PBC News

[Pacitalia]

Sunday 18th September 2022

Breaking news
Foringanan nations in shock split from AO


Pacitalian foreign minister Arnau Klüger Ferrer (left) meets his Scandonian counterpart, Simon van Alberder, in Schiedam, Saturday 17th September / File photo: APR


Pierferdinando Passo


SCHIEDAM, SCANDONIA — Four of the five nations in Foringana have agreed, in a seismic political decision, to leave Atlantian Oceania from Monday morning, sending global markets and governments scrambling to react.

New foreign minister Arnau Klüger Ferrer wasted no time in getting his continental counterparts on board with the move, which has been rumoured for several months. Mr Klüger Ferrer travelled to the Scandonian capital Schiedam on Saturday afternoon to meet with his counterpart, Simon van Alberder, for what was billed as a run-of-the-mill bilateral meeting.

But rumours began to circulate in the media once Bärenberger foreign minister Klaus Pechtold and Medovician international affairs minister Kristján Kovačević were spotted arriving at Schiedam airport late Saturday on government planes, their visits not previously announced by their respective governments or appearing on an official itinerary.

The four foreign ministers appeared Sunday morning, jointly announcing the decision to leave Atlantian Oceania with effect from 0900 AOTC+3 Monday morning, taking no questions from a bewildered press contingent before hopping back on planes to their home countries.

Though the four nations are not currently ideologically aligned — with centre-left governments in Pacitalia and Scandonia, and centre-right ones in Bärenberg and Medovicia — they have shared a desire to push for more autonomy for the continent. The countries have long favoured more integration with each other instead and expressed dismay over regional attitudes toward Foringana on matters of commerce, defence and foreign policy.

Drakia's government did not join in the move to leave AO and sources in Montmirail say the Prime Minister, who was "taken by surprise" when first told of the idea, has asked for additional time to review the country's options before deciding to stay or go.

The catalyst for the Pacitalian-led shift away from the rest of the region is rumoured to have been the stalled talks with Baker Park and Jabal Akhdar, which began six months ago during the AOCAF Cup, hosted by the latter country. Timiocato is still hoping to firm up trade and mobility agreements with the two countries, but privately government officials have been concerned about the lack of progress in recent months.

The stalled progress was painfully reminiscent for Timiocato of the previous year's Stelburg Conference, borne out of the Anaian split, which had also failed to result in any substantive movement on regional cooperation and integration. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity to PBC News, said many countries had been "unserious" in their approach to the talks.

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The final straw seems to have been recent unrest in the mid-region over the summer. Rushmori nation Græntfjall attempted to militarily intervene in Jabal Akhdar, claiming the Sultanate was harbouring terrorists responsible for attacks in the Græntfjaller city of Steinaux. The move was deemed an invasion by several AO governments.

AORDO's decision to act unilaterally, without consulting non-aligned nations on a path forward in the overall regional interest, was said to have been viewed extremely poorly by Timiocato and Korendam, spurring the two sides to begin talks at exiting the region, eventually bringing Charlottenburg and Rupa on board, for a full continental split.

Of note, none of the Foringanan countries were members of AORDO, but Pacitalia and Scandonia have both long held a stridently pan-regional pacifist mindset, and pushed for the entirety of the region to maintain a coordinated, cooperative approach to regional defence, regardless of membership in the actual AORDO organization. Those calls seemed to fall on deaf ears during the recent conflict, much to the two governments' frustration.

Appearing on PBC News Sunday with Niles Parker, Mr Klüger Ferrer moved to reassure markets on the sudden move.

"It'll be business as usual for the vast majority of people," he told Mr Parker. "We are not making changes to people and goods movement, residents of AO will continue to be able to come and go as they please. We are still neighbours and friends. This decision is purely to give us more control over our futures."

The decision to politically leave AO — a move some experts are now christening as "Forexit" — after decades of membership could still present challenges for both the region and for the Foringanan continent as political leaders, businesses and citizens grapple with change.

Experts worry the "quick schism" approach may have long-term consequences on AO-Foringana relations. Appearing later on in this week's PBC News Sunday programme, University of Mandragora political scientist Dr Liz Cunningham warned there could be repercussions the governments of the four countries were not anticipating.

"Certainly, there will be some governments in AO that are not happy with this move, and will disregard or brush off the stated reasons for the four making this decision jointly," she said Sunday. "There may be moves to remove some of the freedoms of movement and pull back diplomatically and economically, which would be unwise, and hurt everyone, of course. So it will be up to everyone to really, I think, keep a cooler head and an objective mindset despite the decision to, sort of, rip the bandaid off, as it were, and look at this from the perspective of what caused this to happen, and what could have been done to avoid this."

Dr Cunningham pointed out that AO is at its weakest point in decades after the Anaia split, which resulted in over 20 nations leaving the region, and the recent tensions with Rushmore. She says the decision of all but one of Foringana's nations to leave the region will only add weight to claims that AO is a shell of its former self.

She added: "there has been clear anti-AO sentiment in the governing party for years, dating back to before the [Democratic Nationalist Party] merged back together with the [Pacitalian Social Congress]. Left-wing politics in Pacitalia have always tended to be more nationalist and diplomatically turned inward in their views compared to the centre and right so ultimately the decision to break away isn't surprising, it's more the fact that the government managed to keep this secret until the announcement."

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[Pacitalia]

Saturday 14th January 2023

New this morning
Timiocato overhauling transport policy


An electronic toll booth is pictured along the westbound A20 motorway near Cerignola, Sambuca / File photo: APR


Egidio Farnetto


TIMIOCATO — The Pacitalian government announced a landmark, but long-anticipated, shift in its national transportation policy Friday afternoon, a move that many urban planning and transportation experts are hailing as the first "domino" in industrialized countries ending longstanding practices seen as subsidizing drivers and prioritizing massive road projects at the expense of other means of transport.

The government will table its new bill — formally the Act of Amendment to the Roads Act 1955 — in Monday's plenary session of the Constazione. That new bill aims to vastly overhaul how the government approaches transportation infrastructure projects in the future, potentially changing everything from feasibility and environmental studies, needs assessments, and road design, to funding, financing, construction, maintenance, and operation of roadways.

The two most important changes to policy: Timiocato will no longer launch new road projects, expansions or rebuilds through bank-derived financing, and will move to an electronic toll system on all autostrade, phasing in an expanded toll network starting in 2024.

Historically, the government has used bank financing or partnerships with private companies to build large motorway projects. Pacitalia has hundreds of thousands of kilometres of expressway routes, broken down into the main "A" and the more secondary "B" classes, criss-crossing the country and connecting it with its three Foringanan neighbours.

The government has typically funded road maintenance through taxation and allowed free use of motorways, having been averse to road tolling other than on select routes.

Pacitalia, in fact, did not even have a toll road until 1986, when the A20 between Nortopalazzo and Cerignola, on Pacitalia's west coast, was closed for a week to install a pilot electronic toll system that remains in operation today.

But over the past 25 years, as maintenance and operational costs for Pacitalia's roadways have both drastically increased — in many cases while the government is still paying back debt it incurred to build those projects — Timiocato has had to rethink how it approaches road building, right down to whether or not to build roads at all. The Brunate government first started that work 13 years ago.

Policy change efforts were subsequently halted by the Nera government in early 2013. The opposition at the time branded that decision as a political move that was heavily influenced by corporate lobbying.

And as it later emerged in the Dirty Fingers corruption scandal that would punt the FPD from power in 2017, those changes were indeed driven by construction firms and automakers determined to ensure Pacitalia continued to increase road capacity, rather than prioritize investments in public transit, walking or cycling — and lining the pockets of politicians eager to play a role in maintaining the status quo.

Pacitalia, under the amended Act, would lengthen the needs assessment and feasibility phases of a road construction project, such as a new motorway, with stricter criteria in place to ensure only the most necessary and vital projects end up being built. In addition, the government will now finance road construction only through the issuance of bonds backed by the aforementioned toll revenues it will collect, or in some cases, the privatization of motorways.

If, in future projects, the government does not raise enough capital from a bond issue, the project would be cancelled and the prospective bondholders would have their money returned. The new approach aims to completely separate the country's road budget, in all aspects, from general revenues, as Timiocato aims to ensure that tax dollars are no longer used to build roads.

Funding for road maintenance and even demolition will eventually shift away from taxes as well — though it is not clear whether the government intends to fund 100 percent of this through tolling or other end-user costs.

The government already collects hefty consumption taxes on motor fuel that are directed to help pay for other public transit and cycling infrastructure projects in Pacitalian cities, and this arrangement would be unaffected by the amending act. Timiocato could conceivably increase this tax again as it has in several previous years, as a way to incentivize people to get out of their cars.

The FPD and other right-wing parties are expected to oppose the bill. However, the governing PSDC has a strong majority in both houses, and other left-leaning and centrist parties not part of the government have nevertheless signalled support for the bill, so it is widely expected the changes will easily pass.

Experts in the urban planning and transport fields, many of whom the government consulted during the last four-and-a-half years of studies, and subsequently the drafting of the amending legislation, have welcomed the bill as a positive step.

"Every industrialized country on the planet really has put itself into this trap, of ever-increasing costs from road building and maintenance, with no end in sight," said Dr Flavio Costa, head of the Public Planning and Urban Studies program at the Universitat Oberta d'Empordà in Bergamo.

"Years of expert study on this has shown that the only way to get out of this trap is to stop approaching transportation policy from the perspective of what prioritizes the car and the road. So I think that it's good to see government take a much more conservative approach to roads and stop to think, 'do we really need to build this', 'how do we pay for that', 'why are we paying for that'."

The plan is also earning the favour of some leading economists. That profession has also long held that investing in train and transit infrastructure is more economical and cost-effective use of tax money. Banco di Mandragora's senior economist Carlo Sangiovane appeared on PBC News 24 Saturday morning to address the planned changes.

"We would reasonably expect that plugging into the institutional bond market allows for greater cost and labour certainty on large projects," he said. "Typically, infrastructure projects funded by the issuance of project bonds are cheaper to run, and they force better budgeting for overruns and contingencies because governments can't simply go out after the fact and take on more debt to get a project built."

University of Mandragora economics professor Dr Giovanna Lemma said "there will be an attempt in certain quarters to frame this as the government saying 'no' to roads, or 'no more', but that is not really a reasonable conclusion."

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[Monforte]

The Principality of Monforte wishes to inform the passing of Andrea Prince of Monforte and the ascention of Constantino as the new prince "De Jure".

