The New Felix Election 1984-1985 was a wrenching national experience, dominated by the assassination of New Conservative Presdidential Candidate Ross Novolstic and widespread racial riots throughout the nation. Incumbent Progressive Liberal President Xavier Desan, who had promised not to run for a fourth term a year earlier, stepped aside to his Vice President, Owen Laccister. The New Conservative Party nominated Senator Richard Buckerson of Arutro. In an election battle dominated by personal attacks, scandals, and an eventual challenge of the election results, Senator Buckerson came out as the winner in one of the closest and divisive elections in Felixan History.

Background

In July of 1984, four militants belonging to the ultra right-wing Nephite-Felixan militant organization, Black Hand, seized a bank in Cameron, taking 58 people hostage. After a fifteen hour standoff against police and federal agents, the militants executed a hostage in front of live cameras, prompting SWAT teams to move in and attempt to take the bank. During the rescue attempt, the militants began firing upon hostages, killing 26 of them, before being taken out by SWAT units.

The hostage standoff resulted in widespread anti-Nephite riots in seventeen Felixan Cities, mostly among the Eastern Coast and Clancion Island. After the deaths of dozens of people, Martial Law was implemented in nine cities. In the aftermath of the riots, political pundits, civil rights groups, and even members of the Nephian government began pointing fingers at the Desan Administration and Parliament for largely ignoring racial and religious tensions throughout New Felix.

New Conservative Nomination

New Conservative Candidates:

• Ross Novolstic, Governor of Simpson
• Richard Buckerson, Senator from Arturo
• James Edmunds, Senator from Inigo
• The Reverend Inston Isinger

Governor Novolstic started out as the early favorite, winning the first six primaries held. Positioning himself as an outsider unconnected with the government's incompetence, Novolstic seemed sure to win the nomination. However, while campaigning in Vickson, New Felix, Novolstic was fatally shot by Mengsk Davidoff, a man who had escaped from a mentally insane asylum three days earlier.

The assassination of Novolstic threw the New Conservative Party into complete disarray. The delegate votes that Novolstic won in the primaries went to Isinger, who also had positioned himself as an outsider and continued to win primaries in those cities that were the most effected by the riots. Senator Buckerson, with a pro-civil rights platform, and promising to ease racial tensions in New Felix, quickly seized the momentum, winning the majority of primaries in the East, and securing the nomination several days before the New Conservative National Convention. The votes of the 1000 Delegates at the New Conservative Nomination were as follows:

1. Senator Richard Buckerson: 610 votes (33 primaries won)
2. Senator James Edmunds: 260 votes (9 primaries won)
3. The Reverend Inston Isinger: 130 votes (8 primaries won)

At the New Conservative Convention, Senator Buckerson chose Senator John Petersen as his Vice Presidential Running Mate.

Progressive Liberal Nomination

Progressive Liberal Candidates:

• Owen Laccister, Incumbent Vice President of New Felix
• Robert Kingston, Governor of Arthenia

Kingston started out as the initial favorite. Like Edmunds and Isinger, he positioned himself as an outsider unconnected and critical of the goverment's incompetence. However, After defeating Laccister in the Carlonia Primary, special interest groups with "no connections" to the Laccister Campaign launched a series of devestating ads accusing him of having an extra-martial affairs with several of his aides. Shortly thereafter, Kingston dropped out the Presidential Race, endorsing Laccister. Laccister was then unopposed for the Progressive Liberal Nomination, and won it on the first ballot. He selected Governor Michael Lewis of Potvin as his running mate.

Campaign

At the Progressive Liberal National Convention, Vice President Laccister ran on a theme of "Law & Order," and took credit for the economic boom, saying that "maintaining a good economy was essential to providing equality and oportunity to all Felixans." Several Keynote Speakers including Vice Presidential Nominee Michael Lewis launched scathing attacks on Buckerson's voting record, accusing him of voting against crucial Military, Commerce, and Law & Order funds. After the Convention, several polls showed Vice President Laccister and Senator Buckerson engaged in a statistical tie. The Liberals, whom had been trailing the New Conservatives by double digits since the beginning the election season, had finally closed the gap.

Special Interest Groups, with allegedly no connections to any campaign, began firing at both sides, accusing each side of general incompetence, exploiting a tragedy, and ironically, pandering to special interest groups instead of the public.

Four Presidential Debates and One Vice Presidential Debate were held in December of 1984 and January of 1985. The debates were widely perceived by the public as being overly negative with both sides attacking the other platform while largely negating to develop their own. A poll taken after the debates showed that 51% of Felixans had a negative opinion of both candidates.

Results

The election turned out to be one of the closest in Felixan history. On the day after election day at 4:12 A.M. Felixan Time, the networks projected Senator Buckerson the winner by only 670,000 votes nationwide. However, Laccister refused to concede the election as rumors of voter fraud were widespread. Urged by President Desan and other key Progressive Liberal leaders, Laccister officially challenged the results in three Felixan Provinces. However, after the case was thrown out in two of those provinces and it was proven that a manual recount in the final province would not gain Laccister enough votes to overtake Buckerson, the Vice President conceded the election three days later on February 16, 1985.

Aftermath

The election not only lead to a decade of New Conservative Control of the Presidency, but to the formation of the Social Democratic Party in 1986. The Social Democrats, outraged to the level both candidates swooped down to in the 1985, included former supporters from the both parties. The Social Democrats would grow to be a major political party in Felixan elections, although they do not submit candidates for the presidency every election.