COLUMBIA CITY - The first federal elections since the Second Great American War have officially been called, with some interesting results indeed. In the wake of President Starr not standing for reelection, the country saw the PPP's Sylvan Rosemont face off against the Liberal candidate Javon Inglemeyer. Rosemont crushed it, winning 61% of the vote in one of the more uneven presidential races in recent history. Inglemeyer didn't run a particularly bad campaign, but perhaps a lot of focus in the Midwest hurt him in the long run - especially as the political situation there has led to two new parties being elected to Congress.

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The Midwest Democrats, similar to the PPP, stood for Congressional elections only in Midwest states, and competed with the PPP for votes there. As they did not field a presidential candidate, the presidential vote was not split, but the Congressional one was. This allowed some seats to be lost to the opposition, but has also resulted in candidates from both parties being elected in the same state.

Similar things happened with the National Conservatives and the Liberals. With the National Conservatives being somewhere between the Republicans and Liberals, they picked up quite a few votes in the states they stood for election in. For many in the Midwest, the Republicans were too radical and the Liberals too centrist.

This has led to a coalition forming for the first time in Columbian history. The PPP and Democrats have formed a governing coalition with a majority of seats in both houses. Discussions are already on-going on a possible merger of the parties, given the very few differences between them. Meanwhile, the National Conservatives and Liberals have promised to work together, but no such merger seems in the future for them. In fact, the National Conservatives have vowed to compete in elections nationwide next cycle after a strong performance against the Liberals in Midwest states, meaning that the Liberals are likely to shift their platform - either to be officially centrist, or to be further right-wing and continue to compete directly with the National Conservatives.

Voter turnout was an exceptionally high 78%, in part due to high participation in the Midwest states. Clearly, President Starr's attempts at inspiring unity to make the new states feel at home in the union paid off.

Winning the vice-presidency race in the wake of Andromeda Mei stepping down was the PPP's Marion French, former majority leader of the Senate. He is famous for leading the charge for Columbia to join the NAA.

Overall, it was a good night for the PPP. The Party of Starr continues to be the star of Columbian politics.