Today is a busy day for the entire Nationalist Republic of Sunrisia. Yesterday, the legislative election campaign period ended and now has come the time when the citizens of this great country of ours, have gone to the polls to finally elect the country’s next parliament. Sunrisians have been voting since early morning, as soon as polling stations opened. The turnout is predicted to be high based on what is being seen and that is partially no surprise. This election is vital and holds historical significance, because not only are Sunrisians going to elect the next parliament, but they are also going to revive the country’s legislature as a whole.
Since President Fórî Apstérâ, who is also the Director of the Prime Intelligence Division (PID), the leading intelligence agency in Sunrisia, took over, he has dissolved the Convet. He did not just sack the Sunrisian unicameral parliament, which would logically have triggered a snap election, but he has also terminated the legislative branch of the government as a whole. Since the Apstérâ administration came to power, an administration led by an unelected President by the way, Sunrisia lost its’ legislative branch of the government and people started to doubt in the Superior Court, which is the constitutional court, as well as the court system in the country in general, when referring to their failure to respond to de facto and de jure unconstitutional practices happening in Sunrisia. Unelected President and PID Director Fórî Apstérâ said that these unusual tactics were all a necessary evil in the name of the national interest of Sunrisia, because the Nationalist Republic needed to finish dismantling the remnants of the old system, also influenced by the systems that came prior, and for that some rules needed to be broken. The Apstérâ administration argued it had no intention of usurping power, but rather use methods outside the rules to – “preserve democracy, authenticity, and complete sovereignty” for Sunrisia.
Credit where credit is due, the Apstérâ administration positioned itself as not having any problem with a free and fair legislative election that would help restore the Convet, which would now be made up of new lawmakers, many outside of NGOs even. Moreover, the Apstérâ administration did not ignore civil activist organizations and kept up a frequent direct dialogue with them. The President met with them personally many times. That is how the dialogue between Sunrisian civil activist organizations and the Sunrisian government currently run by the country’s intelligence services and the military, had managed to reach an agreement on moving the early legislative election from February to January in the first place. The Apstérâ administration, which projects the qualities of something between soft authoritarianism and a hybrid regime right now, insists it has no self-interest in this and ideologically seeks to achieve goals they say will benefit Sunrisia, even if some of their methods, as well as the violation of the Constitution, may cause suspicions.
One thing is clear and that is that Sunrisians must make a very important choice today, since old political forces, although supposedly reformed, are traditionally in the running, but so are many new and emerging ones, which are greatly outdoing the past political generations by a mile, according to sociology and public questioning polls. Even the former governing majority in the past Convet – the Justice Coalition of Neo-Isolationism and Self-Reliance, an ambitious name encompassing all of present-day’s Sunrisia’s values and ideologies, as well as a coalition that included the Centro-Unionist party of ousted former President Válîd Sâlúbĕr and his Vice President Amíc Fútûra, who took over as President for less than 3 days after the former resignation, is still trying its’ luck in this election. The Justice Coalition does not feel disgraced and they do not lack confidence, which could be seen as commendable.
President and PID Director Fórî Apstérâ, as well as anybody from his administration, have not yet endorsed anybody in the running. There is even a question on whether they would actually do something like, considering that the relationship of the Apstérâ administration with most of the political forces in the running, both old and new, and seems “complicated” to say the least. There does not seem to be too much admiration there to say the least. Even though all the contender running in the general election are rivals to each, it almost looks like they join into a single front, when the Apstérâ administration is brought up. Many citizens say they are happy to see, because it shows that the Convet will not only be back as the national legislature, but it will also hold more weight than any of the Sunrisian legislatures that came prior. And that raises hopes that a new and improved system of power balance in the government and separation of powers will be back, after what many are not reluctant to call a “constitutional overthrow” by the Apstérâ administration controlled by Sunrisian intelligence services and the armed forces. The only dark side to this, is that such a unanimous position towards the presidential administration might make it hard for the voter to see the difference between the various competitors in this legislative election, which is why the competitors need to hope that they had overcome their rivals and have won over the voters with their other stances during the campaign. We will only know when the polling stations close and the votes are counted.
In other news:
- South Baggnagian Protection Army takes Neodvisni from the forces of the North Baggnagian regime. Sunrisia promises to help in reinforcement of Neodvisni from further attacks, assist the city’s recuperation, while also further helping halt the advance of the North Baggnagian invasion forces into mainland South Baggnagia.
- Department of Security of the Nationalist Republic of Sunrisia is not sharing details on the objectives of the Sunrisian Air Force which is circling the North Baggnagian national capital of Silcenda. However, representation of the Sunrisian Defense Force (SDF) says it would not strike or bomb the city, even being ready to argue with the government, if it were to consider such action.