Elthic News Media
-
Four left-wing parties form electoral alliance
by Janice Kyou - March 31, 2024
The logo of the alliance, titled UnitedLeft, was revealed at the announcement.
The Green Party of Elthize, the Elfiz Party, the Democratic Socialists of Elthize, and the Communist Party of Elthize have announced their electoral alliance for the July general elections in a joint conference held this morning at Forecoaster. The alliance, called UnitedLeft, aims to run on a common leftist political agenda and bring a leftist government to Elthize for the first time since 2002.
The alliance comes after a series of negotiations which lasted for weeks. All four party leaders were present at the conference. Matthew François, leader of the Green Party, unveiled the logo and name of the electoral alliance alongside Meti Adebayo (formerly Kendall Hudson), leader of the Elfiz Party, Melissa Chai, leader of the Democratic Socialists of Elthize, and Leon den Hollander, chairman of the Communist Party of Elthize.
The upcoming election will be the first time the Elfiz Party participates in national elections. Previously, the party only operated in the province of Southern Counties, formerly known as Hunnicutt. When asked about the change, Adebayo stated that the party's previous decision to only run in the Southern Counties was a "grave mistake". "Every Elfiz from Ackerson to Montgomery needs to be represented," Adebayo continued.
The real star of the show, however, was Melissa Chai, the presidential candidate of the alliance. "Our country is in dire times," is how Chai started her speech. She continued, "For three decades, we have endured ultra-capitalist, inhumane, and exploitative liberal regimes that have drained the life out of our fellow Elthic working class. Today is the day we set aside our ideological differences and say 'Enough!'"
Melissa Chai, the current mayor of the city of St. Lucas, first assumed office in 2013. She is highly regarded by the people of St. Lucas for her generous social programs, which have also gained attention across Elthize following the economic crisis that affected the country from 2008 to 2011. Her campaign comes after eleven years of speculation about her possibly seeking a position in the national government.
Martha Krystoff, the governor of St. Lucas, endorsed Chai and UnitedLeft for the 2024 elections. She stated that the alliance is "what our nation needs right now."
"Elthize, you have seen the work I have done for St. Lucas. Now it's your turn. It's time to vote for a government that cherishes and prioritizes life above all else." The room roared with applause the moment Chai ended her sentence.
-
Four candidates finalized for presidential race
Wirt Harland, Melissa Chai, Lorraine Devi and Freddie Abbey will battle for the presidency in the upcoming elections on July 7th.
The ballot for the presidency has been finalized and is waiting for its voters on July 7th.
With only four candidates, down from five in 2022, the presidential ballot is the shortest since 1988. Women also dominate the ballot, Wirt Harland being the sole male candidate listed. This ballot also marks the first time since the Yosainese occupation that no independent candidate gained enough support to appear on the ballot.
Wirt Harland
Wirt Harland, running for the new Progressive Conservative Party, has made crime and security the focus of his campaign, as Elthize bears one of the highest crime rates in the European Union. The former Labour senator has the support of two more parties: the Democrats for Elthize and the Business Party. While Harland enjoys popularity in Elthize, his incompetence in the position of Internal Affairs Commissioner has led some voters to question his abilities.
Melissa Chai
The current mayor of St. Lucas is popular in her city, and her promises of social security and civil rights also have a lot of supporters in the rest of Elthize. Supported by the UnitedLeft alliance (where her party Democratic Socialists of Elthize resides), Chai managed to gather even more support after Zoe Allen, the leader of Congress for Social Democracy, unexpectedly endorsed her a week ago. Chai is considered to be Harland's main rival in the presidential elections, and polls suggest it is going to be a close race between the two.
Lorraine Devi
After assuming leadership of the new, hard-right Harmony political party, Lorraine Devi aims to appeal to former Grimwald voters who perceive Harland as too liberal. It is uncertain whether this strategy will be successful, but it is expected to garner a substantial number of votes at the very least.
Freddie Abbey
Freddie Abbey, leader of the new Moderates party, has been a surprising wildcard in the election. Instead of aiming for a seat in parliament as expected, she's taking a gamble by running for president.
The presidential elections will commence on the same day as the parliamentary elections on July 7th, following the resignation of Greenwich Grimwald.
-
Elthize goes to the polling stations to cast their vote
The polling stations will remain open until 6:00 PM
July 7, 2024 - 10:00 AM
The day of the general election has finally come, and Elthics cannot wait to get the vote out, as thousands wait in assigned voting locations, which are mainly schools, universities sports centres, and community centres. This is the first time since 2004 that an election will be completed on the same day in Elthize, so the pressure is higher than usual both for workers and voters alike.
The voting period coincides with extreme heat, as temperatures surpass 30°C. As a result, political parties have created their own guidelines for staying safe in the heat while waiting to vote. Some parties have gone the extra mile: The Moderates, for instance, are distributing free water and snacks to their members in the days leading up to the election. The UnitedLeft coalition has also initiated a similar program, which is not restricted to their supporters.
