33 Provinces in 33 Days (News Thread in Laeral, Open)

[Laeral]

Day Ten: The Outspoken Delegate
Based on his debate performance, it’s easy to see that Delegate Damien Vendorme, Laeralian People’s Party candidate for President, was once a star attorney. He has the voice and cadence of a preacher, rising to emphasize a crucial point or his righteous anger. Indeed, Delegate Vendorme credits his rhetorical style to his education at a private Catholic high school in Therese province. As a young law student at the University of Laeralsford, Vendorme became a star debater, leading the University to first place at the Laeralian Debating Championships. As a lawyer for the Therese-based firm Wu & Qiu, where he worked for almost a decade, he rose to prominence as a prosecution attorney in a case alleging that the city of Jinyu was guilty of nepotism in awarding government contracts. Following his victory in the case, he was named Chief Prosecutor for the municipality of Jinyu, and later the province of Therese. As Chief Prosecutor for Therese province, he argued before the Federal High Court in the 1995 case Fontaine v. Therese, in which he argued that federal law should not override a provincial law allowing businesses to refuse to hire homosexual workers. This case, which he won, gave him prominence on the nationwide stage. After being replaced by the new First Minister in 1997, Vendorme ran for Mayor of Jinyu, which he was elected to the following year.
As mayor, he oversaw a period of economic growth in the city, as well as adopting a harsh anti-crime policy which his supporters credit with reducing violent crime rates by 18% in two years. After two terms as Mayor, he was given a position on the Laeralian People’s Party (LPP) list for the Assembly of Commons, which he was elected to in 2004. Representative Vendorme’s confrontational style, which included forcing roll call votes on procedural matters and bringing the wife of a slain police officer with him during an Assembly of Commons debate over a crime bill made him popular among the conservative base, but he often butted heads with LPP leaders, who denied him a place in the cabinet during the period of LPP governance from 2006 to 2010. In 2010, Vendorme announced his intention to run for the General Assembly as a delegate from Therese province. Vendorme won handily and became the senior delegate from that province, and was reelected in 2016. In 2018, he was selected as the Laeralian People’s Party candidate for president following a bruising primary fight with party moderates.

Delegate Vendorme, let’s start out by discussing your approach to campaigning, which many have observed is radically different from that of previous LPP candidates in it’s tone and focus. Why is that?
“Well, I think that what’s leading a lot of Laeralites to really listen to and understand what we in the People’s Party are saying is that we’re focused on ordinary Laeralites. Not ivory-towered elites or the people in the Riverlands cities, but everyone. I firmly believe that we are the only group of people that see the problems that the forgotten Laeralites- those people that most politicians are perfectly willing to ignore- that those people face, and the only party that is dedicating itself to destroying those problems. And that’s really striking a chord with voters, and that’s what’s causing this incredible awakening of ordinary Laeralites.”

Some politicians have said that your proposed religious policies are contrary to Laeralian values of secularism, especially your proposal to allow provinces to allocate school funding to religious schools. How do you respond to that?
“First of all, let me just say that I’m as committed as anyone else to Article 4* of the Constitution. But what I feel is that in some cases, the government goes too far the other way, in promoting policies that actually penalize people of faith. Think of the burqa ban we saw proposed in some municipalities last year, or how churches, temples, mosques, all the places of worship are taxed and in many cases treated as just another source of revenue for politicians to dip into whenever their coffers run low. All that I’m trying to do is reassure people of faith that a People’s Party government will understand them, and protect the rights of people of faith.”

What specific policies would you put in place to achieve that goal?
“As I’ve said, I would like to put more protections in place for our places of worship and our religious organizations so that they don’t receive undue burdens from the taxman, and so they can continue their charitable works unhindered. What’s more, I believe that many of the limitations placed on religious groups, such as the laws prohibiting school uniforms even at religious schools, anti-proselytization laws, all of those place an undue and possible illegal burden on people of faith, and may even violate their freedom of expression. At the end of the day, there just needs to be a level playing field for people of faith and unbelievers alike.”

*The article of the Laeralian constitution that defines Laeral as a “secular state”

Delegate Vendorme, you broke with some members of your party in supporting entering the war in Lauchenoiria. What can you tell us about your decision to do so, and how does this relate to your overall foreign policy?
“That decision was, first of all, very difficult for me to make, because I knew that it would put our brave men and women in harm’s way. But as Laeralites, it is our duty to protect democracy where we can, while bearing in mind the terrible cost of defending it. I believe that this crisis demonstrates how much Laeral needs a stronger military, and also the great lengths rogue states such as Kerlile and Gonhog will go to in order to threaten Laeralian freedom and democracy.

As for my overall views on foreign policy- what is there to say? I believe in a strong Laeral, respected throughout East Hespia. As a nation, we can no longer let ourselves be held in the neo-colonialist position held in the palm of Sanctaria and humiliated by Separatist Peoples.”

If you were in President Brennan’s shoes, would you have signed the Haven Peace Accords ending the Second Lauchenoirian Civil War?
“I’m a reasonable man. And much like President Brennan, I understand that we can’t do anything against Sanctaria yet. They hold far too much of our debt, courtesy of previous spendthrift governments. I understand that Laeral had little choice but to sign the Accords. But unlike Brennan, I don’t need to like it. The People’s Party believes that Laeral is best served by forging our own path in the world, free of anyone’s influence. And so as President, I pledge to you that I will free us from the neo-imperialism of Sanctaria and the World Assembly, and together, we will make a stronger Laeral."

---

Therese province, located along the Beuvron River, was considered a Conservative stronghold for decades. With a majority Arrivée*, largely rural population, Therese province’s governorship and bicameral parliament consistently stayed in Conservative hands, with occasional periods of coalition with the Progressives or the now-defunct Moderate Party. Since the 1990s, however, technology and service jobs began to flood into the capital city of Jinyu, which became the second-fastest growing city in the country in 1997. With the addition of charismatic leaders on the provincial level such as Damien Vendorme, the Laeralian People’s Party began to compete with the Conservatives for right-wing voters. Therese province’s Governor David is from the LPP. Therese’s provincial legislature is bicameral, which is unusual among Laeralian provincial governments. The legislature consists of the 20-member Provincial Council and the 40-member Provincial Assembly. The former is elected indirectly by the Departmental Council of the province’s four départments and the Municipal Council of Jinyu Municipality. Due to People’s Party control of the majority of local governments in the province, the Provincial Council is currently governed by the LPP with a near-unsurmountable four-seat majority. The Provincial Assembly, meanwhile, is elected using multi-member constituencies which correspond to the departmental and municipality borders. At present, the LPP and the Progressives are in a ‘grand coalition’ to govern the province.

