2019 Constantinopolitan general election (Queen of Cities)

The 2019 Constantinopolitan general election was held between May 24 and 26 to elect all 200 members of the 24th Parliament of Constantinople. The election was held concurrently with the 2019 European Parliament election. The election was called on March 31 when President Shenturk dissolved Parliament after the government and the Renewal Party voted in favor of a motion of dissolution. The results solidified the Renewal Party as the main representative of the right-wing in the country as it gained the most votes while Loukas' Justice Party only slightly progressed in the popular vote, notably because of the rise of the green Live Better! party. The Democratic Party stagnated as most of its potential right-wing electors chose the Renewal Party which had opposed the social reforms of the previous government.

In the aftermath of the election a new coalition was formed between the Justice Party, Live Better! and the Democratic Party after the membership of the of both junior coalition partners agreed to the coalition agreement on June 30. While Live Better! members overwhelmingly approved the agreement by 87% the membership of the Democratic Party only voted in favor by 56%.

This election was the first one to be held on multiple days and not to be held on the first or second Sunday of the month after amendments were introduced to the 1976 Electoral Law and to the country's Constitution. The possibility over multiple days, voting early by mail and the introduction of automatic voter registration led to the highest turnout since the 1993 election.

Election system
The 2019 election was the first one that was held after the revision of the 1976 Electoral Law that implemented automatic voter registration, multiple-day (Friday to Sunday) voting, voting by mail. While the creation of a system of online voting was initially proposed, the proposal was ultimately dropped because of security concerns.

The 200 members of Parliament were elected via closed-list proportional representation from a single countrywide electoral district. 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 was required to be 50% female and 50% male.

Background
The two years since the previous election were marked by significant reforms under left-wing Prime Minister Olympia Loukas. Despite its interventionist economic policy proposals, the coalition government did not interfere with the country's rapidly growing economy as the government limited its policies to the gradual re-nationalization major infrastructure such as the highways and bridges, as well as the country's postal service. In contrast, the government significantly increased funding for health, education and social programs while funding numerous urban renewal projects (creation of parks, bike lanes).

The stable growth of the economy allowed Loukas and her government to concentrate on introducing progressive social legislation as Constantinople became the first country in Eastern Europe or the Middle East to legalize same-sex marriage and same-sex adoption (2017). The following year the country also became a first in the region when it legalized cannabis for all uses, which resulted in the creation of the state-owned Société des Dispensaires de Constantinople (S3DC). The government also introduced legislation that would allow euthanasia, although this bill would fail to pass before the 2019 election.

The third axis of the government's activity was a series of constitutional amendments that were introduced throughout 2017 and 2018. The significant amendments reduced the powers of the presidency, introduced caretaker cabinets, changed the process of parliamentary dissolution by introducing a motion of dissolution, created a process of semi-direct democracy, codified LGBT+ equality (including marriage and anti-discrimination protections) in the constitution. The constitutional revision process marked a victory for all the progressive movements in Constantinople as much of its social agenda was now enshrined into fundamental law.

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, 15 parties were able to make it onto the ballot. However, of these 9 parties only ten had a realistic chance of getting past the 5% threshold.