Leagioan News Agencies

[Leagio]

Opinion: Mouri-Kudo and Miralles Might Win First Round of Presidential Election

As the day of the First Round of the Executive Elections is coming closer and closer each day, particularly the Presidential Election that will be held on February 5th, there has been much speculation on who will be the winner or winners of the First Round. Although, Leagioan Polls for multi-candidate races have a huge margin of error to them, they do show who is not going to the Second Round of the Presidential Race of this year. There is much certainty that Sharp, Barkle, and Gauthier are going to not make it to the Second Round as those candidates have been attacking their own bases, where they should be focusing on Mouri-Kudo of the Progressives and Miralles of the Free Liberalists. Palvini of the LUTF was never going to have a chance in the first placewith his history of racist rhetoric as that really never goes well with many Leagioan voters outside of Diamond Heart.

Mouri-Kudo and Miralles have both been not going on the aggressive on any candidates at all in this campaign, where people cannot access both of them for acting like foreign politicians that sling mud at each other for just a few votes. The result of this has been showing for the past few days in the polls, where the two candidates mentioned have been climbing up to the top with Mouri-Kudo reaching the 45% percentage in the polls. The reason why Mouri-Kudo looks to be favored might be simple, which is she has been advocating herself to run not as a politician of the Progressives but for the whole Commonwealth which seems to be missing from a majority of the candidates for this race.

However, it might just be more than that, Mouri-Kudo has been also advocating support for Cannabis Legalization in the Commonwealth which has been supported by many Liberal and Conservative voters that have starting to support such a concept each year. Another trait that has Mouri-Kudo gaining support in the polls and might come in First place in the first round with most likely Miralles as well would be that she has been adovcating for a comprehensive green economy plan that has many traits from Commissioner Juncker's European New Green Deal, which has been recieving support from many of the people that voted for the Commissioner in the last EU elections. However, if Mouri-Kudo does win the election especially if she recieves 50% of the vote (which would just elimante the need for a second round and make her President), then she will become the first woman (and asian-family immigrant born) President of the Commonwealth of Leagio and this might be seen as a postive event by the many nations of the European Union. However, only time will tell for sure on what this election season will bring for the Commonwealth.

[Leagio]

Polls Released For IAC & PC Elections

As the date for the First Round of the Executive Election is coming closer with early voting starting and mail-in ballots being sent out for voters that need it, the first set of polls for the EU Commissioner election for February has been released for mainly the Internal Affairs and Premier Commissioner positions.

In the race for Internal Affairs Commmissioner, there is a good number of voters that are completely undecided on who they feel that they should vote for with the two candidates, Winston and Birdane at each other necks on the polls for the past few days. The large column of undecided voters might be present at a large percentage due to the fact that there is not an EPA candidate for IAC and many of the them might be supporters of Juncker who won the last election in Leagio with an 11 point lead. However, there is a sense of hesitation on who to vote for as the two candidates might be lacking the charisma that Juncker had when he ran for re-election in the race last year. Both the candidates offer more to Leagio with many Leagioans saying that they like the platform that both candidates run on with Birdane gaining a lead on that. However, the platform of Winston who lost the last race in Leagio with many Leagio voters illustrating disstain when the East Haanen Civil War was reaching its worst with the Reitzmag intervention. Although, it seems that Winston might have a chance to recieve the Leagioan vote this season as many Leagioans say that he is a more likeable candidate than last year with his reformed platform.

In the race for Premier Commissioner, it will be expected that Leeson of the EPA might win the Leagioan Vote but he will need to keep on campaigning to ensure that victory with Cocx and Le Berre trying to get to second place. At first, it was expected that LE Berre would be in the lead but many Leagioan feel that the individual from the Union of Sydincates is not really likeable especially after the interview that he gave which had really toke a toll on him in the polls and it is expected that it will continue to climb. Cocx was never really liked in Leagioan where in the last race he got only 6 points of the vote, while he might get more than he had last race. The problem is that Leagioans feel that he is not moderate enough on his stances and feel that he has an authoritarian streak to him. He will most likely be in second place but it might change depending on if Leeson can keep his stance with Leagioans.

[Leagio]

Münevver Birdane Coming to Tullion Tomorrow / Presidential and Governor-General Candidates Endorsing EU Commission Candidates

As the race for President and Governor-General continues with the First Round on February 5th, many candidates for the two races have been endorsing candidates in this season's EU Commission Election. With Münevver Birdane, who is an Independent running against Atty Winston of the ELDR for the Internal Affairs position, will be coming to Tullion tomorrow for a rally and convince many voters in Leagio who will most likely be cast their votes for the EU Commission positions at the same time as they cast their votes for the Executive election this Friday. Not much is known on what she will talk about in the rally but it is assumed that she will possibly mention some of the issues that have been addressed in the Executive campaigns in the Commonwealth.

Many of the candidates for the Executive race have been giving their endorsements to candidates in the EU Commision Election. For example, it was announced this morning that Presidential Candidate for the Free Liberalists, Isreal Miralles, along with Kaneshiro Kin of the same faction running for Governor-General had endorsed Münevver Birdane as Internal Affairs Commissioner, while Jordan Gauthier of the Leagioan Pact of Democracy endorsed Atty Winston for Internal Affairs Commissioner. Although, many polls show that the race for IAC will not have a Leagioan vote for any of the candidates that comes with a mandate similar to Juncker's last year, who had an 11 point winning vote in the Commonwealth.

