SRT Journaal | News from Scandonia

by **Scandonia** » Mon Jul 01, 2019 3:50 pm

Sunday 30. June 2019

The Scandonian debt crisis will almost certainly punt incumbent PM Ferdinand Brouwer from office after eight years

Scandonians on "a knife's edge" as votes counted in national election

It has been clear for months that deeply unpopular incumbent PM Ferdinand Brouwer's
Moderate Party is on its way out. The question is who will take over? Will the Social
Democrats swing voter sentiment back to the centre-left, or will an upstart party
on the far-right manage to hold its lead in opinion polls and form government?

KORENDAM — Scandonia goes to the polls today to elect 190 MPs to the country's parliament, the Staten-Generaal.

However it turns out, it will be a nervous next few days and weeks for Scandonians as they wait to see which parties form government — and who becomes the country's next Prime Minister.

Scandonia has been beset since mid-2017 by a debt crisis. A commercial real estate bubble burst, resulting in knock-on effects on an already lethargic economy. The national unemployment rate soared to a record 16.3% in May, with youth unemployment at 46%. Thousands of households have walked away from their mortgages. The government was forced to create a bad bank to absorb toxic commercial property loans and then had to inject roughly 620 billion new guilder into the money supply.

That quantitative easing further compounded the guilder's sharp devaluing in the last 18 months versus the Pacitalian douro and the dollar. The devaluation of the guilder has led the incumbent prime minister, Ferdinand Brouwer, to call for an accelerated path for the country to adopt the douro. Scandonia and Pacitalia have been in exploratory talks since 2015 to adopt the douro as early as 2024 — but that was before the burst property bubble.

Petty crime, by several measures, is up. With their money not going as far, Scandonians' consumer confidence is at historic lows and nearly three-quarters of those surveyed in an April poll said they could not afford to take a vacation and probably would not be able to for at least three to five years.

The far-right New Progress for Scandonia (NVS) had led opinion polls for several weeks prior to the official start of the campaign, putting the country of 52 million on tenterhooks. A clause in Scandonia's election law prohibits polls to be released during the campaign; it was meant to avoid survey results manipulating voter decisions and artificially altering the results. However, the opaqueness of the campaign has left the opposition to NVS scrambling, not knowing whether they are on track for victory or defeat.

Indeed, the NVS' charismatic leader, Casper Bakker, has campaigned all election like the frontrunner. Anecdotally, it appears his support has not faltered, putting his party on course for a strong finish, if not a plurality of seats that would catapult Mr Bakker into the role of formateur.

Mr Bakker has tapped into voter discontent around the state of the economy, promising to invest heavily in restoring industrial capacity and creating jobs. He has scapegoated minorities and immigrants as the source of the country's social and economic woes, even when it has been abundantly clear that the economy is on skids thanks to an overly liberalized real estate industry. He has said several times he will implement a zero-tolerance policy on crime and reverse decades-old immigration policies, going as far as to promise he would deport anyone who came to Scandonia, be it through naturalization or asylum, in the last ten years.

After initially suggesting Scandonia should bring back conscription — and being roundly criticized — he managed to pivot, controversially offering every unemployed young person a job in the military, an idea that has generated plaudits from conservatives but further criticism from the left.

The Social Democrats, led by former prime minister Theo van Kaap, have said that the government needs to invest in badly underfunded public services. They argue the negative effects of the debt crisis have been exacerbated because people who find themselves out of work have little to no resources available to them to try to get back into the job market — whether it be skills training, going back to school, changing careers, or simply being connected to employers in their field who are hiring despite the gloom.

The Social Democrats say the Moderate Party-led coalition government has reduced employment and advanced education funding by nearly two-thirds in the eight years it has been in power. Mr Brouwer has rejected those numbers, saying the centre-left party has "engaged in creative accounting to tell a story". Despite the more positive and hopeful messaging, especially when compared to NVS, the Social Democrats were firmly in second place in opinion polls before the campaign.

The prime minister has spent the entire election desperately trying to overcome his government's deep unpopularity. He has worked feverishly to sell Scandonians on the idea that economic recovery is just around the corner and that his government's policies are working to turn things around. Instead, it appears likelier than ever that he will be replaced on Monday, not just as prime minister but as leader of the Moderate Party. A strong enough defeat could also affect the Moderates' two coalition partners, the Christian Democracy and Reform (CDV) party, and Scandonia's Future (TS), who have been at the Moderate Party's side since 2011.

Mr Brouwer is 62 years old and Mr van Kaap turns 66 next month. It's no coincidence they are the two longest-serving party leaders. Mr Bakker, by contrast, is 43, and has only been in politics for four years. He was first elected as an NVS MP in 2015, serving under his predecessor, Con van Beek. Scandonia has a long history of electing centre-left or centrist governments, but it seems poised to turn the levers of power over to a new generation — even if that means a lurch to the right.

No party has won more than 27 percent of the vote in the last two elections and the polls prior to the election campaign embargo suggest that this will continue for a third straight election. Even if NVS wins a plurality of votes, they will likely need to find at least two coalition partners to form a government — and none of the other parties have expressed any willingness to work with them. The only party that has even hinted they'd be open to such a partnership is CDV.

