Lusitania and Vettonia NEWS
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The Liberal Party wins the first round of the presidential election
Liberal candidate Elisa Ubrique won a slim majority in the first round. She beat President Augusto Dominguez, and both candidates will go on to the second round, to be held on Sunday 12 June.
This first round has been the closest in number of votes between the different candidates ever held since the return of democracy.Ubrique stated that this is a very important step for those who seek a country that is more integrated into the European Union and that overcomes isolationism. She has promised major investments if she becomes the first female President of the Republic.
Conservative Augusto Domínguez, has preferred to remain cautious. He said that all is not yet lost and that there is still a second round to be held.
What seems very clear is that the Liberals will have the support of the left, which will call for a vote to the centre to prevent a new Conservative government.
The big loser of the day was the far-right National Front, which came last with barely 200,000 votes.
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#anchor(Liberals make history)Elisa Ubrique becomes the first president in the history of Lusitania and Vettonia. She obtained 300,000 more votes than the conservatives of former President Augusto Dominguez, and was thus officially proclaimed President of the Republic.
It is not yet clear who will be the next Governor General. But all bets point to a government of cohabitation with the current chief executive, Jose Miguel Orato, as Governor General as long as the Conservatives are the first parliamentary force.
The new president has a degree in law and economics. She has had a meteoric rise through the Liberal ranks, having risen from the mayor's office in Salamanca to the office of head of state. Considered a pragmatic and serious politician, she is expected to bring a sense of serenity to national politics.
Elisa Ubrique has announced that she will take important decisions in the first days of her term of office. She has announced an increase in military spending and the creation of a task force to address the problem of child begging. She has also said she will talk to major companies in Exluve to get them to invest outside the borders, and does not rule out short-term international trips to secure investment. In Ubrique's words: "It is time for our country to become an active member of the European Union, it is time for us to strengthen our external ties and move away from isolationism". There are also rumours of constitutional reform.
In addition, he has issued a threat to the Conservative Party. He warns that if they do not cooperate with the country's progress he could try to form a government with social democrats and federalists. Doing so would destroy the spirit of the grand coalition and put a stranglehold on the right-wing parties.
What is undeniable is that Lusitania and Vettonia has entered a new era. Much is expected of Ubrique, which comes to power at a time of economic slowdown.
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Environmentalists call for a green plan
Environmental organisations demand that Lusitania and Vettonia do not lag behind in terms of green investment. They call for stopping oil exports and trying to create new sources of electricity consumption.
The oil sector, for its part. It claims to be a fundamental pillar of the economy. In what could be the Liberal government's first front, they threaten to strike if any action by central government or the European Union seriously harms their interests.
The executive headed by the conservative Jose Miguel Orato has announced that it will study the creation of a federal environmental plan agreed with the federated states and that it will try to make both sides happy. The government is feeling the pressure from an ideologically different head of state, which could put it in trouble if it does not come out of any crisis in the right direction.
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A royal visit
Lusitania and Vettonia woke up yesterday with the new that the government was going to revoke decree 200/1900, by which any member or close relative of the royal house, deposed in that year, was forbidden to enter the country.
In 1900, Colonel Cano overthrew the monarchy of the young King Hugo II. He was forced to sign his abdication and immediately went into exile. The government of the First Republic of Lusitania and Vettonia signed a decree preventing any member of his family from returning, for fear of restoration.
Hugo II in 1889
This decree was never rescinded. Hugo II died in exile in 1972, during the communist dictatorship. After 72 years of claiming to be the legitimate head of state, he died without honours or remembrance. He only received a posthumous condemnation from Macaobado, Comrade President in those years.
Hugo II in exile in 1944
Despite this, his son, Fernando Manuel Ágrara, was proclaimed King in Exile from abroad. A position he has maintained to this day, when, thanks to the efforts of the government, he has landed at the age of 94 in a country he has never known and which has always repudiated him.
Fernando Manuel Ágrara (right) during an act in honor of his father in 1974
This act is a reconciliation of Lusitania and Vettonia with their own past. Fernando Manuel was welcomed by Elisa Ubrique and Jose Miguel Orato. He drove through the main streets of Emérita Augusta under the watchful eye of a few dozen royalists, a minority in the country.
