Plembobrian News

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The Government is controlled by a minority coalition between the Revolutionary Democratic Party and The New Left. They have a confidence and supply agreement with the People's Party and the Agriculture and Labor Party.

Government approval rating: 49%

The Republic of Syrixia wishes our friends in Plembobria a fair and safe election.

The Results of the election are in. As suspected, the Briggs government will maintain power.


The RDP has formed a coalition with the PSF, granting them control of the government.

The new members will be sworn-in today, after which the King will give his speech from the throne.

In the Senate, the CA now has the largest number of seats, political commentators fear that the country's government will be unable to pass legislation.

The King and the Prime Minister have agreed to dissolve both houses of parliament. Members of the Conservative Alliance and Libertarian party (who control the Senate) have continued to block this year's supply bill, in opposition to continued tax increases. The dissolution is intended to break the gridlock.

Elections have been scheduled for the 17th.

(OOC: Exactly how can elections take place if there is no parliament? And why would a nation dissolve its own parliament just to break a gridlock?)

OOC: Syrixia, you shold look up the parliamentary system of democracy. It should explain how this works.

IC: The Malvadian government gives it's support to the Plembobrian government and will be watching the elections closely.

Despite the loss of our nation, we wish you a good, peaceful election period.

The elections are complete and the Royal Election Commission has published the provisional results. The Conservative Alliance has gained the most seats in the House of Commons, as well as one extra seat in the Senate. The CA and LP are likely to form a coalition and take control of the government.

Former Leader of the Opposition Ivan Nelson has been selected as Prime Minister. He has elected to appoint the former members of the Shadow Cabinet to his government. The following list shows the members of the new cabinet:

• Patrice Hossam, Minister of Foreign Affairs
• Stacee Amberly, Minister of Customs and Trade
• Grover Helmine, Minister of Defense
• Ben Kingston, Attorney-General (Head of the Ministry of Justice)
• Amal Gawahir, Minister of Internal Security
• Zachary Mariele, Minister of Transportation
• Isabella Karyn, Minister of Education
• Damion Russ, Minister of Agriculture
• Clayton Sterling, Minister of Commerce

No Bailouts!​

The CA-led Parliament has elected not to bail out corporations, despite the Kingdom's sluggish economy. "We need to allow corporations to fail. The government can't and shouldn't interfere in the workings of the economy. If we sponsor one business it will be worse for the rest. We need to leave private industry as it is. The market will gradually right itself." Prime Minister Nelson commented. The vote was entirely along party lines. The Opposition attempted to delay the vote by suggesting that a quorum wasn't present. Seventy-four members of the House of Commons were present. Only seventy were needed.

The Nelson government has privatised the majority of all state-owned industry since it took office.

New Cabinet Headquarters Proposed​

Parliament has passed bill to provide for the construction of an office for the Prime Minister and members of the Cabinet. A committee has been established to select a design for the building. The committee is accepting applications from architects.

The Nelson government has passed a resolution to form a new Ministry of Health & Welfare. Abigail Jordan (CA) has been appointed as the leader of this new Ministry. The founding of the ministry received wide support from the Opposition.

The Elections Act has passed in the House of Commons in a vote of 80-20. The bill was proposed by a collection of Opposition MPs. (3 RDP members, 2 PSF members) The original bill had three purposes:

1. Change the size of the House of Commons from a fixed number to a number based on population; one local seat per 200,000 residents.
2. Change the method of allocating members from the D'Hondt method to the Sainte-Laguë method.
3. Enact compulsory voting.

The RDP leadership was against the provision requiring one member per 200,000 residents, as it would result in size of the House increasing to 244 members. It was decided that there would be one member per 350,000, which would result in a House consisting of 140 members. (Seventy from the local electorates, seventy from the party-lists.)

The Conservative Alliance opposed the provision changing the allocation method to Sainte-Laguë. It is suspected that it is because the D'Hondt method tends to favor larger parties over smaller ones. Prime Minister Nelson simply said D'Hondt was "more fair" and didn't "tarnish the electoral system with complex mathematical distortions." The provision was removed.

The Government was divided regarding the compulsory voting provision. In the final division, twelve CA members and eight Libertarian members crossed the floor. The Opposition unanimously approved the bill. The Opposition's support for the provision is likely due to the poor turnout following the January double dissolution; The RDP would have likely won the subsequent snap election if there was a regular turnout, as a majority of the people who did vote were those who were against then Prime Minister Briggs' dissolution advice. (The RDP still has more support among the population than the CA.)

The Senate is still yet to pass the bill, and critics are unsure as to whether they will pass it. More to come.