The wild card in negotiations is the Rassemblement des francophones (RF) party. The collapse in support for the Moderate Party has driven many voters in the French Community in southern Scandonia to the RF. The party could end up with control of most of the region's 53 seats when the dust settles.

by **Scandonia** » Tue Jul 02, 2019 4:51 pm

Monday 1. July 2019

Casper Bakker is set to become formateur with early results showing his far-right NVS party won the most votes

Scandonians deliver an unclear verdict in election

New Progress for Scandonia and the Social Democrats both won 37 of
the Staten-Generaal's 190 seats, according to preliminary projections, which
appears likely to lead to protracted negotiations on both the left and the right
as parties jostle to form a new coalition government to replace the Moderates.

KORENDAM — Sunday's election has come and gone but Scandonians are no closer to finding out who will become their country's next prime minister.

While the Social Democrats made up significant ground over the course of the campaign, the far-right New Progress for Scandonia (NVS) held onto its pre-election lead in opinion polls, capturing the most votes of the nine parties contesting the election. Scandonia's Elections Oversight Authority reported that NVS won 5.16 million of the 24.6 million votes cast in Sunday's election. The Social Democrats had won 5.03 million.

However, because Scandonia uses proportional representation to elect its 190 MPs, the margin is close enough that both parties are projected to come away with 37 seats. NVS leader Casper Bakker, by virtue of winning more votes, will get the first chance to try to put together a coalition government. If he is unable to do so, Social Democrats leader and former prime minister Theo van Kaap will become formateur.

There was relief at the Christian Democracy and Reform (CDV) headquarters in Korendam as the party managed to finish a strong third place in voting. CDV had been a junior partner in the outgoing Moderate Party-led coalition for the last eight years and there were fears that the government's unpopularity would drag them down. In the end, the party managed to match their 2015 result, holding on to their 24 seats in the Staten-Generaal.

The French Community sent a resounding message to the political class in Schiedam. Over 60 percent of voters chose the centrist Rassemblement des francophones party, which aims to defend the interests of Scandonia's 7.5 million French speakers. Leader Michel Auger will head into the new parliament with the third-largest group of MPs — 32 — and could play a pivotal role in coalition negotiations. Mr Auger had indicated a couple of times during the campaign that his party had no interest in helping to form government, which could prevent both NVS and the Social Democrats from putting together a workable coalition.

As predicted, the Moderate Party was severely punished by voters, finishing in sixth place. Leader and outgoing prime minister Ferdinand Brouwer, who has held the country's top job since 2011, did as expected and stood down during his concession speech. The normally reserved, bespectacled technocrat was uncharacteristically emotional during the speech in which he recapped the difficulty of leading Scandonia through its financial troubles over the past few years. He finished by thanking Scandonians for "the opportunity and privilege to lead". Mr Brouwer is the longest serving prime minister in the country's history.

The Moderate Party's other coalition partner, Scandonia's Future, had a quiet campaign and were largely in the background for the length of the election. Beyond calling for closer cooperation with other Foringanan countries and cutting red tape in government to help business recover from the debt crisis, their election campaign was criticized for lacking substance. The libertarian party still won 1.97 million votes and is projected to have 14 seats in the new parliament.

Nationally, turnout was estimated at 65.1%, although in the French Community, it was much higher as roughly three in four voters cast a ballot.

Preliminary results in the election are as follows:

New Progress for Scandonia — 5,157,189 votes (20.94%), 37 seats
Social Democrats — 5,030,090 votes (20.43%), 37 seats
Christian Democracy and Reform — 3,201,464 votes (13%), 24 seats
Rassemblement des francophones — 2,881,830 votes (11.7%), 32 seats
Labour Party — 2,653,777 votes (10.78%), 20 seats
Moderate Party — 2,620,510 votes (10.64%), 19 seats
Scandonia's Future — 1,968,319 votes (7.99%), 14 seats
Green Party — 735,412 votes (2.99%), 5 seats
Social Radical Party — 374,410 votes (1.52%), 3 seats

Projected parliament:

by **Scandonia** » Tue Aug 27, 2019 7:51 pm

Tuesday 27. August 2019

NVS leader Casper Bakker tried and failed to find a path to government after the June elections

With no deal in sight, another vote looms over Scandonia

New Progress for Scandonia and the Social Democrats both won 37 of
the Staten-Generaal's 190 seats. Both party's leaders were unable to rally enough
support from the other parties in a fractured legislature to form a government
to replace outgoing prime minister Ferdinand Brouwer's Moderates.

SCHIEDAM — Another election appears inevitable for Scandonia as the Social Democrats admitted Tuesday they could not find a "conceivable path" to forming government, following a June vote that delivered an unclear verdict to politicians and created a deadlock in the national legislature.

Scandonians elected an equal number of MPs — 37 — from both the far-right New Progress for Scandonia (NVS) and the centre-left Social Democrats in the election on June 30th. NVS was given the first opportunity to try to form a coalition government by virtue of winning more votes. After roughly six weeks of talks with other centrist and right-wing parties, NVS leader Casper Bakker conceded defeat "without a new mandate from voters". Even though talks were at minimum friendly, a last-ditch meeting between Mr Bakker and his counterpart in the Christian Democracy and Reform party (CDV), Marius ten Roden, still could not deliver a solution.

