ELECTION RESULTS
By Roisin Shaughnessy: Chief Correspondent
The 2020 Achkaerinese Senate Election results (displayed above) have been released. It's been a night of high drama and the odd shock but with all constituencies declared we now know the result. So here's the analysis of the night.The Result
The Unity Party: 194 Seats (+6)
Consul Michael Williams keeps his job as he has led the Unity Party to victory winning 194 out of the 500 seats, an increase of six seats from their 2015 result. The Consul had a long night to wait as his constituency of Broadchurch was among the first fifty to declare. His wife Siobhan Williams, Minister of Agriculture and the Environment and his son James Williams, Youth Minister, both retained their seats. Speaking once the result became clear the Consul said "We've had a great night, better than we dared to think but we're grateful to the public for the faith they've shown in us and come Monday we'll set about repaying that faith."The Patriot Party: 82 Seats (+8)
The minority government partner had a better night than the Unity Party if taken on the balance of the seat gain/loss equation though they did come in under the predicted 85 seats in the exit poll. The party will continue to serve in coalition with the Unity Party according to its leader Rhian Kennedy. The biggest celebrations on the night did belong to the Patriot Party as they unseated the leader of the Endeavour Party, Harrison Carmichael taking one of the longest believed safe Endeavour seats by a margin of 170 votes in what will probably become the moment that best sums up the election. Strong with the young vote last time out the Patriot Party's vote share among the younger generation remains the highest of any party.The Endeavour Party: 100 Seats (-50)
Where did it all go wrong? Never in the history of Achkaerinese politics has the Endeavour Party suffered a night as bad as this. Traditionally an opposition party would expect to gain seats instead they lost a third of their seats and saw their traditional strongholds fall, the town of Briarwood a long term Endeavour stronghold saw the party routed by the Green's, the Progressive Party made gains in Lakeside. In fact the night went so badly that the Endeavour Party even lost a seat to the Workers Alliance. But of course none of that will top the defeat of party leader Harrison Carmichael (pictured above) who lost his seat in the Senate and subsequently resigned as party leader. Commentators have suggested an unclear message and poor debate performance are key reasons why this manner of result was seen.The Liberal Party: 75 Seats (+5)
Ajax Semantar's first outing as Liberal Party leader in an election went well, the party gained five seats which is three more than the exit poll predicted, narrowly taking the Rowanoak seat from the Progressive Party by 24 votes, the narrowest result of the night. There would have been hopes that with the Endeavour vote collapsing that the Liberals could have become the lead opposition party but they fell short of this. However for the first few weeks of the new Senate term expect that with the Endeavour Party looking for a new leader that it will be the Liberals holding the government to account.The Green Party: 24 Seats (+18)
Arguably the big winners of the night were the Green's as they quadrupled their number of seats from 6 in the 2015 election to 24 on the night. With a clear campaign message focused on the environmental issues as well as the health and well being of the citizenry plus education, the green's garnered support so much so that they turned the traditional Endeavour red town of Briarwood completely green, a result that made party leader Thomas Lynsey (picture above) smile broadly as he declared "What we're seeing is the waking up of the people of this country and further afield across Mundus to the pressing issues that face our world whether it be the environment, the plight of those in poverty or those who cannot get access to an education. This result is a vindication of our message and we'll make sure that it's listened to."The Progressive Party: 15 Seats (+8)
Rosemary Carter's Progressive Party more than doubled their number of seats but perhaps will view the election as a missed opportunity to make greater gains as outside of the Unison City area successes were few and the rise of the Green Party could suggest that the Party's position as the alternative to the 'Big Four' has been supplanted, the party will have to consider in the next few weeks what it can do moving forward and how in five years time they don't become wholly irrelevant in the world of Achkaerinese politics.The Workers Alliance Party: 8 Seats (+5)
William Fort (pictured above) perhaps couldn't have imagined a result like this for the Worker's Alliance Party but a gain of five seats for a minor party is significant. A campaign which as always focused around worker's rights might go some way to explaining why the Endeavour Party's vote collapsed across the board. The big question though for the future will be does this signify a divergence between the Workers Alliance and Endeavour Parties?The Republican Party: 2 Seats (+1)
It's safe to say that Adam Lonsdale (pictured above), leader of the Republican Party would have taken holding his seat in Scyll Junction as a good result for the night, given that the Republican movement in Achkaerin is extremely small. However not only did he hold his seat but the party may have been the toast of a fair amount of the nation's households for unseating the Puritan Party's leader in Scyll Cove. While it's unlikely that two republicans in the Senate will make any real difference in practical terms, this is not a night that they'll forget in a hurry.The Puritan Party: 0 Seats (-1)
Sebastian Macquer, long time opinionated and in some quarters intolerable Senator, has led the Puritan Party since he founded it. However despite twenty five years in the Senate he lost his seat and it wasn't even to the expected challengers but to the Republicans, though the suspicion is that other parties threw their support behind the republicans in that one seat in a case of tactical voting. One thing is for sure the new Senate term will be a fair bit more cordial without Mr Macquer's now traditional barb trading with the Speaker's chair.The Shock of the Night
There were no prizes for guessing the biggest shock of the night. Harrison Carmichael, the leader of the opposition, the leader of the Endeavour Party lost his seat to Jade Nightingale (pictured above) of the Patriot Party, the margin was 170 votes. If the shock from those watching the live results was anything to go by this was on no one's radar despite a growing confidence of the Patriot Party over the last few hours of voting that they might have pulled it off. But the number 15,972 has been trending on twitter following the declaration. Mr Carmichael was gracious in defeat and wished Ms Nightingale well for her term in office.
So what happens next? Well the Senate reconvenes on Monday where the formalities of swearing in the Senators and the election of a speaker are handled, after that the business of government will begin.