2034 Derek election

The 2034 Derek election was held on Thursday, 3 May 2034 to elect 220 members of the House of Commons. The incumbent Labour-Liberal coalition government lost its majority and was replaced by a grand coalition between Labour and the Christian Democrats.

Date of the election
The election was called on 1 February 2034, with political campaigning for three months until election day on 3 May, the longest campaign in Derek's history. On the day of the election, voting stations across the country were open from 8 am, and closed at 8 pm.

Contesting political parties and candidates
Most candidates are representatives of a political party, which must be registered with the Electoral Commission's Register of Political Parties. Candidates who do not belong to a registered party can use an "independent" label, or no label at all. Historically, no independent candidates have ever been elected.

Major parties that contested this election are shown in the table below with their results at the 2030 election, ordered by the number of seats they won.

Debates
Nine debates were held ahead of the 2034 election. These were the first election debates to be administered by the independent debate commission that was established by the Labour-Liberal coalition government. All debates were aired on all major television networks and werebroadcast on radio by a number of stations. To qualify for the multi-party debates, parties had to be above 5% in an average of recent national opinion polls. However, this qualification was waived for the Green Party after the second debate due to the party's historical vote share.

First debate (10 February)
The first debate ahead of the 2034 election was held on February 10. The debate started at 6:00 p.m. and finished at 7:00 p.m. Opinion polling following the debate showed that it was won by the Christian Democrats leader Margaret Day.

Second debate (25 February)
The second debate ahead of the 2034 election was held on 25 February. The debates started at 6:30 p.m. and finished at 7:30 p.m. Opinion polling following the debate showed that it was won by the Labour leader Olivia Allen.

Third debate (9 March)
The third debate ahead of the 2034 election was held on 9 March. The debate started at 5:30 p.m. and finished at 7:00 p.m. Opinion polling following the debate showed that it was won by the Derek Party leader Derek Ball. Socialist leader Eric Shaw also had a strong performance, tying with Christian Democrats leader Margaret Day for third place. Green leader Connie Derek was invited to the debate after an agreement was reached with the debate commission and other parties to allow the party to debate based on its historical vote share.

Town halls (13-18 March)
A series of town halls with each of the party leaders was held over the nights of 13-18 March. Each lasted from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and were held with undecided voters asking the candidates questions one-on-one.

Fourth debate (27 March)
The fourth debate ahead of the 2034 election was held on 27 March. The debate started at 1:00 p.m. and finished at 2:30 p.m. Opinion polling following the debate showed that it was won by the Labour leader Olivia Allen. Derek Party leader Derek Ball had another strong performance, placing second over Christian Democrat leader Margaret Day. Liberal leader Lily Hughes also had a strong performance which led to a significant boost in national opinion polling.

Fifth debate (2 April)
The fifth debate ahead of the 2034 election was held on 2 April. The debate started at 6:00 p.m. and finished at 7:00 p.m. Opinion polling following the debate showed that it was once again won by the Labour leader Olivia Allen.

One-on-one debate (11 April)
A one-on-one debate between Labour leader Olivia Allen and Christian Democrats leader Margaret Day was held on 11 April. The debate started at 5:00 p.m. and finished at 7:00 p.m. Opinion polling following the debate showed that it was narrowly won by Christian Democrats leader Margaret Day. Significant backlash from Derek Party supporters over not being included in the debate led to an agreement to hold a three-way debate on 17 April.

Three-way debate (17 April)
A three-way debate between Labour leader Olivia Allen, Christian Democrats leader Margaret Day and Derek Party leader Derek Ball was held on 17 April. The debate was held after significant backlash from Derek Party supporters over not being included in the one-on-one debate held on 11 April. The debate started at 5:00 p.m. and ended at 7:00 p.m. Opinion polling following the debate showed that it was won by Derek Party leader Derek Ball. Labour leader Olivia Allen narrowly placed second over Christian Democrats leader Margaret Day.