Moderate Party leader and outgoing prime minister Ferdinand Brouwer, who has been leading a caretaker government since the election, nearly had a mutiny on his hands after he said he was "open" to a compromise that would end the negotiating stalemate, deliver Mr Bakker to office, and, as he put it, "respect the will of voters". More than half of his 18 remaining MPs responded by saying they would refuse to work with NVS in any capacity, citing their views on immigration, women's rights, and other social issues as "incompatible".

"We would not do anything that would help an extremist party form a government," Moderate MP Anika van den Berg told SRT. "There is no way we could put our names on a document that puts them in power. We do not believe their views reflect Scandonian values."

Michel Auge, leader of Scandonia's French language party, Rassemblement des francophones, continued to rebuff overtures from Mr Bakker. Outside of NVS and the Social Democrats, RF won 32 seats thanks to its heavily concentrated vote in the French Community, which is guaranteed a minimum number of seats in the Staten-Generaal. Mr Auge had repeatedly said he had no interest in being in government and any support lent to a coalition would come "at a heavy price" to ensure the French Community benefited from propping up the government. Mr Bakker was reportedly unwilling to make concessions to Mr Auge that would satisfy him even as a last resort.

On August 12th Mr Bakker resigned as formateur, unable to present an agreement that would guarantee support from the bare minimum of 95 MPs representing a majority in the Scandonian parliament. King Christian III then appointed Social Democrats leader and former prime minister Theo van Kaap to the role.

Despite his previous experience building a coalition, Mr van Kaap, who held office from 2007 to 2011, was also unsuccessful, with even fewer workable options or paths to power at his disposal. His last-gasp effort was reportedly a grand coalition involving his party, the Labour Party (PvdA), the Greens (PvdG), the Moderates, and the libertarian Scandonia's Future — but with exactly 95 MPs involved, and no parties willing to work with the unpopular Moderates, talks quickly went nowhere late last week.

Coalition governments have been able to make 95-to-94 seat margins work in the past, but it is extremely difficult, especially if MPs are absent. Opposition parties can use the slim margin to their advantage, triggering the fall of a government by surprising them with a no-confidence motion.

Mr van Kaap was said to have reached out one more time to his counterparts Monday to gauge interest in the five-party deal, but was not well-received, according to sources close to the formateur. That left the Social Democrat leader with no choice but to visit King Christian at the Royal Palace in Schiedam Tuesday morning, where he told the head of state he would also not be able to form a government.

The latest developments come at the same time as public opinion indicates growing displeasure among the electorate at the prospect of a new vote and the inability of parties to agree on a framework through which to govern. A new survey by Pacitalian pollster ABM/Capax shows two-thirds of Scandonians would be "angry" or "very angry" if another election were called, with four of every five voters blaming NVS and the Social Democrats for the election do-over.

His Majesty is expected to consult with other party leaders before granting Mr van Kaap's request to call a new election by the end of the week.

by **Scandonia** » Sun Sep 08, 2019 5:29 pm

Saturday 7. September 2019

Social Democrats leader Theo van Kaap tried in vain to form a government

Final pre-election poll confirms frustrated electorate but gives NVS a strong lead

Two party leaders tried and failed to form a coalition government after June's national election,
unable to find enough partners (let alone MPs) to cobble together the needed majority of 95.
As a result, Scandonians are heading back to the polls — and they're not happy about it.

KORENDAM — Two-plus months of fruitless negotiations have culminated in a second national election this year for Scandonia, as, on Friday, King Christian III officially granted formateur Theo van Kaap's request for a snap vote in three weeks' time.

Scandonians will head back to the polls on September 29th — lawmakers elected in June have not even taken their seats in the Staten-Generaal. But the inability of the right or the left to bring together enough MPs to form a majority coalition spelled doom, and those newly-minted MPs will have to fight for their jobs one more time.

New Progress for Scandonia (NVS) leader Casper Bakker, who was the first to try to form government but failed after six weeks of talks, may be the only one to see a silver lining in a return to the voting booth. Another election is cause for concern for both the left and centre, already disappointed they could not get a deal in place to govern the country. Polling has shown that, while the vast majority of Scandonians are upset that MPs could not compromise — and that most voters blame both the two largest parties for the gridlock — more self-identified conservatives are prepared to vote for the far-right NVS than did in June. Voters on the left, meanwhile, do not appear to be rallying around a single party in the same fashion.

A Centreprise poll of 1,500 Scandonian voters done early in the week before the election was called showed NVS with a decisive advantage over other parties, with numbers that would provide a much clearer and more straight-forward path to power for Mr Bakker. NVS had the support of 31 percent of decided voters, a full 10 points higher than their June vote share. They were followed by the Social Democrats at 21 percent, the Labour Party on 14 percent, and Rassemblement des francophones at 11 percent.

Scandonia's Future, a centre-right libertarian party similar to the Federation of Progressive Democrats in Pacitalia, also had 11 percent support in the poll. Christian Democracy and Reform (CDV) had fallen to eight percent support, down five points from June, while the Moderate Party — who lead the outgoing coalition government — slid even further below the 10.6 percent of the vote they won in early summer. Only six percent of those surveyed would vote for the Moderates again if the election were today.

Scandonian election law prohibits any polling during the election period; as a result, it will be almost impossible to tell over the next three weeks whether or not NVS' strong lead in the polls is holding up.