Ever since its foundation that Monforte always remained an absolute monarchy with the Justice, the lesgislative and executive power all concentrated in the person of the prince, nowadays just with more bureaucracy. Constantino wants to create some sort of conpomised democracy, but nothing will ever happen without the backing of the military and the finance. What would be the best way to open the door while leaving the next one closed just a little bit further? Comments welcome.

[Pacitalia]

Sunday 12th February 2023

Breaking news
Police investigating Timiocato double homicide


Timiocato police speak to a witness behind a cordon in the Esquilino district, Sunday 12th February 2023 / File photo: APR


Apostis Kyriakodonis


TIMIOCATO — Police have cordoned off a corner apartment block in the Esquilino district of Timiocato as they investigate what they revealed early Sunday to be a double homicide.

Investigators were summoned to the six-floor building on Corso Metricale at around 4:30 am Sunday, after a cleaner discovered two bodies in an apartment on the fourth floor when she showed up for a scheduled shift.

Neighbours in the building who spoke to PBC News said they heard a loud argument between a man and a woman sometime between 11:00 and midnight, but were not sure if that argument had taken place in the same apartment. Police have not said whether or not witnesses reported hearing any noises afterward.

PBC News has learned from a property records search that the apartment is owned by Federation of Progressive Democrats party leader Enzo Figo. Police have not identified or released any information on the two victims. Neither the FPD nor Mr Figo have provided comment on the matter.

The apartment is currently registered as a short-term rental in the city's Housing Use Registry for non-owner-occupied residences. Listings for the property on booking sites have been taken down as of Sunday afternoon.

Staff from the office of the medical examiner were seen midmorning Sunday moving two bodies out on stretchers and into an ambulance, followed by multiple bags of evidence, including what appeared to be bloody bedsheets or towels. Police would not answer press questions or allow the media to speak to the medical examiners.

According to police investigators, the deaths are the seventh and eighth homicides, respectively, in the Pacitalian capital this year. PBC News will continue to provide updates once more details are released. Police have sought to reassure the public there is no wider risk at this time based on the information they have been able to gather so far.

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[Pacitalia]

Saturday 18th February 2023

Scandonian elections
Election winner remains uncertain in Scandonia


Mariëtte Kluivert


KORENDAM — Scandonian election officials continue to count ballots from Friday's parliamentary elections, as the public awaits a clear result in hopes of avoiding the kind of crippling deadlock that forced the country to hold a second vote in quick succession three-and-a-half years ago.

Turnout is estimated at over 80 percent, a sign of an electorate largely weary from years of living through the COVID-19 pandemic, slow progress on economic recovery, and flirtation with far-right extremist parties breaking into the mainstream.

As of 2.00pm Saturday, the centre-left Social Democrats had won about 6.7 million votes (22 percent), slightly ahead of their current coalition partners, the socially conservative Labour Party, who were on 6.2 million votes (20 percent). Christian Democracy and Reform were third with 4.3 million votes (14 percent), and the far-right New Progress for Scandonia has fallen back to fourth place with 13 percent support from 4.1 million votes.

If Labour does not supplant the Social Democrats as the leading party in vote share, the latter party's leader, Anika van Velders, will be given the first opportunity to try to form a government.

Based on current shares of vote, the Social Democrats will end up with roughly 39 seats in the Staten-Generaal, with Labour on 36. Early indications suggest that both the centre-left and centre-right have relatively clear paths to forming a coalition, though with the current numbers, Labour would have more options at its disposal. Should the Social Democrats and Labour choose to partner again, they would likely need only one other party to join their coalition to enjoy a majority of at least 96 MPs.

"The four-year century"

The first of two elections in Scandonia in 2019, held at the end of June, produced no clear winner, with New Progress winning a narrow plurality of votes compared to the Social Democrats. Both parties won 37 seats and neither could cobble together enough support from other parties to form a government. After refusing to work together due to their vast ideological differences, King Christian III was left with no choice but to dissolve parliament and call another election.

New Progress performed strongly in the September 2019 election, capturing a larger plurality of the votes and enough seats (52) to form a coalition government with other centre-right and libertarian parties.

This year's vote was precipitated by the resignation of Theo van Kaap of the Social Democrats. Mr van Kaap, 82, an elder statesman of Scandonia, contracted COVID-19 last spring. After the acute infection subsided, the prime minister contracted pneumonia and was admitted to hospital. His spokesman said in July that his recovery had not been progressing well, largely due to his age and pre-existing conditions.

After initially returning to work, doctors formally diagnosed him with "long COVID" in October and Mr van Kaap resigned three weeks later. Foreign minister Simon van Alberder, who leads the Labour Party, has been acting as a caretaker prime minister.

The Social Democrats had headed the so-called "grand coalition" with the more conservative Labour Party after reaching a coalition agreement in 2021. The previous coalition resulting from the September 2019 election had dissolved over disagreements between the partners on how to manage the national response to the COVID pandemic.

Former prime minister Casper Bakker was criticized for what many opponents viewed as a deliberate "hands-off" approach, with Mr Bakker citing the need to prioritize personal freedom and responsibility over government intervention.

The policy direction held Scandonia in stark contrast to its three Foringanan neighbours, who all reacted much more strongly and authoritatively to the pandemic. Experts estimate that Scandonia's failure to act early on in the pandemic resulted in as many as 525,000 "additional deaths" to which COVID-19 was the primary cause of death.

The Bakker government directed very little national money into programs to fight the pandemic and was slow to procure doses of vaccines once they became available for mass use. Mr Bakker was later embroiled in scandal after being heard through a microphone he did not know was turned on, saying that he didn't believe vaccines worked. Newspaper front pages the next day panned Mr Bakker, with one famously proclaiming "We're Doomed. Our Prime Minister Is An Idiot."

Labour, a partner with New Progress in the Bakker government, eventually left the coalition, and after seven weeks of negotiation, agreed to defect to a grand coalition with the Social Democrats at the head. The new coalition government averted an early election, which polls had suggested the vast majority of Scandonians did not want. The agreement elevated Mr van Kaap, who had been prime minister once before, between 2007 and 2011, back into the post.

Scandonia elects 190 MPs to a single chamber. The country uses pure proportional representation to elect MPs, meaning that a party's percentage share of votes translates almost exactly into that share of seats in the chamber. Parties do need to clear a threshold of 0.5 percent of the vote in order to earn any seats. Scandonia allocates 48 of the 190 seats to la Marchanie, the country's southern, majority French-speaking region.

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[Pacitalia]

Saturday 25th February 2023

Scandonian elections
Social Democrats, Labour nearing agreement


Social Democrats leader Anika van Velders, pictured here appearing on the weekend political talk show De Hoorn in January 2023 / File photo: APR


Mariëtte Kluivert


KORENDAM — Just a week after Scandonians went to the polls, the country's current ruling parties already appear close to renewing their coalition agreement to govern the northern Foringanan country for the next few years.

PBC News has learned that the Social Democrats and the Labour Party have made significant progress on another "grand coalition" that would last at least three years, with a strong possibility of a power-sharing deal that includes swapping prime ministers at the midway point of the agreement. In the arrangement, sources say Social Democrats leader Anika van Velders would lead the country for the first 18 months, and then cede power to Labour Party leader Simon van Alberder, who would take over from there.

Ms van Velders, who was appointed formateur by King Christian III on Monday, immediately sought out her counterpart in the Labour Party for talks. Sources close to both parties say the two leaders have enjoyed a strong working relationship in recent months, despite their ideological differences. The two are both enthusiastic about the concept of the "unity coalition" to move beyond traditional differences of the political left and right to help Scandonia emerge from multiple crises that have afflicted the country over the past half-decade.

The Social Democrats won about half a million more votes than Labour in the vote held on 17th February, giving them the first shot at forming a government. Were these talks still to fail, and if Ms van Velders was subsequently unable to find other partners, she would be forced to resign as formateur, and Mr van Alberder would then be given an opportunity to reach an agreement — possibly with other centrist and centre-right parties.

Scandonia's Labour Party is considered a right-wing party by most political scientists because it has traditionally been socially and economically conservative, though the party has noticeably moved to the centre over the past 10-20 years. The party has progressive positions on abortion, LGBTQ rights, and same-sex marriage, but remains conservative on immigration, and opposes legalized drugs and medically-assisted dying. Labour has strong ties to trade unions and the wider labour movement, as do the Social Democrats.

The Social Democrat-Labour coalition has governed Scandonia since 2021, after the previous coalition, led by the far-right New Progress for Scandonia party, fell apart mid-term over the latter party's mishandling of the country's response to coronavirus.

The parties' last major hurdle is whether to pursue a majority coalition, by bringing in one or more additional parties and cementing support for legislation in the next term, or the riskier bet, to try to govern together as a minority coalition which would rely on ad hoc support from other parties. Based on the results of last week's election, the two parties combined will have roughly 75 seats, short of the 96 needed to have an absolute majority in the Staten-Generaal.

There are several parties, including the Greens and the Moderates, who have signalled their willingness to join a grand coalition, though it is unclear whether they have actually joined in any talks at this point.

Stock markets — which have been weary over the country's sluggish economy and skittish about the results and the potential for more gridlock in the Scandonian capital — responded positively in after-hours trading Friday, likely because of the continuity and stability afforded by the two parties remaining in power together. Foringanan exchanges were all in positive territory overnight with gains likely to hold if the coalition talks continue to formalize.

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[Pacitalia]

Saturday 4th March 2023

Breaking news
Figo faces police questions


Pacitalian politician Enzo Figo is pictured arriving at the Esquilino police district headquarters, Friday 3rd March 2023 / File photo: APR


Apostis Kyriakodonis


TIMIOCATO — Federation of Progressive Democrats leader Enzo Figo attended a Timiocato police station Friday afternoon, facing questions over last month's murder of two women in an apartment he owns.

The revelations have reverberated through the halls of politics and threatens to upend both the FPD's attempts to regain power and Mr Figo's leadership of the centre-right party.

Police revealed two weeks ago that Mr Figo's estranged wife, Dalia, was one of the two victims of the double homicide on 12th February. Police had been called in the early hours that day to the property in Esquilino, a trendy district in the inner east-central part of the Pacitalian capital. The other victim, a woman in her thirties, was identified as a sex worker who was known to police. Her identity remains unpublicized.

Mr and Mrs Figo, who married in 1995, had reportedly not lived together for over a year. Mrs Figo was about to file for divorce, according to family sources. It is believed that she was living in the apartment at the time of her death.

