Xiongjing – The Bai ruling party Xingongrenhui is expected to retain its majority in the legislature by winning 1345 out of 1888 Yihuiting parliamentary seats, according to early results released by the country’s Election Commission (EC).

The centrist Xingongrenhui is expected to have a stronger performance in most of the constituencies it contested. The other major opposition parties, such as the Lixiandang and the left-wing Shihuidang, were headed for a poorer performance this year. The largest opposition Lixiandang only attained 308 seats, down from 442 in the previous year, and the Shihuidang only got 120 seats, down from 139.

Xingongrenhui Secretary-General Huang Cailin won a four-cornered fight in his constituency of Wenfubei with a majority of 36657 votes, defeating his rival Yang Yimin, vice-chairman of the rival Shihuidang.

Still, the Xingongrenhui failed to secure constituency seats from plenty of provinces, such as Qiongzhu and Jiangleng. The Qiongzhu Labour Party continues to retain its hold over the constituencies of Qiongzhu, despite an intense campaign by the Xingongrehui to sway voters.

“The results are unsurprising,” said Associate Professor Xie Zhongling of the Xiongjing National University. “As the Empire looks towards celebrating the 60th anniversary of its re-establishment, the ruling party has been taking advantage of the nationalistic fervour. In addition, the ruling party under Li Shenkang has been working very hard to restore the ruling party’s image, especially after its shock poorer performance in the 2016 elections.”

Other external observers from the Federal States and Gobrassanya, however, were more critical of the election results, saying there were issues such as rampant vote-rigging and gerrymandering that gave the ruling party a further advantage in the elections.

“The electoral boundaries have been drawn in favour of the ruling party. This ensured a majority vote for the Xingongrenhui for almost every constituency,” said Professor Gasin Kaud of Albedeer University. “Like for Li’ang Province, despite only attaining 49% of the popular vote, it still secured a considerable number of constituencies from the area through a pluarity.”

Nevertheless, many acknowledged that there had been a large swing in voter sentiment back to the Xingongrenhui, with high opinion ratings of the party prior to the election. The robust economy is likely to be a huge boost for support of the Xingongrenhui. But noted that the party still needs “work hard” to keep its mandate.

At a late-night party conference, Huang Cailin said the results were “promising” and pledged he and the party will “give their best” to carry out a “bigger, more inclusive and more comprehensive transformation of the country”.

Pang Xingxi, the secretary-general of the opposition Shihuidang, said the battle is still “far from over” and that his party will work hard to be a “determined, constructive opposition”. He said he was in talks with the Qiongzhu Labour Party, its ally, and other local parties to work on issues to bring about further societal and political reforms in the Empire.