Those numbers roughly translate into the bare minimum majority of 95 seats needed to have control of parliament — a hypothetical right-wing coalition of NVS (59 seats), Scandonia's Future (21) and CDV (15). The Moderates, who would shed a further eight seats from June's election, have already ruled out supporting an NVS-led coalition government due to the latter's extreme policy positions, but may be forced into a kingmaker role post-election to ensure a government is formed and enjoys some stability. SRT has previously reported how one-seat majorities have historically been able to function for at least a few months in the Staten-Generaal in the past, but that they are susceptible to surprise defeats — and snap elections.

The Scandonian parliament has 190 total MPs, but the President does not vote. Scandonia uses proportional voting to elect its MPs — the number of votes translates directly into the number of seats won. In the present political environment, that could mean even a slight shift in public opinion kills a potential right-wing coalition and puts power back in the hands of the left.

by **Scandonia** » Mon Sep 30, 2019 3:33 pm

Saturday 7. September 2019

NVS leader Casper Bakker will get another chance to govern after voters delivered a stronger mandate in Sunday's election

Scandonians vote for second time in three months, propelling NVS to win

The far-right New Progress for Scandonia will get a second chance at forming a government
after Scandonians turned out in even greater numbers to vote in the second national election
in three months. With more seats this time, it appears NVS will have a stronger bargaining
position as it attempts to cobble together a majority of lawmakers to form a new coalition
government that will be able to run the country for the next few years.

KORENDAM — Scandonia's electorate, frustrated at months of delays in forming a new government after June's deadlock election, appear to have given the country's far-right party a stronger position from which to try to bring together the coalition needed to run the country.

Moderate Party leader Ferdinand Brouwer, who is now expected to tender his resignation to the party executive, has remained as a caretaker Prime Minister since the first election on June 30th. That vote resulted in a deadlock between possible centre-left and centre-right coalitions led by the Social Democrats and New Progress for Scandonia (NVS), respectively. Neither party had been able to secure an agreement that would give it at least the bare majority of 95 MPs needed to control Scandonia's parliament.

With no other options, King Christian III was forced to accept Social Democrats leader Theo van Kaap's advice to call a snap election. Scandonians have been largely upset with the inability of politicians to come together and figure out a governing coalition based on the June results, but it appears they were more willing to punish the "establishment" Social Democrats than the upstart NVS in a re-run election held Sunday.

Turnout was up from 65% in June to just below 70% this time, reflecting voters' will that a coalition be formed. Compounding problems for the Social Democrats, the centre-left party shed nearly half a million votes in Sunday's election, compared to NVS, which, propelled by that angry electorate, increased its share of the vote to just under 30%. Mr van Kaap's party earned just under 4.5 million votes (17.1%) compared to NVS' 7.8 million.

In June, the margin between the two parties was much closer — NVS won 5.16 million, while the Social Democrats captured 5.03 million. Put another way, it appears the far-right party was the sole beneficiary of that increase in voter turnout. Other right-wing and centre-right parties also saw a drop in vote share in this election, with Christian Democracy and Reform (CDV) falling from 13% of the vote to 11.7%, the Moderates plummeting from 10.6% to 7.9%, and the conservative libertarian Scandonia's Future party declining a quarter-point to 7.7%.

Further weakening the left's ability to form a stable coalition, both the Green Party and the Social Radical Party, which won a combined eight seats in the June election, saw their voter support essentially evaporate. Both parties had struggled to fundraise throughout the summer vote and were deeply in debt after June 30th, limiting their ability to mount a second campaign in such a short turnaround. Neither party met the 0.5% vote share threshold Sunday, which is required to earn a seat in the Staten-Generaal. Adding insult to injury, that means both parties will also no longer qualify for national per-vote subsidies; that loss of funding will further jeopardize their ability to attract voter support.

As of 10.00pm Sunday night, preliminary results from Scandonia's elections agency show that NVS will likely be able to form a coalition of at least 98 MPs, assuming it is able to come to an agreement with the other parties. Though Mr Brouwer had made it clear the Moderates would never sign on to a coalition with the far-right party, voters have clearly delivered a message that they expect some sort of coalition to take power, and he may need to change tack if he wants to secure the centrist party's long-term future.

Labour Party leader Simon van Alberder had expressed openness to working with NVS in a grand coalition if, in his words, it "meant a stable, national government that was able to run the country for the entire three-year term". While he expressed disdain and opposition to NVS' social policies, specifically around immigration, same-sex marriage and abortion, he said he believed a grand coalition agreement would be the best way to respect the voters' will while forcing his far-right counterparts to drop those policies in order to form government. The Labour Party is considered to be on the left economically but has historically been socially conservative.

Voters in the French Community further coalesced around the country's sole French nationalist party, Rassemblement des francophones, delivering the party 39 of the 53 seats available with an overwhelming 73% of the vote. RF's leader, Michel Auge, has said he would never join a coalition government, meaning any potential agreement would have to take place without those lawmakers' participation. RF won 32 seats in June's vote and that bloc of seats proved to be a major roadblock to any agreement. For now, however, it appears that, even with the increased support for RF, NVS may still be able to find a route to power.