Mr Figo arrived at the local police precinct in Esquilino with his lawyer, called in by investigators to face a second round of questioning on his whereabouts. Police named Mr Figo as a "person of interest" in the investigation Friday, but refused to characterize him as a suspect when pressed by reporters. Mr Figo had been in Saronno delivering a speech at the city's Economic Club annual conference earlier that evening. He was later seen at Saronno Centrale station boarding a train back to Timiocato.

The lack of other suspects or individuals under surveillance by authorities has placed a spotlight firmly on the prominent politician, leaving him no choice but to announce in a written statement Saturday morning he was stepping aside as leader, with his deputy, Dominic de Brincat, taking on the leadership on an interim basis. The statement emphasized the move as "temporary".

The party said it believes in "ensuring that authorities have the tools and the ability to conduct an investigation unimpeded". The statement further said "our Leader feels the best course of action is to step aside during this time, to focus on assisting the investigation, while allowing the Party to continue to prepare for the elections" later this year.

Mr Figo became leader last June after his predecessor, Gemma Bianconi, stepped down following a string of bad election results. Party stalwarts believed Mr Figo, a veteran in the FPD, had the ability to unify the party and its messaging ahead of a crucial "double dip" election later this year. Pacitalians will vote for Archonate, the country's head of state, this year, in addition to the normal triennial (every three year) parliamentary vote.

Recent public polls have shown the gap between the governing left-wing Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress and the FPD has narrowed in recent months, giving the party hope it could defeat Prime Minister Damián Moya's government this fall.

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[Pacitalia]

Sunday 16th April 2023

Breaking news
FPD's Figo charged in double murder


Pacitalian politician Enzo Figo arrives at court in Timiocato to appear in front of a magistrate, Sunday 16th April 2023 / File photo: APR


Apostis Kyriakodonis


TIMIOCATO — After weeks of speculation, Enzo Figo has been formally charged with two counts of culpable homicide in the February deaths of his estranged wife, Dalia, and a sex worker at an apartment he owns in Timiocato.

But authorities face accusations of a "two-tier justice system", after agreeing with Mr Figo and his counsel to a voluntary surrender to avoid the spectacle of a public arrest, as well as a special session in front of a magistrate on a weekend — when court is not normally in session — to read out the charges listed in the indictment and enter a plea.

PBC News was able to capture footage of Mr Figo, dressed in a grey suit and tie, exiting a dark blue car with tinted windows outside the district courthouse in Timiocato on Sunday morning. He then rushed in through the service entrance of the courthouse, flanked by police and his legal team. The politician was not seen in handcuffs.

One press pool photographer was permitted inside the court building as Mr Figo arrived. The court session, however, was in camera, with no media or public allowed in the courtroom. Lead counsel Manuel Braga was present to confirm his client's plea to the charges.

Pacitalian law provides for so-called "adgiudicazione abbreviare", or an expedited trial process, where both the prosecutor and the defendant agree on some or all of the facts. This can allow the trial to proceed right to a summary judgment. Either way, in a murder trial, the defendant would still face a panel of magistrates. It is believed that Mr Figo will file for the expedited process.

Investigators claim that the former Federation of Progressive Democrats party leader committed a gruesome but not premeditated “crime of opportunity”.

Police believe that Mr Figo arranged a sexual encounter with the escort at the apartment, mistakenly believing that his wife was out of town and that the apartment would be empty. Mrs Figo had been living in the property in Timiocato’s Esquilino district, on a mutual agreement while divorce proceedings were underway. According to authorities, Mr Figo had known the woman, 32, for some time, and had regularly solicited her for sex. It is not yet clear why Mr Figo chose to arrange the meeting at this apartment, regardless of the whereabouts of his wife that evening.

Family of the murdered woman have identified her on social media as Lucia Morra. However, the woman's identity has still not been publicly released by police. Ms Morra is said to have worked for a high-end escort service, and had extensive ties to other FPD lawmakers, businessmen and lobbyists. Rumours online suggest she was introduced to Mr Figo last year by another member of the FPD assembly.

Investigators say that when Mr Figo arrived at the building late in the evening on 11th February and entered the apartment, the sex worker was already present and in the midst of an argument with Mrs Figo. When Mrs Figo confronted him about the second woman’s presence, Mr Figo produced a silenced handgun and shot her twice. The autopsy revealed the wounds were immediately fatal. The sex worker was shot three times, two times in the back and once in the back of the head, indicating she may have attempted to flee.

A search of Pacitalia’s public firearms registry, REPDAF, has pulled up no ownership records tying the gun to Mr Figo. That either means the gun used in the homicides was unregistered, or it may not have belonged to Mr Figo. His counsel could attempt to use this in court to somehow argue that someone other than he committed the murders.

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for 2nd May. Mr Figo has been remanded into custody in the pre-trial detention facilities at Timiocato’s Colle Verde prison.

PBC News asked the Federation of Progressive Democrats for comment but did not hear back before press deadline. A spokesman in Prime Minister Damián Moya’s office said the government “decline(d) formal comment as the matter is before the court.”

Some Pacitalian equal justice advocates are criticizing the judiciary and authorities for agreeing to accommodate Mr Figo’s request to voluntarily surrender and appear in court over a weekend for the initial reading of the indictment.

“This is unprecedented special treatment and it’s not even as if this is something that is afforded to wealthy or prominent defendants when they are charged with crimes,” said Filomena Roncalli, an immigration lawyer and activist based in Nortopalazzo.

“The fundamental principle of the Pacitalian legal system is not just equitable treatment for all defendants, but the same treatment for all defendants,” Ms Roncalli emphasised. “It isn’t supposed to matter who you are, where you are, how wealthy you are, how serious the crime.”

“If 99 people are arrested in the public eye," she added, "transported to the court in view of the public, arraigned in public, tried in public, and so on, I don’t see any justification to treat that next defendant any differently.”

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[Pacitalia]

Wednesday 3rd May 2023

Court grants Figo summary judgment in murder trial


The Regional Superior Court for Capitale is where Pacitalian politician Enzo Figo will be tried for murder / Photo: TPP/APR


Albertina Semperesta


TIMIOCATO — Enzo Figo appeared in front of magistrates Tuesday afternoon, in a preliminary hearing to set parameters for his trial on two counts of culpable homicide.

Magistrates and the legal team for the prominent politician agreed to set a commencement date of 12th June for the trial proceedings. He is charged with murdering his estranged wife, Dalia, and sex worker Lucia Morra, at an apartment owned by Mr Figo in east-central Timiocato.

Deemed a flight risk due to his wealth and connections, Mr Figo had been denied a surety, which would have allowed him to post bail, and to be released, pending the trial. He has been held at a pre-trial facility near the Pacitalian capital since his arrest two and a half weeks ago. He appeared in front of the twelve magistrates of the Regional Superior Court for Capitale, handcuffed and wearing standard royal blue prison coveralls.

Mr Figo's counsel has sought and is likely to be granted adgiudicazione abbreviare, which, in the Pacitalian legal system, is a summary judgment option available to defendants who wish not to dispute most or all or the core evidence in a case against them in exchange for an expedited trial. The process still permits the defendant to assert their innocence.

Legal experts speculate that Mr Figo's team is attempting to streamline the process in order to minimize Mr Figo's potential sentence. Under the statutes of Pacitalian lex criminalis, culpable homicide carries a minimum sentence of 24 years in prison. People convicted of culpable homicide are not eligible for parole during their sentence. Pacitalia abolished capital punishment in the 1980s.

It was believed Mr Figo's legal team had a strategy to tie Ms Morra to Mrs Figo, in an attempt to persuade magistrates that the two were carrying out a discreet relationship. They were to argue that this explained Ms Morra's presence at the apartment this past February when the double homicide took place. Mr and Mrs Figo were in the midst of divorce proceedings at the time of her death, and Mrs Figo had been living in the apartment prior to her death, while Mr Figo continued to reside at the couple's main home, a flat in Timiocato's northwestern suburbs.

Investigators, however, believe that Mr Figo had been meeting Ms Morra for sexual encounters on several occasions prior to the double homicide this past February, and then scheduled another rendezvous with the sex worker at the apartment.

Authorities believe that either Mr Figo thought the apartment would be empty, due to a business trip Mrs Figo had scheduled to Monterio, or that he told Ms Morra to meet him there and planned to leave evidence of the sexual encounter in a deliberate attempt to antagonize and upset his wife. According to investigators, the two normally met for sex at hotels in Timiocato and Saronno, and they remain unsure why Mr Figo decided to meet Ms Morra at the apartment instead.

It is believed Mr Figo showed up to the apartment to find Ms Morra had already arrived and in the midst of an argument with Mrs Figo, who confronted Mr Figo angrily, leading to the murders. A silenced pistol was found at the murder scene and is believed to have been the weapon used.

Ms Morra was well-known to police as an employee of a local high-end escort service that catered to wealthy businessmen and politicians.

Lawmakers in the Constazione Repubblicana voted Wednesday morning, 691 to 11, to suspend Mr Figo as a member pending the outcome of the trial. The motion is largely symbolic, as parliament will be dissolved in a matter of months anyway in advance of November's national elections; however, suspension prevents him from collecting his MRP salary and benefits, likely for the remainder of the term.

Residents in Mr Figo's district will also continue to be able to access government services through his local office and seek assistance from his staff.

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Monday 31st July 2023

Mixed reactions over conservative election pact


A deal between centrist and conservative parties was reportedly spearheaded by FPD leader Dominic de Brincat / Photo: TPP/APR


Pierferdinando Passo


TIMIOCATO — A pact between four of Pacitalia's centrist and right-wing parties to cooperate in this fall's parliamentary elections is raising eyebrows and generating mixed reactions.

The four parties involved stopped short of calling it an official alliance, or even agreeing that more formal cooperation could form the basis for a coalition government after November's vote.

Representatives from two national parties and two regional parties — the Federation of Progressive Democrats, the Christian Democrats, Lliga Empordán, and Podemos-Derecha Unida — confirmed independently to PBC News that the parties have agreed to a deal where the FPD and Christian Democrats will not run electorate seat candidates in Empordia or Marquería, and will not campaign or advertise their party lists there.

In the rest of the country, the FPD and Christian Democrats will work together to run a single candidate deemed to have the best chance of winning in those seats where races were close in the previous election held in 2020. Those candidates would not run under a joint banner as that is not permitted under Pacitalian election law. Party volunteers and politicians could, however, support and campaign for those candidates without being required to change their party affiliation.

The left-wing Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress rode a wave of popular support to majority control in both the Constazione and Senato in 2020. The party leaned on a massive national campaign infrastructure, and vote splitting on the right, to dominate the single-member contests. The PSDC won 207 of 270 electorate seats on top of the 56 percent of proportionally allocated seats they won. They also won 72 of 100 Senate seats up for grabs. Pacitalia uses instant-runoff voting for electorate and Senate races.