In 2018, Theresian voters are expected to turn out in droves for the LPP’s Damien Vendorme, who remains popular in the province as a long-time Delegate. With no provincial offices up for election, most major parties have generally ignored the province, choosing to concentrate their efforts on other provinces.

*White Laeralians

The first round of the Presidential election, as well as elections for the General Assembly and many local offices, is now only one week away.

Latest Polling, fromLe Laeralien
Delegate Damien Vendorme: 28% (+0)
Governor Liu Mei-han: 19% (-1)
Prime Minister Tanvi Misra: 16% (-1)
Delegate Bernard Errante: 11% (+1)
Representative Jean-Pierre Nury: 9% (-2)
Representative Hsieh Pai-han: 8% (+1)
Undecided/Other: 8%

Campaign News Update
Le Laeralien: Vendorme: ‘33 Provinces’ Cut Out My Best Remarks

La Sentinelle: ‘How Did We Get Here?’: Socialists Shocked at Nury’s Poor Poll Numbers

Le Pays: Brennan Holds Off On Campaigning for Misra

Les Couloirs: New LPP Messaging Bashes Misra As “Dishonest”, Liu As “Naive”

Del. Damien Vendorme (@damien_vendorme_english)
Just now from Jinyu, Therese

I see that the “33 Provinces In 33 Days” crew gave me less time to talk, and edited my remarks more heavily, than those of @MisraCampaignFrançais. It’s almost as if they’re afraid of letting my entire message be heard. Their slanted questions are just a symptom of how virtually all of the media has a pro-establishment bias, to say nothing of how the media has treated their darling, @LiuMei-han. I wonder how much of a puff piece they’ll give her in her interview…
#vendorme2018

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[Cascadian Socialist Republic]

OFFICAL COMMUNICATION

From Albert Rowan, Head of the Cascadian Department of Electoral Integrity
To Tanvi Misra, Prime Minister of the Allied Provinces of Laeral
C L A S S I F I E D

Comrade!

Let it be known that the nation of Cascadia is fully behind your campaign. Delagate Vendorme, in the analysis of the current administration, is a fundamental threat to our interests in the region. Thus, some of our resources have been dedicated towards supporting your campaign.

Please accept the maximum amount of monetary donations allowed by your nation's law (specifiable in the box below, to a maximum of five hundred million Universial Standard Dollars ($500,000,000 USD). In addition, please find enclosed a series of attack ads against each of your major opponents. These each follow the same format--a collection of the absolute worst sound clips we could find of each candidate, playing from a radio, with the red text "THIS IS [CANDIDATE]." overlaid on the bottom, in English, French and Chinese. After several clips, a blue collar worker steps into the room and smashes the radio open with a sledgehammer, as the screen fades to black into the words "VOTE PROGRESSIVE. FOR OUR FUTURE." In Cascadia, this is a common trope of attack ads, known as a "revolution attack ad". We hope it will be effective in Laeral.

We hope to hear from you soon. Note that this communication is classified, and not meant for public release.

Sincerely,
Albert Rowan

[Laeral]

Day Eleven: The Socialist Heir
At Tuesday’s presidential debate, Socialist Party candidate Jean-Pierre Nury was mocked as the youngest face in the room. At only 34 years of age, Nury is barely over the legal age to become president. He is the son of Laeral’s ninth President, Edmund-Alain Nury, who was first elected in 1996 and remains a popular figure among Socialist voters. Unlike many Socialist politicians, the younger Nury was untainted by the 2006 Fesnau Affair, the massive scandal which brought down a Socialist president in a storm of corruption charges. Born in 1983, Nury grew up in a political family. His father, Edmund-Alain, was at the time a prominent Socialist Representative, while his mother Marie was herself the daughter of a Progressive Party Representative. In 1995-6, Jean-Pierre found himself on the campaign trail alongside his father during the elder Nury’s run for president. In his 2011 essay published in Le Leeralien, entitled “Reflections on the Campaign Trail from a Socialist Son”, Nury described the experience of campaigning with his father as both exhilarating and demanding, concluding that it had given him a love of politics and political campaigning. Edmund-Alain Nury was elected as the Ninth President of the Second Allied Provinces of Laeral in late 1996. While his father was President, Nury attended Althea City University, receiving a bachelor’s degree in Political Science. Upon graduating, he quickly established himself as a leading figure in the Socialist Party, finding a place as leader of the Socialist Youth. He was elected to the Municipal Council of Althea in 2008, where he helped pass a major anti-homelessness act as well as helping to ban tobacco use in public parks. He was elected to the Assembly of Commons on the Socialist list in 2012, where he focused on education and health issues. In the Socialist Party Primaries of 2017, he was one of three major contenders for the Socialist nomination, along with Representative Gao Heng, who advocated for moving the Socialists leftward, and the experienced, and more moderate candidate Representative Hélène Zhang. Although Gao was leading in the early and middle of the primaries, Representative Zhang agreed to exit the race, instead endorsing Nury. This measure was condemned by Gao as a political maneuver, but Nury was nevertheless narrowly nominated as Socialist candidate for President following a contested convention.

Representative Nury, let’s begin by discussing the Socialist primaries of this election cycle. How do you respond to criticisms that your nomination was a victory of party insiders over the will of primary voters?
“As I’ve made clear numerous times before, the nominating process is in the past. And I understand many of the complaints that people have had about the election process. We are working very hard to make sure that in future, every party member can feel that their voice is heard. However, my main focus is, and continues to be, on putting the nomination behind me and bringing together the Socialist party in order to advance our common agenda.”

Your critics point to polls showing that the Socialists will have their worst electoral showing in over three decades under your leadership, losing over 40 seats in the Commons, which is over half of your party’s total. What do you plan to do about this projected defeat at the polls?
“I think that this election is an example of what in football is called a rebuilding year. We’ve been in government for four years, and we’ve made great strides forward. And while it’s disappointing that we will find it harder to continue in government, I think that it will give the Socialists an opportunity to rebuild, to develop our backbench, nurture our next generation of leaders, and really have a positive dialogue about how we can be the best possible Socialist party.”