Fernando Manuel in a recent image
The self-proclaimed King of Lusitania and Vettonia was accompanied to the Palace of Grandil, the seat of the Head of State. There, in a private ceremony, he swore in the Constitution and the Republic. He is expected to attend a dinner in his honour at the palace this evening. He is not expected to speak to the press until his situation is regularised. If he wants to, he can stay in the country now with his large family.
It is expected that in the coming days the government could anounce a constitutional reform in order to allow the Royal Family to participate in political affairs in spite off the opposition from the left parties. But after the swearing of the Constitution it would not be a problem, according to government sources.
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The Neathians rise up against the government
The Neathian people, native to the southern part of what is now Lusitania and Vettonia, have risen from the ashes to demand that the government take them into account in state policy.
Neathian natives
Looking back over their history, the Neathians lived on the coast of the Come Sea when the Latins arrived in the area. After successive wars they were defeated and enslaved, although many fled north. During the Empire they lived outside the imperial borders, forming tribes as in the past. Their place of residence was in the northern Marcia Range, near the desert. In the medieval period they fought the successor kingdoms of the Empire by supporting the Rumi. After their defeat in 1561 they had to migrate north again.
Since then they have lived there in deep solitude and in tribes that are grouped around the two states. There are an estimated 7,000 Neathians living in the northern mountains. Although during the early stages of the First Republic they tried to make an appearance in politics, they were marginalised. Now one of their leaders, Makhrit Nadekeda, has written to the head of state asking for the following on behalf of his people:
"...we would like to ask the government and institutions of the Federal Republic for a special status to enable us to preserve our language and customs. We want a certain degree of self-government to manage our domestic affairs as before. Our own courts and the recognition of the damage and discrimination historically caused by Lusitania and Vettonia".
Makhrit Nadekeda
The President of the Republic, Elisa Ubrique, has announced that they will study the tribalists' demands from within the government. She warns, however, that a constitutional reform will be necessary.
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Holidays and referendum mitigate government crisis
The government of Lusitania and Vettonia is de facto broken. After the plenary session in the General Diet in which the conservatives rejected the so-called "Enterprise Act", the internal trust of the cohabitation government is non-existent.
Only the summer holidays, which numb the political landscape, and the need to get next week's constitutional referendum out of the way prevent the government's demise. No one dares to make public statements, and distrust dynamites any proposal in the Council of Ministers.
The ball is now in Elisa Ubrique's court. Her position allows her to dissolve the government and even call elections. But at the moment the only sure thing is that July will be a hot but sleepy month. Tensions could flare up in August or September. If elections were held right now, the Liberal Party would win them, and the Conservatives could lose the premiership as they have already done with that of the state. There is a rumour that the Liberals are preparing a battery of bills to force the Conservative Party into parliament even before the end of the holidays. Tense calm in Augusta Emerita.
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The monthly survey of the Instituto Nacional de Demoscopia has been published.
The survey includes this time the data of next Sunday's constitutional referendum. The results show that 91.9% of voters would vote yes.
As for the electoral poll. If elections were held right now (without the entry of a monarchist party that has been much talked about lately) the Liberal Party would win the elections with 90 MPs. It would be followed by the Conservatives (75) and the Social Democrats (59). The Liberals could govern with a pact with the Lusitanian Federalists and an abstention of the Social Democrats. This undoubtedly changes the electoral landscape profoundly. The entry of the extreme left into parliament and the collapse of the extreme right is a relevant fact.
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Political earthquake in Lusitania and Vettonia
The Liberal Party of Lusitania and Vettonia has today triggered a political earthquake of incalculable magnitude for the time being. In the middle of the summer recess, they announced their presentation to the General Diet of a law decriminalising abortion in some cases, in what is interpreted as an act of defiance of the conservative government.
So far there is no official reaction from the government. But certain Conservative Party MPs have made it clear on different occasions that they will vote against it. The chances of this law succeeding are very slim, but not impossible with the support of the social democrats and federalisms.
