2021 Uppasala gubernatorial election
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 Gubernatorial election results by county. Red denotes contests won by Parker. Blue denotes contests won by Meijer. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2021 Uppasala gubernatorial election was held on March 1st, 2021, to elect the next Governor of Uppasala. Incumbent governor Larry Parker of the Liberal Democratic Party would run for a third term against President of the Uppasala State Senate Daniel Meijer of the United Conservative Party. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the election will solely be conducted via mail-in voting, which has received significant controversy. If no candidate receives more than 50%, a separate runoff election will be held a month later.
The gubernatorial race has receive significant nationwide attention, largely because of the state's shift from the once-dominant Liberal Democratic Party to the United Conservative Party, a shift that was evident in the 2020 Superian federal election and the 2020 American parliament election. Along with that, incumbent governor Larry Parker is one of the most unpopular governors in Superior, with an approval rating of 34%, making him more vulnerable to defeat. It was also the first national election since the 2020 federal election, with it largely being seen as a referendum on the Liberal Democratic-lead federal government and its job performance after narrowly being re-elected in June 2020.
After four days of ballot counting, Parker would be declared the winner of the election, despite multiple reports of voter irregularities in multiple swing counties. Meijer refused to concede and launched various legal challenges to Parker's victory as part of a wider campaign. His claims would be investigated by Attorney General Roger Ferguson from April 6 until June 30 ending with Parker's victory being reaffirmed with only a few incidents of voter fraud by supporters of both candidates.
Since June 30, there have been a series of ongoing protests over the results which has since become a new phase in Superior's ongoing political crisis. Due to the protests, investigation and overall general controversy, the 2021 Uppasala gubernatorial election has garnered exceptionally high media attention and has been called one of the most controversial and contested election in recent Superian history and the most controversial gubernatorial election.
Background
Uppasala has long since been a very Liberal Democratic-leaning state with the state having a majority Liberal Democratic delegation throughout much of its history and since its formation, has seen most of its parliamentary delegation being made up of Progressive Coalition MPs. Larry Parker was elected as governor in 2013 and would be re-elected in 2017. While he won by considerable margins in both elections, his lead in 2017 fell by 4.3% in comparison to his original electoral lead in 2013 and has faced criticisms for representing the state's urban population at the expense of its suburban and rural communities, claims that Parker has frequently denied.
Parker's approval rating peaked in 2016 with 63%, but following his re-election in 2017, Parker would be accused of corruption and cronyism, and along with his perceived bias for urban centers in the state, his approval rating would begin to fall. In 2018, the Uppasala Conservative Party won control over the state legislature holding a narrow majority in both chambers, but said narrow margin was enough that many political commentators asked if the state was slowly shifting away from the Liberal Democrats to the United Conservative Party. The state's slow shift towards the right is largely seen as a reaction to the Liberal Democratic Party's policy on the United Commonwealth, which since 2015 has shifted from outright opposition to normalization of relations. Uppasala is largely populated of refugees from Michigan, who fled the state after the creation of the Continentalist States. The shift has also been seen as a reaction to the party's more progressive policies, especially on guns and immigration.
Candidates
Liberal Democratic Primary
Declared
- Larry Parker, TBD Governor of Uppasala (2013–).
- Franklin Reeves, former Member of the Uppasala House of Representatives (2002–2018).
Nominee
Withdrew
- Patricia Marx, social activist.
Results
| Liberal Democratic primary results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal Democrat | Larry Parker | 243,188 | TBA | - | |
| Liberal Democrat | Franklin Reeves | 177,344 | TBA | ||
| Total votes | 420,534 | 100% | |||
United Conservative Primary
Declared
- Daniel Meijer, President of the Uppasala Senate (2018–present).
- Angela Phoebe, Member of the Uppasala House of Representatives (2010–).
- Major Goodwin, Candidate for Mayor of New Michigan (2020).
Nominee
Withdrew
- Lee Anderson, President of the Scandinavian-Superian Culutural Union (2013–present).
- Ralph Lawrence, Member of the House of Delegates for New Marquis (2018–present)
Results
| United Conservative primary results | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Tory | Daniel Meijer | 219,233 | TBA | - | |
| Tory | Angela Phoebe | 104,233 | TBA | - | |
| Tory | Major Goodwin | 55,667 | TBA | - | |
| Total votes | 379,133 | 100% | |||
General election
Other parties
Because of the competitiveness of the race, the Liberal Democrat's and United Conservative's coalition partners have pledged to support their ally's candidate, refusing to run a candidate of their own. Both Reform and Oketi Sacowin parties have virtually no presence in Uppasala, so opted to not run their own candidates, instead endorsing Larry Parker.
Debates
Polling
Endorsements
- Federal politicians
- Jennifer Granholm, 18th President of Superior
- James Carr, 16th President of Superior
- Autumn Hurst, MP for Brookyln Park and Leader of the Green Party of Superior
- Mark Colton, MP from Saint Cloud and Leader of the Reform Party
- Connor Westing, Speaker of the House of Delegates
- Benjamin Fennly, Class I High Councilor
- Reginald Walker, Class II High Councilor
- State politicians
- Saul Anderson, State Representative for the 23rd district
- Connor Hendrix, State Representative for the 14th district; former Majority Leader of the Uppasala House of Representatives
- Selina Haily, Minority Leader of the Uppasala State Senate
- Organizations
- Federal politicians
- Isaac Dillon, Leader of the Opposition
- Charles Griffith, Shadow Agriculture Secretary and Leader of the Christian Democrats
- Anietta Johnson, Leader of the Constitutional and Unionist Party
- Alexander Harper, 17th President of Superior
- Amy Lloyd, TBD Deputy President of Superior and President of the United Conservative Party
- Greg Dalton, Class II High Councilor
- State politicians
- Max Goodall, Speaker of the Uppasala House of Representatives
- Gregory Gatz, Majority Leader of the Uppasala State Senate
- Henry Blackburn, Majority Leader of the Uppasala House of Representatives
- Organizations
Results
 2021 Uppasala gubernatorial election 
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal Democrat | Larry Parker | 50.1% | 
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| Tory | Daniel Meijer | 49.8% | 
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| Turnout | |||||
| Majority | |||||
| Liberal Democrat hold | Swing | ||||
Results by county
Aftermath
Voter Irregularities
During voting, a high-density and urban polling station in New Michigan would unexpectedly close during a period of what is considered "rush hour voting" time after a poll station worker was reported to have tested positive with COVID-19, possibly exposing the virus to all those who voted and worked at the polling station. At the time, New Michigan County, which was considered a swing county and essential to electoral victory, was polling towards Daniel Meijer. Despite COVID-19 regulations stating that a possible contamination site must be closed for two weeks for extensive cleaning, the polling station would reopen a day after closure. Simultaneously, Larry Parker would be leading in New Michigan County and would go onto narrowly win the county with more than a hundred vote lead. On April 8th, 2021, the Attorney General of Uppasala Roger Ferguson would announce a special investigation in to the voting fraud claims in both counties, despite being condemned by the Parker administration, with the Governor himself strongly opposing the investigation. As of May of 2021, the investigation is still ongoing.
Protests
Hours after Ferguson's investigation had concluded that Parker's victory was legitimate, protests would break out in New Michigan with many supporters of Meijer and the United Conservative Party gathering outside of the Uppasala Commonwealth Building to protest and call for the removal of Parker from office, the removal of Ferguson or a new investigation, and the installation of Meijer as governor.