Elections in Noveria

[JEDCJT]

[size="4"][center][b]ELECTIONS IN THE REPUBLIC OF NOVERIA[/b][/center][/size]
After months of planning and coordination at the provincial and local level, the long-promised national elections have now commenced. Voting booths and websites have been opened under the aegis of the Noverian Election Commission, where it along with the Bureau of National Statistics will tally and verify the votes. For the first time in the history of the Republic of Noveria, citizens will be able to determine the future course of the country's future by casting votes on which political parties they wish to place into power, in the National Assembly.

For the first time since the days of the Kingdom of Ursalia, many years before, the political parties immediately announced their candidancy, and their chosen contenders now proceeded to begin campaigning in their areas to garner as much popular support as needed to win the election.

Each political party, leaders, and agenda are as below:

[quote][b]Libertarian Party - Pasquale Bianchi[/b]
- Support secularization (but not promoting Christianity)
- Reduce the size of the federal government
- Promote a laissez-faire economy by eliminating most, if not all, government regulation and controls from the economy
- Support free trade and travel
- Reduce the size of the Army
- Reduce the size of the Air Force
- Reduce the size of the Navy
- Maintain certain taxes, and phase out others
- Reduce public welfare programs, with the goal of eliminating them altogether
- Reduce tariffs on imports
- Support property rights of Noverian citizens
- Support civil liberties of Noverian citizens
- Maintain an isolationist, pro-North American foreign policy
- Encourage the establishment of private schools
- Maintain a 'hybrid' (both public and private) health care system

[b]Monarchist Party - Arthur Norton[/b]
- Make Roman Catholicism the official state religion, protect and defend Christianity, and encourage conversion of non-Christians into Catholicism
- Keep the size of federal government the way it is
- Maintain a large Navy to defend Noveria's waters
- Maintain a large Army
- Maintain a large Air Force
- Increase the defense budget
- Construct a nationwide anti-air defense system
- Construct a Weapon Research Complex
- Maintain the educational and health care system the way it is
- Maintain a more interventionalist foreign policy
- Increase state intervention into the economy through establishment of state-controlled industries and corporations, nationalization of certain industries and corporations, and the creation of new ones
- Decrease tariffs on imports from all parts of the world
- Increase in taxes to support the military, public programs, and as such
- Exploit hydroelectricity
- Build new dams and expand other infrastructure

[b]Conservative Party - Rodrigo Belga[/b]
- Maintain secularization, but facilitate propagation and maintenance of Christianity
- Further modernize all branches of the Noverian Defense Forces
- Maintain a small federal government
- Maintain a large Navy to defend the Republic of Noveria's waters and its maritime interests
- Maintain a large Air Force to defend Noveria's airspace
- Maintain a small Army (a large Navy and Air Force is more than adequate to defend Noveria)
- Reduce taxes and scaling back of welfare programs
- Expand and renovate many public universities
- Establish a Universal Healthcare program
- Maintain a pro-North American foreign policy
- Maintain the economy as the way it is (no changes in tariffs, restrictions, and as such)
- Build new power plants to produce nuclear energy
- Increase uranium extraction and refinement
- Minimize coal usage
- Seek cheap and renewable sources of energy

[b]Labor Party - Geno Inacio[/b]
- Promote religious pluralism (including the propagation of secularism)
- Expand the size of federal government
- Reduce the size of the Noverian Defense Forces
- Increase taxes to fund social programs and expand public services
- Establish a Universal Healthcare program
- Impose high tariffs on imports
- Place restrictions on large companies and corporations, but leave small business alone
- Increase federal subsidies for farmers and ranchers
- Adopt environment-friendly policies, increase the number of protected natural areas, and exploit biofuel

[b]Democratic Party - Bento Garibaldi[/b]
- Discourage, but not necessarily prohibit, all kinds of religions
- Maintain a small federal government
- Reduce the size of the military
- Maintain a small Navy, Air Force, and a smaller Army
- Halve the defense budget
- Reduce taxes and cut down on welfare programs
- Promote a laissez-faire economy by eliminating most, if not all, government regulation and controls from the economy
- Support the expansion of private schools and medical institutions, but maintain public ones the way they are
- Maintain of a non-interventionist foreign policy
- Reduce tariffs on import from American nations, but increase these on foreign nations

[b]Martensist Party - Wilfur Balducci[/b]
- Promote Noverian nationalism
- Neither promote nor discourage religion
- Support the concept of protectionism, that is, the increase of tariffs on imported goods
- Maintain state capitalism
- Promote decisive state intervention in the economy
- Maintain closed borders
- Maintain a large Navy
- Maintain a large Army
- Maintain a large Air Force
- Drastically increase defense spending
- Support a highly-isolationist foreign policy
- Promote the establishment of a meritocratic dictatorship

[b]People's Republican Party - Juan Silveira[/b]
- Expand law enforcement
- Promote secularism
- Increase taxes for the wealth, steepen progressive taxation system, exempt poorest fifth of the population from most taxes
- Revive and expand social programs such as food stamps, affordable housing, unemployment insurance, and old-age pensions
- Enforce rent control
- Nationalize a percentage of major banking and financing companies
- Launch major public works project to alleviate unemployment
- Expand oil and gas exploration
- Restrict weaponry sales
- Maintain a large Army
- Maintain a large Navy
- Maintain a large Air Force
- Expand the nuclear arsenal
- Maintain a pro-American foreign policy
- Form military alliances with close allies
- Reinforce the country against outside attack[/quote]

As for the voting process, any political party that receive 67 percent of the vote will gain a majority control of the National Assembly (the votes will be conducted in a proportional basis, to be explained below*), and the party with the second highest number of votes will become the official Opposition. However, if any political party is unable to receive a majority vote, then the parties with the two highest votes will form a coalition government.