What do you believe should be done to revitalize the Socialists during this ‘rebuilding period’?
“I think that what is really needed is a return to our core Socialist Party values. These include refocusing on our support for worker’s rights, for women’s rights, and for generally uplifting the oppressed. We need to unify the party under these values in order to demonstrate that our party’s democratic socialist policies will deliver the best results for everyone, not just the wealthy. Really, we as a party have had a great deal of success under this formula, and I am confident that if we continue to promote the formula, we can trust in the Laeralian people to redeliver the majorities we’ve held in the past.”

Representative, various socialist leaders from around the multiverse have condemned your campaign's stance on immigration. How do you respond to claims that your support for limiting immigration is contrary to socialist and Laeralian values?
"I'm not familiar with the exact circumstances behind these statements by these leaders, but I'll try to address them generally. Firstly, I feel that any attempt to compare Laeralian socialism, Socialist Party of Laeral socialism, to socialism in other nations is doomed to fail. Socialism has always been a tradition that grows and is shaped by it's surroundings. Socialism in Laeral, shaped as it is by the legacy of imperialism, by our nation's racial situation, and by other socialist traditions within the Hespian continent, is a different beast entirely than socialism in, say, Cascadia. You mentioned the subject of immigration. I maintain that our party's stance on immigration, as agreed to at the Socialist National Convention of earlier this year, is justified. We are not calling to give certain people precedence over others in immigration applications to Laeral. We have consistently stood in opposition to bigotry and racism, and we continue to do so today. We are merely calling for an understanding that with our high rates of unemployment, particularly among the young, Laeral doesn't need an influx of foreign low-skilled workers. As part of President Brennan's various governments, the Socialist party has stood in favor of accepting immigration policies honoring our nation's tradition of offering welcome. And now we are calling for the number of low-skill workers entering the country to be reduced in light of the current labor situation. And we wish to ensure that those coming into our nation are able to acclimate easily into Laeralian society, by offering language classes and classes on Laeralian values to those who need them. I maintain that the Socialist platform remains in conjunction with the socialist values we hold dear."

---

Althea, capital of Loiraine province and Laeral’s ‘second city’, occupies a lasting role in Laeralian politics. With a population of 7.3 million, second only to the Laeralsford Municipal District, voters from Loiraine are responsible for electing roughly 36 Representatives every election. Loiraine has a lasting historical rivalry with its larger cousin, and Loiraine province is among the most idiosyncratic in Laeralian politics. Loiraineans have a reputation among the rest of Laeral for being high-handed and obstinate, and this carries over into their provincial politics. During the writing of the Laeralian Constitution, Loiraine province was specifically granted an exemption, allowing their powerful First Minister to name General Assembly Delegates from that province, rather than having them directly elected.

A glance at Loiraine’s directly elected lower house of the provincial government, the Second Chamber, gives an example of why Loiraine’s politics are often described as among the most convoluted in the nation. Representatives in the Second Chamber are forbidden from having official party identifiers, but the vast majority of Representatives are members of a caucus which approximately lines up with a national party. Confusingly, however, the LPP wing in the provincial legislature is known as the Popular Democratic Union, while the Socialists are called the Socialist-Farmer-Labor Party and the Conservatives are known as the Catholic Social Union. Meanwhile, Loiraine province is well known as a breeding ground for minor parties, with two of the parties competing in the 2018 legislative elections, the Women's Alliance and the Secular Democrats, having their origins in Loiraine. The Second Chamber is governed by a coalition between the Socialists and the Progressives, which elected Marie Poulain-Coste (a Socialist) as First Minister. Under the terms of the agreement, First Minister Poulain-Coste selected a Socialist and a Progressive as the province’s Delegates. The First Chamber, meanwhile, is largely irrelevant to modern provincial politics, having only the power to delay bills rather than prevent them from passing.

This year, the Second Chamber will be up for election, with polls showing that the incumbent coalition will fall below a majority in that chamber. First Minister Poulain-Coste has been under fire recently due to a well-publicized shortage of heating fuel, while her own coalition partners, the Progressives, accuse her of campaigning against Progressive candidates despite their electoral alliance. The most likely election outcome is a right-leaning government, as Progressive leaders have begun to whisper about refusing to form another Socialist coalition, while the LPP and Laeral Unbowed! hope to pick up seats in the province.

---

Latest Polling, from Le Laeralien
Delegate Damien Vendorme: 27% (-1)
Governor Liu Mei-han: 19% (+0)
Prime Minister Tanvi Misra: 15% (-1)
Delegate Bernard Errante: 10% (-1)
Representative Jean-Pierre Nury: 10% (+1)
Representative Hsieh Pai-han: 10% (+2)
Undecided/Other: 8%

---

Campaign News Update
Le Laeralien: As Liu vs. Vendorme Second Round Seems Likely, Conservatives Face Hard Choice

La Sentinelle: Opinion: No, Jean-Pierre, Politics Isn’t a Football Game

Les Couloirs: Misra Campaign Launches New Attack Ads

L'Indépendant: Vendorme’s Politics Have Echos of Alain Mette. That’s Not a Good Thing.

New Hanshui Times: Rat Infestation Grows Despite Government Efforts

Le Stylo: Half-Man, Half-Wolf, All Evil! Mutant Menace Stalks Alleys of Laeralsford!

[Vedastia]

Horace Newman (@ForeignMinisterVT)
Just now from Hoipton, Vedastia

HM Government announces its support for Hsieh Pai-han and his Laeral Unbowed! party. The Kingdom of Vedastia supports the self-determination of all peoples everywhere and the defense of their sovereignty against foreign threats.

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[Laeral]

Day Twelve: A Designer in Côte d'Argent
Audrey Lemoine-Wang is a graphic designer. Her apartment, a nondescript-looking rental unit in Auvergne where she lives with her wife Sandrine, is decorated in sketches and concepts. A poster for a concert dated two months ago. A marketing flyer for a local boulangerie. And tacked up around a sleek tablet resting on a work table is a set of stark illustrations, set in shades of grey. A hand reaching out through a cloud of smoke. A worker being weighed down by a bundle of tobacco leaves which become cigarettes. And dark tentacles extending from an open box of cigarettes, battling a scattered few warriors with swords and a caduceus. Audrey Lemoine-Wang doesn’t like the tobacco industry.