Some provinces like Montgomery or Port Nelson have faced criticism for failing to protect workers from unemployment if they fail to come to work to vote in the election.
In the town of Garland Valley, Port Nelson, Max, 22, expressed his frustration, saying that his father almost missed the vote: "He works as a cargo driver from 8 AM to 6 PM, and he wanted to wake up at 7 AM, but he couldn't. If it hadn't been for my mother, who unusually couldn't sleep that day, he would not have had the chance to vote. He would risk getting fired if he left his shift, or even asked permission to vote. I don't understand how this isn't a guaranteed right in Elthize. I don't know why the Port Nelson government doesn't allow my father to vote."
The voting period began at 7.00 AM and will continue until 6:00 PM. The first results will be revealed at 8:00 PM. It is expected that the votes will be counted in about two to three hours, meaning the election is expected to be concluded by 11:00 PM at the latest.
-
July 7th, 2024, 8:00 PM
BREAKING: First results from the 2024 election
Welcome to LNN! I'm your host Elodie Giulietta, and I'm joined by one of LNN's most beloved hosts, Emilie Marie-Louise, as well as The Tribunal journalist Janice Kyou. Ladies, I hope we're having a fantastic night, as the first results of the 2024 election roll in. I should mention that since the exit polls just started opening about thirty minutes ago, many races are too early to call. And with that, I'm going to give it to Emilie. Take it away, darling.
Emilie Marie-Louise: Thanks a lot, Elodie. Let's start from The Midlands, our smallest province, where there's a close race between the Moderates and the United Left coalition for one seat in the new 52-seat parliament. The Moderates are ahead by about four to five hundred votes, but the seat could change hands at any moment. The Midlands is one of the three provinces that have one seat in the parliament, the other two being Northern Counties and Liamville.
Janice Kyou: Now, I do not want to sound like I am ridiculing people who live in these provinces, but I like to call these seats "bonus seats" or "tiebreaker seats". There is only one seat, so there is no other seat to distribute, meaning it's a winner-takes-all situation. In the case where two parties have the same amount of seats in other provinces, these seats, as I said, act as tiebreakers.
Elodie Giulietta: Well, we can see that both in Northern Counties and Liamville, the Moderates are ahead as well, in fact in Northern Counties the fate of the seat seems to be sealed, really.
Emilie Marie-Louise: Wow, that's a lot of wins for the Moderates, it seems like.
Elodie Giulietta: Again, too early to tell, and we're talking about single seats here.
Janice Kyou: Absolutely, the parties' performances in the bigger provinces will dictate what kind of role they will play in Elthic politics until 2027. For instance, St. Lucas has been allocated eighteen seats, which is more than one-third of the total. After that, it's Montgomery with nine seats, and Forecoaster with one seat less.
Elodie Giulietta: In St. Lucas, as expected, the left-wing parties are ahead, Congress for Social Democracy is first, with the UnitedLeft coalition following it. In Montgomery, meanwhile, far-right Harmony is ahead, with Moderates and Progressive Conservative Party battling for second place. We see a much more competitive vote share in Forecoaster, where we can't tell who will win, but for now, PCP is ahead.
Janice Kyou: Yeah, things do not look good for the right at the moment. It seems like no one could fill in the shoes of Greenwich Grimwald. Fascinating.
Emilie Marie-Louise: Speaking of President Grimwald... Let's look at who will seemingly replace him. We can see that Melissa Chai is in a very comfortable lead, with around thirty-four percent of the votes counted, compared to just twenty-two percent of the votes counted for Wirt Harland, and he could lose that second place at any given moment to either Freddie Abbey, who is around twenty percent, or Lorraine Devi, who is around eighteen percent.
Elodie Giulietta: Oh wow.
Janice Kyou: Yeah, this is Harland's worst nightmare. He couldn't convince the more conservative voters of Grimwald because of his Labour past, and couldn't convince the more liberal voters of him because... I guess it was his incompetence as Internal Affairs Commissioner?
Emilie Marie-Louise: Really? Do Elthics care about the politics of the European Union? I know I don't.
Janice Kyou: Based on personal experience, eh, I don't think so, but it's also that Abbey is far more charismatic than Harland is, so there.
Elodie Giulietta: I mean, we weren't expecting the CSD to back Chai, were we?
Janice Kyou: Nope. That move came from nowhere.
Emilie Marie-Louise: Okay, I have to cut you guys off as it seems like the race has been called for Southern Counties, with both seats won by UnitedLeft. Meti Adebayo and Rebel Kofi are set to become members of the parliament.
Janice Kyou: Two out of fifty-two, nice. By the way, both of these seats go to the Elfiz Party, which has participated in a general election for the first time in decades.
Elodie Giulietta: Good for them.
Janice Kyou: The seats will go to Meti Adebayo, who was an ambassador to Leagio, and Rebel Kofi, a former EU councillor who resigned two days ago to run for this seat.
Emilie Marie-Louise: That's great. We now have to take a break, we'll continue giving you the latest updates from Forecoaster after that.
