1979 Alaskan general election (Napoleon's World)

The 1979 Alaskan general election determined the seat allotment for the Alaskan Duma, and was held on September 14, 1979. Entering the election, the Liberal Party was the majority party within the majority liberal coalition, which included the Progress, Reform, Labor, Socialist and Moderate Parties, and held a total of 242 seats in the Duma. The conservative coalition, which included the Conservative, Imperial and Industrial Parties, held a total of 148 seats. The independent parties included the Orthodox Party (5 seats), Christian Unity Party (3 seats) and Communist Party (2 seats).

Entering the election, the Premier was Ivan Edmarovsky, the Liberal Party leader. Challenging him was the de-facto head of the conservative coalition, Gennady Zaitsev of the Industrial Party. The liberal coalition - in particular the Reform and Socialist parties - lost a significant number of seats and the conservatives usurped all 8 independent seats from the two non-affiliated non-secular parties along with their other gains.

The Moderates agreed to abandon the liberal coalition and form a government with the conservatives, due to their own significant gains as a party. Despite overtures by Edmarovsky to remain in his coalition, Moderate leader Aleksey Valenko and his party advisors agreed to use their leverage as the key to control of the Duma and joined the conservatives officially on September 17th. In return, Zaitsev agreed to gather support for Valenko to become Premier within his own ranks, and Valenko was sworn in as Premier of Alaska on September 19th by Tsar Alexander III as the new government was formed. In the new government, the conservative coalition, with the Moderates included, had a majority of 257 seats against the 142 liberal seats and one independent Communist. Had the Moderates and their 63 seats remained in the liberal coalition, Edmarovsky would have remained Premier and the liberals would have maintained control of the Duma.

The election and the surprising flip of Moderate loyalty is cited as the main reason why parties must now register their coalition affiliation two years prior to a national general election (a reform undertaken in 1994), and also why each coalition must appoint a Coalition Leader from amongst its ranks to stand as a candidate for the Premiership entering each election.