Nordic Council
7th General Elections
April 4532
201 seats to assign
Scandinavian Labour Party (SAP): 57
Conservative Party (KH): 38
Liberal Party (L): 29
Finnish National Party (SMP): 24
Nordic Progress Party (NFP): 23
Red-Green Coalition (RG): 9
National Socialist Bloc (NSB): 8
Russian People's National Party (NNP): 7
Socialist Left Party (SV): 6
Red Bloc (SAP + SMP + RG) total: 90 seats
Blue Bloc (KH + L + NFP) total: 90 seats
Nonaffiliated Parties: 21 seats
Analysis
Although the blue coalition entered the election supporting General Secretary Anders Norddahl's bid for a 3rd term, a combination of factors including the drawn-out and publicised Diamond Fiasco, the rise of the National Socialist Bloc from an unrepresented party to eight seats, and the intensification of Karelian-Novgorodian ethnic disputes in the territories of Neva and Ingermanland resulted in the blue coalition falling below the 101 seats required to form a majority government, with only some of the seats thus lost being gained by the red coalition.
Although many parties were the beneficiary of the strong slide of the Conservative Party due to the media backlash resulting from the Diamond Fiasco, arguably none was a larger beneficiary than the fledging NSB. Running on a protectionist, anti-Chinese platform, its campaign struct a chord with resentment against foreign businessmen involved in the largest corruption scandal Scandinavia has seen since 4506. Gaining 6 seats in Sweden and two in Norway, NSB rose from a non-represented party to the 7th largest in the Nordic Council.
With tensions between Karelians and Novgorodians rising in the Commonwealth's eastern territories, ethnic, regional interest parties on both sides gained from each side's desire to have their people represented in the Council. SMP and NNP between them won a supermajority of votes in the two eastern territories of Neva and Ingermanland, with the previously popular Conservative Party, which attempted to appeal to both sides of the conflict and convinced neither, falling to third place in these territories.
The result of all these factors was the highly unusual 90-90 split between the Red and Blue Blocs, with neither side being able to form a majority government and install a favourable General Secretary. A parliamentary deadlock persisted as neither side was able to gain sufficient support from the nonaffiliated parties to form a government. After six weeks, the crisis was resolved with the defection of the Liberal Party from the Blue Bloc, and its participation in forming a centre-left coalition around SAP's Jens Rasmussen which, although uneasy at times, has successfully held itself together to date.
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