*Political parties will receive a share of seats in the National Assembly based on the percentage of their votes. Meaning if Party A receives 70 percent of the vote, then it will receive 70 percent of the seats (assuming the total number of seats is 100, Party A will receive 70 seats).

OOC: Your votes will have some influence on my final decision (it's no fun playing all with yourself). You all are my citizens in this thread, after all. :3 Also, the President (me) will appoint a Prime Minister based on how many votes his or her political party receives.

[Sargun II]

[quote]
- Maintain secularization, but facilitate propagation and maintenance of Christianity[/quote]
A massive "derp" was heard from within Ireland

[Groucho Marx]

I'm so confused. I thought I was the Administrator of Noveria.

[JEDCJT]

The election was well-underway, and the surprising trend - to officials of the Noverian Election Commission and the Bureau of National Statistics - was that the Martensist Party, which had been traditionally garnered its support from the city of Kelowna and its surrounding areas, had received considerable support from the population along with the Libertarian Party.

According to tracking polls conducted by NEC officials in many parts of the country, the Martensist Party had received approximately 33 percent of the popular vote so far, most of which are concentrated in Kelowna, which is considered a Martensist Party stronghold, and most of southern Columbina, and even in parts of Nova Coimbra and Rio Grande do Leste. A large percentage of the populations in Hanshan, Vernon, Penticton, and even as far as Abbotsford, had voted Martencist; and the same went for Regina, which is considered as the most Germanized city in Noveria - even though not all of its German population are necessary in support of Martencist ideology - and southern Rio Grande do Leste.

Nearly as powerful in public support was the Libertarian Party. Led by the very well-known Pasquale Bianichi, who had once time been the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Viniland, the Libertarian Party had commandered near-exclusive support from the province of Nova Coimbra, with Calgari and Edmonton being its strongholds. This is no surprise, given that Nova Coimbra had always been the center of libertarian sentiments in its history, be it as a part of Viniland, the URSR, Ursalia, or Noveria. Bianichi had also received some support from part of Nadrink, Vancouver, and Saskatoon. Overall, it is estimated that Bianchi's party has over 27 percent of the vote, more or less equal to Wilfur Balducci's party. This is in contrast to the low support Bianchi had received in the former Ursalian kingdom, when he had received less than 10 percent of the vote.

The Labor and Monarchist parties have seen moderate support, both equally. The Labor Party under Geno Inacio garnered considerable support from central Rio Grande do Leste, including the traditional Labor stronghold of Saskatoon, which is currently split with the Libertarian Party, and part of Regina, which is currently dominated by Martensists. Inacio's party also received some support from Nova Alasca, part of Alta Vancavite - with Nanaimo being a minor stronghold - and northern Columbina, especially the former Canuck capital of Sipatau. So far the Labor Party has received nearly 12 percent of the vote. Led by Arthur Norton, the Monarchist Party received support from part of the population in Hanshan and central Columbina (even although central Columbina is currently being contested with the People's Republican Party), as well some scattered 'strongholds' in northern Nova Coimbra along with parts of Rio Grande do Leste. It received votes from part of Nova Alasca, particularly from Juneau, Sitka, and Ketchikan.

The Conservative and People's Republican parties had seen fairly broad support, although not at the same level or intensity as the aforementioned parties, even although the People's Republican Party comes fairly close to the Labor and Monarchist parties. Although the People's Republican Party received more support (just over 11 percent, according to tracking polls) from voters in most of central Columbina, particularly the city of Prince George, the Conservative Party received support (nearly 6 percent) from a more concentrated area, winning over the supermajority of Vancouver and its surrounding areas (including Richmond, Burnaby, and Abbotsford) and southern Alta Vancavite, including Victoria.

Finally, the Democratic Party received virtually no support from everywhere in the country, receiving less than one percent of the vote so far, with most votes coming from village 'strongholds' across Rio Grande do Leste and alongside the Jasper mountains at the Columbinan-Nova Coimbran border.

[iamthey]

*Private*

We look favorably upon the Conservtive party.

-Nationalist Party Spokesman

[JEDCJT]

The Noverian Election Commission posted the final election results, taking into account the margin of error (3%) and discounting spoiled or invalid votes.

The Libertarian Party under Pasquale Bianchi and Martensist Party under Wilfur Balducci received roughly the same votes, with the former receiving over 28 percent of the vote and the latter garnering slightly less than 27 percent.

In turn, the People's Republican Party won approximately 14 percent of the vote, to be followed by the Conservative Party (14 percent), the Labor Party (nearly 10 percent), and the Monarchist Party (5 percent). Lastly, the Democratic Party managed to increase its vote to 1 percent.

According to the NEC, as any political party couldn't attain the two-thirds+1 majority vote needed to gain a majority control of the National Assembly, the Libertarian and Martensist Parties will have to form a coalition government, which will be headed by a Prime Minister appointed by the President that will lead the government for the next four years (unless the President calls for new elections). Moreover, the Prime Minister must come from the coalition parties with the confirmation of the current session of the National Assembly.

The new session of the National Assembly will convene on the third day of January of the year following the election, and the Prime Minister will assume office on the twentieth day of January of the year following his expected appointment by the President.