Janice Kyou: Alright.
Elodie Giulietta: Make sure you stay tuned, we will have more people here for analysis as time goes on.
-
July 7th, 2024, 8:45 PM
Chai ahead in presidential election, CSD leads in parliamentary election
Alright, you're watching LNN again, and I'm your host Elodie Giulietta. Here with me are our very own Emilie Marie-Louise, as well as The Tribunal journalists Janice Kyou and Alfred Ingham. You're familiar with Kyou by now, and Ingham was supposed to be here with us from the beginning, but sometimes life has different plans. Once again, I hope we're having a great night, ladies... and the single gentleman (laughs)
Alfred Ingham: (amused) Elodie, let's keep my personal life out of this, alright?
Emilie Marie-Louise: (laughing) Oh my God, okay, okay. Yeah, alright, it has been about half an hour since we last gave you guys an update, and since then more races have been announced: for one, both seats in Marchand have been called for Congress for Social Democracy as the party gets fifty-five percent of the vote in the province.
Elodie Giulietta: Not as shocking as I think it should be.
Emilie Marie-Louise: After that, we can safely assume that in all provinces where there is a single member assigned to them at the parliament, that is Northern Counties, The Midlands and Liamville by the way, Moderates have won, so that's three extra seats for them. We also earlier called the race in Southern Counties to be over as both seats go to the Elfiz Party in the UnitedLeft coalition. In Ackerson, meanwhile, both Congress for Social Democracy and the Progressive Conservative Party will likely get one seat each as they battle for the first place, though Democrats for Elthize is in third place and is quite close to both, so they can get the second seat, too. Maybe.
Janice Kyou: Can you tell how many seats are DfE projected to win as of now?
Elodie Giulietta: Yeah, we can, it's... One. Just one seat in Forecoaster. I'm assuming that's the seat of the leader Merrill Kooben.
Alfred Ingham: No, Kooben ran in Montgomery, actually.
Emilie Marie-Louise: Oh, wow.
Janice Kyou: Yeah, I mean, we weren't expecting DfE to get more votes than, say, PCP, but knowing how close Kooben was to Grimwald, the expectations were higher than 1 out of 52.
Elodie Giulietta: I mean, we also have Liam Zachary and his Business Party? Can we see how they're doing as well? Alright, there we go.
Janice Kyou: Three seats total.
Emilie Marie-Louise: One each in St. Lucas, Montgomery and Port Nelson. Yeah, right now, it is not looking good for the right.
Alfred Ingham: I mean, it was obvious that it would happen: Immediately after Greenwich Grimwald withdraws and calls for an election, The Third Option is dissolved, and all these politicians are trying to fill his shoes, and that causes a lot of chaos. I mean, when we talk about Grimwald, we're talking about someone who managed to get votes from different factions of the right, and that's not an easy task. Here, you can see that the centre-right vote was split between Moderates, PCP, DfE and Business, and Harmony is getting a lot of votes because they cater to the far-right, and, you know, no other party does that.
Emilie Marie-Louise: We haven't talked about Harmony yet, but we can see that they will likely receive three seats, all from Montgomery. And what's also really interesting is that Lorraine Devi, their presidential candidate, is doing significantly better than her own party. What's up with that?
Janice Kyou: I mean, we can say that Harmony did not leave as good an impression outside Montgomery as Devi herself did, and she tried really hard to show herself off as a charismatic leader who could get things done, and we can say it paid off.
Alfred Ingham: Uh, there's also the fact that a good chunk of people who voted for Grimwald in 2022 did not trust Wirt Harland, as he was a member of the Labour Party, now Congress for Social Democracy. So they decided to vote for Devi, who was the only other right-wing alternative.
Elodie Giulietta: Well, nonetheless, she's still in last place, and Chai still has a very comfortable lead over all of them, though I feel like, if she is elected, which will probably happen, she needs to be very careful about, um, the right getting it together and possibly beating her, right?
Alfred Ingham: I think the worst-case scenario for her would be the Moderates uniting with PCP, but I don't think that's likely. I'd argue the Moderates would try to push the government, which is more likely to be left-wing right now, more into the centre. That will most likely be the case as CSD and UNL together do not have enough seats for a parliament majority.
Elodie Giulietta: It's important to note that the right-wing party cannot secure a parliament majority, even with the Moderates, without including Harmony. I don't think there will be much enthusiasm for including them within any other party in that hypothetical coalition, such as PCP, the Moderates, DfE, or Business.
