Teiko National Elections, 2015

The Teiko National Elections of 2015 will be the fifth sextennial national elections in the Federal Kingdom of Teiko since 1986 and is scheduled on Thursday, November 26, 2015. The national election will select the next Premier and Deputy Premier of Teiko as well as half of the district representatives and all the sectoral representatives of the Teiko Royal Council through a plurality voting system. The position of premier and deputy premier are elected separately by the people, and the winning candidates may come from different political parties. Incumbent Premier Seijuro Akashi is still allowed by the 1986 Teiko Constitution to run for one more term in office.

Background
Article Five of the Teiko Constitution stipulates that for a person to be elected and serve as Premier of the Federal Kingdom of Teiko, the individual must be a natural-born citizen of Teiko, at least 25 years old, and a resident of Teiko for a period of no less than five years prior to elections. Candidates must also be an incumbent district representative at the time of his submission of candidacy until his resignation as the Commission on Elections requires all running candidates to resign en masse from their government positions. Candidates typically seek endorsement and support from various political parties in Teiko. The party's delegates then officially nominate a candidate to run on the party's behalf. Otherwise, they may run as independent.

In February 25, the second and the third largest political parties in Teiko, Democratic Party of Teiko and Liberal Party of Teiko has decided to form a coalition named United Opposition. Although it is not mentioned, both parties expressed to have a single premier and deputy candidate to represent them in the 2015 Teiko National Elections.

Important dates
The following is the list of important dates during the 2015 Teiko national elections:
 * Deadline for submission of candidacy - March 31
 * Confirmation of eligible candidates - May 31
 * Start of the campaign period - June 1
 * Election day - November 26
 * Inauguration of the premier-elect - January 30

Deputy Premier

 * Raito Yagami, Incumbent Minister for Justice
 * Ahead of schedule, the Teiko National Party decided to support Yagami as their candidate for deputy premier in the coming 2015 Teiko National Elections. Yagami later confirmed that he will be accepting the candidacy.

Potential Candidates
As the deadline for the submission of candidacy is about to end on March 31. A few persona has expressed willingness or potential to run as either premier or deputy premier.

Teiko National Party
 * Seijuro Akashi, Incumbent Premier of Teiko
 * Akashi has mentioned earlier that he is not seeking for re-election but during his speech at the 2014 Kokkyo Correspondence Night, he announced a possibility to run as standard bearer of the Teiko National Party once again during the 2015 Teiko National Elections.
 * Yuu Yanase, Incumbent Minister for Transportation
 * Yuu has been one of the most favored Teiko National Party member to succeed Akashi as standard bearer of the party in 2015. Yuu mentioned that he is interested but will probably not run due to failing health conditions.
 * Fukui Kensuke, Incumbent Sangdaedeung of Teiko
 * After Akashi's possible withdrawal and Yuu's imminent decline, Fukui appeared to be the most possible candidate of the Teiko National Party for premiership in the 2015 elections.

United Opposition
 * Tatsuya Himuro, Beika 11th District Representative
 * Himuro has expressed his willingness to run again as standard bearer of the Democratic Party of Teiko but since the coalition pushed through, he will wait first for the confirmation the members of the Liberal Party of Teiko.
 * Haizaki Shougo, Takezaki 5th District Representative
 * Haizaki is the prime mover of the Liberal Party of Teiko and prior to the coalition has been favored and expected to be LPT's standard bearer in the 2015 elections
 * Ryugazaki Rei, Incumbent Minister for Social Welfare and Development
 * Rei expressed his intention to run as deputy premier under the DPT but like the other members of the opposition, he would wait for the decision of the other party regarding their list of candidates.

Independent
 * Ryouta Kise, Incumbent Minister for Internal and External Communications
 * Kise mentioned that he seriously considering a political career after being appointed as the first musician to replace Wei Lui as minister for internal and external communications.

Unspecified position
 * Shun Izuki, Kaijo 8th District Representative
 * Izuki has mentioned that he is interested to run as premier for 2015 but stated that he will not be running under his current part, Democratic Party of Teiko as the planned coalition was green lighted.
 * Shouchi Imayoshi, Incumbent Minister for Budget and Finance
 * Imayoshi expressed his deep desire to run the government as premier during an interview with iLoveTeiko Radio. Although he said he was merely joking, several parties have expressed support for his advocacy.
 * Shige Ogiwara, Rakuzan 3rd District Representative
 * Ogiwara has been one of the most highly supported candidates by many Teikonians and his name has appeared out of nowhere during early opinion polling. Although Ogiwara admitted that he was in shock, he nevertheless expressed his appreciation for his support and that he will consider if he will run as premier in 2015.

Declined or withdrew candidacy

 * Suzaku Kururugi, Incumbent Deputy Premier of Teiko
 * Suzaku has been a the prime standard bearer of many Teikonian netizens and several organizations have already expressed their support for him should Suzaku choose to run as premier in 2015. However in an interview with Teiko Television Network (TTN), Suzaku mentioned that he is grateful for the support but he is considering to focus on the Teiko Royal Council after his Deputy Premiership.

Polling
The following is a pre-election opinion polling conducted by the Teiko Pulse, one of the largest surveying and statistics analysis in Teiko. Teiko Pulse has been conduction pre-election opinion polling since 1918. The following poll results are for surveys that allowed respondents to choose up to three people. The top three people with the best result are boldfaced; those within the margin of error of the third-best person are italicized.