Election Day Results
The nations Congressional and Gubernatorial Elections were concluded today, with Conservatives taking an outright majority in both houses of Congress. They managed to sweep in 59% of the all votes cast for Representatives, taking 235 seats. Their victory in the House was quickly accompanied by a resounding victory in the Senate, where they seized yet another majority. They won 28 out of 54 seats.
On the opposite of the aisle, Liberal Democrats struggled to defend their already shrinking minority. They lost 36 house seats, bringing them down to 159. In the Senate they faired better, but not by much. They still lost 3 seats and retained 20 in an election that has long been predicted as a conservative victory. The Social union held onto 3 seats while the nationalist Alliance also retained control of its 3.
Perhaps the biggest win of the night goes to President William Pearce, who won his re-election bid with 53% of the vote, 20% more than the next closest contender. The election is a strong indicator that the people have grown to favor the President's thus far successful agenda. In 3 years, he has single handedly united the Conservative Party under on agenda, and by doing so created the most effective and efficient governments in modern history of Pantorrum.
On the state level, Conservatives won Governor elections in 14 out of 27 states. Liberal Democrats won 9, Social Unionists won 2, and the Nationalist Alliance won 2. They also seized control of 17 General Assembly's, including the 14 General Assembly's in the states who's Gubernatorial races they won. This gives them control of every level of government, from the Executive Branch down to the State Legislatures. With control of the helm, the Conservative Party is poised to guide the country for at least the next 3 years.
The Future of Konetya
With H.R. 1288 now at vote, the fate of Konetya rests in the balance. The bill allows for Konetya to be incorporated as an Overseas Territory of Pantorrum, a move necessary to allow for further support to be given. The bill comes after Senate Liberals successfully Filibustered H.R. 1274, which allocated P$ 24 Billion to the "Konetyan Recovery Fund", and ordered for the establishment of a P$ 7 Billion Joint Military operations Base in the newly founded country. The Konetyan Government, which has been criticized by many Liberal Demcorats as little more than a Puppet State controlled by President Pearce, was ready to accept the bill. Unfortunately, the Democrats were able to utilize special budgetary rules to run the debate past the budgets due date, forcing the Conservatives to negotiate and remove the measure from the budget.
Now, Conservatives have sought out a different method. the Speaker of the House said Tuesday that the President and the Conservative Party are determined to help the Konetyan people rebuild, even if they have to go to the very extreme. The new bill, which has garnered almost unilateral support among the Conservatives in the house, is aimed at achieving on goal, a cheat in the system. Normally, the President cannot designated emergency funds from the budget to foreign countries in excess of P$ 150 million a year without the consent of Congress. However, he can designate any amount of emergency aid to States and Overseas Territories of the United States of Pantorrum. By incorporating Konetya as a Semi-Autonomous Territory, the President can bypass the strong Liberal resistance in the Senate and designate the emergency funds without consent.
The maneuver has garnered immense criticism from almost the entire left, who cite the extreme nature of the move as a sign that the President has "Lost his Cookies". The move would do a lot more than allow him to designate emergency funds. It would make Pantorrum liable for the protection and security of the territory. It would make the Pantorran Taxpayer liable to fund schools, hospitals, and infrastructure services in a cold, distant country, halfway around the world. The Congressional Budget Office predicted that the additional budgetary cost over the next 5 years would be nearly P$ 350 Billion, a lot more than the 24 Conservatives are spouting.
Despite strong minority resistance, the bill is expected to pass a vote in the House this Friday, but may face major challenges once it reaches the Senate Floor. Weeks of debate could follow, stalling the process for some time. And if the Democrats manage to convince just 2 Conservatives to vote against it, the bill would fall short of the 27 votes needed to pass.
Panto-Car RecallPanto-Car, Pantorrum's largest vehicle manufacturer, was forced by the Department of Transportation to recall nearly 900,000 vehicles sold between 2010 and now after it was discovered that 1 in 12 vehicles sold had a faulty brakes that sometimes would not work when activated. The recall could cost the company over 3 billion dollars, 600 million of which may result from a lawsuit filed by 236 individuals who have lost loved ones in accidents related to the brake failure. The company has issued a public apology, and has promised to take the matter very seriously going into the future.
Despite this, public confidence in the company is at an all time low. The company's failure has led many to seek out its smaller but still major competitors, including foreign vehicles imported from Belantica. In fact, Foreign Car sales in Pantorrum are up 37% this month.
Oil Crisis Looming
Liquiplex has gouged prices yet again last month, citing government regulations and increased costs as reasoning. Oil Prices hit an all time high at $3.08 just days after the Supreme Court rules 5-3 in favor of the company in a recent suit. The sudden rise has led nearly a 120,000 unhappy citizens to protest outside the Corporate HQ in Trinton. Another 90,000 have gathered outside the Capitol Building in Cormiar, demanding Federal Anti-Trust action against the massive company, which has recently expanded its control to include over 90% of Pantorran Oil Production and 92% of Pantorran Oil Distribution.
The company has already been hit hard by its loss of valuable funds invested in the scrapped pipeline between Vukmire and Pantorrum, an incident it has often blamed the oil hike on. But recent Department of Energy inquiries have discovered that the nations Oil Supply is at an all time high, and the companies last quarterly earnings report was through the roof. Liquiplex, which is often argued to be the largest and most powerful corporation in the world, has been the target of immense criticism over the last 4 months. Congress has promised action on several occasions, but nothing has come of it. Perhaps Conservatives don't want to upset their Liquiplex donors, but we at the Cormiar times can only speculate as to that.