Emilie Marie-Louise: Speaking of parliament, I think we can, for the first time, give a projection on how the parliament will look like... Now, once again, these numbers can change, nothing is finalized yet, but here it is, regardless, here's the projected seat distribution in the Parliament as of right now:
Party Amount of seats Percentage Congress for Social Democracy 17 26.28% Progressive Conservative Party 11 18.51% Moderates 10 17.03% UnitedLeft alliance 7 15.13% Harmony 3 9.07% Business Party 3 6.50% Democrats for Elthize 1 6.33% Elodie Giulietta: And for those who voted for UnitedLeft, here's the seat distribution among the parties of your alliance:
Party Amount of seats Elfiz Party 3 Green Party of Elthize 2 Democratic Socialists for Elthize 1 Communist Party of Elthize 1 Emilie Marie-Louise: And finally, here's a breakdown of the votes in the presidential election right now:
Candidate Percentage Melissa Chai (CSD, UnitedLeft) 35.64% Wirt Harland (PCP, Business, DfE) 24.25% Freddie Abbey (Moderates) 21.32% Lorraine Devi (Harmony) 18.79% Elodie Giulietta: Exciting times! Now, we should be done by about 10 PM, but it seems like the fate of the election has been sealed. We now take a short break once again, but we will return, so don't go anywhere, we will do further analysis with more guests and do some future predictions.
Alfred Ingham: Stay tuned!
-
LIVE: Melissa Chai addresses the crowd
The joint CSD-UNL candidate has been called the winner of the presidential race
July 7, 2024 - 9:20 PM
Ainsworth Park, Downtown St. Lucas. A crowd of about five thousand people applaud Melissa Chai as she walks onto the stage with her husband, waving for them. The crowd is waving flags for Congress for Social Democracy and the UnitedLeft alliance, with some waving Elthic flags or pride flags. The crowd is ecstatic, keeping on clapping, waiting for Chai to finally say a word.
"Hello, St. Lucas!"
Chai shouts before being drowned out by applause once again.
"Wow. Thought you guys would feel a little sad now that I won't be your mayor... Do you really want me to go to Forecoaster!?"
The crowd roars with applause once more, with chants of "Melissa! Melissa! Melissa!" being heard from some members.
"Well, alright, let's calm down... But seriously, if you went there, you ought to tell me some good restaurants there, you know? I've never heard good things about what Forecoaster people eat."
Laughter can be heard from the crowd.
"Alright, that's enough humour for now, let's get down to business, you know the deal: I have been elected as the new President of Elthize! We made it!.. After twenty-two years of right-wing incompetence... We are finally free. WE'RE FREE!"
The crowd roars and claps with utmost cheer. The happiness cannot be contained within Ainsworth Park, either. People are in their balconies around the park watching the scene with glee. More people start to join the crowd in the park, too. The Melissa chants start again.
"And of course, tonight, we have nothing to do but celebrate. But tomorrow, well, I think you'll celebrate, but I won't be able to participate. I will be very busy, as I prepare my travel to Forecoaster and finally start building the Elthize we deserve."
"I want to thank those who believed and voted for me, those who campaigned, door by door. I want to thank Zoe Allen and the Congress for Social Democracy for putting her trust and endorsement for me, the UnitedLeft alliance for nominating me, I also want to thank my party, the Democratic Socialists for Elthize, I want to thank my beautiful husband, my children, and the rest of my family for their support, and once again, I thank you, Elthize, for giving me this opportunity to be your next president. I will make sure that this love you give me will pay off... with dividends! I assure you! Thank you, and have a good night!"
-
July 7th, 2024, 9:40 PM
Chai called winner in presidential election, the left ahead in parliamentary election
Welcome back everyone, we've witnessed our president-elect's first speech. You're watching LNN, we are covering the elections for this year. I'm Elodie Giulietta, and with me are our very own Emilie Marie-Louise and William Berwick, he's a new addition, we also have The Tribunal journalists Alfred Ingham and Janice Kyou. Here are the updated results shown on the screen now:
Party Amount of seats Percentage Congress for Social Democracy 16 25.59% Moderates 12 17.57% Progressive Conservative Party 10 18.80% UnitedLeft alliance 7 16.14% Harmony 3 9.35% Business Party 3 6.14% Democrats for Elthize 1 6.41% Elodie Giulietta: And, once again, those who voted for UnitedLeft, here's the seat distribution among the parties of your alliance:
Party Amount of seats Elfiz Party 3 Green Party of Elthize 2 Democratic Socialists for Elthize 1 Communist Party of Elthize 1 Elodie Giulietta: We can safely assume that the seat distribution in the parliament has been finalized and there will be no changes after this, so we will show you a breakdown by province later on. But first, here are the current results of the presidential election:
Candidate Percentage Melissa Chai (CSD, UnitedLeft) 37.20% Wirt Harland (PCP, Business, DfE) 23.70% Freddie Abbey (Moderates) 21.25% Lorraine Devi (Harmony) 17.85% Elodie Giulietta: Now, what do we make of this picture? What do we think will follow after this election?
William Berwick: Good question.
Alfred Ingham: (chuckles)
William Berwick: Well, just a reminder for our viewers: the new Elthic parliament consists of fifty-two seats, so a party or coalition needs twenty-seven seats to have a majority. So it is quite unfortunate for Melissa Chai, a member of the Democratic Socialists, that the Congress for Social Democracy and her own UnitedLeft alliance cannot form a majority on their own.
