Safflynic general election, 2016

The Next Safflynic general election, will be held no later than 7 May 2016 to elect the members of the 8th National Assembly, following the dissolution of the 7th National Assembly. The Prime Minister and the Speaker of the Assembly wll be electedat the Assembly's first meeting.

Electoral system
There are twenty one districts (increasing to twenty three at the time of the election), in which eligible voters elect three deputies (called DOs) using the STV voting system. Electoral laws prevent political parties from standing more than three candidates, and spending limits are enforced.

Latest possible date
The constitution of Safflyn states that Assemblies expire five years after they have first sat. As the 7th Assembly first met on the 12th April 2011, it will expire on the 11th April 2016, and that polling day must then be within thirty days of the dissolution. However the Elections Act restricts this to twenty-eight days and that polling day must be a Saturday, so under current laws, the latest possible date is 7 May 2016.

Boundary changes
Changes to the district map are due to come into effect at the next election, since the District Boundaries Act requires the boundaries to be updated every ten years to accommodate population changes. The 2015 District boundaries were drawn up by the Electoral Commission using registered electorate figures from July 2014, and the provisional recommendations were published in November 2014. After public consultation, the final recommendations were published in July 2015 and presented to the Assembly. The new changes were approved by the Assembly in September 2015. Two new seats have been created, raising the number of seats to 69.