2017 Constantinopolitan general election (Queen of Cities)

The 2017 Constantinopolitan general election was held on July 2, 2017 to elect the 23rd Parliament after the previous legislature had been dissolved by President Friedman following a motion of no confidence in Prime Minister Baghdasaryan's coalition government. This election marked the completion of the shift in Constantinopolitan politics that led to the fall of the Liberal Reform Party-New Way duopoly as the two parties declined to their worst results ever. In the aftermath of the election the Justice and Democratic parties emerged as the largest factions in Parliament along with the unofficial "Conservative Bloc" of the Renewal Party and Together for Change. The coalition government that was formed after the election was the first on since 1992 to not include either New Way or the Liberal Reform Party as Olympia Loukas became the country's second female prime minister.

Electoral system
The 200 deputies of Parliament were chosen from a single nationwide electoral district via closed-list proportional representation for a four-year term. The number of seats of each party was determined by utilizing the D'Hondt method with a 5% threshold that parties would need to cross in order to get any seats. In accordance with the 2003 Gender Equality Law each party's electoral list would need to be 50% female and 50% male.

Background
In the two years since the previous election the country experienced incredible economic growth as it once again became a major attraction for the relocation of international corporations with an increasing inflow of Asian companies setting up their European headquarters in the city. In parallel, Constantinople became one of the centers of the 2015 European migrant crisis with the country being a major port of entry for refugees from Asia. In 2015-2016, the country served as the entry point for nearly 850,000 migrants (mostly from the Middle East). Overall, the country would eventually become the home of around 400,000 refugees after the government of Majid Denktash (2016) managed to relocate thousands of refugees to other EU countries.

Since the election of the country's most fractured legislature in 2015 Constantinople has been led by five prime ministers as successive political crises caused the resignation or downfall of one government after another. Despite this instability, the parties whose polling numbers had fallen off a cliff in 2015-2016 (New Way, Liberal Reform Party, the Socialists, Public Square) managed to prevent the dissolution of Parliament for two years. The constant juggling of governments prevented New Way or the PLR from implementing its electoral promises from the previous campaign which, combined with their refusal to allow a dissolution would doom them in the opinion polls.

Political parties
For their registration in order to be able to participate in the 2013 election political parties had to pay a €20,000 deposit and be able to garner at least 27 endorsements from elected officials (arrondissement mayors or councilors). For the 2013 election, 20 parties were able to make it onto the ballot. However, of these 20 parties only ten had a realistic chance of getting past the 5% threshold.