When focusing on the Primier Commissioner race, Jordan Gauthier oddly endorsed Cocx for the Position. Both candidates for the Revolutionary Front endorsed Le Berre for PC. The Candidates for the Republicans had endorsed Cocx stating their desire for states rights within the European Union and that Cocx would definitely provide that to Leagio. Meanwhile, Ran Mouri-Kudo of the Progressives has actually remained silent on endorsing any candidate particularly Leeson of the European Progressive Alliance. The reason for her hesitation might deal with the fact that with the mud slinging fight that Leeson had with Le Berre on Twitter had actually taken a hit on the polls as of recent. As many Leagio disapprove of the attacks that Leeson and Le Berre made on each other an entire which has now put Leeson and Cocx at each others necks on the polls. However, it might be possible that the debates might change the fortune for either candidate and Leeson could regain the advantage with another Juncker-style victory but it will be difficult for him to accomplish that this early with early voting happening already.

[Leagio]

Round One of the Executive Elections Officially Starts Today

Today is a day of excitement for many Leagioans as the Executive Elections have officially begun with the expected huge turnout to becoming as millions of mail-in and in-person ballots have been casted throughout the Commonwealth. It will be expected that once February 6th rolls in that the first series of results will come in for mainly the position of President of Commonwealth, where there are six candidates in the race and at most only two of them will win this round. However, that could change if a Candidates recieves more than 50% of the vote but there is not much hope for that in such a contested race. Debatedly, many historians and political scientists stated that this race has so far been the most constested ever experienced in the Commonwealth as a good number of the Candidates have been using the Commissioner Elections as a way to boost their popularity and maybe get to either first or second place in this round. The polls have constantly been showing that the two winners of this round of the race for President will be Ran Mouri-Kudo of the Progressive Alliance Party and Isreal Miralles of the Civil Populist Party within the Free Liberalists. Will the polls hold true is the question that many people have been wondering. At the same time as the election is being held, the early votes for the EU Commission election this season is also being collected but will not be released until a few more days.

The race for Governor-General has been a race less euthaism for either candidate as the focus in this election has mainly been the Presidential race. In the race for Governor-General of the Commonwealth, there are six candidates like the Presidential race and they must get a clearly majority in the popular vote to avoid the Electoral College Round. However, the main candidates have been expected to win are the following: the infamous jewel thief of the Commonwealth Magic Kaito (who has somehow managed to avoid the police throughout his entire campaign and held rallies somehow) of the Leagioan Pact of Democracy and Free Liberlist Candidate Kaneshiro Kin. The results for the first round of this race is expected to coming after the Presidential winners or winner has been called.

[Leagio]

Ministry of Defense Announces New Expansions and Plans For 2021

After the passing of the new budget for the fiscal year of 2021, the Ministry of Defense was given a budget of 36 billion Sullia’s to spend for the year to defend the Commonwealth and expand its capability to do so. Not only was this budget enough for the Ministry of Defense more than enough to maintain the current size of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth but it gave a good amount of room for expanding the potential of the military. With that in mind, Minister of Defence Sherlock Tomes announced that the Ministry of Defence will expand the size of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth to include additional submarines, army units, and aircraft to better ensure that the military defense of the Commonwealth’s boundaries are protected should a scenario require it.

Some of the new units that were included in this expansion of the military were the launching of six new Revolution Class submarines, which are made to used in costal areas should an enemy force make any attempts to invade from the coast of the state of Arlick. Although, the chances of such a move is highly unlike, the Ministry of Defence seems to not be taking any chances at all. The formation of new armored units that are comprising of the new T-21 Huttson and old but still useful T-19 Crillent Main Battle Tanks. These expansions have been meet with support from the Republicans and Free Liberalists in the National Congress, who cite the need for the expansion by the tensions and concerns over the incidents involved in the Capsian Sea Crisis. The Progressives at the moment have kept silent on the matter after their candidate for President, Ran Mouri-Kudo, won in the first round of the race with Free Liberalist candidate Isreal Miralles being her competitor.

In the same announcement, the Ministry of Defence announced that in collaboration with the new Ministry of Science & Research work will be made on having the Commonwealth make groundwork on producing its own drone and stealth technology. Although, they announced that it is unlikely that the completion of the two projects will be done by the end of the fiscal year, the Press Secretary of the Minister of Defence explained that they are hopeful that enough progress will be finished to the point that it is possible that the Commonwealth might see the technology being implemented by late 2022 or at the latest 2023.

(An artist digital painting of the Commonwealth's planned Defender Class Submarine)

Focusing back on the navy of the Commonwealth, the Ministry of Defense explained that it will be drafting the blueprints of a new diesel-electric submarine class that will have better combat capacity and range. The details of what this new submarine class will contain exactly has not been released yet, but it was announced that this class will be called Defender. During the press conference, it was explained that the Air Force is also getting additional aircraft of various types and a new project on developing an aircraft that will start out from the beginning as a Gen5 type aircraft that is fitted with the best tech that it can get. The Ministry of Defence explained that details of the aircraft were based off blueprints of the Reitzmag variant of the SU-30 aircraft (called the Fa.30) given to the Government of Leagio by Prime Minister Simon Bridges of Reitzmag during his visit for the negotiation for the Treaty of Tullion last year. In addition, the Leagioan Air Force announced that it will implementing new procedures in flight training and combat in desert areas.

[Leagio]

National Congress Passes Additional Amendments to Constitution

This afternoon after the Senate of the Commonwealth voted on the candidates for the Europe Court of Justice through the method of Rank Voting. The National Congress voted for the passage of additional amendments to the Constitution that for the past month since the inauguration of the new session of this Congress after being elected back in December 20th last year. Most of these amendments relate to various topics and went through multiple revisions between the two houses before finally being passed and sent to the legislative bodies of the States and Territories of the Commonwealth. Thses amendments focused on a range of issues or questions that many members of the National Congress felt needed to answered by instituting new articles of amending the Constitution of 2020. One of those issues were ensuring that Slavery does not happen under this constitution and the transition of the executive branch after an election. The press secetary for the National Congress released the new amendments that have been sent to the States and Territories within the Commonwealth:

Article 18: EU Councilor Term Change

1. The term that the Leagioan Councilor for the European Union shall be changed from 365 days to 2 years with the election being concurrent with the National Congress elections
2. The Election for the position on July 2021 and August 2021 will be a special election with the person elected serve until the positions election with its popular round on December 5th and the Electoral round on December 20th unless a candadate recieves more than 50% of the popular vote in the first round.
3. Incase of a sudden vacancy in the position, a Snap Election shall be called by the National Congress that lasts no more than two weeks shall be held through a popular vote with the winner serving the remainder of the term.

