weeks to fully tabulate and early polls showed that the Alliance for Prosperity looked to have lost support on its left and right but still was on course to be the largest party, though perhaps no longer a majority party.

Many polls also showed a big surge of support for the newly formed Destiny Party, the Radical Right and the Democratic-Federalist alliance.

The final results were completely tabled on February 6th 2470 and announced: Whilst there were complaints and appeals lodged about the results, the Imperial Civil Service certified the election and 1432 MPs would be coming to the new Parliament, including 740 first time MPs.
 * 1) Alliance for Prosperity - 45%
 * 2) Federalist-Democratic Alliance - 30%
 * 3) Radical Left - 8%
 * 4) Destiny Party -6%
 * 5) Radical Right - 6%
 * 6) Separatist - 4%
 * 7) Anarchist - 1%

The newly formed Destiny Party had made a major splash and was invited to form a working agreement with the Alliance for Prosperity.

The Radical Left wing parties ruled out any working arrangement with the Democratic-Federalist Alliance, however, confirming a center right bias to the new Parliament.

Speaker of the House Lord Elwood Rushkin was re-elected and confirmed by the new parliament to his chair as Speaker.