Senate Passes elections Act​

The Senate officially passed the Elections Act in an 18-15 vote.

In the Government, nine Conservative and all four Libertarian members opposed the bill. Only four conservative members voted in it. In the Opposition, all RDP and PSF Senators voted in favor of the bill, both Farmer's Ecology Party members voted against.

This is the first time in the history of the Senate that a majority of Government members have defied the Leader of the Government in the Senate's voting recommendation.

The bill's lack of support is likely due to the compulsory voting clause.

The bill will be presented to His Majesty for Royal Assent on Wednesday.

With the election still a long way off, it's hard to tell just how much of a chance each party has of winning. In this article, I will endeavor to explain the relative strengths of each party, and make predictions as to the outcome of the upcoming election.

First, let's look at the Conservative-Libertarian coalition's track record. The Nelson Government has definitely produced widespread satisfaction among much of the population. They've drastically cut taxes, and enacted stricter environmental regulations. However, in the romantic quest to lower taxes, they've cut funding to welfare, agricultural subsidies, law enforcement, and healthcare. This has increased opposition to the government.

The CA retains most of its support in the more urban, wealthy provinces, with the exceptions of Halbonia and Crilalia. The party tries to appeal to the general public by considering itself the "Party of the Monarchy," despite the fact that King Tozian has stated on several occasions that he doesn't sympathize with any party in particular. The RDP's staunch republican nature has pretty much cooled since the Crilalian Coup. Most members support the Constitutional Monarchy. Among RDP voters, only 14% say the are opposed to the Monarchy.

The CA's victory in the election is generally attributed to the post-dissolution frenzy. It's important take note of the substantial increase of seats held by third parties in the snap election. The next election, is likely going to result in power being returned to the main two parties.

The real balance of power is in the Plinkenshires. The results from these two provinces will likely decide who will be the next Prime Minister; Ivan Nelson or Sydney Briggs.

The Party to watch is the Farmer's Ecology Party. They have immense support in the northern provinces. They're expected to win at least five seats in the expanded House of Commons. They'll be instrumental to the outcome of the election.

Sydney Briggs is a formidable politician. For all intents and purposes, she is the RDP. She's survived three different leadership spills just since she became Leader of the Opposition.

Briggs has mastered the art of shaming the Government during question time. Prime Minister Nelson has purportedly stated privately that question time was like a "lynch mob." She also has been able to pass several of her own bills, despite being in Opposition. Her natural ability to please people will likely result in her re-election. That's my prediction.

Today Prime Minister Nelson has officially requested for Parliament to be prorogued in preparation for the official end of its term on the 26th. The King has accepted his advice.

This is a regular general election. The election has been scheduled for Friday. This goes against the convention of elections being held on a Wednesday.

The results of the election will be announced on Saturday.

Briggs Declares Victory​

The Royal Election commission announced the election results early this morning. The Revolutionary Democratic Party won 49 seats out of the expanded 140-seat House of Commons. The Socialist Front won 24. Together the two parties have 73 seats -- just two seats above the majority of 71.

In her victory speech, Briggs stated that the RDP and the PSF would continue to re-implement their reforms "fix" all the problems made by the Conservative-Libertarian coalition.

"We might have been on standby for a while, but we're back in business."

It is yet to be decided if the Farmer's Ecology Party will join the RDP-PSF coalition. While they served in the opposition with them, they don't necessarily agree on everything. It is suspected that they may serve as crossbenchers. If they do join the government, they will have a very decent margin.

Rethel -- Yesterday, right before the final Commons vote on Free Trade Act, a bill which will allow the executive government to negotiate free trade deals with other nations in the region, the center-right National Party declared their support for the bill allowing it the votes needed to pass. The idea of a free trade deal has caused quite a bit of infighting in the government. The Farmer's Ecology Party (which had a confidence and supply agreement with the RDP), and the most People's Socialist Front MPs (which, up until now, had a coalition agreement with the government) voted against the bill. The Nationals and Libertarians, along with the governing Revolutionary Democrats, voted for it.

All PSF cabinet members have resigned from the government. "This party cannot, in good conscience, serve in a government which abandons the working class by allowing products manufacture overseas to be sold here at lower prices," PSF-leader Lehmann stated in a short press conference. The FEP also declared that their confidence and supply agreement with the government to be "null and void."

But there's more. With now a minority of seats in both Houses of Parliament, the Right-wing bloc (consisting of the Nationals and the Libertarians) have brought forth a motion of no confidence. If motion passes, (as is expected) an early election will be called. In the meantime, Prime Minister Briggs is rushing to fill the now-vacant ministerial positions in her government. Stay tuned for more news.

