Snap Elections

Parliamentary countries (UK, JP, and DE) can dissolve their lower chamber before its regular term ends. This creates an early general election — a snap. The US has no snap mechanic — it does not have a no-confidence mechanism.

Snaps can happen two ways: a sitting Prime Minister (or Chancellor in DE) calls one voluntarily, or the system auto-triggers one when a PM vacancy extends beyond 96 turns.

For the regular cycles see United Kingdom, Japan, and Germany. For the underlying confidence mechanics see No-Confidence Votes and Government Formation.

Where Snaps Are Possible

Upper chambers (UK Lords, JP Sangiin, DE Bundesrat) are explicitly excluded — Lords isn't elected at all, the Sangiin has its own fixed cycle independent of snaps, and the Bundesrat is appointed by Land governments.

Player Trigger: PM-Initiated Snap

A sitting Prime Minister (or Chancellor in DE) can call a snap election at any time, subject to gates:

• supportsSnapElections(config) must return true. Defaults derive from governmentType — parliamentary monarchies (UK, JP) and parliamentary republics (DE, IE) default to true; presidential and one-party systems default to false. A country can override the default with an explicit snapElectionsAllowed field on its config.
• Their government must be in "formed" status (not pending or caretaker).
• snapElectionsUsed < 2 per appointment. Counter resets on a new PM.
• If they've used a snap this appointment, a 336-turn cooldown (2 real weeks) must have elapsed.
• No active no-confidence vote exists for the country. A PM cannot preempt a pending VONC with a snap (admin overrides bypass this).

The endpoint: POST /api/country/[code]/pm/snap-election.

What Happens on a Successful Snap

In order, atomically:

1. All active or upcoming regular lower-chamber elections are cancelled.
2. In-progress bills in the lower chamber (statuses: proposed, active, passed_origin, active_other, override_shugiin, veto_override, vetoed) are set to failed. Bills currently in the upper chamber (Lords, Sangiin), in JP cabinet_review, or enrolled are preserved — their chambers are not dissolved.
3. A snap_{lowerChamberKey} election spawns per region (active status, primary opens immediately, 48-hour total window: 24h primary + 24h general).
4. governmentFormations.snapElectionsUsed increments; lastSnapElectionTurn set to current turn.
5. The sitting PM is vacated — cabinet cleared, currentOffice cleared on both the character and any NPP docs, government status → pending, 96-turn PM vacancy clock armed.
6. Government cycle/seat counters reset via resetParliamentaryGovernmentAfterElection.
7. A Discord game event emits.

Note: the 48-hour snap window is much faster than a regular Commons cycle (240 turns) or Shūgiin cycle (192 turns). Snap campaigns are sprints — make every action count.

Auto-Trigger: PM Vacancy Deadline

When governmentFormations.status enters pending (post-election reset, no-confidence pass, admin vacate, whatever), a 96-turn clock arms: pmVacancyDeadlineTurn = currentTurn + 96.

If no new PM is seated before the deadline, the turn processor's parliamentaryVacancyWatcher phase auto-calls triggerSnapElection with bypassLimits: true — ignoring the usual cooldown and usage caps.

The deadline clears when:

• A PM appointment vote passes (processParliamentaryGovernmentVotes).
• An admin directly appoints a PM (/api/admin/uk/government/appoint-pm).
• Any other flow calls appointPrimeMinister with a non-null character id.

Why a single vacancy clock replaces a "no-confidence → snap" rule

A successful no-confidence vote already transitions the government into pending — the same state any PM vacancy reaches. Folding NC into the shared vacancy clock means the game doesn't need to distinguish "snap because of NC" from "snap because no party can form a majority." The 96-turn window scales the UK post-FTPA 14-day alternative-government window and JP Article 69 10-day resign-or-dissolve convention to the simulation's timeline.

Post-Snap Cycle Reset

Snap elections shift the regular cycle forward. The next regular lower-chamber election anchors to the snap's endTime, not to the original bootstrap date:

The cycle counter increments: a snap that resolves at cycle N is followed by a regular cycle N+1 whose end-turn sits 240 (UK) or 192 (JP, DE) turns after the snap's end-turn.

What a Snap Does Not Touch

• Upper chambers (Lords, Sangiin) are unaffected. Their elections and seats persist.
• Bills in the upper chamber are preserved, as are bills in JP cabinet_review or enrolled.
• Non-lower-chamber regional councils or devolved assemblies (e.g., Scottish Parliament, future DE state parliaments) are independent of the national snap.
• Money, actions, stats of individual players — nothing is reset. You keep everything.

Strategic Considerations

For the Prime Minister

• Calling a snap is a commitment to win it. You lose your office at the moment the snap fires. Whether you regain it depends on the result and confidence process.
• Timing on momentum. Historically (and in-game) PMs call snaps when polling favours them. Consult polls before deciding.
• Maximum 2 per appointment. You can't spam snaps.
• 336-turn cooldown between voluntary snaps in same appointment. Plan accordingly.

For Opposition MPs

• Watch the PM vacancy clock. If the government is in pending and no PM formation vote is imminent, auto-snap is ~96 turns out. Prepare campaign operations now.
• Bills fail on snap. If you had legislation mid-passage in the lower chamber, it's gone. Re-propose after the snap.
• 48-hour sprint. Every turn of the snap general accumulates votes. There's no "build phase" — all the build is done before the snap fires.

For Candidates (any party)

• Incumbency is tenuous. Sitting MPs have their seats open just like everyone else. Your Political Influence and Favorability persist, which is a huge advantage, but you still have to run.
• Party organization is multiplied. With the short 48-hour window, party org (the 0.5× to 1.0× scalar) matters disproportionately to individual campaigning.
• NPP endorsements land harder. The compressed window means fewer opportunities for Favorability swings; NPP endorsements (each a demographic appeal boost) are near-decisive.

Related

• United Kingdom — UK political system, Commons, PM formation.
• Japan — JP political system, Diet, PM formation.
• Election Mechanics — General election vote math.
• General Elections — Closing sprint tactics (same math applies to snap).
• No-Confidence Votes — VONC mechanics.
• Government Formation — PM formation and confidence votes.