“Merchants of death, that’s what they are,” she says. She’s been working on the sketches for over a week. They’re for a local nonprofit, trying to help smokers break their tobacco habits. “The tobacco companies are trying to sell their products to children. Children! They want to get their victims hooked on cigarettes, or vaping, or whatever it is nowadays, so that they keep raking in the money while people die of lung cancer.” Lemoine-Wang knows this from experience. Her mother has lung cancer, and she worries her father does as well.

“The Socialists coming out for a tobacco tax is really one of the reasons I’m voting for them. I’m serious! They feel the way I do on a number of issues- cigarettes, LGBTQ issues, feminism, rights for workers. It’s a shame the polls are looking so bad for them. I would have liked their coalition with the Progressives to continue.” She furrows her brow. “The worst possibility- the absolute worst- would be that Vendorme becomes president, and Laeral Unbowed! gets into government. These are scary times for a lot of marginalized people, and I just really hope that our values prevail.”

---

Côte d’Argent is the seventh-largest province, with a population of 4.38 million. Among the first provinces to be settled by Europeans, the population remains majority-Arrivée. Unexpectedly, however, the province offered Governor Liu Mei-han’s New Democratic Alliance an entry into the national spotlight, when the newly-founded party became a part of the province’s governing coalition, due to it’s 6 seats within the province’s House of Delegates. Their position will be tested this year as the lower house of the provincial legislature, the House of Commons, is up for reelection. Polling remains scarce on this contest, however, although New Democratic strategists are hopeful of expanding their party’s seat count.

---

Latest Polling, fromLe Laeralien
Delegate Damien Vendorme: 29% (+2)
Governor Liu Mei-han: 18% (-1)
Prime Minister Tanvi Misra: 16% (+1)
Representative Hsieh Pai-han: 12% (+2)
Delegate Bernard Errante: 10% (+0)
Representative Jean-Pierre Nury: 9% (-1)
Undecided/Other: 6%

Campaign News Update

Le Laeralien: Brennan Begins Campaigning for Misra

La Sentinelle: Liu: However Outcome Goes, It’s ‘Spectacular Victory’

Le Pays: With Five Days To Election, Candidates Prepare Closing Messages

Les Couloirs: Misra Backers: Brennan’s Efforts Too Little, Too Late

Le Journal Féminin: Could Liu Be Headed for a Fall?

Le Stylo: BULLETS IN THE NIGHT: How Misra’s Shadowy Cabal Aims To Subvert Will Of The People!

[Brasilia Brazil]

:
President and Vice President of Brasilia Brazil Captain Jair Bolsonaro and General Antonio Hamilton Mourão, of the Far Right Wing Conservative Social Liberal Party of Brazil.

We support Hsieh Pai-han of the Far Right wing Laeral Unbowed Party to Make and Keep Laeral Great Again, I have been in friendly diplomatic contact with the Presidents and leaders of Miami Shores, The USA of America, Budapest Hungary, NS Jerusalem Israel and NS Taiwan China and we all support you.

President Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Vice President Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Miami Shores.
President Donald J Trump and Vice President Mike Pence of the USA of America.
Prime Minister Victor Orbán of the Democratic Republic Kingdom of Budapest Hungary.
Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu of NS Jerusalem Israel.
Lady President Tsai Ing-wen and Preimier William Lai Ching‑te of NS Taiwan China, The one and only True China.

President and Captain Jair Bolsonaro and Vice President and General Antônio Hamilton Martins Mourão of Brasilia Brazil.

We all wish you a political upset victory on election night similar to President Trump, when you become President of Laeral, we will all establish close, friendly, economic, political, cultural, tourist and military diplomatic relations with you, Laeral and the Laerian people.

According to a Data Folha Poll.

41.25 % - 75.00 % - Laeral Unbowed! (Hsieh Pai-han) But their is very strong support for you and Laeral Unbowed, even from the Laeralian People's Party of (Damien Vendorme), the Conservative party of (Bernard Errante) and the United Right supporters in our nation.
09.17 % - 16.67 % - Conservative Party (Bernard Errante)
04.58 % - 08.33 % - Laeralian People's Party (Damien Vendorme) People's Party, gulp very hard to swallow lol, might have gained more votes in our nation without that name, but their is very strong opposition in the right to stay in IDU, WA, UN, etc, or in any international organizations and treaty's
55.00 % Total votes on the Right.

Thier is very strong support for you from all the right wing parties in our nations.

33.75 % - 75.00 % - Progressive Party (Tanvi Misra)
07.88 % - 17.50 % - Socialists (Jean-Pierre Nury)
03.37 % - 07.50 % - Greens Party/Laeralian Ecology
45.00 % Total votes on the Left.

We consider you the Trump, Victor Orbán and Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil to Make and Keep Brazil Great Again.
:
Hsieh Pai-han - Laeral Unbowed

"Policies:
-Taxes: Lower taxes on Laeralites while enacting some tariffs. Lower taxes on the wealthy and corporate taxes, in order to promote economic development.
-Healthcare: Limit the ability of medical workers to strike. Promote traditional medicine, and eliminate mandatory vaccination policies. Prevent immigrants from “overwhelming” medical system.
-Education: Reduce federal control of education, while allowing charter and private schools to receive government funding. Enact school uniform policies within K-12 education. Support the Ministry of Culture in promoting Laeralian culture domestically and overseas.
-Foreign Policy: Slash funding, reduce the ‘bloated’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Withdraw from “corrupt” UN, WA, IDU in order to put “Laeral first”.
-Energy: Retain nuclear plants while shutting down funding for alternative energy.
-Military and Justice: Massively increase military spending in order to protect Laeral. Remove the laws regulating the powers of the military and police force. Begin an immense crackdown on crime by increasing punishments and reintroducing the death penalty for crimes such as treason, murder, and rape. Criminalize prostitution.
-Immigration: Create strict immigration restrictions to protect Laeralian national identity, including a complete halt to admission of refugees which may pose a threat to national security.
-Infrastructure: Use unspecified methods to improve Laeralian infrastructure."