The plenary has been convened for an ordinary session on 15 August. But no one is ruling out an earlier date in the form of an extraordinary plenary session. In any case, the government's position is extremely fragile at the moment. Two parties in coalition legislate and vote without counting on each other. Whatever Governor General Jose Miguel Orato may say to the press at any given moment, the government is broken, and urgent solutions must be found before Lusitania and Vettonia are compromised at a time when the economy is doing well.
What is certain is that nothing will happen this week for the government irremediably requires the approval of its constitutional reform to gain at least a little extra oxygen.
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Orato drops bombshell just days before the referendum
The Governor General, Jose Miguel Orato, has formally announced that he will submit himself to a motion of confidence in the General Diet. To this end, the Consul of the Sejm has called an extraordinary plenary session to debate it tomorrow, without giving the political parties time to prepare.
Orato Gonzo's cabinet could fall tomorrow if his liberal partners withdraw their support. But it seems unlikely that they will dare sacrifice the government just before voting on its biggest agenda item. What is remarkable is the political strategy of the Governor General, who has decided to force the Liberals to take a stand and choose.
If the government loses the confidence of the House tomorrow, the President of the Republic will have to dismiss the cabinet.
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There will be government for another week
Jose Miguel Orato Gonzo's government has saved the motion of confidence with the votes in favour of the Conservative Party and the abstention of his government partners, the Liberals.
Although the government will remain in place for the time being, this motion is evidence of the fractured government, and the absence of a valid alternative to lead the country. The conclusion of this Confidence Motion is that the Lusitania and Vettonia government will not be in power for long.
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People say yes to Kings and reservations
Yesterday afternoon the count went late into the night due to the very high voter turnout in the Constitutional Referendum. The Yes has swept the whole country, with special emphasis on Vettonia, always more disposed to decentralisations. These are the results of the Constitutional Referendum
Lusitania Emérita Ossonoba Évora Pacis Yes 75.72% 87.74% 76.80% 85.51% 52.83% No 22.37% 11.97% 25.55% 13.73% 38.25% Abstention 4.40% 0.29% 7.65% 0.76% 8.92% Participation 74.85% 85.35% 62.88% 61.30% 89.90% Vettonia Portus Cale Olissipo Capera Salamantica Yes 87.30% 91.42% 79.10% 84.25% 94.44% No 12.04% 8.27% 20.43% 14.48% 5.01% Abstention 2.18% 0.31% 0.47% 1.27% 0.55% Participation 74.33% 77.55% 75.36% 58.56% 85.76% 
Results by state
Results by ProvinceAfter the referendum, the headquarters of the Liberal Party, the main driving force behind the referendum, was transformed into a party for the greatest, and only, achievement of the coalition government that has been in place since June. The victory was a resounding one for Orato Gonzo's executive on the only measure they have agreed to approve.
The Neathian tribes, too, have celebrated in their villages the decision that gives them a high degree of self-government. They have responded by announcing that they will present their party "Victoria Neatia" (Victoria Neatia in Spanish, Vitoria Neatia in Portuguese, and Trîlkba Nathtia in Neatio) in the next Federal elections.
The royalists have also responded to the referendum by announcing that Prince Sergius, eldest son of the Pretender to the Throne of Lusitania, will lead a party that they will register today, details of which will be announced soon. The chessboard is beginning to move.
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Towards the end of International Neutrality?
Hugo Mendoza's visit to Portus Cale seemed to be a mere formality in his national travels now that he is head of government; but it has turned out to be crucial in how the country will be conceived in the future.
The Governor General said in his speech to the General Chamber of Vettonia that the Federation has lived too long in and out of the European Union at the same time. It has sinned of isolationism and bad neighbourliness with its potential strategic partners. He pledged to respect the Camilo Guterres government's pacts with Spain and to strengthen its external action with a view to increasing the nation's importance within the EU.
The talk shows are ablaze on all the country's radio and television stations with these declarations. Many conservative circles are wary of a general opening, as is the extreme left, which is Eurosceptic. But the government has the situation where it wants it, and everything points to the cabinet working for general integration.