Article 19: Election Security

1. All systems of election within the Commonwealth shall be protected and secured by the Bureau of Election Security.
2. The Bureau shall be run by a Director who shall be appointed by the President and approved of by both the Supreme Court as well as the Senate for a 8 year term that shall not be renewable.
3. The Director shall issue a report to the National Congress on any concerns of influence by foreign powers on Leagioan elections.

Article 20: Slavery Abolition

1. Slavery within the Commonwealth shall not issued, pressured, or forced in any way unless as a crime or a punishment which shall be strictly regulated by the National Congress.

Article 21: Executive Transition

1. Once a winner is declared in a election for the President of the Commonwealth, the winner shall be instantly given access to necessary resources that shall be designated by the National Congress to ensure a proper as well as effective transition of government, even if the loser is the incumbent President.
2. If the loser of the election is the incumbent President of the Commonwealth, the out-going president shall be required by this article of amendment to ensure that the President-elect has the resources needed for transition within no less than 4 days after the results of the election is declared. If the out-going incumbent fails to do so, then the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth shall be required to issue an injunction of removal on the President, which will remove the President from office and be charge with trying to destabilize the integrity of the Commonwealth. The punishment for the injunction will be decided by the Senate through the similar procedures implemented for impeachment.
3. If the out-going President is removed through injunction, the power of giving the resources of transition shall be given temporally to the House of Councilors with a mandatory passing vote, who if not then shall be dissolved by the Supreme Court with Snap elections taking placing within two weeks.
4. The previous guidelines implemented in this article shall be also enforced if the out-going President was not a candidate in the election.
5. The previously mentioned guidelines of this article shall also be enforced on the office of Governor-General of the Commonwealth.

Article 22: Council of Provinces

1. The Council of Provinces shall have the power to submit to the National Congress an agreement or bills of legislation that have been agreed on with a simple majority, which will be given top priority unless other unpredictable circumstances occur to prevent such priority.
2. If the Council of Provinces submit an Article of Amendment for this constitution it must be passed in the Council with at least a 3/5’s vote which will then be submitted to the National Congress for a vote in both houses where it must pass with no less than a 3/5’s vote.

Article 23: Dual Citizenship

1. The naturalized and Leagioan-Born citizens of the Commonwealth shall have the right to hold multiple citizenships from a different countries and shall not be discriminated against, even in times of emergency.

Article 24: National Congress Term Limits

1. Member Councilors of the House of Councilors shall serve no more than 6 terms of 2 years each.
2. Members who serve in the Senate shall serve no more than 3 terms of 4 years each.
3. This amendment shall start to apply to members of the National Congress of the 2022-2024 session.

Article 25: Voting Methods

1. Voting in all elections in the Commonwealth is a universal right for all citizens in which disenfranchisement is a high crime.
2. Voting in the Commonwealth shall be done in secret through the methods of in-person, mail-in, and online.
3. Any person born in or of parents from the Commonwealth of Leagio regardless of circumstances shall be considered a citizen. The National Congress shall have the power to establish fair and just guidelines for immigration citizenship within the Commonwealth.
4. All States and territories within the Commonwealth shall adhere to the values and methods of this article of amendment by ensuring that the people have access all three of these methods mentioned in Section 2 of this article.
5. The National Congress shall have the power to define how these methods mentioned in Section 2 of this article shall be accomplished.

Article 26: Two Round House of Councilor Election

1. All constituency seats for the House of Councilors shall be elected through a two round popular vote with the first round on December 5th and the second round on December 20th.
2. If a candidate for a constituency seat election on the first round receives at less or more than 50% of the vote, then they have won election to the seat with a second round deemed not necessary. If no one has 50% of the vote, then the top two candidates will go to the second round of the election for that seat.
3. This amendment shall be implemented for the National Congress election of 2022.

Article 27: Campaign Reform

1. The National Congress shall have the power to pass legislation that is fair and equal on the regulation of the practice of political campaigning.
2. All members of all three branches of the Common Government shall not be involved in receiving additional income outside of their government position throughout their tenure.

• The National Congress shall have the power to make exceptions that do not override the purpose of this amendment and other articles of this constitution.

Article 28: Refugees and Immigration

1. The President of the Commonwealth shall have the power to admit any people of oppressed nations into the Commonwealth as refugees, who shall be given the option of a fair, quick, and stable path to citizenship that shall be regulated by the National Congress.
2. The National Congress shall have the power to set regulations and legislation for immigration into the Commonwealth outside of the reasons of political refugees as well as religious and cultural persecution.
3. In case of a national emergency, the President shall have the power to suspend immigration into the Commonwealth for a period of no more than 30 days.