Sixth debate (26 April)
The sixth debate ahead of the 2034 election was held on 26 April. The debate started at 6:00 p.m. and finished at 7:00 p.m. Opinion polling following the debate showed that it was once again won by the Labour leader Olivia Allen.

Seventh debate (2 May)
The seventh debate ahead of the 2034 election was held on 2 May, the night before the election. The debate started at 5:00 p.m. and finished at 7:00 p.m. Opinion polling following the debate showed that it was narrowly won by Christian Democrats leader Margaret Day however the Christian Democrats would go on to lose the election despite the win.

Opinion polling
Opinions polls were conducted monthly during the term and every 3 days during the election campaign.

Timeline

 * 17 October 2030: Election sees Labour lose majority but form coalition with Liberal Party with Greens in Confidence and Supply. Christian Democrats leader and Greens leader both resign.
 * December 2030: Green leadership campaign kicks off but Socialists start large campaign to attempt to win support off of falling Greens
 * 20 January 2031: Greens elect Connie Derek as new leader.
 * 27 March 2031: Christian Democrats elect Margaret Day as new leader. Party sees surge in support, mostly at expense of Derek Party and the Liberals.
 * August 2031: Government regains support in polls after it presents first budget.
 * January 2032: Economy begins to slow and recession predicted, expected to cause Labour to lose popularity.
 * February 2032: Economy worsens as unemployment rate hits 10% for first time since 2020.
 * March 2032: Recession drives up support for more radical parties like the Socialists and Derek Party.
 * August 2032: Green Party's only MP defects to the Socialists. Party drops to 3% in the polls.
 * April 2033: Government sees rebound in support as economy sees second consecutive quarter of positive growth following last year's recession.
 * 1 February 2034: Government calls election for 3 May.
 * 10 February 2034: First debate held, won by Christian Democrats.
 * 25 February 2034: Second debate held, won by Labour.
 * 28 February 2034: Derek Party launches campaign and announces new policy to abolish 4th D'Hondt seat in every region.
 * 3 March 2034: Greens launch campaign and announce agreement with debate commission and other parties to be included in future debates.
 * 9 March 2034: Third debate held, won by Derek Party.
 * 12 March 2034: Socialists bring forward campaign launch and manifesto release in attempt to win back support from resurgent Greens.
 * 14 March 2034: Christian Democrats launch very centrist manifesto. The party is heavily attacked for it by Derek Party but the Christian Democrats win support off of Derek Party regardless.
 * 13-18 March 2034: Town halls held.
 * 19 March 2034: Labour launch their manifesto. Party sticks to centre-left policies despite significant rise in popularity of Socialist Party.
 * 27 March 2034: Fourth debate held, won by Labour.
 * 29 March 2034: Liberals launch campaign and see surge in support off of the back of strong debate performance.
 * 2 April 2034: Fifth debate held, won by Labour.
 * 6 April 2034: One-on-one debate between Christian Democrats and Labour to be held on 11 April announced. Derek Party supporters protest not being included in debate despite statistical tie between Christian Democrats and Derek for second place.
 * 11 April 2034: One-on-one debate held, won by Christian Democrats.
 * 17 April 2034: Three-way debate held, won by Derek Party.
 * 22 April 2034: Socialists announce policy to hold a referendum on devolution in the Ables region (south-east), party sees surge in support in the region.
 * 26 April 2034: Sixth debate held, won by Labour. Labour leader rules out coalition with Socialists at the debate.
 * 27 April 2034: Christian Democrats rule out coalition with Derek after pressure from Labour following Labour ruling out coalition with Socialists.
 * 2 May 2034: Seventh debate held on eve of election, won by Christian Democrats.
 * 3 May 2034: Election sees incumbent Labour-Liberal government lose majority. Socialists see huge surge in support, especially in Ables region.
 * 12 May 2034: Labour and the Christian Democrats announce agreement to form Grand Coalition after all other negotiations fail to secure majority.