A grand coalition of NVS, the Labour Party, and the other two parties that have said they would work with NVS to form government — CDV and Scandonia's Future — would actually enjoy a much stronger majority of 106 seats, compared to a traditional all-centre-right coalition of NVS, CDV, Scandonia's Future and the Moderates, which would comprise 98 lawmakers. The country's political turmoil appears to be coming to an end to the relief of Scandonian voters. They have been desperate for a government to take control of the country's economic troubles, most notably the national sovereign-debt crisis, which threatens to throw Scandonia into default with creditors, with millions of jobs hanging in the balance.

The King is expected to summon NVS leader Casper Bakker to the Royal Palace in Schiedam on Tuesday morning and will appoint him formateur for the second time in three months.

by **Scandonia** » Sun Nov 24, 2019 6:06 pm

Sunday 24. November 2019

BREAKING: Bakker, NVS reach governing accord with CDV and PvdA

KORENDAM — The right-wing New Progress for Scandonia (NVS) party has reached a conditional agreement with both Christian Democracy and Reform and the Labour Party to form the next government, SRT has learned. Scandonia's formateur, NVS leader Casper Bakker, is set to visit the Royal Palace in Schiedam Monday morning to receive King Christian III's approval.

The proposed coalition, however, would be governing the country in a minority position, with only 93 seats, though sources tell SRT that the conservative libertarian Scandonia's Future party has agreed to support the new government on confidence matters and, in addition, will likely vote in favour of many other pieces of legislation that focus on the economy. That would give the government the support of at least 106 of a total 190 MPs on several votes, a point that should help ease the King's concerns over the sceptre of a minority coalition government taking power after several months of turmoil.

The newest developments will put to an end almost five consecutive months of contentious negotiations amid two national elections. NVS won a plurality in the first election held at the end of June, but with Scandonia's proportional representation system, the party could not reach an agreement that would have given it the number of seats needed to govern. The Social Democrats, who finished second in that election, were also given the opportunity to try to form a government; they, too, failed to do so, resulting in a snap election in September.

Sources tell SRT that Mr Bakker yet again flirted with failure in post-election negotiations as he was initially unwilling to compromise on the NVS' extreme platform. According to one source Mr Bakker repeatedly pointed to a larger share of votes (and thus seats) gained in the September election compared to the first vote in June, in talks with other parties, and he had taken the position that he had received a stronger mandate that required more compromise from his counterparts and less from his own party.

CDV leader Marius ten Roden, whose party has just spent the last eight years as a coalition partner with the Moderates, reportedly balked at the tactic and walked away from the table. It has since emerged that the two leaders had not spoken for almost a month prior to this week's restart of talks, which all parties have described as a last-ditch effort to prevent a third election. It took an olive branch from Labour leader Simon van Alberder to bring the three sides together again to get a deal in place, as the King was said to be "quite unhappy" that two months had elapsed since the second election and no progress on a government appeared to have been made.

The Palace was insistent that a "unity government" scenario be pursued and had hinted in previous statements that His Majesty would refuse to permit a third national vote if NVS failed to secure an agreement. Such a directive would have resulted in another party being given a chance at forming a government, most likely with NVS excluded.

Labour's involvement in the proposed coalition means that NVS has reportedly had to drop nearly all its social policy platform positions, which will undoubtedly be a relief to many who warned during the election that the far-right party was not hiding its desire to roll back rights and re-criminalize abortion, assisted dying and LGBT freedoms. Instead, Labour has forced NVS to present a King's Speech that will focus heavily on economic recovery and getting Scandonians back to work in the midst of a sovereign debt crisis that threatens to throw the country into default. Although the Labour Party is socially conservative in contrast to other left-wing parties, it has expressed discomfort with NVS' positions on social issues.

Mr van Alberder is said to be the senior deputy in the new Bakker cabinet, with Mr ten Roden taking on a junior deputy prime minister title in addition to a senior and as yet unknown ministry portfolio. The proposed cabinet will have roughly 18-20 MPs, SRT has learned.

More to come...

by **Scandonia** » Sun Dec 01, 2019 4:16 pm

Sunday 1. December 2019

Casper Bakker and his cabinet will be sworn in Monday at the Royal Palace in Schiedam

Bakker, ready to "get to work", formally announces his cabinet

The leader of Scandonia's insurgent far-right party, New Progress for Scandonia,
met with King Christian III at the Royal Palace on Monday and received His Majesty's
approval to form the next government, all but closing the book on an historic period
of political turmoil in Scandonia that resulted in a second national vote and almost
half a year of contentious negotiations between political parties.

SCHIEDAM — Having met with King Christian III at the Royal Palace early last week, New Progress for Scandonia (NVS) leader and formateur Casper Bakker has announced the cabinet that will join him in governing the country.

After receiving the King's blessing, Mr Bakker returned to his party and his coalition partners-to-be, who each formally ratified the coalition agreement-in-principle by holding votes among their respective party councils on Thursday and Friday.

Mr Bakker will return to the Royal Palace on Monday with his new cabinet to be sworn in. He will then officially assume power from the government led by outgoing Prime Minister Ferdinand Brouwer, which has been running the country in a caretaking capacity since its defeat at the polls in early summer. Once the swearing-in ceremony ends, it will also mark the end of an historic period of political instability in Scandonia, which saw two national elections produce deadlocked results.

