2018 Antillean elections

  

2018 Antillean elections

Midterm elections
Election day	November 6
Incumbent president	Michael Abarough (Federalist)
Next Congress	18th National Assembly of the United Commonwealth
Senate elections
Overall control	Civic Democratic gain (elected seats) Federalist hold (+senators-in-absentia)
Seats contested	All 3 out of 6 elected Senators (in addition to 40 unelected senators-in-absentia)
Net seat change	Civic Democratic +4
House elections
Overall control	Federalist hold
Seats contested	All 234 seats of the House
Net seat change	Civic Democratic +75

The 2018 Antillean elections occurred on November 6, 2018, for all elected seats in the United Commonwealth Senate and the House of Representatives, along with all four provisional commonwealth legislatures, and several local elections for mayors and other municipal officials. These midterm elections occurred during the middle of the second term of Federalist President Michael Abarough. The Civic Democratic Party, a unified opposition party that was established in 2017, contested seats on the federal and commonwealth level for the first time since its creation. While the Federalists retained control of both the Senate and the House, it marked the first time since 1992 that another single party posed a serious competition for seats in the House of Representatives. The Civic Democrats gained 75 seats in the House, with some of those having previously belonged to the party's predecessors (the Liberal, Reform, and Civic National Parties), but some of them were notably flipped from the Federalists. The election also marked the highest voter turnout for a midterm election since 1992.

Because of the unprecedented gains made in 2018 by an opposition party, the election was widely characterized as a "blue wave" election by the Antillean and foreign media, and it included several Civic Democratic upset victories over Federalist incumbents. The Civic Democrats also took control of three out of four provisional commonwealth legislatures, making it the first time since the start of the democratization of the Antilles in 1983 that the Federalists did not control or held pluralities in at least three of the four of the commonwealth legislatures. The 2018 midterms created speculation over the next two years that in the 2020 Antillean elections, which would include the presidential election and gubernatorial elections, the Civic Democrats would be posed to expand their gains and provide a viable challenge for the Federalist control of the presidency.

Issues, background, and campaigning

Major issues this election cycle included income inequality, the economy, corporate influence in civil government, and foreign relations pertaining to the Conference of American States. The newly-established Civic Democratic Party, the product of the 2017 unification between the three largest left-leaning political parties in the Antilles, campaigned heavily on being a moderate alternative to the incumbent Federalist Party, which had controlled both chambers of the National Assembly since the start of democratization in 1983. While officially the party took a moderate stance on a number of issues, many Civic Democrats running for office supported progressive platforms, which commonly included the establishment of a federal minimum wage and limiting corporate influence in politics.

It was noted that the Federalist Party campaign for the 2018 elections were "unusually disorganized". The Federalist Party did not release an official platform until two months before the election, or about six months following the release of the Civic Democratic platform. Along with that, the party's campaign overly relied on its position and history as the traditional ruling party "as a way to avoid addressing faults within their own platform". Many Federalists denounced the platforms of the Civic Democratic Party as being "landonist" and "socialist", with some falsley alleging connections between Civic Democratic leaders and the United Commonwealth of Continental States.

Senate elections summary

Main article: 2018 Antillean Senate elections

House elections summary

Main article: 2018 Antillean House of Representatives elections

Local elections summary

Main articles: 2018 Antillean parish elections and 2018 Antillean mayoral elections

Table of results

	Before 2018 midterm				After 2018 midterm
Commonwealth	Governor	Common. leg.	House	Senate	Governor	Common. leg.	House	Senate
Cuba	Federalist (No Election)	Federalist	Federalist +TBD	Federalist	Federalist (No Election)	Civic Democratic	Federalist +TBD	Split
Hispaniola	Federalist (No Election)	Federalist (No Election)	Federalist +TBD	Federalist	Federalist (No Election)	Federalist (No Election)	Federalist +TBD	Federalist
Puerto Rico	Civic Democratic (No Election)	Federalist	Federalist +TBD	Split (No election)	Civic Democratic (No Election)	Civic Democratic	Federalist	Split (No election)
Virgin Islands	Civic Democratic (No Election)	Federalist	Civic Democratic 1-0	Split	Civic Democratic (No Election)	Civic Democratic	Civic Democratic 1-0	Split