Alfred Ingham: They are four seats short of a majority, for those wondering.
Emilie Marie-Louise: So, Will, you weren't here for this, but Alfie claimed earlier that the Moderates would rather push the left-wing government into the centre than work with PCP. Do you think that would be the case?
William Berwick: The president is Melissa Chai, and she holds veto power. Therefore, she will definitely veto any policy she disagrees with. In this scenario, it is not important which party the Moderates will align with, as the president will be the one making deals to pass laws and get things done.
Janice Kyou: I mean, even if the Moderates aligned with the right, they couldn't make up a parliamentary majority on their own, anyway. Not without Harmony, and I don't think Freddie Abbey would touch that party with a ten-foot pole.
Alfred Ingham: I mean, still, you'd need the support of the Moderates to pass laws. I guess the president has some legislative power, but it only takes you so far. You need the parliament, and you need the Moderates.
Elodie Giulietta: True.
William Berwick: I didn't deny that, I said that if that were the case, it would be the president trying to convince them to pass laws.
Emilie Marie-Louise: I think you guys are forgetting that Chai's party, Congress for Social Democracy, only has one seat. She has to make deals with CSD too.
Janice Kyou: Yeah, let's not forget that. Chai's job is gonna be harder than Grimwald's ever was.
Elodie Giulietta: So, for those wondering, we can take a look at where the DSE took their only seat, to no surprise, it's St. Lucas, and here's the graphic for that province:
Party Amount of seats Percentage Congress for Social Democracy 7 32.95% UnitedLeft alliance 4 22.88% Progressive Conservative Party 3 15.75% Moderates 3 15.48% Business Party 1 4.90% Democrats for Elthize 0 4.31% Harmony 0 3.55% Party Amount of seats Elfiz Party 1 Green Party of Elthize 1 Democratic Socialists for Elthize 1 Communist Party of Elthize 1 William Berwick: I was expecting Business to perform better, to be honest.
Alfred Ingham: Yeah. Both Business and DfE were on around five to seven percent in the local polls. This is a bad loss.
Janice Kyou: Can we see Montgomery too? Is Harmony ahead still?
Elodie Giulietta: Yes, they are, and here's the graphic for that:
Party Amount of seats Percentage Harmony 3 29.25% Moderates 2 21.92% Progressive Conservative Party 2 19.92% Congress for Social Democracy 1 10.45% Business Party 1 7.76% UnitedLeft alliance 0 4.24% Democrats for Elthize 0 3.27% Emilie Marie-Louise: Looks like a wrap in Montgomery. Harmony is very popular there. Is there a reason for that?
William Berwick: Well, I do have my reasons, but I don't think people will be happy if I say them, so, using logic, I think it's that people there are dissatisfied with Grimwald but hated the idea of voting anything left of him.
Alfred Ingham: I mean, they only got a little less than thirty percent of the vote. Not like it's a crushing victory for them.
Janice Kyou: I wouldn't underestimate it like that. I think they're gonna do better in 2027, especially if the rest of the right doesn't get its act together. I don't even know why Harland didn't try to get an electoral alliance with them, like how he got them to endorse his presidency.
Elodie Giulietta: I think that they'd be concerned about Harmony further attacking them for siding with a former Labour senator.
Alfred Ingham: I don't think that was a concern at all. I think the main reason was that both parties saw themselves as the successor of Greenwich Grimwald, so they trusted themselves enough to run on their own.
Emilie Marie-Louise: Then why didn't they run a presidential candidate on their own and endorse Harland instead?
Alfred Ingham: Well, I have no clue. I can guess, though, that they were expecting to have about ten to fifteen seats together and pressure Harland to follow their policies and ideology. But it failed. I expect that these two parties are gonna merge into one before this year ends and try to contest the councillor seat in Europolis, whenever that election happens. Then we'll see how they will perform in 2027, alongside Harmony.
Emilie Marie-Louise: Sounds plausible. Anyway, can we see Forecoaster?
Elodie Giulietta: Right, so, Forecoaster is going to be the last province we'll show, we have enough time to discuss, but after that, we'll take a break once again:
Party Amount of seats Percentage Congress for Social Democracy 2 22.50% Progressive Conservative Party 2 20.62% Moderates 2 18.53% UnitedLeft alliance 1 12.85% Democrats for Elthize 1 9.45% Business Party 0 6.80% Harmony 0 6.73% William Berwick: Who took the UnitedLeft seat?
Elodie Giulietta: The Greens.
William Berwick: Ooh, alright. I'm gonna be honest, I think this alliance was not good for them. They would win more than two seats if they ran on their own.
Janice Kyou: Yeah, no. Absolutely not. Winning more seats alone wouldn't give them a say in the government. They thought ahead, and now they'll be in the government.
Alfred Ingham: I should mention here that Chai promised at least one member of her cabinet to be a member of the Green Party, so there you go.
William Berwick: Two out of fifty-two... In the National Assembly, mind you, they had 15 out of 250.
