2019 Bijhanian state election
The 2019 Bijhanian state election will take place on 2–3 November 2019. In this presidential election year, the President and Vice President of Bijhan will be elected. Elections will also take place for all 221 members of the State Assembly and 79 of the 99 members of the State Council to determine the membership of the 9th State Forum.
Presidential election
The President and Vice President will continue to be elected under the contingent vote system. The term of the President and Vice President will be shortened from eight years to six. Term limits will apply from the 2019 election onward, with a lifetime maximum of two terms in both offices.
State Council election
The State Council will increase in size from 30 members to 99 members. As members of the State Council serve staggered terms, with only one-third of the members facing election at a time, the 2019 election will fill 79 of the 99 seats.
The electoral system will remain largely the same. The members will be elected from a single statewide electoral district using closed party-list proportional representation. For the first time in the State Council, parties will have to cross a threshold of 5% of the statewide vote to be allocated any seats.
The 79 members elected will be divided among the three classes of members according to the order in which they were elected. The first 33 members will serve nine-year terms (2020–2029); the next 23 members will serve six-year terms (2020–2026), and the final 23 members will serve three-year terms (2020–2023).
The new electoral law reduces the term of the members of the State Council from twelve years to nine, and was applied retroactively to sitting members. As such, the 10 members elected in 2011 will now vacate their seats in 2023 instead of 2024, and the 10 members elected in 2015 will vacate their seats in 2026 instead of 2028.
State Assembly election
The State Assembly will increase in size from 60 members to 221 members, and the new electoral law will provide for the State Assembly to increase in size as the population increases, using a similar calculus to that which determines the size of the Parliament of Laharn. The term of members of the State Assembly will decrease from four years to three. Thus, the 221 members elected in 2019 will vacate their seats in 2022.
Electoral system
As in previous elections, the State Assembly will be elected under closed party-list proportional representation in fourteen electoral districts.
In previous elections, 46 of the 60 seats were distributed to parties at the district level, with the remaining 14 seats allocated as compensatory seats based on each party's share of the statewide vote. For the 2019 election, the seats will be allocated among the districts and the parties using a system of biproportional apportionment. A statewide vote share of 5% is required to be allocated any seats. The at-large compensatory seats will be abolished; all 221 members will be elected from the electoral districts.
Electoral districts and seats
| Electoral District | 2015
Seats |
2019
Seats |
Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arĝento | 3 | 13 | +10 |
| Barkalo | 4 | 18 | +14 |
| Biĵana Hadaro | 5 | 24 | +19 |
| Blankalupo | 2 | 12 | +10 |
| Ikafo | 2 | 9 | +7 |
| Kalendaro | 1 | 5 | +4 |
| Kiĝurio | 5 | 23 | +18 |
| Kronlando | 4 | 20 | +16 |
| Milikafo | 3 | 13 | +10 |
| Rabano | 4 | 21 | +17 |
| Rokhaveno | 1 | 7 | +6 |
| Ŝtelitarbo | 5 | 21 | +16 |
| Straveno | 3 | 14 | +11 |
| Sudhaveno | 4 | 21 | +17 |
| At-Large | 14 | 0 | –14 |
| TOTAL | 60 | 221 | +161 |