The second election in September, a result of a first round of failed talks, provided NVS with a stronger mandate, though still a plurality. Scandonians appeared to send a message to politicians demanding they cooperate for the sake of the country. Scandonia has been living under the shadow of a sovereign debt crisis for the past couple of years, and the country has been on the verge of tipping into default, and a brutal recession, as the bills pile up. Unemployment is up, living standards are down, and the public, fed up with the so-called "establishment" parties' lack of action in the midst of this crisis, delivered the reins of power to an outsider party, albeit one with extreme views on social issues, to steer the country away from the rocks.

But to even get his foot in the front door of the Royal Palace, Mr Bakker had to compromise heavily on those same social issues, and his positions, to gain the support of the only non-right-wing party willing to cooperate in the interests of leading the country out of its financial troubles. He reached an accord only thanks to what increasingly appears to have been an eleventh-hour restart of talks led by the Labour Party (PvdA), which shares NVS' sense of urgency on economic matters and wedged its way into being the de facto senior partner in a new coalition government.

Labour leader Simon van Alberder forced Mr Bakker to commit to not pursuing essentially any of the social "wedge" issues he campaigned on, ensuring that the new government focuses almost exclusively on economic and social programs that help Scandonia get back on track. If Korendam is required to seek bailout financing as part of the country's economic recovery, Mr van Alberder has said that social upheaval would unnecessarily risk the prospect of receiving financial aid.

Meanwhile, the third party in the formal agreement, Christian Democracy and Reform (CDV), appears to be satisfied playing a more junior role, having been the outgoing (and deeply unpopular) Moderate Party's sole coalition partner for the last eight years. CDV leader Marius ten Roden was a prominent face in the last government and may be more than happy to take a step back from the limelight even though his party appeared not to have been punished by unhappy voters in either election.

Nevertheless, the new government will look to rely quite heavily on the experience cabinet members from the CDV will bring to the table, as Mr Bakker has named Mr ten Roden to a cabinet post alongside CDV MPs Benjamin Verhagen, Teun Lappert and Hanna Steenbergen, who all served for the full eight years of the Brouwer government.

The new cabinet will consist of seven MPs, including Mr Bakker, from NVS, alongside five each from CDV and PvdA. Scandonia's Future, a conservative and libertarian party, will supply confidence votes to the coalition government on key bills to help keep the government in power, but is free to vote how it wishes on other pieces of legislation. The arrangement is meant to help allay concerns from both His Majesty and other parties that NVS will be able to push through extreme reforms on social issues unchecked, as the parties within the formal coalition do not have a majority in the Scandonian parliament.

Economist Bram van Drenthe, a first-time MP, will be named finance minister and it is expected he will play a major role in shaping the economic recovery package pursued by the incoming government. He will work closely with Mr van Alberder, who will assume a "trade and consumer affairs" portfolio. Nathalie de Boer, an NVS MP entering her third term in parliament, will run the Markets and Economy ministry. Mr ten Roden assumes leadership of the FIscal Compliance Board.

Five cabinet ministers are women — Ms Steenbergen from CDV, along with Ms de Boer, Wilhelmina Maeser, and Ingrid van Bommel from NVS, and the PvdA's Marieke Jansen. The extremely popular and well-respected PvdA MP Laurent Deschamps, who is the longest-serving MP in the Staten-Generaal, will be named Minister for the French Community. The move is seen as shrewd given that Mr Deschamps has a very strong relationship with Michel Auge, the leader of the Rassemblement des francophones party, which occupies roughly one-sixth of the seats in parliament and whose support may be critical on certain votes.

by **Sarzonia** » Tue Dec 03, 2019 8:58 am

It was two weeks after Bryan Conway's last international visit, an annual retreat to a resort town north of Timiocato. It was a long overdue vacation for the senior vice president and external affairs officer.

He transitioned gradually back to the office after his return from vacation. Today, though, was spent in meetings discussing various world matters.

The communicade from the Sarzonian ambassador to Scandonia drew little attention at first. Then, deputy senior vice president Karen Fleming tapped Conway on the shoulder.

"Bryan," she said. "Have a look at this." She handed it over to Conway. He read it, then handed the paper back to Fleming.

"What do you make of this new government?"

"Their leadership's claiming they're not going to push the social agenda they campaigned on in the election," Fleming said. Conway gave her a look that almost could be considered sideeye.

He knew by the change in tone of voice that accompanied the world claiming that Fleming regarded the announcement with skepticism.

"You don't sound convinced."

Now it was Fleming's turn to give Conway a look resembling sideeye.

"You know," she said.

He did. And they didn't need to discuss exactly what she knew because he knew it as well. Safe to say, Sarzonia's External Affairs office would have an extra pair of eyes on developments in Scandonia.

As for the election itself, President Grant Haffner was careful in his remarks to congratulate the Scandonian people on charting a course to see them out of their economic malaise, but was careful to steer clear of making a comment on the direction they choose to steer their ship of state.

Privately, though, he was concerned. Not for himself, specifically, but more so for LGBTQ Sarzonians. For Conway and his family. For Scandonians who suddenly risked their years of social progress in frustration over an economic recession.

Meanwhile, the newly minted deputy vice president for economic policy Rebecca Dalton stood in front of her boss Conway for her first draft of a report on a potential economic aid package she'd been assigned to prepare.