This meant that, despite well-funded campaigns and a deluge of advertising, the FPD and Christian Democrats were reduced to a combined 197 of 715 seats in the lower house, and just 21 in the senior chamber. The parties say their goal is to try to present voters across the country with a unified conservative option to better the chances of defeating the PSDC, who are approaching six years in government.

FPD leader Dominic de Brincat — who reportedly spearheaded the talks leading to this successful arrangement between the parties — said in a statement released Monday that "there [were] a number of seats across Pacitalia that could have been won by a conservative candidate in 2020 had the centre-right united their resources and efforts around electing candidates". He added, "this provides us a realistic avenue to electing a strong, stable, national, truly representative government, one that is deeply focused on personal freedom and a strong economy".

Podemos leader Panchito Gómez hailed the deal as "allowing Marquerians to support their local candidates and vote for local candidates, knowing that Marquerians are representing themselves".

"We will carry the torch of free enterprise and free will and you will be able to trust that Timiocato will hear us," he added.

The deal between the parties reportedly doesn't extend to the archonal election, at least for now. There is also the possibility that the parties may nominate candidates but leave the door open to drop out early and endorse a rival to improve the chances of a conservative candidate winning the archonacy in November. Pacitalia's head of state is a hybrid role combining ceremonial duties with some key powers, including the ability to veto legislation.

Meanwhile, the pact between the parties was panned by both the PSDC and other right-wing parties who weren't part of the agreement.

Pacitalia's interior minister, Vincenzo Brusco, a senior PSDC politician, lambasted the deal as "cynical and pessimistic", saying that the arrangement was "scraping the depths".

"Instead of campaigning on the merits of their platforms and letting voters decide who is best to run the country," Mr Brusco said, "they're giving up before the election has even started and are just going to try stacking the deck instead."

"Voters will see through it and it won't work. It might be a great thing for them but it's terrible for democracy."

Mr de Brincat later retorted on Chirp that "the PSDC didn't see any issue with merging in 2019, so we'd love to know how this is any different", referencing the-then Pacitalian Social Congress and Democratic Nationalist Party's decision to unite the two parties into a single, larger left-wing organization.

Defence of the Republic leader Primo Demasso called the deal "establishment [BS]". Mr Demasso's party could be a potential kingmaker in November if conservative parties hope to form a coalition government. However, the far-right, populist party has been shunned by other right-leaning parties who say they wouldn't work with Mr Demasso even if it meant the difference between returning to power or remaining in opposition.

He added: "This is shameless politicking and it's clear the perpetrators have given up on Pacitalians... so we can only hope Pacitalians will return the favour and give up on them. Time for a new direction and a new vision."

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Thursday 17th August 2023

Climate-driven extremes could dampen primary vote


Helicopters dump water on the Calamocha wildfire in northwestern Alt-Empordà, Wednesday 16th August 2023 / Photo: APR


Apostis Kyriakodonis


TIMIOCATO — Wildfires, flooding and extreme heat affecting different parts of Pacitalia simultaneously are threatening to reduce turnout in Monday's archonal primary, and experts warn to expect more of the same in the coming months.

Eligible voters who are members of political parties are to turn up at the polls Monday to select their nominees for the country's top job, though many will do so under the figurative thumb of climate-driven crises that are becoming more and more common with every passing year.

In Empordia, the Calamocha wildfire has already burned over 24,000 square kilometres of forest in far northern Alt-Empordà, near the Scandonian border. Firefighters from both sides of the border have descended on the wildfire, which Empordia's forest service, AGF, says is now approximately 70 percent contained after a few consecutive days of favourable winds and cooler temperatures.

The fire has been burning since early July, fueled by tinder-dry conditions in the Empordian woods. The northern third of Pacitalia has suffered drought conditions all year, with rainfall and groundwater retention both well below historical averages.

Significant rainfall is finally in the forecast for Saturday, though officials stress the system coming in from the northwest also shows the potential for numerous lightning strikes, which could fuel the fire instead of helping to put it out.

Flooding has destroyed crops and inundated critical farmland in Antigonia, with areas north and west of Nortopalazzo — Pacitalia's second-largest city — under as much as four metres of water in some places. Nortopalazzo's floodwater diversion system, which activates a series of manmade canals and underground pipes to route water around and under the city so that it doesn't flood, has been active for three weeks.

And southern Pacitalia and northwestern Drakia are at the front end of what weather experts have deemed a "once in a century" heat event. A ridge of high pressure has stalled over the region, combined with unseasonal humidity. The coming extremes have spurred officials to declare a public health state of emergency in Timiocato, Amalfia, Capitale, Dossavora, Pomentane and Trasteveria. Authorities have enacted the usual emergency protocols to help people stay cool over the next few days.

Temperatures in the Pacitalian capital, Timiocato, hit 45°C on Thursday. Temperatures over the next few days are expected to hover in the mid-40s, and relief is not forecast until the middle of next week. On primary day, Timiocato's forecast high is 50°C. The public is urged to stay indoors and out of the sun as much as possible, and hydrate to ward off the effects of the extreme heat.

Elections Pacitalia has assured the public they don't need to worry about missing out on their right to vote. They say that eligible voters living in areas subject to evacuation alerts or orders could apply for relief to be able to cast a late ballot if they so choose, and that contingencies will be in effect for the first round of the full election, which is scheduled for 27th November alongside parliamentary voting. Except where a primary candidate wins their respective nomination decisively, the elections authority would deem a party's results conditional pending votes received under the relief program.

Voters were also able to vote by mail in the primary and it is estimated that approximately five million Pacitalian voters exercised that option this summer.

Final primary polls show landslides for some, nail-biters for others

With the primary vote just four days away, PBC News and survey partner Centreprise have uncovered a range of different outcomes depending on the primary, with some parties headed for a close vote, and others' races essentially decided. Centreprise found:

• In the PSDC primary, former Republican Central Bank governor Franco Russo holds a narrow lead over ex-interior minister Sorinel Vulpes, 46 percent to 43 percent. Former Timiocato mayor Francesca Perronta is on eight percent. Three percent were still undecided.
• In the FPD primary, former Antigonian regional president Maria Bosa Sanremo has a healthy advantage over former cabinet ministers Hassan Beryani-Ami and Pino Bernardin. Ms Bosa Sanremo was on 40 percent, with Mr Beryani-Ami at 30 percent and Mr Bernardin registering 22 percent.
• Christian Democrat members appear ready to nominate preacher Abeo Bamidele as their candidate. Mr Bamidele scored 54 percent support in the poll, with his closest rival, Sambuca mayor Marco Merazzi, on 26 percent.
• Defence of the Republic's primary contest looks to be headed for a very close result, as firebrand MRP Yusuf Osman, who recently defected to the party from the FPD, has a one-point lead over businessman Angelo Retuzzi, 48 percent to 47. Five percent are undecided.
• Finally, the Greens are likely to nominate former MRP Madonna Ferrache as their candidate, over former prime minister Gabrielo Brunate and ex-cabinet minister Arcedan Beyoglu. Ms Ferrache earned 45 percent support in the poll, with Mr Beyoglu second on 38 percent and Mr Brunate a distant third on 11 percent. If the numbers hold, the result would be a further rebuke to Mr Brunate, who remains deeply unpopular over a decade after leaving office

Centreprise polled 600 registered voters from each party included. The data is considered accurate to within four percentage points with a 95 percent confidence level.

The eDemocrats' founder Marco Arancella was unopposed and will proceed right to the first round of the full election. Smaller and regional parties declined to run a candidate of their own and are either committed to endorsing another party's candidate or sitting out the election.

If no candidate earns a simple majority in the first round of votes, the runoff election will occur on 11th December.

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Friday 22nd September 2023

eDemocrats elect Moretti Gallo as spokesperson


The eDemocrats have voted lawyer and lecturer Laura Moretti Gallo as their new spokesperson, replacing party founder Marco Arancella / Photo: TPP/APR


Apostis Kyriakodonis


TIMIOCATO — Pacitalia's upstart eDemocrats party has chosen its new spokesperson, right as it soars to its highest level yet in national opinion polls.

Party members voted to select Laura Moretti Gallo to lead the party into November's election, after party founder Marco Arancella stood aside in order to carry the party banner in the archonal election.

The eDemocrats were founded just three years ago, promising to upend traditional left-right politics with a new approach that aims to take the best ideas from across the political spectrum. The party believes strongly in direct democracy and anti-corruption efforts, and is a proponent of so-called digital democracy, which aims to better connect citizens to their government through internet and technology.

They have been labelled anti-immigration due to some of their early policy positions, though immigration policy was subsequently watered down and more controversial language stripped from party bylaws. Critics of the party have also attacked it for its stridently populist platform.

Ms Moretti Gallo, 52, is a prominent lawyer and university lecturer who currently teaches law at the Franciscan University of Antigonia. She ran for the party unsuccessfully in the 2021 regional elections, but remained a prominent voice within the party following the vote, joining the National Party Council before the end of 2021. Prior to joining the eDemocrats, Ms Moretti had been politically independent for about a decade, having previously been a member of the Pacitalian Green Party until 2010.

That same National Party Council chose Ms Moretti Gallo in an online vote Friday. She first defeated her opponent, Dario Libretto, with 62 percent support to Mr Libretto's 38 percent; in the subsequent affirming motion, she cleared the 80 percent threshold required in the party's constitution, with 86 percent voting in favour of her assuming the spokesperson role.

In a show of unity, Ms Moretti Gallo then put forward a motion to name the 40-year-old Mr Libretto, a veterinarian by profession, as deputy spokesperson. The motion carried with 93 percent support. That will put him second on the party list in the upcoming parliamentary election.

The eDemocrats' rank and file are hoping Ms Moretti Gallo's perceived energy and charisma will help convert the party's current momentum into seats in the election.

While the governing Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress maintains a healthy lead in multiple polls, parties like the eDemocrats are hoping to make big gains and potentially play a prominent opposition role, or even act as kingmaker in a potential post-election coalition.

A recent ABM/Capax poll of approximately 2,600 likely voters found the PSDC ahead with 38 percent support. The Federation of Progressive Democrats were slightly ahead of the Christian Democrats for second place, sitting on 23 percent nationally, versus the latter's 19 percent. The eDemocrats placed a surprising fourth in that poll, on eight percent.

Other parties, including the far-right Defence of the Republic, the Greens, and regional parties, made up the remaining 12 percent.