[Leagio]

Supreme Court Strikes Down National Congress Party Whips and Legislative Alliances in McCain Vs. Thompson by 9-4

In a Civil Law Suit that has brought a shocking turn of events on how the future of Leagioan politics will be in the next few years, the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth of Leagio declared that the implementation of Legislative Campaign Alliances to be Unconstitutional. Within the same case, the Court declared that the use of Party Whips in the legislative body of Congress to be used as a harassment system to shore up votes against the free beliefs of an elected member, regardless of List or Constituency, to be Unconstitutional as well. The Court Case that brought this shocking motion of a 9-4 was between Former Senator for Muale in the Last Session of Congress John McCain and Former Conservative Reformist Senator as well as Whip Jacob Thompson. The Case begins about a few months ago before the end of the 2018-2020 Congress, where during the time of the Romain Incident happen and the Congress was voting on the Nuclear Trade Commission Act which now provides supervision on the shipping of Nuclear Material. The Conservatives felt that it was not strong enough for the safety of the Commonwealth and many voted against with Party Whips in Both Houses being instructed to ensure that the votes are their side are against the bill at the time.

However, Former Senator McClain disagreed with the party and announced that he was going to vote for the bill which resulted in a visit that would bring about McCain Vs. Thompson. Party Senate Whip Jacob Thompson visit the Office of McCain and told him that if he did not vote against the bill, then he will not be given funds for his re-election. McCain admitted to the Court that he told Whip Thompson that he can go ‘f**k himself’ and that he was still going to vote for it. After he voted for the bill, the Conservative Reform Party chairman Malanie Edwards told McCain that he was not going to be receiving funds for his run for Senate back in December from the Party by claiming that it was because of Budgetcuts. Afterwards Senator explained that in the Court Case that the Party then unofficially blacklisted him from running in any races under their name. This eventually resulted him in filing harassment against the party under the guidelines of Article 1, Section 1, Clause 2 which states that “Members of the National Congress shall be elected in general, direct, free, equal and secret elections. They shall be representatives of the whole people, not bound by orders or instructions, and responsible only to their conscience.” In addition, he filed under Article 8, section 3, Clause 20 which states that “All persons of the Commonwealth of Leagio have the right to not to be discriminated against by sexual orientation, race, color, ethnicity, history, gender, political belief, and religion.”

Eventually the suit of harassment and discrimination reached all the way to the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth, where Party Whip Thompson was required to attend as McCain is claiming harassment compensation from him along with the CRP under the guidelines of the Civil Rights Act of 1954. In this case, McCain made a compelling argument that the Whip System in Congress is unconstitutional as it violates Article 1, Section 1, Clause 2 by using a member of the Congress to compel another member to vote for a piece of legislation no matter what their conscience tells them. In addition, at the same time, McCain argued that the concept of Legislative Election Alliances like the Republicans and Free Liberalists were unconstitutional as it prevents members of the party to choose to run for a office. Although, the last bit of the argument seemed not to be as strong with the Court, the first one was the one that made an impact as the Counter-argument that the Lawyer for Whip Thompson seemed to be not as compelling. Eventually after continuous debate and questioning, the Supreme Court of the Commonwealth issued its ruling with a 9-4 vote that Party Whips were Unconstitutional and so were political legislative alliance. However, in the ruling, political parties were considered constitutional as long as they adhere to the Constitution. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Jean Hilton in his opinion which was supported by 4 other judges stated that “Party Whips and the system that they implement to force members of Congress to adhere to party and not liberty or even the will of their constituents are a system of abusive that have more power than the actual houses of the National Congress.” Of the 3 Judges that ruled against McCain, Justice Amy Comey, who was appointed back in 1993 by President Dylan Fidalgo, dissented in her opinion, stating that the “Party Whip system was constitutional as the Constitution gave the right of political belief for the Whips to express their views to the elected members of the Congress.” At the end of the ruling, Thompson was was forced to pay McCain compensation of 45,000 Sulias for harrassment.

In addition, with the ruling in the case on stating that political legislative alliances like the Republicans were Unconstitutional, the Supreme Court gave a notice to the Free Liberalists, Republicans, and Revolutionary Front to disband their alliances with 2 weeks from now. This part of the ruling leaves many to wonder how this will affect Leagioan politics.

[Leagio]

EU Councilor Plessis Suffers Heart Attack After Craze in EU Council

Although, not much is exactly known on what happened in the closed session of the EU Council over the topic of Intervention in the Union of Sydinicates, there is without any doubt to the many people that have lived in the city of Europolis for many years that something had occurred as an ambulance and multiple city police cars were dispatched to the EU Council building. When asking around with the many citizens of the city, one of them said "I have lived here since I was a boy and the sheer speed, as well as the pace of the vehicles, tells me something serious happened." It was confirmed that the Speaker of the EU Council Charles Michel of Fremet closed the session after the intermin government appointed Councilor Bauer of the Union attacked members of the Council with threats of violence and vomiting LIJURXI on Council Members, a Union drug that causes extreme pain, vomiting, and general discomfort that is also cultural important to the Union. During the crazy that was eventually confirmed to have happened by a unnamed witnessed of the event, Councilor James Mizrachi-Abbott of the United Duchies responded against the crazed intermin councilor and suffered minor injuries for defending the council.

However, after the session ended, sources close to the Leagioan EU Councilor Francis Plessis stated that he had suffered a heart attack that resulted in his staff quickly sending him to the Europolis Council Urgent Care Center not far from the EU Council Building. This news comes as a surprise as during the campaign last year for EU Councilor, Plessis showed medical records showing that he was healthy enough to live for a few more decades. However, the same sources that confirmed that the Leagioan EU Councilor had been admitted to the hospital that it might be possible the Union drug that was being vomited on the Council might have been something that the Councilor was allergic to. When asked for confirmation about the admittance, his Press Sectary Tyler Williams confirmed that the Councilor was in the hospital after having a heart attack after leaving the floor of the EU Council after the Speaker closed the session for the day and was under the carefully watch of the hospital staff.

Mr. Williams did also mention that the Councilor was concusise and is expected to recover by March 3rd if given the all clear from the hoispital staff; At the moment, he can speak and is currently looking to see if he can meet with the Speaker regarding the rules on whether or not he can be able to vote or ask questions on acts as well as resolutions from the hospital room should any come up soon in the EU Council floor.

