Orion national election, 28 A.R.

The 28 A.R. national election was the fourth national election that took place under the Third Constitution, and all 401 members of the Orion National Assembly were elected under ranked-choice voting.

Early in 28, incumbent Chancellor Hughes Stone Wheeler announced that she would not seek a fourth term and resigned as the leader of the Rally for Orion. A contentious leadership contest developed between Charron Shanor, the Vice-Chancellor, and Racicot Marshall, the National Minister for Foreign Affairs. Shanor narrowly won the leadership spill, and tapped Marshall as deputy leader of the party.

Shanor faced off against Lockhart Riley, the head of the Coalition for the Republic, and spent much of the campaign as an underdog. Riley was much more naturally charismatic than Shanor, and Shanor's combative, brusque style didn't prove popular with voters. However, in the final few months of the election, Shanor debuted a successful strategy that heavily featured the more-popular Wheeler and Marshall campaigning for the ticket around the country. The Rally also benefited from a series of concentrated attacks on Riley's ultranationalist views.

The Rally ended up decisively winning the national popular vote against the Coalition, but nonetheless saw its majority shrink to just a 12-seat majority. With few votes to spare, the Shanor government was soon mired in deadlock and frequently lost parliamentary votes due to defections from its members. Ultimately, the 28 elections proved to be the only national election that Shanor won.