President and Captain Jair Bolsonaro and Vice President and General Antônio Hamilton Martins Mourão of Brasilia Brazil.

[NS Jerusalem Israel]

:
Israel's Prime Minister Bibi Benjamin Nentanyahu, Make and Keep Israel Great Again.
USA President Donald J Trump, Make and Keep America Great Again.

We support Hsieh Pai-han of the Far Right wing Laeral Unbowed Party to Make and Keep Laeral Great Again. We will establish close friendly, economic, political, cultural, tourist and military relations with Laeral when you become President.

We hope and trust you support the establishment of an embassy in Jerusalem Israel, the eternal sacred capital of Israel and the Jewish People, and will make this issue one of your campaign promises during the election campaign and take it to heart when you become President of Laeral.

You are the Trump, Victor Orbán and Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil to Make and Keep Laeral Great Again.
:
Hsieh Pai-han - Laeral Unbowed

"Policies:
-Taxes: Lower taxes on Laeralites while enacting some tariffs. Lower taxes on the wealthy and corporate taxes, in order to promote economic development.
-Healthcare: Limit the ability of medical workers to strike. Promote traditional medicine, and eliminate mandatory vaccination policies. Prevent immigrants from “overwhelming” medical system.
-Education: Reduce federal control of education, while allowing charter and private schools to receive government funding. Enact school uniform policies within K-12 education. Support the Ministry of Culture in promoting Laeralian culture domestically and overseas.
-Foreign Policy: Slash funding, reduce the ‘bloated’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Withdraw from “corrupt” UN, WA, IDU in order to put “Laeral first”.
-Energy: Retain nuclear plants while shutting down funding for alternative energy.
-Military and Justice: Massively increase military spending in order to protect Laeral. Remove the laws regulating the powers of the military and police force. Begin an immense crackdown on crime by increasing punishments and reintroducing the death penalty for crimes such as treason, murder, and rape. Criminalize prostitution.
-Immigration: Create strict immigration restrictions to protect Laeralian national identity, including a complete halt to admission of refugees which may pose a threat to national security.
-Infrastructure: Use unspecified methods to improve Laeralian infrastructure."

Prime Minister Bibi Benjamin Nentanyahu of NS Jerusalem Israel.

[NS Taiwan China]

:
President Tsai Ing-wen and Premier William Lai Ching‑te of NS Taiwan China.
The one and only True China.

We support Hsieh Pai-han of the Far Right Laeral Unbowed Party to Make and Keep Laeral Great Again. We hope and trust once you become President of Laeral you will recognize NS Taiwan China as the one and only true China. As President of Laeral of Chinese descent you honour our people and traditions.

President Tsai Ing-wen and Premier William Lai Ching‑te of NS Taiwan China.
The one and only True China.

We consider you the Trump, Viktor Orbán and Jair Bolsonaro of Laeral to Make and Keep Laeral Great Again.
:
Hsieh Pai-han - Laeral Unbowed

"Policies:
-Taxes: Lower taxes on Laeralites while enacting some tariffs. Lower taxes on the wealthy and corporate taxes, in order to promote economic development.
-Healthcare: Limit the ability of medical workers to strike. Promote traditional medicine, and eliminate mandatory vaccination policies. Prevent immigrants from “overwhelming” medical system.
-Education: Reduce federal control of education, while allowing charter and private schools to receive government funding. Enact school uniform policies within K-12 education. Support the Ministry of Culture in promoting Laeralian culture domestically and overseas.
-Foreign Policy: Slash funding, reduce the ‘bloated’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Withdraw from “corrupt” UN, WA, IDU in order to put “Laeral first”.
-Energy: Retain nuclear plants while shutting down funding for alternative energy.
-Military and Justice: Massively increase military spending in order to protect Laeral. Remove the laws regulating the powers of the military and police force. Begin an immense crackdown on crime by increasing punishments and reintroducing the death penalty for crimes such as treason, murder, and rape. Criminalize prostitution.
-Immigration: Create strict immigration restrictions to protect Laeralian national identity, including a complete halt to admission of refugees which may pose a threat to national security.
-Infrastructure: Use unspecified methods to improve Laeralian infrastructure."

Lady President Tsai Ing-wen and Premier William Lai Ching‑te of NS Taiwan China.
The one and only True China.

[Cascadian Socialist Republic]

Seattle Sounds Alarm as Laeral Unbowed! Gains Ground in Polls
Cascadian Leaders Express Concern for Laeral

SEATTLE--The House of Representatives approved a statement for release today, in a unanimous vote in favor. The statement, read out by President William Ford on the steps of the Capitol Building, condemned Hsieh Pai-han, the extreme right candidate for Laeral's presidency, and expressed 'grave concern' over his recent surge in the polls.

One notable excerpt from the statement read:

[Hsieh Pai-han] is a fascist, and it is Cascadia's goal to fight fascism wherever it takes root. We urge the people of Laeral to fight back against a Pai-han regime. The consequences of allowing the fascist to take hold are great--he will lie, he will cheat, he will steal, and he will ruin the lives of millions.

The statement is an unusually strident, almost militaristic one for the House, made at an odd time to be making such staements--in the midst of a national emergency election and the greatest constitutional crisis in Cascadian history. It is likely that the federal government wishes to make itself appear strong ahead of election day on Christmas Eve.

Cascadian interests in the region also hinge on this election--particularly, in terms of ideological interests. The election is increasingly looking to swing for the right wing, which would be detrimental to socialism in the region as a whole.

Democratic candidate Amelia Hatch denounced the statement at a rally two hours later as 'dangerous and childish'.

Edits are for typos.

[Yohannes]

Maréchal-Le Men Parliament House (@Maréchal-LeMenParliamentHouse)
Just now from Kingdom of Alexandria, Yohannes

@B.Errante_Anglais;

“‘Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.’ —Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The driving forces of democracy, peace, and harmony in the Nineteen Countries stand with Laeral today, next week, and always.

Representing the twenty-first-century conservative values of Yohannesian Christian Democracy, Parliament House GOP hopes for the best results #33Provinces. The message of our saviour the Lord Jesus Christ was one of love—not hate.

Parliament House GOP condemns in the strongest possible terms fascism and Nazism in not only Yohannes but also Laeral.”