It was a fairly modest proposal: $25 million. As Conway studied it, he grimaced, then looked up at his new charge with a mixture of annoyance and the realisation that he'd have to patient with Danton since she was new to the world of geopolitics.

"Becky," he said before slowly drawing in his breath and exhaling. He then looked down at his desk for a moment, then looked back up.

"This is a good start," he said, "but I don't see a single condition here predicated on NVS keeping their promises to steer clear of social issues."

"I don't think that's our role," she said before she caught the glint of anger in Conway's eyes.

"That may not be our direct role," he said in a low, barely-above-a-whisper voice that was, in its own way, more terrifying than if he'd outright screamed at his brand new subordinate. "But we as Sarzonians take pride in being a country that is a leader in social progress. We can't just give free money to a country in the hopes that they'll keep their word. They've got to hit certain benchmarks and they've got to make sure they don't leave the marginalised behind."

"That's in there," she said. "There's a further proposal for an additional $100 million in aid that's contingent upon their keeping their promises."

"One hundred million dollars? I don't know if Parliament's going to go for that. Hell, I don't know if the President will." After he said that, he caught a bearded gentleman in the doorway, realising that he'd knocked at least four times.

"Clint? Sorry, I was in the middle of a discussion with Ms. Fleming."

"My apologies for interrupting," he said. Clint Stevensen was the Sarzonian liaison to the Queer Belt, the list of countries of which both Sarzonia and Scandonia were members, who were particularly supportive of LGBTQ people and rights. Conway looked at Stevenson and realised he had a very troubled look on his face.

"What's wrong, Clint?"

"Bakker gives me the heebie-jeebies," he said. The half-scowl that Conway had soon melted into a sympathetic look that both men knew meant I know what you mean.

"Do you think we should suspend their membership in the Queer Belt considering these election results?"

"Let's not be hasty," Conway said. "For now, they haven't done anything. But rest assured, Clint, we'll be watching them."

by **Scandonia** » Thu May 27, 2021 11:05 pm

Thursday 27. May 2021

Social Democrats leader Theo van Kaap will introduce a no-confidence motion in the Staten-Generaal Monday | Photo credit: SP

Breaking news
Labour Party blindsides coalition, quits government

The party was the junior partner in the NVS-led "unity coalition" government since it was formed in November 2019, but is leaving over pandemic response

SCHIEDAM — Scandonia's experiment with a coalition government led by a far-right party appears to be coming to an end after 18 months.

In a surprise announcement that has sent shockwaves through the halls of power in Schiedam, the country's Labour Party (PvdA) is pulling out of the "unity" coalition, the result of a cross-party deal brokered in late 2019 to avoid a third election that year. The deal catapulted the New Progress for Scandonia (NVS) to power with its charismatic, but polarizing, young leader, Casper Bakker, as the country's new prime minister.

Mr Bakker had swept to power on big promises to fix Scandonia's ailing economy, including a resolution to the country's sovereign debt crisis. Any efforts to accomplish that promised economic recovery ended up sidelined early in 2020 as the country was forced to pivot to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has sickened over 10 million, and killed over 340,000 people, to date. Mr Bakker has stubbornly adhered to a herd immunity strategy, going as far as encouraging Scandonians to get sick in order to build natural immunity, despite the advice of health experts, who have watched in horror as hospitals struggled to treat an overwhelming number of ill people.

The country's chief medical health officer resigned in protest last September and has yet to be permanently replaced. The government's hesitance to lock down the country or force businesses and workplaces to close quickly — and claims that children could not get sick from or transmit the virus that causes COVID-19 — erased any political capital the prime minister had earned emerging from the September 2019 election. A recent poll showed only nine percent of Scandonians approve of the way the government has handled its pandemic response.

Mr Bakker has made a series of controversial comments over the past year about the effectiveness of masks and vaccines, and earlier this week was caught contradicting himself on vaccine procurement. Last Monday, he claimed Scandonia and other countries were having trouble ordering vaccines, claiming "countries like Pacitalia [were] hoarding" doses. The comments, albeit unscripted, provoked indignation in Timiocato.

Later that same day, it subsequently emerged the prime minister had directed the health ministry to refuse an offer from Pacitalia to ship roughly 50 million excess doses north of the border. He denied he had done so, but health minister Wilhelmina Maeser inadvertently exposed the contradiction in a press conference Tuesday, when she told the media the government was "grateful to our friends in Timiocato for their offer but [...] focused on completing acquisition deals we are close to reaching with vaccine manufacturers".

A leaked Scandonian interior ministry document provided to SRT last week warned the government was "not showing any urgency" in acquiring more doses to start immunizing the public, risking a prolonged pandemic and "dire consequences", including serious health outcomes, prolonged border closures, a long recession, and further destabilization of the country's finances.

Scandonian regulators approved four vaccines before the end of 2020. Regulators said any of the vaccines from Covisortium, FleetPharma, Advanced Bionetics, or Sambuca Forensic/GrupoAvola would be safe, effective choices, and recommended the government move forward in acquiring any combination of supply of those vaccines. The government, however, stalled for almost two months before placing its first order. Schiedam also initially intended only to immunize seniors and people in long-term care facilities, and beyond that refused to coordinate a vaccination strategy for the rest of the public, saying it would simply open vaccination eligibility at a later date to anyone who wanted a dose.

