Utanian Press Agency, Release 2 October 300 AP

UPA (Utanian Press Agency)
Release: October 2, 300 AP.

Election Update: Utani B'yan state

Seven million votes of ten million possible counted, or 75.8%, and there is still thirteen seats with uncertain results hanging over them. They are in Kanhara, Agraam, Koltij, Mulgrave and Shecker, and could be the deciders in this election.

In the Dalesforth electorate the Democrats have somewhat assured their victory over the fifth-placed Burovians, winning 59,316 votes over the Burovian's 55,378 votes. With only 207th voters uncounted, the likelihood of the Burovians catching up is slim, but still possible. Dalesforth is a rural electorate with a high number of non-Utani voters. They have elected MP's from the Peoples Party, Liberal Nationalists and Conservatives.

Just south of Dalesforth, the electorate of Mulgrave has elected the same parties, plus one from the Utani-Sædaj Party, and one further uncertain seat. Another rural and very conservative five-seat electorate, Mulgrave's 813,124 voters have voted as follows: LNP 107,409; Conservatives 86,237; Peoples Party 81,229; USP 67,267; Democrats 57,789; and Burovians 52,580. The Burovians, once again, appear certain to miss out on a seat in Mulgrave also, having five thousand fewer votes than the Democrats. There remains 226,168 uncounted voters in the electorate.

Kanhara remains a tight race for the third seat in Parliament from that electorate. The USP have 154,757 votes and the Peoples and Progressive Parties have 74,283 and 73,765 votes respectively. (The next place party is the Nationalists with 48,096 votes.) The race is between the two latter parties with only a few hundred votes between them. Up to 128 thousand votes remain uncounted, so at this stage, it is a clearly undecided seat, with even the second USP seat a possible gain by one of the two parties.

However, it is the eastern city of Shecker that remains the country's most undecided or closely run electorate. An industrial city of some 1.5 million residents, the voting for the Peoples and Liberal Nationalists guarantees both a seat: 123,130 and 81,595 respectively. It is the other five parties fighting over third, fourth and fifth places while remaining ahead of 50% of the Peoples party's 123 thousand votes, that are the real contest: the USP are on 64,009 votes, Republicans 62,731, while the Democrats on 58,679 votes, Conservatives at 57,459 and Burovians are on 54,990 votes. Between these five parties is only nine thousand votes the difference, making it anyone's game when 287,803 enrolled voters' votes have not been found or counted.

The state hands 17 MP's to the PPP, 11 to the USP, 7 to the Democrats, 6 to the Conservatives, and 4 each to the Liberal Nationalists and Progressive Party. Nationally, the tally is as follows:
Peoples Party on 39 seats, USP on 23, Republicans on 3 and Democratic Socialists with one, giving the possible coalition 66 seats, five less than required to form government.
The Conservatives have 22 seats, Democrats with 12, Liberal Nationalists 11, Progressive 7, Cruistian-Democrats 5 and Burovians have 2, giving a possible coalition total of 59, twelve short of the absolute majority required to govern.
The refuse-to-be-aligned Yannists hold two seats in Parliament.

With thirteen seats remaining in the doubtful or unknown category, the election remains anyone's win, however, it is looking more like a weak leftist coalition than a weak right-wing one.