Pacitalians are just over two months from voting in national parliamentary elections and selecting the country's next Archonate.

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Saturday 21st October 2023

PSDC polling lower ahead of campaign launch


Prime Minister Damián Moya's Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress appear to be sliding in the polls ahead of Monday's official start to the parliamentary election campaign / Photo: TPP/APR


Pierferdinando Passo


TIMIOCATO — The governing Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress are facing diminishing polling numbers just as the parliamentary election campaign is set to officially begin Monday.

Two polls released this week – one from Centreprise and one from the political science department of the Open University of Empordia – show the PSDC's support dipping to its lowest level so far this year. Though still in pole position to be able to form a third straight government, the electoral math for the party is looking the shakiest it has been since the PSDC won a landslide in 2020.

Party insiders are also growing increasingly concerned at the prospect that the centre-right might now have a path to power – something that seemed unthinkable just a few weeks ago, but is a growing possibility with these latest two polls.

Centreprise's poll of 2,250 decided voters shows the PSDC on 31 percent support nationally, now just eight points up on the Christian Democrats, who registered 23 percent support. The eDemocrats have jumped to third place according to that poll, on 16 percent, with the Federation of Progressive Democrats (FPD) right behind on 14 percent. Defence of the Republic scored five percent national support, the Greens were on three percent, and regional and other parties made up the remaining eight percent.

The Centreprise poll had a margin of error of about two percent, with 95 percent confidence.

Polling done by the Open University of Empordia, surveying 2,186 likely voters as late as Friday afternoon, show a similar swoon for the PSDC. The poll has the party seven points up on the Christian Democrats (29 percent vs 22), with the eDemocrats on 17 percent, the FPD on 13 percent, and Defence of the Republic on seven percent. The Greens again scored three percent in this survey, and other parties made up the last nine points.

The university's poll is the first time in over three years that the PSDC have been below 30 percent in a national poll.

Pollsters at the university simultaneously polled Empordian voters on their regional choices and found the Empordian Socialist Party maintaining a narrow lead over the centrist Empordian League, 33 percent to 31. The PSDC scored 10 percent in the regional poll, behind the eDemocrats, who are on 13 percent in Empordia. The Empordian Greens earned five percent support, and Defence of the Republic three.

The smaller regional poll of 960 likely voters had a margin of error of three percent and a 95 percent confidence interval. The university's national poll had a margin of error of two points with 95 percent confidence.

If the election were held today, the two polls point to the PSDC winning approximately 270 to 280 of the 715 available seats, well short of the 457 they won in 2020. That would require them to bring in the eDemocrats, who would win approximately 75 seats with these numbers, as well as a third party, such as the Empordian Socialist Party or the Greens, to obtain a working majority. The barest majority is 358 seats.

It had been evident from long-term public opinion polling that the PSDC was likely to need to form a coalition to remain in power, as they had done in their first term.

However, the projected seat total from this pair of surveys is smaller than the 338 the party's predecessors, the Democratic Nationalist Party and Pacitalian Social Congress, managed in 2017, when they took power for the first time in six years. Now, six years later, it appears a Christian Democrat-led conservative government might be a distinct possibility.

Such an arrangement would require the eDemocrats – who claim to be neither left or right-wing – to side with the Christian Democrats and FPD. Notably, it would also require the centre-right to abandon its pledge not to govern with the far-right Defence of the Republic.

A hypothetical centre-right government would still have to make major concessions to Defence of the Republic just to have support in confidence votes during the term, even if the party remained outside government. The more moderate FPD and Christian Democrats have said they would not be comfortable governing with Defence of the Republic's support or involvement due to the latter party's extreme views on social issues.

The Open University poll shows a centre-right government supported by the eDemocrats and Defence of the Republic having approximately 370 total seats, enough for a bare, but reasonably safe, majority in the Constazione, Pacitalia's lower house of parliament.

Despite the encouraging numbers for conservatives, a PSDC-led coalition government still appears to be the likeliest outcome on election night. Pacitalians elect 715 MRPs and 100 Senators, and hold the first round of voting for Archonate, on 27th November. The current Archonate, Vittoria Agradossa, is expected to dissolve parliament Monday, marking the official start of the campaign.

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Saturday 28th October 2023

Opinion
AO corruption scandal a tailwind for Moya, PSDC


PSDC leader Damián Moya's reputation for being shrewd and intuitive took centre stage in the first week of the national election campaign / File photo: APR


Niles Parker


TIMIOCATO — The first full week of campaigning in Pacitalia's national elections is in the books, with the Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress' campaign seemingly back on track following some troubling polling data last weekend.

That's largely due to last week's stunning charges of corruption in Atlantian Oceania – with revelations that Vilitan and Turori authorities colluded with sport federation leadership and officials in other countries to fix matches in multiple sports. The alleged cheating dates back as early as World Cup 19, and has put the legitimacy of some World Cup titles in doubt.

And while the governing bodies of multiple sports deliberate on what to do about the scandal, or how to punish Vilita and Turori, the news has put a spotlight back on the centre-right Federation of Progressive Democrats and the party's acumen for regional politics.

Membership in Atlantian Oceania was set to be a major campaign issue this time. The FPD opposition have spent the last year pushing hard for Pacitalia to rejoin Atlantian Oceania, attacking the PSDC government for negotiating the shock, simultaneous exit of four countries from the regional bloc in fall 2022. The FPD argued the move diminished Pacitalian influence in international affairs and served to isolate Timiocato from the world.

But the move to depart AO is looking incredibly prophetic in the wake of the latest scandal. It happened for different reasons – the Foringanan nations were growing increasingly fed up with a lack of progress on regional political initiatives – but news of sport corruption in AO, which was once among the world's foremost sporting regions, is again drawing positive attention to the Moya government's decision.

Other centre-right and right-wing parties have, for some time, suggested that Pacitalia and its Foringanan neighbours should join another bloc, such as Anaia, while, in the past two weeks, some embarrassed FPD lawmakers have quietly shifted from boosting re-entry to AO, to advocating Pacitalia join a large group of nations in the new Arrosia bloc, including Sarzonia, Banija, and Baker Park.

The Arrosian group of nations, totalling around 50, defected from Atlantian Oceania in light of the recent scandal, leaving AO politically and diplomatically hollowed out, with only Vilita, Turori, and a handful of their client states remaining in the region.

The FPD have tried for the last five years to turn the page on their role in the Dirty Fingers corruption scandal, only to be thrust into the middle of the murder trial of their former leader, Enzo Figo. While Pacitalians have been more forgiving of the party on the latter, no doubt some in the centre-right party are feeling stung, after trying so hard to use AO membership as a cudgel and attempt (in vain) to hurt the government's popularity. They will be cringing at the resurfacing of the word "corruption", especially in any proximity to their party.

Within the PSDC camp, there is likely to be a sigh of relief as the party's campaign gets itself on track with about four weeks to go before Pacitalians vote. Polls released last weekend suggested the incumbent centre-left government would have to scrape together a coalition government to stay in power, with a potential centre-right coalition becoming an increasing possibility.

PSDC party brass reportedly see the revelations as positive and believe they will give the party the ability to retain control of the election and dictate which issues the election is decided upon.

Whatever the case: it will be interesting to see how (or if) the polls reflect the latest news from Pacitalia's former regional home.

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Sunday 19th November 2023

Election 2023
Voter intentions appear set with eight days left


Christian Democrats' archonal candidate Abeo Bamidele has led polls but would still have to face a runoff in December / File photo: APR


Apostis Kyriakodonis


TIMIOCATO — Pacitalian voters appear set to give the governing Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress a third term in power in next week's parliamentary elections, though with a reduced share of seats and a strong likelihood of needing at least two other parties to agree to form a coalition government.

Since parliament was dissolved in October, the PSDC have remained in first place, save for a short-lived dip in support that the party quickly saw reversed once serious corruption allegations in Atlantian Oceania emerged.

A new tranche of surveys from the major national pollsters will be released Monday, but they are unlikely to hint at any major shift in public opinion with just over a week left before Pacitalians elect the next government.

Indeed, the 2023 campaign has turned out to be rather uneventful – with many leading political commentators taking to social media to label the election "safe", "dull", and "uncontroversial".

This is despite the surge in support for the eDemocrats and the far-right Defence of the Republic, who, combined, have approximately a quarter of public support, and could play a major role in determining the shape and tone of the next government, and the next three years in parliament.

The University of Mandragora's Dr Liz Cunningham, whose political science department has run several polls this campaign in partnership with Foro Civile, says the election has presented two very interesting, and somewhat contradictory, dynamics.

"By and large, people feel the country is on the right track, and they also feel good about Damián Moya as the Prime Minister," she said, appearing on PBC News Sunday with Niles Parker this weekend. "There is no widespread dissatisfaction with the government, and you also see this reflected in the fact that the centre-right parties really do not have a viable path to power that doesn't involve Defence of the Republic, and five or six parties being in the government, or at least supporting it during key votes."

The Foro Civile–University of Mandragora poll for the period ending 11th November showed the PSDC with approximately 36 percent public support, with the Christian Democrats on 22 percent. The eDemocrats were third on 14 percent, Defence of the Republic on 11, and the centre-right Federation of Progressive Democrats sunk to a surprising fifth place, on 8 percent.

Translated to seats, the PSDC could be extremely close to retaining its majority in the Senate, while in the Constazione, it could expect between 300 and 320 seats. A majority in the lower house is 358.

The centre-left party would, therefore, have to entertain potential coalitions with the eDemocrats, who would win approximately 60 seats on that level of support, or the Greens plus a couple of regional parties in Empordia and Marquería, to get above 358 seats.

The PSDC currently hold 457 of the 715 seats in the lower chamber, after winning the 2020 election in a landslide. Majorities are actually a rare occurrence in the lower house due to the use of mixed-member proportional representation in the Constazione. Most of the 715 seats in that chamber are elected from a list that reflects the party's share of the vote.

An additional 270 electorate seats are also up for election, whose winners are chosen through a process known as "instant runoff". The same process is used to elect all 100 Senators.

The electorates serve as a form of "majority bonus", designed to help major national parties obtain a mandate, and limit the number of parties needed to form a stable coalition government.

Next Archonate will be one of two men

Pacitalians are also electing their next head of state, or Archonate, in this year's election cycle. That campaign has been equally tame, especially in a country known for colourful politics.

"We have also not seen much movement in archonal election voting intentions," Dr Cunningham said. "Keep in mind that this campaign has been going on for several months – the parties nominated their candidates in August. Over that period, voters have been consistently and evenly split between [the PSDC's] Franco Russo and [the Christian Democrats'] Abeo Bamidele."