The Parliament was officially dissolved yet again today. Both houses recommended their dissolution to the King, who granted their request from his Royal Airplane. The Houses, on the request of the King, also proposed a constitutional amendment. The amendment will abolish the Senate.

The Referendum will be held Saturday. Parliamentary elections are yet to be scheduled.

Referendum passes, Senate is abolished.

In a vote of 53%, and amendment to abolish the Senate has been approved. The King granted his assent to the the amendment. So far, elections have not been scheduled. The King still retains legislative power, per the constitution.

In the mean time, the King has promulgated an amendment to the Elections Act, the bill defining the election system. The size of the House of Commons has been increased to 200 seats. MMP has been retained as election system. The threshold required to gain list seats has been raised to 5%. The method of apportionment of the local seats among the provinces has been changed from Jefferson's Method to the Huntington Hill method.

The Royal Election Commission, after counting the votes, declared a bizarre result. Under Plembobria's MMP system, to gain receive seats from the compensatory party vote, a party must receive 5% of the vote, or win three local constituency seats. The Agriculture and Labor Party, a merger of the FEP and PSF, failed to reach the 5% threshold, but won ten local seats, the party list vote entitled them to eight. Additionally the Crilalian Independence Front, a party advocating total independence for the Autonomous province, one a single seat with out reaching the threshold. The Parliament has 3 overhang seats.

At this point the REC had to options regarding A&L's extra seats:

1. Allow them to keep the seats and do nothing to compensate the other parties.
2. Compute the election results again, adding a single seat to the whole number each time until the result entitles A&L to ten seats.

The law regarding elections fail to state what would happen in the case of overhang seats, the REC appealed to His Majesty, who is yet to rule on the matter.

Briggs to be appointed Prime Minister, Controls Minority

• Revolutionary Democratic Party (72)
• The New Left (26)
• Agriculture and Labor Party (10)
• People's Party (24)
• National Party (74)
• The Libertarians (22)
• Crilalian Independence Front (1)
  
  The King issued a statement revoking his previous proclamation and reappointing the Executive Council. Sydney Briggs will once again be prime minister of Plembobria.
  
  The REC was forced to expand the Parliament to a size of 229 to manage the overhang situation.
  
  The Minority government is likely to be successful, due to the fact that the Agriculture and Labor party will likely vote for most of the government's plans. The party's predecessors attempted to remove the government from power last cycle, but this did not do well for them. Their popularity is expected to decrease over time.
  
  In the mean times, Briggs states that she will go ahead with her budget, as well as a collection of economic stimulus packages.

RETHEL- In pursuance of an amendment to the Elections Act of 2014, the Royal Election Commission has published an official map of the Overseas Parliamentary Divisions. Plembobrian citizens (regardless of previous domicile) are entitled to elect one MP to the house of Commons representing their overseas division. Their party list votes will be tallied with the rest in determining the overall proportions of parties in Parliament.

[img=600,300]http://i.imgur.com/8sH0xcG.png[/img]

After a lengthy debate, the House of Commons has narrowly improved the Nuclear Deterrent Act. An ambitious piece of legislation which authorizes the government to “Utilize the equipment of the Ministry of Defense to establish an effective nuclear launch system,” as well as “acquire or construct any such equipment necessary [for that purpose].” The Government has christened the program "Eternal Night."

The Government has given a preliminary outline of its intentions. A statement released by the defense ministry said that they would be procuring a small fleet of three submarines capable of launching Plembobria’s AD-4 ballistic missiles. Each vessel will be armed with up to eight missiles.

At a press conference, Defense Minister Crowly said the Government felt that “dangerous times” had prompted their decision to build a more effective deterrent, and that doing so was part of the Revolutionary Democrats’ plan to “make Plembobria a global power.”

The opposing National Party, which opposed the plain, claimed it was unnecessary. “Putting our nukes into the ocean,” said leader Alec Durand to reporters after the vote, “and waving them around is not going to do anything but make enemies of nations we count among our friends. This so-called ‘deterrent program’ is only being enacted so Briggs and her cronies can tell the world they made Plembobria important somehow. Nothing could be more foolhardy.”


The program has also attracted the ire of anti-nuclear protesters. The submarines will be assigned to naval bases in the province of Cherpis, which consists of a collection of islands off the coast of mainland Plembobria. The province has long opposed the nation’s nuclear program (the stockpile of warheads is currently kept in Cherpis as well). Opinion polling suggest up to 70% of residents are against the program. However, nationwide polling is more friendly, with about 57% of Plembobrians saying they support a nuclear program “which allows immediate retaliation against a foreign strike.”

So far there has been little international comment. The Defense Ministry believes the program will operational by next year.