The 2021 Stalstattan general election will be held on 16 April 2021 to elect the members of the Reichstag, the lower house of the bicameral General Congress. On the same day, state elections will be held as well to determine the composition of the Reichsrat, the upper house of the Congress.
Background
The 2020 Stalstattan election was held in June of 2020, and was the first of the restored constitutional monarchy. Though the Government coalition of the CVP, LDP, and BP remained the biggest parliamentary group, both it and the VSP suffered significant losses. The center-right coalition maintained its majority in the Congress and thus continued to implement the liberal and capitalist reforms to continue bringing the nation out of its communist past.
In February of 2021, a whistleblower complaint was lodged within the Interior Ministry, controlled by the BP leader Reinhold Marquardt. Investigation by government sources soon revealed that Marquardt had authorized wire tapping of the opposition AP, KNP, VSP, and ODP leadership's offices without their knowledge or consent. Further revelations showed that Chancellor Hermann Wolter had been complacent in the operation, while the third coalition leader, Judith Eckstein, was unaware of it entirely. Public backlash against the government spiked as a result, with many equating the actions undertaken by the government as a continuation of the monitored police state that the preceding People's Democratic Republic was notorious for. On 8 March 2021, Marquardt resigned as Interior Minister and as leader of the BP, while his successor Augustin Valkenhorst, who controlled the Culture Ministry, announced the BP would withdraw from the coalition, leaving it without a majority in either house of Congress.
In an attempt to salvage the situation and avoid an election, Chancellor Wolter called for a vote of confidence in the Reichstag and attempted to forge a new coalition with the VSP. His efforts were ultimately in vain as not only did the opposition parties refuse to agree to a coalition but the LDP backed the vote of no confidence in the government, effectively withdrawing from Wolter's government and guaranteeing a new election would need to be held. Despite this, Kaiser Friedrich initially hesitated in adjourning Congress and encouraged the congressional parties to work to form a new government, but this ultimately failed and called into question the Kaiser's role as an impartial mediator. Chancellor Wolter ultimately conceded his government had fallen and submitted his notice to the Kaiser to dissolve Congress, which the Kaiser did on 16 March.
Parties Contesting the Election
Christliche Volkspartei (CVP)
Liberaldemokratische Partei (LDP)
Arbeiterpartei (AP)
Konservative Nationalistische Partei (KNP)
Vereinigte Sozialistische Partei (VSP)
Bauernpartei (BP)
Ökologisch-Demokratische Partei (ÖDP)