Ár Ré leadership election, 4385

Ár Ré - Party of Kirlawa held a leadership election from July 4385 to December 4385 to replace Ruth Williams, who resigned as Leader after the party suffered heavy losses in the general election of that year. Ray Montreal-Cadet, the Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, beat Giuseppe Giovanni, the Deputy Leader and Spokespersons for Justice and National Development, to become the next Leader of the party. A total of 111,464 votes were cast in the election.

Background
Williams' ascendency to the premiership was short-lived. The party's fortunes began to dwindle with each election. By July 4385, when the party lost 51 seats, Williams' position in the party became untenable. Soon after, she stepped down as Leader of the Party, and a leadership election ensued which saw Ray Montreal-Cadet beat Giuseppe Giovanni to become the next Leader of Ar Re.

A cabinet proposal in September 4385 which removed Ar Re from the premiership and placed it in a supporting role (holding the Ministry of Trade and Industry) was passed with the support of all of Ar Re's Assembly Members. Thus ended the Williams ministry.

Incidentally, in the July 4385 elections, Williams opted to withdraw her candidacy for the presidency. In the party's constitutional review of 4375, the membership voted overwhelmingly to dismantle the procedure used for rerunning presidential primaries until a suitable candidate could be found. In effect, this allowed for no candidate to be able to contest the party's presidential primaries and hence, no presidential party candidate nominated. As there was no suitable presidential candidate found for the 4385 elections, the party did not contest the presidential election.

Procedure
Up to six candidates can participate in the leadership election. Candidates need not be holding public office, but have to be a member of Ár Ré for at least three years, and must receive at least one "endorsement". The nature of this endorsement was enlarged since the last election to include not only sitting Ár Ré members of the General Assembly, Regional Assemblies, the incumbent Leader and a former President of Kirlawa from Ár Ré, but also to former Cabinet members of Ár Ré. If more than six candidates apply, the six candidates with the most endorsements will be selected to participate in the election. If only one candidate is nominated, the election will be re-run.

The last constitutional review was held in 4375. However, no special changes have been made since then.

Timeline

 * Remainder of July: Candidates are able to submit their nomination papers.
 * Remainder of July - November 21 Campaigning.
 * August 1 - November 31: Postal ballots are sent to all eligible voters, and can be returned during that period.
 * December 1 - December 10: No further postal ballots are sent out, but ballots may continue to be submitted until December 10.
 * December 10 - December 22: Postal ballots are tabulated and the new leader of Ár Ré is announced on December 23.
 * December 23: Leader-elect formally sworn in at a special party conference.