[Leagio]

President-Elect Mouiri-Kudo Announces Her 'Coalition' Cabinet Configuration For March 14th

Five days after victory in the second round, President-Elect Ran Mouri-Kudo of the Progressive Party released what the configuration of her Cabinet will be like once she is inaugurated on March 14th. Many of the ministries that are being filled are new ones that were recently created last year and filled by acting ministers that were appointed by President Lifejumper. However, the thing about the people that are filling the ministries of the coming Mouri-Kudo Presidency is that they are of different political parties. The reason why this is strange is that Mouri-Kudo's Party (the Progressive Alliance Party) holds a majority in the Senate with 52 of 100 seats, where she could have her entire cabinet filled with members of her own party. The people that are of different affiliations is of parties that are both represented and not represented in both Houses of the National Congress.

For example, the person that will be Minister of Science & Research is Dr. Ritsuko Akagi who is affiliated with the Civil Populist Party and Diana Burnwood of the Social Democrats will be Minister of Digital Technology. Many people suggest that the reason why Mouri-Kudo filled her cabinet with these individuals to form what might as well as be considered a Coalition Government is to get her agenda through the House of Councilors where the Progressives do not have a majority in with only 233 of the 541 seats. However, there is another distinct trait about the coming Mouri-Kudo Cabinet and that is it also has candidates of the newly formed Free Democratic Party that formed last week by individuals dissatisfied with the position of the Conservative Reform Party. These are individuals that were not elected to the National Congress and disagreed with the Party's previous formation of the Republican Legislative Alliance. The new Party that will run for seats for the National Congress for the 2022 election follows the idea of classical liberalism and soft-eurosepticism.The nominees that Mouri-Kudo has presented are expected to be sent to the Senate tomorrow for appointment to their positions that will begin in March 14th after the inauguration.

[Leagio]

Mouri-Kudo’s Agenda Being Considered In National Congress

Various Committee Chairman’s within both Houses of the National Congress announced that they will put the various bills that President Mouri-Kudo campaigned on in debate and vote, where it will be debated on the wording of the bills and whether or not it should be put up to a vote in the Congress itself. One of those bills that is up to debate is the Green New Deal Act of 2021 that was presented by Progressive Senator Luc Duverger of the State of Condris on behalf of President Mouri-Kudo. The Green New Deal Act is, as stated by the President herself, based on the framework and guidelines of Former ICA Juncker’s European Green Deal. However, other bills that are being considered by the National Congress is Mouri-Kudo’s push for a 15 Sulia an hour wage and tax reform but it is expected to be strongly debated within the House of Councilors, where the Progressives do not hold the majority that they do in the Senate. However, another topic that the president has been pushing for recently is reform of the List Seats of the National Congress to ensure that political parties are well represented in the 2022 National Congress Election where the list seats are organized into regions which would give smaller parties a better shot in gaining representation. In addition, Mouri-Kudo called for a Theshold to be established in the reform of exactly 3% to provide that representation. This call is something that can Constitutionally happen as the Constitution does provide for the provisions that can make that happen and work. Although, the question is that follows the minds of many political experts is whether or not that the President's colleagues in the National Congress will vote for such an act.

[Leagio]

Green Transition Act Passes National Congress….Expected to go to MK Tuesday with Special Guest

Earlier today, one of the many things that was on President Mouri-Kudo’s Agenda passed both the House and Senate with a good margins. This piece of legislation called the Green Transition Act of 2021 is considered to be based on Juncker’s Green Deal that he left as IAC. Although, some political analysts actually say that it is actually a bit more bolder than Juncker’s Green Deal especially the deadline for a Carbon Neutral Leagio is 2032 with some over provisions considered that will be shown.

• All public transportation within the Commonwealth shall be converted to greener methods and solutions by 2028, which will be done by the joint direction of the Ministry of Public Works and Ministry of the Environment
• The Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Commerce will establish a support service to businesses within the Commonwealth wishing to convert to a green economy.
• The Ministry of Energy and Water Resources will prohibit the funding and construction of coal, nuclear, and oil power plants; Instead, it will subsidize solar and wind power plants within the Commonwealth. Municipal Solid Waster plants shall be allowed but will only be funded by municipal and provincial governments within the Commonwealth.
• All States and Territories in the Commonwealth are required to produce a upcycling program that shall be efficient and effective in reducing waste within the Commonwealth
• The Environmental Protection Agency shall be established to protect the forests and endangered wild-life that it shall designate in a fair and just approach
• Businesses and companies within the Commonwealth that produce carbon at unsafe levels to the environment shall be taxed
• Tariffs will be reduced on any foreign business outside of the Commonwealth that report their carbon emissions to the Ministry of the Environment and show that they are supportive of Leagioan safe environmental standards.
• Bans the use of landfills to deal with waste. All landfills within the Commonwealth are to be clean and disposed of by 2025.
• Land in the territories of Beika, Vernach, and Elsweyr shall be made at a price of 105 Sulia’s per arce if the owner plants farmable goods throughout its ownership within a spam of five years after purchase.
• Implements a Leagioan Climate Pact variant within the Commonwealth through the creation of the Office of Green Transition
• Provides strict regulations on the construction of new buildings within the Commonwealth for both the grassland region and the desert region. Gives 2035 for all buildings to be renovated to meet the code
• Initiates a strong plan to make the Commonwealth carbon-neutral by 2032. All states and territories within the Commonwealth are required to implement their own plans to ensure the success of the goal.
• All car manufacturers that demonstrate plans to implement greener systems of production, greener fuel efficiency, and reduce carbon emissions from vehicles that they produce will automatically receive a tax break every year until 2032; provided that they receive approval by the Ministry of the Environment after being reviewed every year on whether or not that said company has implement such plans and was truthful to it.
• The Office of Eastern Economic Development will subsidize the industry of farming in the eastern territories.
• Establishes stronger regulations on waste disposal