Unlike in previous archonal elections, there does not appear to be a spoiler candidate with enough support to pose a challenge, meaning that Russo and Bamidele are on course to advance to the runoff election in mid-December. The eDemocrats' Marco Arancella has been in a strong third place for most of the campaign, but has lagged Russo and Bamidele by 15-20 points in most polls.

Asked to pick a winner, Dr Cunningham pointed to the numbers.

"This appears to be Abeo Bamidele's election to lose," she said. "When I look at the numbers, I can foresee a rather solid margin of victory. He has led first-round polling by an average of two to four points, and support from other eliminated conservative candidates is going to coalesce around him. Russo does not have as much room to grow in the second round. Unless there is a major scandal at some point in the next three weeks, it is hard to envision any shifting of the public's intentions."

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Tuesday 28th November 2023

Election 2023
PSDC WIN A THIRD MANDATE
FPD, Greens devastated • Far-right party gains foothold
Regional parties perform well • Bamidele, Russo through to runoff

Prime Minister Damián Moya will govern into a third term after voters delivered his centre-left PSDC a stronger than expected plurality of seats / Photo: TPP/APR


Pierferdinando Passo


TIMIOCATO — Pacitalian voters sent politicians across the country a strong message Monday, returning the incumbents to power for a third straight term, while signalling in other ways that this was a "change" election.

The governing centre-left Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress have earned another mandate, retaining control of the Senato Repubblicana, but losing their majority in the Constazione.

PBC News is projecting that the PSDC will win approximately 340 seats in the Constazione, down 117 seats, and 57 seats in the Senato – a decrease of 15. The party appears to have over-performed polling, though, as the majority of surveys done in the final days indicated the PSDC would need at least two partners to form a government.

In his victory speech to jubilant supporters Monday evening, party leader Damián Moya appeared energized, delivering a magnanimous address that called for lawmakers to "come together".

"This is vindication of our agenda for the country," he exclaimed. "So we continue."

Party brass will be sighing in relief as the new makeup of parliament avoids a potential coalition with the eDemocrats, a party that, while broadly progressive, is populist and anti-establishment. Instead, less than 20 seats shy of majority control, Mr Moya's party will be able to partner with their ideological cousins, the Empordian Socialist Party, who managed to increase their seat count Monday.

A bare majority in the Constazione is 358, not accounting for the parlante (speaker).

Centre-left and left-wing parties have also captured approximately two-thirds of the 100 seats in the senate, which will make review and passage of legislation much easier despite the PSDC's loss of control of the lower house.

Archonate Vittoria Agradossa will now tap Mr Moya as formateur and charge him with the task of forming government.

The PSDC's strong plurality in the lower chamber and continued control of the upper may allow it to try to govern alone and rely on confidence votes from other left-wing parties, though Mr Moya is likely to seek a formal arrangement to ensure a government can last through the entire three year term.

Still a change election in many ways

Opinion polling leading up to the election appears to have been broadly accurate to the final results, but still did not manage to capture the near-annihilation of two parties that as recently as a decade ago were sharing power in Timiocato.

The centre-right Federation of Progressive Democrats suffered its worst result ever, as voters fed up with repeated scandals, disarray, and corruption in the party abandoned it in droves Monday. The party managed just 3.76 percent of the vote in the Senate, and 1.32 percent of party list votes, with its candidates being completely shut out in the 270 electorate contests.

The FPD will return a mere six MRPs to parliament in the new term, less than ten years removed from government; the party also lost all of its Senate seats.

Meanwhile, the Pacitalian Greens, who were expected to enjoy a rebound under Rosa Bardolín, a charismatic scientist with social media savvy, were also rebuked by voters Monday, barely clearing the threshold to elect MRPs from the party list. The national Green party have been reduced to a rump assembly of just three.

FPD interim leader Dominic de Brincat is expected to join Ms Bardolín in standing down in the next few weeks due to the poor showing.

The Christian Democrats had their strongest ever result in a parliamentary election Monday, winning just over 170 seats in the Constazione and 20 seats in the Senato. The party will take up the role of primary opposition party for the first time in its history and appear to have supplanted the FPD as the standard bearer party of the centre-right.

The eDemocrats have won 74 seats in the lower house and will elect five Senators, per PBC News predictions. The result mirrors opinion polling, but the PSDC's stronger than expected result means the party will not hold the balance of power as many had projected. eDemocrats' spokesperson (leader) Laura Moretti Gallo was still buoyant Monday evening in a speech to supporters.

Far-right party Defence of the Republic will win approximately 34 seats, gaining a solid foothold in the parliament. Previously a fringe caucus, the result appears to set the stage for the organization to enter the political mainstream.

The party was widely criticized for its "inhuman" immigration policies during the campaign, with a pledge to ban any new legal migration to Pacitalia for a three-year period and adopt a "zero-tolerance" approach to illegal migrants. Its promises to eliminate all other official languages than Pacitalian, ban abortion outright, repeal a range of equal rights laws, and jail survivors or witnesses who don't report domestic abusers to police, also generated massive outrage during the campaign.

Though the party polled as high as 11 percent at points during the campaign, the final numbers indicate Defence of the Republic earned just over five and a half percent of party list votes, about eight percent of electorate votes, and about five percent of first-choice votes in the Senate. The result is still the party's strongest ever.

Resurgence of regional party support

Regional parties performed well, despite early indications in polling that voters might flock to national counterparts at their expense. In the end, those national parties were shut out of electorate contests completely.

In Empordia, which had helped deliver Moya's PSDC a landslide last election, both the centre-left Empordian Socialist Party (PSE) and the centre-right Empordian League had a strong night. The PSE elected nine Senators, up two. After a three-year absence, the League returned to the upper chamber, electing three. The PSE also increased its seat count in the Constazione from 20 to 31, while the League jumped from nine seats to 25.

The national Green party will take some solace in the fact that their regional counterparts in Empordia did manage to elect a small handful of lawmakers to the lower chamber. The Empordian Greens will enter parliament for the first time with an assembly of six MRPs.

To the east, in Marquería, the centre-right Podemos–Derecha Unida earned the largest share of votes and captured a total of 14 seats in the Constazione. It appeared to fall well short of predictions that it would sweep Marquería's six senate seats, electing only a pair of senior lawmakers.

The other four seats went to the left-wing Libertad Marquería Juntos, which fended off a late swoon in opinion polling and will re-enter the Senate. However, the party appears to have lost a handful of seats in the lower chamber, where it held 11 before the election.

The Radical Anticapitalists will increase the size of their assembly in the lower house from two to four after capturing just over one percent of the national party list vote, a result party organizers were celebrating on social media Monday evening. The far-left party, which preaches an end to capitalism and a complete overhaul of global political and economic systems, does not have a leader, instead being governed by committee.

Of the other registered parties, none managed to pass the 0.5 percent vote threshold to elect representatives to the national parliament. The centrist Consensus, right-wing Franciscan Front, and centre-left Pacitalian Ecological Movement were shut out for the third straight election.

Archonal first round vote goes as expected

With about 99 percent of polls reporting, the Christian Democrats' Abeo Bamidele and the PSDC's Franco Russo are through to a runoff election on 11th December. Mr Bamidele had captured approximately 38 percent of the first-round vote, with Mr Russo right on his tail at 36 percent.

The result sets up what is anticipated to be a comfortable win for Mr Bamidele in the second round. The other four candidates' share of votes underperformed polls leading up to election night either way. But, of note, the majority of voters who did not vote for Mr Bamidele or Mr Russo in the first round chose candidates who more closely align with Mr Bamidele, providing him reasonably clear odds to prevail.

Mr Russo will need to passionately encourage supporters of eliminated eDemocrats candidate Marco Arancella and Green candidate Madonna Ferrache to back him in two weeks' time.

Predicting how votes will be redistributed in this election has been a challenge, as the eDemocrats practise syncretic politics and pull ideas and policy positions from the left and the right. As a result, their supporters, though broadly progressive, are hard to pin down.

PBC News' Election Desk has forecast that if turnout is the same in the runoff vote, Mr Bamidele would only need the support of about 3 in 10 eDemocrats voters in order to defeat Mr Russo. It may prove encouraging for Mr Russo that many eDemocrats supporters voted for the PSDC in 2020.

The new Archonate will be sworn in on 1st January for a single, six-year term.

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Monday 11th December 2023

Election 2023
Exit poll points to Bamidele triumph


PBC News–Centreprise exit polling shows Abeo Bamidele has secured a comfortable victory in Monday's archonal runoff / File photo: APR


Apostis Kyriakodonis


TIMIOCATO — Christian Democrat archonal candidate Abeo Bamidele will be Pacitalia's next head of state, according to PBC News–Centreprise exit polling, securing over 53 percent of the vote in the Pacitalian archonal runoff election.

The charismatic Bamidele, who gained a national profile as a preacher in the non-denominational church he founded in Capagatta a decade ago, ran a campaign focused on moral values, social justice, and economic and environmental stewardship. He ran a relentlessly positive, hopeful campaign that appears to have resonated with voters that were seeking a leader embodying both moral conviction and political fortitude.

Bamidele is the first Black politician elected to nationwide office in Pacitalia's history. His victory reflects the massive demographic shifts the country has undergone over the past half-century.

His opponent, the PSDC's Franco Russo, once again stared at defeat in the runoff, after being narrowly beaten in 2016 in an election that was eventually annulled by the country's top courts, due to concerns about missing ballots and counting irregularities. Russo chose not to contest the re-run election the following year; he was nominated to head the central bank for a six-year term that ended earlier this year.

Bamidele's optimistic rhetoric and endless charm will now face a major test – a parliament with a clear centre-left majority, and a differing vision for the country. Incumbent prime minister Damián Moya and his Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress are expected to easily form a new government, despite losing their majority in the Constazione in the parliamentary elections two weeks ago.

For his part, Moya has signalled an openness to work with either candidate, even if that meant the one from his own party, Russo, did not win.

Throughout his campaign, Bamidele promised to work towards a more inclusive society, where every citizen has the opportunity to thrive.

Seeking to allay concerns he might blur the lines between church and state, in a country that already has a long and complex relationship with Catholicism, Bamidele repeatedly stressed his desire to unify the country and to bring different faiths together alongside secular Pacitalians. He emphasized the need to reach broad consensus to tackle difficult issues.

He also sought to reassure otherwise wary swing voters that he would be amenable to any attempts to roll back rights and protections to women, LGBTQ+ people and minorities, saying he had no interest in re-litigating "settled matters" even if his personal opinions about those issues might diverge from "what is the law".