Alfred Ingham: Wouldn't that equate to, like, three seats in the current parliament? Mind you, the new parliament is elected in a very different way, too. This is not a good comparison.
William Berwick: I'd say sole numbers talk better than percentages or ratios.
Elodie Giulietta: Right. I think this is a good time to cut right here and go for a break, then we'll look at Brownell, Port Nelson, and other provinces. We'll be back.
Emilie Marie-Louise: Don't go anywhere!
-
BREAKING: Wirt Harland concedes defeat
The PCP candidate congratulated Melissa Chai on her victory
July 7, 2024 - 9:50 PM
The presidential candidate for the Progressive Conservative Party, Wirt Harland, has conceded defeat to his rival, Melissa Chai, in the city of Forecoaster. "I have reached out to Melissa Chai and congratulated her on her victory, and I wish her great success at the Presidential Palace," Harland stated to a sober crowd of around two thousand, in the headquarters of his political party.
"While the picture drawn in this election looks bleak for us, it is nothing we cannot bounce back from. The Elthic people have made their demands loud and clear, and it is now our mission to follow them, shape our policy, and build trust. That will start tomorrow. Even as opposition, we will continue to work for Elthize and the Elthic people."
"I would like to thank those who voted for me, those who campaigned day and night. I would like to thank my party, the Progressive Conservative Party, I would like to thank Merrill Kooben and Liam Zachary, leaders of Democrats for Elthize and Business Party respectively, for supporting me. And finally, I would like to thank my family and my close friends, for sticking with me throughout this whole journey. My love for you all is endless."
Harland came second in the presidential race with 22% of the votes, far behind expectations and Melissa Chai, who many analysts considered to be her main rival. She received 38% of the vote.
-
July 7th, 2024, 10:30 PM
Chai wins election, final results announced
Alright, once again, welcome back, you're watching Local News Network or LNN. I'm Elodie Giulietta, joined by Emilie Marie-Louise, and William Berwick, as well as The Tribunal journalists Janice Kyou and Alfred Ingham, and our final guest, Francis Elvin, connecting to us from the city of Brownell. He is a member of the Moderates, he had formerly been the leader of The Nationals and has been elected for a seat in the parliament from the Brownell province. For those who have missed us, we will now show you the table where you can see how the fifty-two seats in Forecoaster have been distributed:
Party Amount of seats Percentage Congress for Social Democracy 16 25.26% Moderates 12 17.25% Progressive Conservative Party 10 18.30% UnitedLeft alliance 7 16.14% Harmony 3 9.35% Business Party 3 6.20% Democrats for Elthize 1 6.35% Elodie Giulietta: And, for UnitedLeft, here's the seat distribution among the parties of that alliance:
Party Amount of seats Elfiz Party 3 Green Party of Elthize 2 Democratic Socialists for Elthize 1 Communist Party of Elthize 1 Elodie Giulietta: And now, the results of the presidential election. Keep in mind that these are not official results, there are still ballots to be counted, so things could change, but at this point, we're talking about decimals in the percentage of vote share.
Candidate Percentage Melissa Chai (CSD, UnitedLeft) 38.14% Wirt Harland (PCP, Business, DfE) 22.76% Freddie Abbey (Moderates) 21.35% Lorraine Devi (Harmony) 17.75% Elodie Giulietta: Now, before going on another break, we have observed the seat distribution in St. Lucas, Forecoaster and Montgomery. For those that have missed that, I am going to put them on screen now and in the meantime, ask you, Mr. Elvin, the obvious question: What direction do you think your party will go after these results? Will you side with PCP and Harland or will you side with CSD and President-elect Melissa Chai?
Francis Elvin: Well, first of all, I would like to thank our supporters watching us at home, you've made this possible, you've made your voice heard, and I cannot wait to represent this beautiful province next week. Now, it is not up to me to have the final say on what we will do from now on, our leader, Freddie Abbey, will decide on what path our party will take.
Elodie Giulietta: Well, we are aware of that. But could you tell us what would you desire? What path would you take if you were in the shoes of Freddie Abbey?
Francis Elvin: Well, I would not follow party lines but rather draw a strategy which will have the Moderates getting their policies passed, or a compromise favouring our side, I'm sure Abbey will do the same, but, again, she's not here, and only she can tell where we will go from now on.
Elodie Giulietta: That's great, Mr. Elvin, I would like to congratulate you and your party on your victories. Have a great night.
Francis Elvin: Thank you.
William Berwick: Well, those were quite the non-answers.
Emilie Marie-Louise: I suppose he can't say as much as he could at The Nationals given that he's just an MP now.
William Berwick: Yeah.
Elodie Giulietta: Yes. Putting that aside, we were examining the results by province, and uh, we left off at Brownell, coincidentally, we will see that province on our screens now:
Party Amount of seats Percentage Congress for Social Democracy 2 34.37% Progressive Conservative Party 1 22.36% Moderates 1 13.10% UnitedLeft alliance 0 12.60% Democrats for Elthize 0 10.39% Business Party 0 4.10% Harmony 0 1.97% Elodie Giulietta: I assume we don't have much to say about these results.
