Cygnian federal elections, 2016 (Joan of What?)

The Cygnian federal elections of 2014 were the 57th quadrennial congressional elections. They were held on Thursday, 6 November 2014. The Democratic Labour Party, under its leader Dorian Brandt, MNA, of Gascoyne achieved a landslide victory, soundly defeating the National Unity Party and its leader, former Chancellor Malcolm Turnbull.

Although the incumbent Chancellor, Julia Gillard, announced in 2013 that she would be seeking a second term as leader of the Democratic Labour Party and as Chancellor, a fierce competition ensued between candidates for the DLP leadership. It took 6 months of campaigning before Brandt could secure a surprising victory in June 2014, when Gillard conceded defeat. Comparatively, the National Unity Party's Malcolm Turnbull secured his party's leadership with ease, becoming the presumptive leader by March.

Nevertheless, Brandt would go on to win a decisive victory over Turnbull, winning 54% of the seats in the National Assembly against the NUP's 38%, and achieving a majority in 11 of the 18 states and 3 of the 6 territories. Brandt entered office with an impressive approval rating of 72% – the highest entry approval rating since 's in 1905.

Leadership elections
Chancellor became the first candidate to formally launch her campaign. She made the announcement on 12 April 2013, via a video message. She faced her most significant challenge from her Minister for Education, Congressman of, who became the second major candidate when he formally announced on 30 April 2013 that he was running for the Democratic Labour leadership. September 2013 polling numbers indicated that Brandt already had an edge over Gillard, not least because of the Gillard Government's unpopular, which Brandt promised to replace if elected. On 30 May 2013, former leader and former Minister for Foreign Affairs was the third major candidate to enter the Democratic Labour primary race, followed by  Senator  on 3 June 2013. Another Senator from Campbell, Senate Leader, announced her candidacy on 2 July 2013.

On 20 October 2013, Wong announced her withdrawal from the Democratic Labour primaries, stating that she would instead run for re-election as Senate Leader.

On 1 February 2014, in an extremely close contest, Gillard won the by a margin of 0.2 points over Brandt. After winning no delegates in Pilbara, Chen withdrew from the race that day. On 9 February, Brandt bounced back to win the with 60% of the vote. In the remaining two February contests, Brandt won the with 53% of the vote and scored a decisive victory in the  with 73% of the vote. On 4 March, in the Super Tuesday primaries, in which 4 states and 3 territories participated, Brandt won his home state of Gascoyne, Kaleep, Samudra, Bali, Flores and Moluccas and 208 pledged delegates, while Gillard won only Kimberley and 56 delegates. The following weekend, Rudd won the with 67% of the vote, and gained 77 delegates; Brandt meanwhile won the  with 71% of the vote. On 8 March, despite never having a lead in the, Brandt won by a small margin on 1.5 points and outperforming polls by over 19 points, while Gillard won 83% of the vote in. On 19 March, the second "Super Tuesday", Gillard won in, and , while Brandt won ,  and. Having won no delegates since the West Kimberley primary, Rudd withdrew from the race on 25 March.

On 22 and 23 May, Brandt won three victories in the, and. On 24 May 2014, the Associated Press and reported that Brandt had become the presumptive leader after reaching the required number of delegates, including pledged delegates and superdelegates, to secure the leadership. On 7 June, Brandt won the final primary in the. At the conclusion of the primary process, Brandt had won 1,214 pledged delegates (56% of the total) awarded by the primary elections, while Gillard had won 881 (41%). Out of the 654 superdelegates who were set to vote in the convention in July, Brandt received endorsements from 425 (65%), while Gillard received 225 (34%). Gillard announced her withdrawal from the race after the Swanstone I.C. primary on 7 June, leaving Brandt the only remaining candidate. She also declared her endorsement for Brandt.

On 8 July, appointees from the Brandt campaign and the Democratic Labour National Executive negotiated a draft of the party's platform. On 22 July, three days before the start of the Democratic Labour National Convention, the Brandt campaign announced that former candidate and Campbell Senator had been selected as his running mate.

Withdrawn candidates

 * , (Withdrew on 18 March 2014 and endorsed Malcolm Turnbull)
 * , former (Withdrew on 5 March 2014 and endorsed Malcolm Turnbull)
 * , former Shadow (Withdrew on 2 January 2014 and endorsed Julie Bishop; later endorsed Malcolm Turnbull)