For example, though Bamidele personally opposes abortion and believes that marriage is a religious institution, he was clear on the campaign trail that he would never seek to overturn a woman's right to choose or repeal same-sex marriage.

The exit poll results indicate Bamidele's moderate strategy paid off – placing him in sharp contrast to the previous candidate the Christian Democrats nominated, the late controversial industrialist Carmine Bello. Bello's fundamentalist Christian beliefs and incendiary rhetoric motivated his supporters, but also polarized the country by turning off an equal number of other voters.

Bamidele and Russo won a combined three-quarters of support in the first round of voting two weeks ago, with only a two percentage point margin separating the two men.

Election silence laws made it difficult for pundits to predict the outcome in the runoff. Pacitalian election law forbids polls to be released within seven days of the first round up until polls close in the runoff.

The eDemocrats' candidate, comedian and television presenter Marco Arancella, had finished third in the first round, with just over 15 percent of the vote. Capturing his supporters and motivating them to come out to vote in the runoff was critical to the two remaining candidates.

With a pair of other right-wing candidates eliminated in the first round – and their support expected to overwhelmingly flip to him – Bamidele had been forecast to only need about three in ten eDemocrats supporters to move to him in order to win a simple majority of votes.

PBC News' exit polling indicates that Russo failed to capture the other 70 percent of eDemocrats supporters from the first round, with data suggesting that number will be closer to 60 percent. In addition, it appears more of Russo's voters from the first round stayed home in the runoff, compared to Bamidele's, further widening the final margin.

If the margin of victory for Bamidele holds through the final count, it will be the largest win since the first archonal election in 2007. Coincidentally, that was also the last time a centre-right candidate was victorious in the runoff.

Spokespeople for both candidates say they will acknowledge the results later Monday. Bamidele's election headquarters were in Capagatta, while Russo supporters were congregating in Timiocato.

The next Archonate takes office on 1st January.

With files from APR

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Sunday 28th January 2024

Foringana, Anaia exploring closer ties


The Bamidele administration is engaged in early, high-level talks between Foringana and Anaia on a possible free-movement accord (Photo credit: APR)


Pierferdinando Passo


TIMIOCATO — PBC News has learned that Pacitalia has sent a delegation to Anaia to engage in preliminary talks over an expanded freedom-of-movement agreement alongside more formalized cooperation in other areas.

The talks appear to be a sign that the geopolitical landscape in the wake of Atlantian Oceania's collapse may finally be cementing after a brief interlude that some political experts have referred to as a "fog".

The Anaian bloc of nations initiated the slow demise of Atlantian Oceania when they split in 2021. Foringana – including Pacitalia – left AO the following year. The erstwhile powerhouse region fell into a full existential crisis last year, when another large bloc of countries formed Arrosia in the wake of widespread corruption allegations against Vilitan and Turori authorities, leaving behind a rump region.

For the last three years, there has been less, and slower, progress on forging new ties outside AO – though, notably, Foringana, Anaia and Arrosia have all established regional embassies with one another as an initial step to formalize and facilitate closer ties.

Archonate Abeo Bamidele has sent a delegation of 20 people to Anaia for early talks, his office confirmed. The delegation includes acting International Relations Minister Arnau Klüger Ferrer, and acting Commerce and Trade Minister, Bruno Tordo.

Bamidele is said to want to somehow bring Foringana and Anaia closer together leveraging the latter region's ACORN framework ("Anaian Community of Representative Nations"). The countries have had a visa-free travel program in place known as "AORTA", and are now focused on expanding ties in the wake of recently-ended war between Bostopia, Mertagne and the Ochre Islands.

Pacitalia already has relaxed visa and travel requirements for a number of countries in Anaia – most notably, with Audioslavia, Krytenia and Starblaydia. As these agreements were bilateral, they survived the countries' departure from AO in 2021 following the Foxchester Declaration. More formal regional-level cooperation on freedom of movement would naturally expand the scope of these arrangements and allow for nationals of other countries in Anaia to enjoy reciprocal arrangements with the five nations in Foringana.

Though the five Foringanan nations' respective governments are all generally open to broader cooperation and friendship beyond simply expanding ties with each other, there are varying levels of enthusiasm for an expansion of formal programs with other regions. Barenberg and Drakia have been the coolest to the prospect of reciprocal ties.

Barenberger lawmakers have long expressed concern that the country, which is the smallest on the continent by both area and population, would be "overrun" by tourists and international students if regulations were relaxed. Charlottenburg has warned Timiocato it does not have enough surplus hotel or rental housing to accommodate any significant increase in visitor traffic and that there is no desire to build it.

Montmirail, meanwhile, has recently taken a harder right tack under Prime Minister Maria Breckenridge, after successive National Liberal Party and Alliance governments that were much more open to continental and interregional integration. The NLP's isolationist right flank has its strongest hold on domestic politics in recent memory and is dictating the government's policy direction, which might leave Drakia on the outside looking in.

The new Archonate has been flexing his political capital early in his term. At the same time he is advancing stronger ties with other regions, he has also been pressuring Damián Moya to reach a coalition or governing agreement, or step aside and allow someone else in his party to try.

Moya's Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress won a reduced mandate for a third term in power in November's elections, but talks with the Empordian Socialist Party have stalled.

Together, the two parties would have a comfortable majority of 12 seats in the Constazione. Though the two parties are ideologically aligned, the PSDC has reportedly balked at their regional cousins' demands for more funding and autonomy for Empordia as a condition of their support.

Moya, who has been prime minister since 2018, has been unconcerned with the pace of progress on talks with other parties, and has reportedly been keen to try to govern alone, given the PSDC have a strong plurality in the lower house and retained their majority in the Senato. Sources close to the prime minister say he would prefer a similar arrangement to his first term, where his party did not form a coalition but instead relied on support from other centre and centre-left parties on confidence votes and key pieces of legislation.

For now, Moya continues to act as prime minister in a caretaker capacity, but his reduced power during this period has left a vacuum that Bamidele has been eager to fill in his first four weeks on the job.

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Friday 23rd February 2024

Moya, PSDC will govern alone: sources


Formateur Damián Moya (pictured) met with Archonate Abeo Bamidele in Timiocato Friday afternoon, PBC News has learned. (Photo credit: APR)


Pierferdinando Passo


TIMIOCATO — Sources tell PBC News that Pacitalian formateur Damián Moya has informed the Archonate he will proceed with a government without a formal coalition arrangement.

Nearly three months after Pacitalia's parliamentary elections, the leader of the centre-left Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress reportedly told Abeo Bamidele in a closed-door meeting Friday afternoon that there was no path forward for a coalition agreement with other parties, but that he was confident his party could govern alone and rely on support from other parties on key legislation to survive.

Talks between the PSDC and other parties went on for months but ended up unsuccessful, with the most likely partner, the Empordian Socialist Party, unwilling to back down from demands for more funding for regional priorities. Talks between the two parties broke down in January.

However, PSE leader Pere Capderoig has repeatedly signalled his "openness" to providing unofficial support to a PSDC government. In addition to the PSE, the leaders of the Empordian Greens, Empordian League, Marquerían Freedom and Solidarity, the Pacitalian Green Party, and the eDemocrats have all expressed a willingness to cooperate on getting some bills passed, which would give the Moya government the numbers to survive.

In November's elections, the PSDC won 340 of the 715 seats in the Constazione, Pacitalia's lower house – 18 short of a bare majority. The party retained control of the Senato, Pacitalia's senior parliamentary chamber, which will make it easier to ensure the passage of bills once they have made it out of the Constazione.

Lawmakers will vote on legislation, expected to be tabled Monday or Tuesday, which would approve or reject the proposal that the PSDC govern with only a plurality of seats. If the legislation fails to pass, Mr Moya could try to table the legislation again the following week, resume coalition talks, or step down as formateur, which would leave Mr Bamidele the option of appointing another party leader or politician, or, more likely, being forced to call new elections.

It is unclear how long a government without majority control might survive, but the PSDC does not need to go too far back in the history books to find a successful example – Moya himself has been in this situation before, having governed with "confidence and supply" on key votes from regional parties in his first term, after taking power in January 2018. His government lasted the remainder of the full term, having just 338 seats in the Constazione, and only 47 of the then-96 seats in the Senato.

Mr Bamidele will no doubt be pleased with the outcome of today's meeting. The Archonate had reportedly ramped up the pressure on Mr Moya to figure out whether or not he could reach an agreement with other parties or determine if it would be realistic to simply govern alone with unofficial support.

Insiders say the Archonate had been planning to force the issue within the next few weeks and had been growing impatient with the lack of progress on forming a new government.

If the legislative hurdle is passed next week and the PSDC survives its first confidence test, sources tell PBC News that Mr Moya's new government would be sworn in on March 4.

In the interim, Mr Moya's cabinet from the previous parliamentary term has been serving in a caretaker capacity.

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Friday 8th March 2024

PSDC survive first test to remain in power


Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress leader Damián Moya speaks to the Constazione Repubblicana before his investiture vote. (Photo credit: APR)


Pierferdinando Passo


TIMIOCATO — Formateur Damián Moya, the leader of the centre-left Pacitalian Social Democratic Congress, will remain in office as Prime Minister, though he will do so only after having to claw out a narrower-than-expected victory in an investiture vote that followed at-times volatile debate.

The vote to confirm or reject the proposal for the PSDC to govern alone in the minority, relying on confidence votes from other parties, passed the Constazione Repubblicana 360 to 353.

The motion on the investiture proposal had been delayed by over a week – initially planned for the last week of February, the PSDC scrapped their plan to table their motion after hearing that lawmakers from other parties were planning to either abstain or not show up at all.

The final margin of victory on the investiture motion has revealed that the PSDC leader may have a tougher time than anticipated advancing his government's agenda in their third term in office. Centre-left and left-wing parties won a combined 391 of the 715 seats in the Constazione, Pacitalia's lower chamber. The potential pool of support increases to 465 lawmakers if including the eDemocrats, who have signalled openness to working with the government, but do not consider themselves a traditional left- or right-wing party.

None of the 38 MRPs from regional social-democratic parties in Empordia and Marquería voted in favour of the motion. Prior to the actual motion being tabled and voted, it was widely expected that they would support the PSDC in the vote due to their ideological alignment.

Instead, the PSDC were thrown a lifeline by a tranche of 22 MRPs from the eDemocrats, Empordian Greens and national Greens, voting in favour of the motion and clearing the bare majority threshold of 357. The formateur and the parlante (speaker) are not eligible to vote on investiture motions; the latter only votes to break ties.