#Wearewithhim #LaeralConservativeParty #TrueConservative #conservatives #saynotofascism

—@Maréchal-Le Men Parliament House on the Laeralian Presidential and Legislative Election 2018.

#LaeralYohannesFriendship #NationStates2018



Maréchal-Le Men on Laeral’s 2018 election—Conservatives for the Conservative Party

Follow @Maréchal-Le Men Parliament House for the latest from the eighteenth Yohannesian Emperor and her office. “I do not own the rights to this opinion article and video.”

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[Laeral]

Day Thirteen: A Textile Worker in Enara
In the small city of Fengshan in Enara province, signs and banners are posted everywhere advertising the “22nd Annual Laeralian International Textile Exposition”. I follow the signs, and came to a modern, glass-and-steel convention center in the center of town. Despite the massive banner stretching over the convention center’s floor, the exhibitors themselves seem bored, in contrast to the bouncy, energetic pop music playing over the speakers in the rafters above. Many of them, representatives of industry groups, unions, or corporations, type on their laptops from behind their stalls. Only a handful of people walk the aisles, occasionally picking up a free branded t-shirt or a brochure from the stalls. I walk past a large enclosed room, with a sign outside advertising “The Wonderful World of Cloth: The 4-D Virtual Reality Textile Manufacturing Experience!”, which also appears to be deserted. Zhou Tao is a representative of the Tongshan Uniform Syndicate, a local textile manufacturer employing only a few dozen workers. Since no one seems to be in any hurry to hear about the Tongshan Uniform Syndicate’s wide array of professional uniforms at affordable prices, I sit down to talk with him.

Zhou, I learn quickly, is the company’s Deputy Executive Spokesman, and one of six employees in charge of the company’s marketing. He pushes aside a stack of promotional t-shirts to talk to me, and I quickly learn that this is his seventh year appearing at the Exposition, and he’s never seen it more empty. “It’s like the buyers just aren’t coming,” he says with a concerned expression, looking up and down the aisle of exhibitors. He’s worked for Tongshan for the past decade, having first gotten the job thanks to his father’s status as one of the founders of the company. Having been forced out of the lucrative retail and designer goods market by larger competitors, Tongshan manufactures uniforms: jumpsuits for factory workers, uniforms for retail employers, and sometimes school uniforms as well. There’s news that latter market may soon dry up as well- Enara’s provincial legislature is considering a bill that would abolish the uniform requirement in the province’s schools. Zhou hopes dearly that the bill won’t pass. But when it comes to politics in general, Zhou is “dead certain” who he’ll support- Governor of Neidong province Liu Mei-han.

“She just agrees with my views on so many issues, not to mention how groundbreaking it would be to have a Rén president and a Minjian president,” Zhou says. “I hear her speeches on the radio, and she’s the kind of person that I want being an example to the country of what Rén can do.” I press him on the matter of Liu’s political views- does he support her on free trade? “Absolutely, trade creates jobs”. What about a cigarette tax? “You walk into the factory at lunch time, half of the men are standing outside lighting up on the loading dock. We’ve got to think about the health of our kids here”. Nuclear power? “It creates jobs, and I’m convinced it’s safe”. Multilingualism? “As Min Chinese-speakers, we deserve to be able to read and understand every government document”. Zhou expects for Liu to triumph in the second-round election, but isn’t sure how her party, the New Democrats, will do in the legislative elections. “In an ideal world, Liu is elected president, and then the New Democrats enter a coalition with either the Progressives or maybe the LPP. This is our chance for a new government that really looks out for Rén and cares about Rén issues, and I know that Governor Liu is the woman to lead it.”

---

Enara province, located in the southern portion of the Riverlands, is a major hub for silk harvesting and textile production. With a population of just over 1 million, the province is among the least inhabited in the Riverlands region, leading to a growing second life for the province as a tourism center. The province went narrowly for Progressive candidate Nicholas Brennan in the 2014 election, but is currently governed by an LPP-led ‘Grand Coalition’ with the Progressives. Enara province’s delegates in the General Assembly, however, are Progressive Chen Hui and Socialist Estelle Delaunay, who were reelected in 2016. The Enaran Parliament is the top of the ticket election within the province. First Minister Pascal Ruan, of the People’s Party, is among the most unpopular provincial chief executives in the nation, with a net approval rating of -37 percentage points. The New Democrats, in particular, who are currently the third-largest party in the provincial Parliament but were excluded from coalition talks, are out for vengeance, deploying millions of marks in TV and radio advertising buys. New Democratic leaders speak of gaining over 6 MPs in the 60-member parliament, fueled by dissatisfaction with the incumbent coalition’s economic and environmental record.

---

Latest Polling, fromLe Laeralien
Delegate Damien Vendorme: 30% (+1)
Governor Liu Mei-han: 20% (+2)
Prime Minister Tanvi Misra: 18% (+2)
Representative Hsieh Pai-han: 12% (+0)
Delegate Bernard Errante: 9% (-1)
Representative Jean-Pierre Nury: 8% (-1)
Undecided/Other: 3%

---

Campaign News Update

La Sentinelle: Zhang Drops Out of Shaoxing General Assembly Race, Putting Progressive Hold in Doubt

Laeralsford Chronicle: Tanvi Misra Has Been Counted Out Before. Don’t Repeat the Mistake

Le Laeralien: People’s Party Secretly Mulling Coalition With Laeral Unbowed

Le Pays: Polls Show Harder Government Formation Process Than Ever Awaits

Diard News: Investors Mull Over Gov’t Bonds

L'Indépendant: Could LPP Enter Nightmare Coalition With Hsieh?

Le Stylo: WA Mobsters Have Dark Designs For Laeral

[Trive 38]

TRIVIAN ROYALTY TAKES OFFICIAL STAND ON LAERALIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Emperor Lynnoux Yakovlev@CoolestTrivianEmperor
Just now from Emerald Palace

Congratulations, Laeralians! You may have the perfect ruler after this election! I, Emperor Lynnoux Yakovlev, officially endorse @LiuMei-han for President! Plus, she's really cute. But you did not hear this from me.

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Prince Yuri Yakovlev @PrinceYuriYakovlev
Just now from Von Fatalis Castle

The Yakovlev house and the remainder of the Trivian government are officially supporting @LiuMei-han for President of Laeral. Any and all Laeralians seeing this, go out and vote for @LiuMei-han, and the New Democratic Alliance!
Glory to Laeral, and Glory to Trive! May we prosper forever!

