2016 United States presidential election



The 2016 United States presidential election was the 54th quadrennial American presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8th, 2016. As expected, the National Union ticket of U.S. Senator James Wallace from Missouri and Alabama State Senator William Robertson won the election with a significant electoral majority. However it was the most recent election where the National Union did not win an outright majority in the popular vote as opposition candidates won significant portions of the popular and electoral vote. Candidates with significant wins included Benjamin Sanders an independent candidate, Arizona Governor Arnold Sestak from the Free Workers party, House Representative Fernanda Cuevas from Yes California, and Liberty Governor Leonard Innis from the Freemen's Association.

Due to a poor economy and ongoing scandals in the traditional factions, the National Union primaries resulted in the most fragmented National Assembly in history. Incumbent President Anderson Norcross from the Democratic Left suffered a historic defeat, with the faction suffering worst result since 1980. The front-runner James Wallace from Christian Labor only won around 27 percent of the vote and 1641 electors out of the 2778 needed for a majority in the Assembly. Even though Wallace was able to form a joint ticket with William Robertson's Southern Labor, he was unable muster enough electors for a clear majority. For the first time in the National Union's history, no candidate was able to gain the support of a majority of delegates in the first four rounds of voting. In the fifth and final round, a Christian Labor-Southern Labor joint ticket was formally nominated by a plurality of 2136 electors.

Without a clear mandate from the National Union and a unpopular deal with the conservative Southern Labor, James Wallace was considered one of the weakest nominees in recent history. Even before Wallace's formal nomination, Benjamin Sanders announced that he was continuing his campaign for President as an independent. Shortly afterwards, the ethnic parties Yes California and the Freemen's Association announced that they would begin presidential campaigns in protest, nominating André Hernandez and Leonard Innis respectively. Ben Sanders formed a unity ticket with Henry Gates organizing themselves as an united populist front. Although they both had disparate political positions, they both campaigned on the message that "Washington must change" drawing in disaffected voters.

After Wallace was formally nominated, he began campaigning around the country, attempting to stave off any further losses. He pledged to address the weak economy and protect the middle class with an ambitious program based upon a philosophy of inclusive capitalism. Along with tax cuts, he proposed cutting benefits for companies who outsource jobs, a system to encourage companies to share their profits with their workers, and a fine on companies who attempts to dodge federal taxes.

The election had one of the highest turnout rates since the 1976 Presidential Election with an average 40 percent turnout. While Wallace won by a 15 percent margin in the popular vote, he was the first National candidate since 1992 to not win an outright majority in the popular vote and win the fewest states. The election saw a significant support for the opposition candidates, with the independent Sanders-Gates ticket winning 30 percent of the popular vote and over a hundred electoral votes. His campaign had the best results for an independent since 1976. Three opposition party candidates from Yes California, Freemen Association, and Free Workers, won their respective home states.