When looking at how the House vote, the Act passed with 333 vote IN FAVOR and 208 AGAINST. Most of the votes that were against the Act were from the political parties in the right side of the political spectrum with parties like the Common Nationalists referring to the Act as a the work of a Socialist. After the bill passed the House of Councilors, the bill then went into the floor of the Senate for its own debate and possible amendments that could be made. However, any attempt to amend the piece of legislation to be weaker was vote down by a Progressive majority in the Senate with 52 out of 100 seats. The bill was up for debate over the past 48 hours with many of the Conservative Senators trying to delay the passing of the bill but it failed. When the Act finally went into a vote, the Act passed IN Favor with 66 Senators and 34 Senators Against it. The bill is expected to the office of the President, who has confirmed that it will be signed into law on Tuesday. In addition, not long after the act passed the National Congress, Former IAC Juncker announced on Twitter that he will be attending the signing of the Green Transition Act.

Plessis Might Retire?
Rumors have been circulating that the EU Councilor for Leagio Francis Plessis, who suffered a stroke a few weeks ago and recovered from it, will be retiring sometime in the future. Although, there is no confirmation from said EU Councilor or his office, it leaves to wonder who will be taking his place in a emergency by-election that would definitely take place. However, until more information is known for sure then these rumors have no weight to them.

[Leagio]

Green Transition Act Signed With Juncker Present

Many days after it passed both the House and Senate, President Ran Mouri-Kudo signed the Green Transition Act into law within the Commonwealth. This act was one of the important centerpieces of the President’s campaign platform. The act was based on the guidelines of the European Green Deal that Former IAC Juncker developed before leaving office due to term limits. These guidelines that he left behind were to make Europe carbon-netural by 2050, but Mouri-Kudo’s legislation is considered by some to be more bolder than even the United Duchies plan for 2035 as the Leagio plan is for carbon neutrality by 2032. The President gave a rousing speech before signing the bill into law with Juncker standing right beside her. The Act would also implement measures to incentivize companies to greener methods of production within the Commonwealth and initiate the means of implementing better procedures in developing alternative energies that are not harmful or less harmful to the environment. The policies that will be implemented through the act is expected to possibly reduce pollution within the Commonwealth by at least 20% by 2030 and 25% by 2032.

When polling was done on the national opinion of the passage of the act, about 61% of Leagioans approve of the bill while a further 31% are against it. Members of different political parties have demonstrated support for the bill, while others have not and come outright against it. Councilor Julis Haller of the Civil Populist Party gave his support for the bill by saying that it was a step in the right direction for the Environment of the Commonwealth. However, Senator Dick Doconell of the Conservative Reform Party from the State of Huttson stated that he was against the bill for places too much burden on small businesses within the Commonwealth. This statement was one expressed by other members in the Conservative Reform Party and Christian Democratic-Republicans. However, members of Common Nationalists and LUTF expressed that the Act was a socialist-leftist act made by the Haanean Refugees to take over the Commonwealth. Some of the members of the two parties had even made more colorful language on their opinions about the passage and signage of the Green Transition Act.

However, there have been some questions remaining from members of the President’s own party, the Progressive Alliance Party, on whether or not if the plan is bold for the Commonwealth to meet within such a 11 year time frame. These questions come, even though during the Presidential Debate almost more than a month where the then candidate Mouri-Kudo said that if anything her plan was not bold enough and that the Commonwealth should take on challenges for they are not easy but because they are hard.

Former Internal Affairs Commissioner, Jean-Claude Juncker, has dedicated some time to the press after the signature of the Green Transition Act: “I’m very proud and it’s an honour to be here today along with President Ran Mouri-Koudo, who has been really nice with me. This is a very important achievement for Leagio, as they are becoming a reference on how to turn greener with effort and dedication. I’m also very happy to see how the Commonwealth is evolving so fast and using the loan’s money as they promised they would use it.” He has also been asked about running for the seat of Premier Commissioner and if he would run with the European Progressive Alliance again: “About the second question, I’ll be always loyal to the EPA. And about running for Premier Commissioner, the answer is yes, I’ll run because we need a better European Union, we need to get rid of the Sanctioning Powers Act and look for new ideas to make Europe more peaceful and to accomplish the objectives we have set in 2021. It’s possible to achieve this, and I’ll try my best.”

[Leagio]

Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Submits Treaty of Tullion De-Ratification Resolution to Senate Floor

This afternoon Senate Chairman Leon Booker of the Progressives announced that the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations has been debated and agreed upon the submission of a Senate Resolution Bill to de-ratify the Treaty of Tullion between the Commonwealth and Kingdom of Ritzmag. The Committee voted on the moving of the resolution to the floor of the entire Senate by a 10-4 vote with members of the conservative faction of the Civil Populists and some members of the Right believing that it is unconstitutional to de-ratify a treaty. However, some of the former Progressive delegates that attended last year's constitutional convention said that theoretically that it is possible for the Senate to have the power to De-Ratfy a treaty under appropriate guidelines that were used to establish it in the first place. This resolution will be sent to the floor of the Senate this Thursday for debate and then will most likely be voted on next Monday. In order for the de-ratification to occur the Senate Parliamentarian said that a two-thirds vote is required which means that even if all the progressive Senators voted for it, they would still need more votes for success. In this session, the Progressives hold 52 votes out of the 67 votes needed for the Deratification to pass the floor of the Senate. The Progressives would have to convince many sectors of the Senate to vote for the Deratification. The Socialist Unionists and Green Senators said that they are for the Deratification which ensure that the resolution would get 59 seats of the 67 votes required.