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[Ru-]

King Yoshio (@realkingyoshio)
Just now from New Ru City, Ru

Hello everyone, so I have some rather big news concerning the elections in Lareal. Brace yourselves:

I've been informed that Ruvian Intelligence has uncovered a coordinated effort from Elizia to undermine the Laeralan elections by flooding social media with fake accounts meant to resemble Larealite users. Twitter, Facebook, Setz, and other websites are effected. The goal of this campaign is to cause division among the Larealan voters in order to influence the election. This group is using different types of influences as part of their overall strategy, the activity of these fake accounts includes the following:

-"right wing" influencers, that are targeting right leaning Larealite users with content in support of Delegate Vendorme and Representative Hsieh and their respective parties. Their goal is to rile up and radicalize this base, and to drum up support among conservative voters for these parties and their candidates.
- "left wing" influencers targeting Larealan social media users who lean left. Their goal is to drum up support for hard-line socialist positions in order to divide support between the left leaning candidates, and ultimately their aim is to create disillusionment with the entire Larelan government and the election process, in order to drive voter turnout from the left down.
- influencer accounts that spread intentionally false news stories for the purpose of fear-mongering
- influencer accounts that manipulate hashtags and interactions in order get the websites' algorithms to push up the divisive content from the other influencer accounts in order to increase their visibility in Lareal.

It is believed that this group's efforts in Lareal are being done in an attempt to damage Prime Minister Misra's campaign and to create divisiveness among Larealan social media users in the belief that such an environment would benefit the campaigns of Vendrome and Hsieh, though we do not have evidence that either of these candidates are involved in or aware of this Elizia influence campaign at this time. We also do not know if this campaign is an officially sanctioned government operation. However Ru strongly recommendes that the government of Lareal begin an investigation into what connections these two may have with Elizia in order to determine why exactly they are so interested in their campaigns' success to the point that they would attack the integrity of Lareal's elections and sovereignty so blatantly.

We also have strong reason to believe that Lareal is not the only nation that this group has launched this type of attack against in the past, present and future, which is why I am putting this information out before the public now. Ru will continue to investigate this matter, and has reached out to President Brennan and the government of Lareal in order to give them the information we know and to coordinate our investigation efforts. Ultimately it'll be up to the voters to decide what they make of all this, but if campaign laws have been violated we will help ensure that the perpetrators face justice. This is the concern of every nation that purports to have free and fair democratic elections. Good night, and Cael bless. #LarealElection2018

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ENCRYPTED
To: President Nicholas Brennan
From: The Ruvian Intelligence Department
IE: Urgent
Sir,
It is of the utmost importance that you get our agency in touch with intelligence agency and cyber investigation units. We have much more specific information then has been released to the public that we need to turn over so your government may take the appropriate action. We will cooperate fully with Lareal in this matter, as we believe Ruvian elections may be at risk in the future. Let us know how we can be of help and share any information you uncover on this group and any possible involvement from the candidates.

In particular I would reccommend looking into Delegate Vendrome and who he has been meeting with if you are able. We lack any solid evidence of his involvement, but we do have our suspicions, since it is quite unlikely that this operation would be conducted without an attempt to consult with the candidate that they intend to help.

We have allowed His Majesty to reveal the basics of this operation due to the large public following he has on his social media accounts in order to gauge this group's reaction to possible discovery. If they start scrambling to cover thier tracks, that creates slip ups that might shed some more light on who exactly is responsible for this operation. Let's keep each other posted on any further developments.

Best regards,
Earl Swinter, Deputy Director of His Royal Majesty's Department of International Intelligence

[Silver Commonwealth]

-+-PUNCH CORPORATION ALL RIGHTS RESERVED-+-

Kayden Watson
ONLINE

Wrote a shout out just a while ago:

---

This was a tough decision. Like, really hard. From one side, we would proudly support nationalists, and we are still very conservative, but from other side, we aren't fond of free-market economics - in fact, we don't consider anyone, who supports free market economics, a nationalist. Also, there are some socialist sympathies in our Party, especially with authoritarian wing. So, in the end, one half of our party decided to cast vote in favor of ''Laeral Unbowed!'' (Hsieh Pai-han), but the other half - in favor of ''Socialist Party'' (Jean-Pierre Nury), despite our overall disagreement with democratic socialism, because some of our members prefer it as a better alternative to Pai's lower tax policies.

#VoteSocialist #Left-WingNationalism

---

34,567 Hits

-+-PUNCH CORPORATION ALL RIGHTS RESERVED-+-

[Laeral]

Hsieh Pai-han (@HsiehPai-han)
Just now from Shaoxing, Laeral

Despite whatever Cascadian President Ford might say, Laeral Unbowed! is not a fascist party, and fascism is frankly repugnant to me. A group of occidental far-leftists half the multiverse away think that that Rén nationalism is fascism and a threat to Laeral. Whenever Rén get too uppity, it seems that the radical, 'tolerant' left comes out of the woodwork to denounce it. #LaeralUnbowed!

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Bernard Errante (@B.Errante_Anglais)
Just now from Garnier, Harcour, Laeral

@Maréchal-LeMenParliamentHouse,
It a time of worsening political discourse, it is more important than ever to recall our faith and our guiding principles. Hatred is not who we are as a nation, and I will continue to stand up for tolerance and harmony in our great nation. I remain convinced that this is the true meaning of not only conservatism, but also true leadership. #PartiConservateur

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Liu Mei-han (@LiuMei-han)
Just now from Lyrene, Bethune

@CoolestTrivianEmperor;
謝謝 這是很長一段時間，因為任何人都稱我為美麗。但我會接受它！當選舉日臨近時，我很高興得到Trivean王室的支持。
Merci! Cela fait très longtemps que personne ne m'a appelé belle. Mais je vais le prendre! Je suis heureux d'avoir le soutien de la famille royale Trivean à l'approche du jour des élections.
Aww, thank you! It's been a very long time since anyone's called me beautiful. But I'll take it! I'm glad to have the support of the Trivean royal family as election day approaches.

