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9 October (10:30pm)|PIETERSBURG
NVP candidate Leon Marten
The National People's Party have retained the seat of Mascarenhas East with a reduced majority following a terse election campaign. Their candidate, Leon Marten, son of former Chief Minister Robert Marten, will become the newest Member of the House of Assembly following his election victory.
Marten won the election with a majority of just 743 votes in what became one of the tighest by-elections in Nuvanian history, with at least one recount conducted in order to determine the vote from different parts of the constituency. The race came down to a three way race between Marten, the Democratic Action Party candidate Graham Plaskett and Liberal Conservative candidate Lukas Oostenbrink, who surprised many political comentators to consistently challenge Plaskett for second spot among preferred candidates within the election.
Of the 72,436 votes cast, Marten won with 25,381 votes. Plaskett came second with 24,638 votes, or 34% of the vote exactly. Oostenbrink came third with 21,549 votes, or 29.8% of the votes cast. Much of the remaining vote was split between the two remaining candidates. Charisse Newton, the candidate from the Citizen's Alliance, won just 506 votes, her worst performance. Independent candidate Brent Edwards also had his worst ever result, winning 217 votes. The remaining 145 votes were either blank or invalid.
Marten said that the win in Mascarenhas East had proven that despite recent controversies, the family name was still high regarded among voters within the constituency.
"It is very telling to see the level of support we still have both as a party and as a family in spite of what has happened," he said. "I believe that the voters have recognised the good work we have done for the communities here and in for all of Nuvania as a whole."
The nomination of Marten as the NVP's candidate was marred with controversy with allegations of vote rigging during the candidate selection process. The NVP held several meetings across the constituency where prospective candidates could put forwards their case to party members to be selected as the official candidate. Some members of the party alleged that Marten was not popular among the party members who believed his name would have tainted the party's image within the electorate. His selection as candidate for the NVP in Mascarenhas East was considered to be proof by some of the family's influence within the party.
DAP candidate Graham Plaskett congratulated Marten on his victory via telephone but said to media that the narrow margin of victory is indicative of a changing mood within the constituency.
"Less than a thousand votes is not what I would call a convincing victory," he said. "The winds of change are blowing through the streets and I would not consider this to be NVP territory much longer." He said that he would continue to offer an alternative voice for voters in Mascarenhas East, and focus on the next general election in 2024.
Lukas Oostenbrink also congratulated Marten on his victory and said that the result was "very encouraging" for the party. He said that the Liberal Conservative Party is an "emerging political force" within Nuvanian politics.
"This is but a taster of what we can do in such a short period of time," he said. "We'll be back again here and elsewhere."
Political analyst Samuel Hofmeyr said that the DAP would probably not be too unhappy with the party's performance given a seat like Mascarenhas East was "not typically a seat that would swing left."
"We're not talking about urban champagne socialist types," he said. "We're talking about very wealthy people who have the capital and the property that the DAP would very much want to levy taxes on, so it's a case of having to look at where they can push in 2024 and work on ensuring that it could swing in their direction come the next general election." Hofmeyr also said that the meteoric rise of the Liberal Conservatives could become a "wildcard factor" in future by-elections and even in the next general election.
"They've demonstrated that they have this ability to bring support from absolutely nowhere, so they're definitely a dark horse in future elections."
Hofmeyr said that if the by-election in Mascarenhas East had gone in the direction of the DAP, it would have made little difference to the DAP's problems in Parliament. He said while they would have extended their majority in the House of Assembly, it was in the Senate where the government coalition had problems.
"They are behind by ten seats in the Senate," he said. "The government is going to have to focus on the next general elections or call a separate senate election if it wants to have the majority in both houses of Parliament."
Neither the Chief Minister Andrew Bohn, nor Leader of the Opposition Philip Ackermann were available for comment.
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