(composition of the Senate for the 2020-2022 session)

The Social Democrats who will most likely be a strong contender for Deratification has not given an opinion on the matter, but there have been talks that some of them from States and Territories that have been anti-bridges will vote for the resolution. However, this will remain to be seen. The Civil Populists have issued that they will not vote in favor of the resolution citing that they believed that it is unconstitutional with some members of the Conservative Reform Party issuing similar opinions. In addition, of the three Senators of the Leagioan Pact of Democracy, only one so far has said that they will vote for the resolution.

[Leagio]

Territory of Freedonia Drafts a New Constitution Accepted by Supreme Court / New Election For Freedonian Diet in April 21st

After the new Freedonian Diet was elected back on December 20th with a legislature working under a Provisional Constitution, the Socialist Union-Green lead legislature began to draft a new constitution that would be more permanent and better function. In a two-week convention that was held immediately after the December 20th election, through this convention a government was drafted similar to many of the other provincial governments in the Commonwealth. In it the government would be a regional Semi-Presidential system, but the Governor would not have the power to nominate a leader of the new Freedonian Government; Instead that is a power that the Freedonian Diet has where its members would be elected by the people by a system of Parallel Voting of First-Past-The-Post and Portional Representation through the D'Hondt method. This leader of the government of Freedonia is referred to as the Minister-Governor, who makes a cabinet that also runs the government. The actual of Governor of Freedonia does have actual powers which is to veto bills from the Diet and make state appointments in certain sectors of Freedonia. In addition, the Governor has the power to issue executive orders to which can be overturned by the Diet or declared unconstitutional by the new Supreme Court of Freedonia.

In this constitution where the garuntees of the provincial government of Freedonia to provide good quality healthcare and housing. Furthermore, the constitution has provision that contains ideas that some members of the Conservative Reform Party has argued is of Democratic Socialism. There has been talk by some members of the Conservative Counties of Freedonia on leaving the Territory and forming their own territorial government. However, such a move would require legislation from the National Congress which might not really be a possibility in the current session lead by a Social Democrat-Civil Populist-Progressive Congress. In addition, President Ran Mouri-Kudo stated that she was against any move to create another territory out of another territory like how Freedonia was formed.

After the new constitution was drafted, it was sent to the Supreme Court of Leagio for approval. The document went through a four day review by the Supreme Court and was eventually approved with a 8-5 vote.

Now that the Constitution has been approved and now ratified, it will be in effect with the vote of a new government through election for the Unicameral Freedonian Diet which will have 65 seats which is 30 more seats than it originally had. The new election for the Diet will be held on April 21st where a new government will be formed within a week after the election. Although, it is expect that the Socialist Union & Green Coalition will hold as the majority of the electorate are East Haanean Refugee Immigrants that have tended to vote for both Socialist Union Party and the Green Party.

[Leagio]

De-Ratification Resolution Being Debated Still in Senate Floor

The vote to de-ratify the Treaty of Tullion through the Senate has been still in debate for the past two days by members of various political parties, who believe the resolution to de-ratify the Treaty is unconstitutional. Senators from the Civil Populist, Conservative Reformists, and even Social Democrats have been holding the floor of the Senate day and night by debating as well as holding a filibuster that is limited to no more than 4 days after the supposed voting day. There is still questions on whether or not President Mouri-Kudo has the 67 votes needed if all 100 Senators vote on the floor. Various news outlets do confirm that at the moment that there are at least a garunteed 59 votes for the Resolution to De-Ratify the Treaty of Tullion.

House of Councilors Debating on New Election Law to Redisbut Constituency and List Seats to 50% with Voting Percentage Theshold

The House Committee of Reform and Congressional Affairs annnounced that they would be drafting a law that would revise the division of constituntency seats and list seats within the Commonwealth. This move is part of a call that was made by President Mouri-Kudo on revise the election system in the House of Councilors to have better protional representation by combing the list seats that Provinces use after making their constituency seats. During the National Congress election last year, the division percentage was 40% for constituency seats. However, the new law that is being drafted by the House Committee of Reform and Congressional Affairs would have it to 50 to 60% for the 2022 Election that will be coming. Although, an actually number has not been fully established yet as it is still being debating within the Committee. Another thing that is still being debated on is the need for a percentage theshold that a political party needs to attain within a region in order to recieve a seat at all. The president said that the percentage should not be higher than 3% but some members of the Committee have suggested 4 and even 5% for the theshold. What will be chosen will remain to be seen with people begining to wonder if the president would veto the bill if it had a theshold higher than what she suggested.

[Leagio]

De-Ratification Vote in Senate Fails After Istkalen Declaration of War

Not long after the declaration of war issued by the Federation of Istkalen, the Senate of the Commonwealth was finally in the position to vote on the motion to de-ratify the Treaty of Tullion between the Commonwealth and the Kingdom of Ritzmag. However, once the news that of the Declaration of War was received within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and sent to the Senate. The way that the vote was going to swing within the chamber of the Senate suddenly changed. This news had especially taken a hit on the vote to de-ratify the treaty once it was known that Ritzmag was at risk of attack due to its position to the Federation. Many of the people that were assumed to vote for the De-ratification resolution went against it, especially two senators of President Mouri-Kudo's own party. Most of the members of the Social Democrats, who were thought to be for the vote, went against the resolution in the end.

Only one member of the Civil Populist Party vote for the vote but it was not enough as even though there were60 votes for the vote. There was not enough to meet pass the 2/3's majority of 67 required to meet the vote and de-ratify the treaty.

