Campaign 2026: 53rd Congress election primer

 

Patria is flooded with SRM 2026 campaign posters!

Election time in Patria! Here's what you need to know:

Election Day: April 18, 2026 (Third Saturday in April; Patriot’s Day long weekend). Fredonia votes one week early, on April 11.

Inauguration Day: June 30, 2026

What’s at stake: 333 seats in Patria’s Fifty Third Congress (LIII Con. Pat.), elections for Precinct legislatures and local city, county or demi-precinct councils in some of Patria’s 13 Precincts and the Federal District of Castoropolis (FDC). There is also an upper house in Patria, like the US and Canadian Senate or UK House of Lords, but its 57 members are selected by the Precinct legislatures, not by direct popular vote.

Three hundred thirty three seats, same as it has been since 1982. An effort to shrink the Congress to 315 (the number of seats from 1966 to 1982) or even 300 seats has apparently failed as of Oct. 10, 2025. The bill was introduced at the outset of the Fourth Session, but failed to make it out of the Elections Committee to be voted on by the full House.

Members of Congress are elected by proportional representation. In each precinct, lists of candidates are prepared by each party and seats are awarded in proportion to the percentage of votes received. In the Federal District of Castoropolis, Caesarea, Antioch and Haldimania, a mixed-member proportional format is used. One-third of the seats (district seats) are awarded by traditional US, Canadian and UK-style first past the post, the remainder are proportional from party lists.

Congressional apportionment per precinct:

Caesarea – 61 seats (20 district, 41 proportional)

FDC – 38 (13 district, 25 proportional)

Nova Columbia – 36

Lazuria – 27

Centralia – 25

Aeolia – 24

Arboria – 21

Antioch – 19 (6 district, 13 proportional)

Ambrosia – 17

Canardiere – 16

Mauretania – 15

Pottsylvania – 13

Haldimania – 12 (4 district, 8 proportional)

Fredonia – 9

Term of office: Four year term ending June 30, 2030.

Vote counting: paper ballots counted by hand. Early mail-in voting will be encouraged. There will also be advance polls to allow in-person voting prior to Election Day. Fredonia is traditionally the first precinct to vote and its vote count is released a few hours before the polls open on Election Day in the rest of Patria.

Follow on X/Twitter @Patria1818. Hashtags: #PatriaVotes2026 #53rdCongress

Patria is as far as it gets from the dishwater-dull, boring, uninspired US two-party system, and what is essentially a two-party Liberal-Conservative duopoly in Canada. Following are capsule descriptions of the parties contesting the 2026 election.

Social Democrats “Go Forward!” democratic socialists in the tradition of the NDP/CCF and Bernie Sanders. Populist/dissident left, not PC, little tolerance for snowflakes. Won plurality in 2018, allied with Amrita and Chakra parties. (Unofficial color: blue, cf. US Democratic Party)

SRM (Swadeshi Ramrajya Movement) “Bring the jobs home” “Patria first” Small-c conservative Hindu nationalist, economic protectionist. Partially inspired by India’s BJP. Once used to be leftist-progressive, when the party originated among hippie students in the late 1960s, and SRM used to stand for Spiritual Regeneration Movement. Although the “BRING IT HOME” slogan didn’t work for Pierre Poilievre, the SRM will be using it hard for 2026. (Unofficial color: saffron) 

Chakra Party “no gurus, just right” yoga/new age liberal. Unreconstructed 1990s new agers. Generally allied with Amrita and/or Social Democrats. (Unofficial color: teal) 

National Union “where a man belongs”, “big dogs, tough men” macho, populist law and order, obedience, respect for authority. Owning a big dog is a test of manhood. Cats are for pussies. In 2026 the NU will likely stick to strictly law and order issues, push for restoration of the death penalty, and not go after the cat owners and non-macho men. (Unofficial color: deep purple) 

Jungle Party “Have a take, don’t suck”, inspired by Jim Rome. Really a fringe party with no real platform. Silk Brah (failed candidate in Huntington Beach, CA) led the Jungle caucus in 2022. (Unofficial color: red, cf. US Republican Party as a lot of Jim Rome’s US clones, the late Trapper notwithstanding, would probably vote GOP.) 

Green Party, environmentalist, sustainable growth, same as in macro-world. (color, duhhhh, green) 

Libertarian Party, more freedom, less government, also same as in macro-world. (Unofficial color: grey/silver) 

Lilith Party, for biological women only, originally intended as the anti-National Union. Mostly made up of radical left feminists who love cats. Extremely TERF. Co-sponsored the SAAB (Sex Assigned At Birth) act along with the NU and SRM. An unlikely alliance is forming between the NU (who are also extremely trans-phobic) and Lilith: REAL MEN AND REAL WOMEN! NO TRANS! (unofficial color pink, to no one’s surprise) 

IAM Party: new for 2026, a possible resurrection of the Amrita Party that was dissolved in late 2021. Name of party would simply be IAM, not Independent Amrita Members. In Patrienish “I am” is literally “ími sím”. 

Minor parties: fringe groups and nutbars (Chastity Party, Family Values Party, Freedom Party, Patriots’ Union of Nova Columbia, etc.) that get in thanks to no votes being wasted under proportional representation. There are several parties that hold only a single seat in Congress. 

Hot-button campaign issues and slogans: 

Continuing the post-pandemic recovery. “Just move on” is not acceptable. Patria should say “never again”, i.e. no more over-reaction and government over-reach. IT WAS ONLY THE FUCKING FLU! Or a bad cold. Why is there not a COVID Nuremberg? Why is no one in the macro-world being held accountable for the spike in domestic violence, drug abuse, alcoholism, children’s learning deficits, bankruptcies, suicides and other collateral damage? 

PATRIA FIRST! No need to fear populism, whether from the right or left. 

TAKE BACK THE ECONOMY! Return the Patrienish Rupee to the gold standard. Patria says NO FIAT CURRENCY! NO GREAT RESET! 

Attempting to re-define or ret-con the legacy of the 43^rd Congress, after 40 years, along with attempting to rehabilitate the failed 41^st Congress. 

Four more years of Social Democrat populist/dissident left? If so, Patria says NO to cancel culture. NO to PC virtue signaling. YES to free speech and open debate. Patria may be leftist or socialist in economic policy but it rejects Cultural Marxism and is NOT WOKE! 

“BRING IT HOME!” – slogan of the SRM-led coalition of right-populist Hindu nationalists and Patria-Firsters in 2026. Social Democrats: “PROGRESS WITH A PURPOSE”. Chakra Party: “BRING IT TOGETHER!” National Union: “BIG DOGS! LAW AND ORDER!”