Alfred Ingham: No, I mean, this is pretty much what we were expecting from Brownell. That's a remarkable performance from UnitedLeft, though.
Emilie Marie-Louise: Elvin better be careful with his seat... It is not a safe one.
William Berwick: Oh, come on, Emilie. Since when did Elthics vote for the MPs instead of the party itself? We don't have first-past-the-post. We have proportional representation.
Janice Kyou: Bingo. Elvin doesn't matter here. If he loses that's because people hate the Moderates, not Elvin himself. Or at least, that would be the best-case scenario for him.
Elodie Giulietta: Yeah, true.
Alfred Ingham: Unless you're in Liamville, The Midlands or the Northern Counties... Sure.
William Berwick: That's because there are not enough seats, and they don't have enough population to get a second one. Did you know that President Grimwald was officially planning to have fifty seats, but The Midlands and Northern Counties couldn't get a seat, so he had to add two more?
Emilie Marie-Louise: Wait, is that true?
Janice Kyou: Not officially confirmed, though the sources behind that rumour were apparently close to Grimwald, so that's that.
Emilie Marie-Louise: Why fifty-two seats, anyway? I feel like that's kind of a low number, no?
Alfred Ingham: You can say that it's a low number, yes. When you compare the ratio of MPs to the population under this new system, it is on the higher side. 1 MP for about 84,000 people. I guess it wouldn't hurt to increase it to, say, 60 by 2027... Really, the only reason Grimwald could have made these reforms is to make the government pay salaries for fewer people.
Elodie Giulietta: Yeah, I'd say that's the reason, too. I'm assuming we are ready to see Port Nelson now:
Party Amount of seats Percentage Moderates 1 24.07% Progressive Conservative Party 1 19.84% Business Party 1 15.46% Congress for Social Democracy 1 12.07% Harmony 0 10.70% UnitedLeft alliance 0 8.25% Democrats for Elthize 0 8.11% Janice Kyou: Surprisingly competitive.
Alfred Ingham: Wow, Harmony really came close to winning a seat here.
Elodie Giulietta: They missed it by about two thousand votes, for those wondering.
William Berwick: Yeah, being the fifth largest party in the fifth largest province is quite inspiring. Must be lovely to know that, had it not been for Montgomery, you would be in last place with no seats. Like, let's be real here, these people are done for. They are not beating this. We are not seeing this far-right resurgence that I'm sure certain people in the media will fearmonger about.
Janice Kyou: Uh-huh, I'm sure someone will clip this part of the broadcast for a rainy day on Twitter.
William Berwick: They can wait. I'll see how the party that came last place in six out of eleven provinces will take over this country. Maybe then they'll put out some laws targeting passive aggressiveness. Then you would finally go to jail.
Alfred Ingham: Woah.
Elodie Giulietta: Okay, no.
Janice Kyou: Whatever, your statements will age like milk and you know it deep down.
Emilie Marie-Louise: Alright, let's calm down, please. Now, I am going to show Ackerson, Marchand and Southern Counties, in that order:
Ackerson
Party Amount of seats Percentage Congress for Social Democracy 1 23.56% Progressive Conservative Party 1 23.41% Democrats for Elthize 0 19.32% Moderates 0 13.60% UnitedLeft alliance 0 12.93% Business Party 0 4.26% Harmony 0 2.11%
Marchand
Party Amount of seats Percentage Congress for Social Democracy 2 55.69% Progressive Conservative Party 0 20.35% Moderates 0 7.47% UnitedLeft alliance 0 6.93% Democrats for Elthize 0 6.04% Business Party 0 2.11% Harmony 0 0.48%
Southern Counties
Party Amount of seats Percentage UnitedLeft alliance 2 50.01% Congress for Social Democracy 0 16.10% Harmony 0 11.12% Progressive Conservative Party 0 5.10% Moderates 0 3.14% Business Party 0 1.02% Democrats for Elthize 0 0.96% Party Amount of seats Elfiz Party 2 Green Party of Elthize 0 Democratic Socialists for Elthize 0 Communist Party of Elthize 0
Emilie Marie-Louise: And here are the provinces with one seat:
Liamville
Party Amount of seats Percentage Moderates 1 24.94% Progressive Conservative Party 0 20.45% Congress for Social Democracy 0 14.17% Democrats for Elthize 0 12.78% Business Party 0 10.13% UnitedLeft alliance 0 8.65% Harmony 0 7.95%
Northern Counties
Party Amount of seats Percentage Moderates 1 32.14% Progressive Conservative Party 0 20.14% Congress for Social Democracy 0 15.44% Harmony 0 13.37% UnitedLeft alliance 0 8.65% Democrats for Elthize 0 5.07% Business Party 0 4.09%
The Midlands
Party Amount of seats Percentage Moderates 1 25.70% UnitedLeft alliance 0 21.88% Progressive Conservative Party 0 15.80% Harmony 0 13.59% Congress for Social Democracy 0 12.60% Democrats for Elthize 0 4.32% Business Party 0 3.72%
Elodie Giulietta: For the last time, here's the overall result of the parliamentary election. Now, as we show that again, ladies and gentlemen, what are our final thoughts?