[Leagio]

Socialist Unionists and Green Coalition Win Freedonian Election

In an unsurprising result, the election for the new Freedonian Diet which is officially established in a new constitution approved by the Supreme Court has two clear winners that will make-up an official government of the Territory of Freedonia. With an electorate that makes-up of East Haanean Immigrant-Refugees, the Socialist Union Party and the Green Party have a clear majority to form a coalition government to appoint a Minister-Governor under them. Out of 65 seats in the unicameral legislature, the Socialists have the most seats with 29 with over half coming from the 27 constituency seats of the Diet. The Green Party holds with 8 seats, which when combined makes up a total of 37 seats; more than enough for them to the needed coalition government that will run until the next election which will be on December 20th of 2022 when the National Congress election takes place. The person that will most likely be selected to be Minister-Governor of Freedonia will be Terence Loyd of the Socialist Union Party and the leader of the party's territorial branch.

(Image of Terrence Loyd, who is also leader of the Socialist Union Party in Freedonia)

The opposition parties will include the Eastern Leagio Party with one List Seat, the Social Democrats with 5 seats from both list and constiency seats, the Civil Populists with also 5 seats, the Progressives with 4 seats, and the Conservative Reformists with a strong 13 seats in their hold. The new government that will be leading the territory will be sworn in next week.

[Leagio]

Plessis Announces No Intention For Re-Election in June 5th.

In a press gaggle within his office in Europolis after a debating inside the EU Council, EU Councilor Francis Plessis of the ELDR for Leagio announced that for the Special Election that would be coming under the newly ratified Article 18 of the 2020 Constitution that he will not seek re-election. When asked for the reason why he would not seek a second or technically third term in the Council, he stated that he was looking to retire and leave the politics to the next generation. When asked if he would endorse anyone for the 1st round in June 5th, he stated that he does not intend to endorse anyone in particular as he feels that his opinion would not matter much.

Although there are speculation on who would run especially for the main political parties of the Commonwealth, it is too soon to say but many speculate that the classical liberal Free Democratic Party would run a strong candidate to at least get themselves out in the field for the municipal election season this year on December 20th. When asked on whether or not if the ELDR would endorse a candidate to ensure they have at least two seats of represenation to stay qualified as a Eurogroup, the EU Councilor said the following words: "that is not for me to decide at the moment or even say. I will admit that within the Eurogroup there has been talk on the path that it should take in for next year."

[Leagio]

Mouri-Kudo Traveling to Kingdom of Mennrimiak For Trade Negotiations

During a press conference today, it was confirmed that President of the Commonwealth Ran Mouri-Kudo would be traveling to the Kingdom of Mennrimiak to negotiate a trade agreement involving the diamonds and nuclear material that the Commonwealth sells. By the time that the office of the President could be reached for comment, President Mouri-Kudo had already left for the summit. However, many members of Leagioan political society including Former President and now Governor of Muale Kenith Lifejumper stated concerns on how the trade of nuclear material will be handled. Many experts that have previously traveled to the Kingdom of Mennimiak guessed that the reason for the Mennimiak Government seeking the material would be for its commitment to renewable energy.

Whether or not any trade deal with arise for it will remain to be seen as it is imagined that the negotiations will take time as the President has to ensure that the Mennimiak government is going to use them for the purpose of renewable energy and not for a weapons program approved by the ENAA as stipulated by the Nuclear Trade Commission Act that was passed last year after the Romain Incident under the Lifejumper Administration. Although, when coming to the diamond trade, many politicians (particularly from the Free Democratic Party and Social Democratic Party) supported the President on the endeavor as they feel it will benefit the Leagioan Economy that is still prospering under the Eastern Economic Development Act that was passed last year and helped end the February 2020 Crash.

[Leagio]

National Congress and Mouri-Kudo Compromise on HOC Election Reform for 2022

This morning, the office of the President of the Commonwealth and members of the Reform Committees within both houses of the National Congress announced that an agreement was reached over reforming the division of seats in the parallel voting for the House of Councilors and the threshold percentage required to attain a provincial list seat. The past month and a half has been a debate between the two branches of the Common Government of Leagio as there were disagreements on a more standardized size and distribution of seats in both the constituency and list sectors of the House of Councilors. Furthermore, there was some disagreement on the theshold needed for a political party to receive a seat. Members in the Reform Committee's on both houses of Congress wanted different various numbers to be the theshold required with some in the President's own party wanting a percentage higher than the 3% that was recommended by the President. Although, there is no confirmation but a source within the Executive Mansion stated that the President would have in-line vetoed the threshold requirement if it was higher than her number.

Eventually the problem of coming to an agreement increased as members of the Progressive Alliance Party began to feel that they would be at risk of losing in 2022 race that will coming after members of the other parties began to link the PAP to the unpopularity of the EPA under EU Councilor Emma Granger according to various political polls being done by political favorablity. However, last week before leaving for her trip to Mennrimirak and the Bergen Conference, the President hosted a meeting with the leaders of the Civil Populists and Social Democrats in both houses of the National Congress to come to a compromise on the bill. The House of Councilors Reform Elections Bill will be amended in the Joint Conference Committee that the two house negotiate on over similar bills that they passed in the same session. In this amended bill, the following was agreed upon:

• 530 Total seats starting 2022 = 270 Constituntency Seats and 270 List Seats

• 4 percent electoral threshold required to attain a list seat

• Exceptions to the electoral threshold in the list sector if a political party has either of the following: recognized status by the Burea of Election Security as a minority political party or 3 Constituency Seats

• The seats for the two sectors will be redistributed every 6 years between the provinces.

In addition, there was an acknowledgment on the voting of an amendment to the constitution to change how the Senate is elected by 2022 from the manner of block voting to instead a single transferable voting method that has begun some support in certain parts of the country. In addition, there was agreement on having the position of Governor-General is one that is elected on the same ticket as the President instead of having it elected separately from the President.