The government's constant refrain — under the prime minister's direction — that vaccination is a "personal choice" and that "no one can and will force [Scandonians] to get vaccinated" has further shaken the public's confidence in its leaders. The country has so far ordered only ten million doses, and acquired about seven million from those initial orders. Even worse, it has only administered about four million from that initial supply, and the remaining three million doses are set to expire within the month, leading to urgent calls from health experts and opposition politicians to ramp up vaccination efforts.

Scandonia's population is about 52 million people, meaning over 90 percent of the population is still awaiting at least a first dose.

By comparison, Pacitalia — which took until the end of March to approve even one vaccine for mass use — has now given a first dose to over 80 percent of the public, achieving that feat in under two months. The country is already in a position to start offering second doses to people next week and could be fully reopened and back to normal by midsummer. Scandonia's southern neighbour has had a much more comprehensive, coordinated and strict response to handling the pandemic and trying to minimize the spread of COVID-19 — a detail that has clearly irritated the prime minister each time a member of the media has brought it up.

The developments of the past two weeks appear to have been the last straw for the Labour members in the coalition, who have tried in vain to convince the prime minister and their coalition partners to take the pandemic more seriously and get the country back on track. Another party in the governing coalition, the libertarian Scandonia's Future party, has been seen as one of the main influences on the government's lax pandemic policies, as they have argued against lockdowns, restrictions, or any other measures beyond those viewed as simply cosmetic and superficial.

The Labour Party's departure from the coalition immediately puts the government in peril — prior to today the NVS-led coalition had control of the Staten-Generaal with the coalition parties holding 106 of the 190 seats. But with Labour's 22 subtracted, the government finds itself far short of a workable coalition. Social Democrats leader Theo van Kaap, himself a former prime minister, has been lobbying his Labour counterpart, Simon van Alberder, for weeks, to bring his party across the aisle. It is not yet clear if the Social Democrats have the numbers to form an alternate government within the existing parliament and thereby avoid Scandonia's third election in two years.

However, King Christian III released a statement saying he would not dissolve parliament — or accept any requests to do so — during the pandemic, which may force the parties to work together no matter what. Mr van Kaap will introduce a no-confidence motion Monday in the Staten-Generaal; what happens after that is still uncertain.

by **Scandonia** » Thu Jun 03, 2021 12:25 pm

Thursday 3. June 2021

Now-former PM Casper Bakker sits in the Staten-Generaal Monday ahead of the no-confidence vote that ousted him | Photo credit: SP

Developing story
Van Kaap says a centre-left coalition agreement is "close"

After defeating Casper Bakker's right-wing government in a no-confidence vote Monday, Social Democrats work to secure an alternative

SCHIEDAM — A formal agreement on governing Scandonia for the next six to nine months is close to being reached, according to Social Democrats leader Theo van Kaap.

Monday's vote in the Staten-Generaal ousted New Progress for Scandonia leader Casper Bakker and his 18-month-old government after the Labour Party walked from the coalition. Labour Party leader Simon van Alberder was said to have finally reached his limit over the country's haphazard response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and led his party across the floor to sit in opposition to the government. The move blindsided the governing coalition, stripping it of its majority in the Scandonian parliament, and opening the door to Mr van Kaap's no-confidence motion.

On Monday, MPs voted along party lines, 106–84, in favour of the no-confidence motion, bringing a formal end to Mr Bakker's government. However, that left Mr van Kaap with the unenviable task of trying to cobble together an emergency coalition that would last at least a few months while also convincing King Christian III that such a government would be stable enough to avoid a third election in two years. SRT had previously learned that His Majesty had privately told MPs on at least two occasions that he would not entertain any requests to dissolve the Staten-Generaal, and that it was up to MPs to make any number of partnerships work to govern.

Mr van Kaap and Mr van Alberder appear to be on the verge of a power-sharing agreement that would last six to nine months, sources tell SRT. The sources say the agreement was designed in such a way that it could be renewed as needed, and will essentially form a "war cabinet" composed of MPs from as many as five parties.

Labour had been part of the New Progress-led coalition formed in late 2019. Scandonians had been forced to return to the polls for a second time that year after an initial vote in July produced a deadlock. That first election saw neither New Progress nor the Social Democrats — who had each won 37 seats in that first vote — able to reach an agreement. The "do-over" election in September provided the right-wing party with an increased share of seats in the Scandonian parliament and they were subsequently able to reach an agreement to form a grand coalition with Labour, the conservative Christian Democracy and Reform party, and the libertarian Scandonia's Future.

The prospective new government's two main priorities will be a complete overhaul of the Scandonian response to the pandemic, including a comprehensive vaccination strategy, and a long-term refinancing proposal for the country's sovereign debt — something that was meant to be addressed at the outset of the Bakker government but was shelved due to the pandemic. Scandonian markets were mixed in response to the news, with the guilder falling four percent on global forex, but the KB up just over three percent in early trading Thursday.

It is not yet known how many MPs will be in cabinet, and such discussion may be preliminary, because, as mentioned, His Majesty will need to formally name Mr van Kaap formateur first, assuming that a coalition is workable, not to mention still preferable to holding another election.

SRT Journaal | News from Scandonia

SRT Journaal | News from Scandonia

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