Mr Moya took to the daïs to decry the withdrawal of support from his party's regional cousins as a last-minute negotiating tactic, designed to try to extract additional concessions. The comments drew howls of indignation and angry gestures from the opposition benches and it took several minutes for the speaker to restore order in the chamber.

His deputy, Arnau Klüger Ferrer, later expressed surprise that other parties were not prepared to support the PSDC "after having extensive and very constructive talks about how the next government would function."

Empordian Socialist Party leader Pere Capderoig fired back during his turn to speak to the motion, claiming their national cousins had been "hard-headed" and "unbending" during the coalition negotiations that followed November's election.

"[Mr Moya] only has to look in the mirror to understand why he is now coming to this chamber today and pleading to remain in office without a clear majority of us behind him already put in place," he said. "One would think a leader who failed to secure a coalition arrangement would be much more deferential to the people in this chamber and make the strongest possible case to keep governing."

Christian Democrats leader Paolo Demarco, who will become the official leader of the opposition thanks to his party winning the second-largest number of seats last November, said the vote reflected "an absence of leadership and a personal failure of the formateur". Mr Demarco pledged that his party would relish its opportunity to make it as challenging as possible for the PSDC government to get its priorities through parliament.

"This should be a lesson for my counterpart as he prepares to formally retake power. His interpersonal skills are lacking. His ability to compromise is not there. He should know we will stand up and fight back against the ideologically driven agenda of the left and defend the notion that government should advance policies grounded in common sense."

"He will find that the numbers of people willing to stand with us in that cause are larger than he thinks," Mr Demarco said.

Mr Capderoig later told regional media in Empordia that while he "didn't appreciate" Mr Moya's tone in the debate leading up to the vote, he still hoped there would be room for the parties to turn the page and cooperate on major priorities that benefited "Empordia and also the country".

"We can accomplish a lot of great things for the region and we will find it a lot easier to work with the current government; the alternative is untested," he said, referring to the conservative opposition parties.

Mr Moya also changed tack and struck a conciliatory tone in his Friday afternoon press conference, saying "heated debate is not a bad thing".

"Look, [Mr Capderoig] and I have a lot of respect for each other and, despite what's gone on recently, what went on today, that has not changed. I still think very highly of him and his leadership and I know where he is coming from. This is just what happens when you have two people who have strong convictions who want to vigorously defend their positions."

"We still had a lot of common ground during those talks," Mr Moya added, "even if we could not reach a formal agreement. I am sure there will be many ways we can work together this term."

A defeat would have humiliated the governing party and forced it back to the drawing board to try to figure out another path to form a government. It also likely would have put Mr Moya's continued leadership of his party in peril. The PSDC have governed at the national level since January 2018, with Mr Moya at the head of the government for all of that time.

A similar motion in the Senato Repubblicana, Pacitalia's upper house, easily passed, 57 to 43, as the PSDC retained their majority in the senior chamber in November's election.

Mr Moya and his government will be sworn in Tuesday morning, according to a statement released by the office of Archonate Abeo Bamidele. Sources tell PBC News the executive council will be largely unchanged from the previous term, when the PSDC had a majority of the seats in the lower house and similarly governed alone.

The new government will need to get to work right away on fiscal priorities, as the half-year budget is due before parliament in May.

Mr Bamidele will read the archonal address at the official state opening of parliament in early April. The address outlines the government's legislative priorities and policy agenda for the term.

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Tuesday 9th April 2024

Timiocato mulls financial rescue for Græntfjall


The Gallo Franco nuclear power station near Fiorentina, Palatinia (Photo credit: APR)


Albertina Semperesta


TIMIOCATO — The Pacitalian government says it is on the verge of announcing a rescue package in coordination with other countries, aimed at helping the troubled nation of Græntfjall stabilize itself in the wake of recent political and economic concerns there.

Timiocato says it is prepared to float a credit facility of "tens of billions" of doura to ensure the country is able to continue purchasing enriched uranium, used in nuclear power generation, in at least the short term.

It is also coordinating private industry to ensure surplus stores of uranium are immediately available on the open market for countries in Rushmore to access, and considering enforcing price regulations to avoid profiteering, in a bid to ensure that the crisis does not spill over the border into the rest of the region. Kytlerian officials, for example, are already expressing concern about their own ability to source uranium, with an unexpected supply crunch looming over the region.

Terms of the facility were not immediately available to PBC News, but sources say it would function as a line of credit with an interest rate well below the Republican Central Bank's overnight benchmark. Græntfjaller officials would be able to draw down on the facility as needed to either purchase uranium or directly finance generation costs.

The country's estimated population of 144 million relies heavily on nuclear power, and, with generation costs now exceeding $70 (Ð 24) per megawatt hour, the scale of the financing offered will be enormous.

Reports out of the country and satellite imagery confirm power generation infrastructure remains intact, despite the concerns over the country's political stability and the lack of news. Experts say a lending facility or other supports would likely need to be available for three to six months to help see the country through its electricity crunch.

A credit facility may be a risky move, not only due to the rapidly worsening political situation, but also the limited multilateral rules and legal frameworks binding Græntfjall to repay any money it borrows. But the Pacitalian government likely views low-interest financing as a way to provide stability through liquidity, helping to maintain order by literally keeping the lights on.

Depending on who is permitted to access the facility – government, private industry, or both – and how it is structured, Timiocato could demand cash collateral, exercise rights on Græntfjaller bonds through the securities market, or mandate that power stations and other infrastructure assets be held as security.

Pacitalian foreign minister Arnau Klüger Ferrer, and his Tumbran counterpart, Daniel Fowler, were said to have spent much of Monday and Tuesday huddled with their respective staff in joint conference calls working through their options. Mr Fowler is to depart for Yuezhou later this week to meet with that country's foreign minister over the power crisis. Tumbra is considering an extensive humanitarian aid package, in concert with a handful of other countries; sources, speaking on background, tell PBC News that Pacitalia may be joining that effort.

The bilateral efforts followed news that the newly-elected Tumbran prime minister, Bertram Andrews, will visit Timiocato in the coming weeks to meet Archonate Abeo Bamidele and Prime Minister Damián Moya.

No one in the foreign ministry was made available to PBC News for comment on the financing story.

More to come...

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Friday 12th April 2024

Lawmakers debate Græntfjall emergency package


Republican Central Bank governor Elisabetta Granmatre says Pacitalia can secure a proposed emergency loan to Græntfjall with asset collateral (File photo: APR)


Pierferdinando Passo


TIMIOCATO — Pacitalia's parliament is in special session Friday evening debating a proposed aid package to Rushmori nation Græntfjall.

The up-to-Ð 90-billion ($252-bn) package, as presented, consists of a tranche of humanitarian aid and an emergency line of credit that will be available at least until the end of October. The line of credit will, for now, be accessible only to the Græntfjaller government, with the hope that it allows the country continued access to supplies of enriched uranium on the open market and the ability to continue to generate electricity at its nuclear power stations.

Recent weeks have seen uranium shortages, and accordingly, rolling blackouts, and foreign governments are beginning to express anxiety at the potential for social unrest. Pacitalia has joined other countries in signalling openness to shipping surplus uranium to Græntfjall directly should the need arise.

In monetary terms, the line of credit would be able to fund the generation of up to 3,500 terawatt hours of power supply in the country, assuming generation costs remain around their current level of around Ð 24 ($70) per megawatt hour.

The line of credit as proposed is structured with escalating interest rates depending on how much is borrowed. According to a copy of the bill before parliament obtained by PBC News, the facility would charge 4 per cent annualized interest for the first Ð 20 billion ($56 billion) advanced, increasing to 9.5 per cent if the facility is fully drawn down. Græntfjaller authorities would be able to make interest-only payments toward the facility for at least five years.

Republican Central Bank governor Elisabetta Granmatre has confirmed that Timiocato would exercise the right under international convention to offset any lending facility with collateral.

Ms Granmatre reportedly advised Prime Minister Damián Moya and his executive council in a cabinet meeting Thursday that the central bank can secure Græntfjaller bonds and treasury notes on the market, while at the same time, Timiocato could require the transfer of infrastructure assets in the country under Pacitalian ownership.

Pacitalian authorities, normally overly cautious with public safety assessments for its citizens travelling abroad, has been reserved in its judgment of the situation on the ground in Græntfjall, and has not yet followed the lead of other countries issuing travel advisories or prohibiting its nationals from travelling there.

Instead, foreign minister Arnau Klüger Ferrer signed a "general advisory" earlier this week acknowledging the situation in the country, referring to "a number of uncertainties" but directing Pacitalians already in the Rushmori country, or planning to visit, to "continue to keep on top of current events" and to "be prepared to adjust travel plans and itineraries accordingly".

Pacitalian airline AeroPacitalia announced Friday it would waive change or cancellation fees on any flights to and from destinations on the continent of Pavola, where Græntfjall is located, for the next 60 days, with the possibility to extend that waiver should it be warranted.

Lawmakers will debate the scope and scale of the package proposed by the Moya government, and may whittle it down before passing it. It has been endorsed by Archonate Abeo Bamidele in a show of cross-party solidarity and therefore is very likely to pass both houses and receive republican assent shortly thereafter.

Mr Bamidele's Christian Democrats, currently the largest opposition party in parliament, are expected to vote in favour of the package as presented.

But the clear path to adoption of the aid bill has not deterred critics in other parties from expressing severe reservations over the move.

eDemocrats leader Laura Moretti Gallo says, while she and her party sympathize with the situation unfolding in Rushmore, the emergency lending facility is essentially a "free-for-all", warning Timiocato will face legal and practical difficulties obligating repayment.

"This is reckless extension of credit to a foreign power with no recourse, and the terms do not adequately mitigate the risk," she said. "We can't support this."

Far-right Defence of the Republic leader Primo Demasso has come out strongly against the package, saying he and his party wouldn't support any form of aid to the country, calling it an "internal matter".

"Pacitalia's debt-to-GDP ratio has increased over the last six years because the government has not kicked its COVID spending addiction," Mr Demasso said Friday morning. "And with that in mind they want us to endorse a plan to give out even more money with no plan in place to recover the funds other than their word?"

He added, "we also can't get ourselves tied up in a problem half a world away that we have no obligation to solve. No, let them sort out their own issues. They don't need us."

The Prime Minister's office has repeatedly tried to assuage dissenters this week, stressing that, even if the aid package is passed, there is nothing forcing Græntfjaller authorities to use the facility. Pacitalia will still proceed with procuring and shipping aid supplies regardless of whether the line of credit is accepted.

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