Emilie Marie-Louise: I think I'm content. I don't have much to say.
Alfred Ingham: Well, for me, this is a sign that people are tired of ultra-liberal economic policies. It has been twenty-two years of austerity, budget cuts, and setbacks never seen before in the history of this country. I believe this election would've happened earlier, had it not been for Grimwald suddenly getting the right together. And now that he's gone, the right is scattered again.
Janice Kyou: This election, as in an election where the left would have won? Do you think that would've happened earlier?
Alfred Ingham: I mean, let's not forget that Grimwald was very close to being defeated by Harland in 2018. After that, it was inevitable that he and his party would fall. Running in 2022 was a ridiculous stretch, but he did it anyway.
Janice Kyou: Huh, okay. I wanna add to that by saying that this was an election preceded by significant reforms. I don't think a lot of people had time to adjust or how to tactically make moves to get the most seats, including certain politicians. I feel like this election should've been called at a later date, like in the autumn because of this, another reason being the weather, oh my God it's so hot it makes me want to die... But yeah. I think things will settle by 2027. But until then, we'll enjoy the first left-wing government in two decades.
William Berwick: (laughs) Yeah, the weather is hot, isn't it? Not a good call on Grimwald's part. Anyway, these three years, in my opinion, are going to be very interesting for Elthize. I can't wait to talk to you about them on LNN.
Elodie Giulietta: I'm sure you will talk about them with great enthusiasm, Will.
Alfred Ingham: Yeah, of course.
Elodie Giulietta: Alright, that is a wrap from us here at LNN. Thank you very much for watching, and putting your trust in us. In the coming week, we will deliver the developments following this general election, but in the meantime, we're done. So again, thank you. Have a great night, no matter the results, and take care of yourself.
-
"WE ARE ON THE BRINK OF ANOTHER TRAGEDY", PRESIDENT CHAI CLAIMS
by Alfred Ingham - August 19, 2024
President Chai did not mince her words during the parliamentary discussion on gun control. Image credit
President Melissa Chai's opponents did not hesitate to question her proposed gun control plans at this morning's meeting in the Parliament. The plans include a "buy-back program", meaning the government will compensate its citizens for destroying or delivering their firearms back to the government, as well as stronger checks while buying firearms, and banning certain weapons from civilian use.
"These laws are an essential part of solving the crime and safety problem in this country," President Chai declared. "Every month, every week, we wake up to the news that more lives have been taken away by people with heavy rifles that they have no business holding. Every day, we are on the brink of another tragedy. And it is cruel that we are desensitised to this. Murders should not be a common part of Elthic life."
While there are no official statistics, Elthize is predicted to be one of the countries with the highest gun ownership in the European Union, with civilian gun ownership having a history dating back to the start of The State of Elthize and accelerating following the Yosainese occupation. In the last decade, guns have become one of the most controversial topics in Elthize, with an increasing amount of people calling for regulations to be put in place.
Currently, there is no restriction on firearms coming from the national government in Forecoaster, leaving the responsibility to the provinces, which are quite divided on the issue. Provinces such as St. Lucas and Forecoaster have already placed strict restrictions on firearms, while others, notably Montgomery and Southern Counties, have not.
Because of the divided laws, weapon smuggling between provinces has become commonplace. Three years ago, Martha Krystoff, Governor of St. Lucas, had directly blamed Montgomery's relaxed laws for the gun violence in St. Lucas. "Somehow, we are not on the same page together when it comes to preventing gun violence. We can do our best whenever we can, but when the neighbour next door ships the guns used to kill your people, there's not much you can do," she said during an interview with local media.
Freddie Abbey, leader of the Moderates and an MP for St. Lucas, said that she would support the measures, but demanded clarification on whether the right to self-defence would be protected. This statement was endorsed by Wirt Harland, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, as well as Merrill Kooben and Liam Zachary, leaders of Democrats for Elthize and Business Party respectively.
Zachary, who is also an MP for Forecoaster, also opposed the buy-back program, instead demanding a general amnesty for all gun owners and not seizing the weapons unless they are involved in crime.
Elfiz Party, which was a part of the UnitedLeft coalition, expressed caution about the new laws. Meti Adebayo, the leader of the party, warned that the policies could be used to disproportionately police the Elfiz, bringing further clashes between the indigenous populace and law enforcement. Meanwhile, in a joint statement with Hunter Vance, Governor of Montgomery, Lorraine Devi, leader of the Harmony party, opposed the plans, claiming that Chai is "incapable of reducing crime without intervening in personal freedoms".
The bills are still being debated in the parliament, with various amendments on the way. Due to the heavy discussion around the issue, they are not expected to become law this year.