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Del. Damien Vendorme (@damien_vendorme_english)
Just now from Dovasary, Sarene

My campaign is aware of the rumors regarding foreign interference in the Laeralian election, despite their unorthodox source (the child king of Ru). I intend to work closely with the government to ensure the security of of upcoming elections. Our first priority is to protect our democracy.

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[Laeral]

Day Fourteen: A Clerk in Sendrasi
“It’s all about the economy,” says Guillaume Yang, 48. He’s a middle-aged man, multiracial, who works as a clerk at a Monoprix in Xinguan, a small town in Sendrasi province. “The economy is hitting rock bottom, and people who have lived and worked in Laeral all their lives can’t get enough to live on. Crime rates are rising, and Laeral was humiliated in Lauchenoria and the Northeastern Sea.” He says the word ‘humiliated’ with particular emphasis. As it turns out, his younger brother is Trooper Eric Yang, who served in the Laeralian National Security Force in Lauchenoiria. “My brother,” Guillaume says, “sent me emails every week from Lauchenoiria. And as he told it, our boys were humiliated out there. They weren’t given the tools or the numbers they needed to win the war. Their own coalition allies just treated us like trash. And then when Sanctaria decided to up and end the war, President Brennan just went along with them. The world is laughing at us.”

Yang isn’t as certain, however, about the politicians he’s choosing to support. “I feel like most of them aren’t willing to do anything to bring about the change we need. A lot of them are too focused on squabbling like kindergarteners. I guess I’ll vote for Damien Vendorme. He’s saying the right kind of things, like making Laeral stronger and building up the military and that kind of thing.” Besides Vendorme, however, Yang isn’t quite sure who he’ll support. Chances are, he admits, he’ll vote LPP all the way down the ticket.

---

Sendrasi province, with a population of around 820,000, lies firmly in the LPP column this election year. The province is roughly 40% Rén, 40% multiracial, and 20% Arrivée, with around 70% of residents identifying as ‘working-class’ in a recent survey. Sendrasi went strongly for the LPP candidate, Corinne Pelletier, in 2014, by a margin of over twenty points over Brennan in the presidential runoff. The province’s Legislature has 50 Representatives, and is governed by an LPP-Conservative coalition, with a People’s Party Governor. Sendrasi, however, will be electing Delegates this year, and Conservative incumbent Henri Zhu is in the fight of his political life to retain the seat. While moderate Progressive Gwenaël Ma is expected to sail to reelection, thanks to his long ties to the province, the LPP has recruited popular former Governor Chan Xun to contest the seat. The campaign has turned ugly, with Zhu calling Chan “King of Lies” while Chan has referred to Zhu as a “dastard”. Regardless, Les Couloirs gives Chan an 80% chance of victory, and the Conservative Party’s recent decision to pull funds from that race indicate that party leadership has abandoned Zhu in favor of other vulnerable candidates. This likely spells the end for Zhu’s chance of reelection.

---

Latest Polling, fromLe Laeralien
Delegate Damien Vendorme: 29% (-1)
Governor Liu Mei-han: 20% (+0)
Prime Minister Tanvi Misra: 19% (+1)
Representative Hsieh Pai-han: 11% (-1)
Delegate Bernard Errante: 9% (+0)
Representative Jean-Pierre Nury: 8% (+0)
Undecided/Other: 4%

With only three days left until the first round of Laeral’s national elections, the newspaper Le Pays has released full polling results on Laeral’s first round elections, which will elect the presidential candidates which continue into the runoff, as well as General Assembly Delegates. The poll included over 6,000 likely voters.

Do you approve or disapprove of President Brennan’s job performance?
Approve: 39%
Disapprove: 49%
Undecided: 12%

What candidate will you vote for in the upcoming presidential election?
Delegate Damien Vendorme: 30%
Governor Liu Mei-han: 22%
Prime Minister Tanvi Misra: 19%
Representative Hsieh Pai-han: 10%
Delegate Bernard Errante: 8%
Representative Jean-Pierre Nury: 7%
Bruno Zhou (Radical Party of the Left): 2%
Cedric Garcia (Secular Democrats): 1%
Undecided/Other: 1%

Which party list will you vote for in the upcoming election to the Assembly of Commons?
-386 Representatives, elected proportionally
-194 seats (or 193, and the President’s support) needed for majority

Laeralian People’s Party: 86 (+24)
Progressive Party: 80 (-18)
New Democratic Alliance: 66 (+47)
Laeral Unbowed!: 32 (+15)
Socialist Party: 31 (-44)
Conservative Party: 29 (-43)
Radical Party of the Left: 22 (+22)
Secular Democratic Party: 17 (+17)
Green Party/Laeralian Ecology: 9 (-2)
United Right: 5 (-13)
Minjian Appeal Party: 5 (+5)
Women’s Alliance: 4 (+4)[/size]

Result: Hung Assembly of Commons

Possible Coalitions:

Grand Coalition: Laeralian People’s Party + Progressive Party + New Democratic Alliance. 232 Seats/39 above necessary for majority.

---

Le Laeralien: Ruvian King Alleges Elizian Election Meddling Via Social Media

Le Pays: Poll: People’s Party To Be Largest Party in Assembly of Commons

La Sentinelle: Brennan Silent On Elizia Election Meddling Allegations

Les Couloirs: New Democrats Feature Energy, Multilingualism, Anti-Tobacco In New Ads

Aujourd’hui: Is Social Media Foreign Election Meddling Tool?

Le Stylo: Is “Women’s Alliance” Party Funded By Kerlian Radicals?

Following explosive allegations of fake social media accounts being used by foreign powers to influence the Laeralian election, candidates have rapidly distanced themselves from blame. While Ru's King Yoshio I alleged via a Setsuzoku post that his nation's intelligence service has noted election meddling, President Brennan has refused to comment on the issue, calling it an "ongoing issue which we are taking a close look at". Unsubstantiated rumors claim that the Bureau of External Affairs, Laeral's foreign spy service, or the Office for Homeland Intelligence, Laeral's domestic spy bureau, are looking into the issue. Vendorme and Hsieh, named in the Setsuzoku post, have both claimed to have no knowledge of the plot, and have both condemned any such attempts. It is expected that no investigation is possible in the six days before Laeral goes to the polls in the first-round election, although nothing is certain. This is a developing story, and more news is expected shortly.

[Lauchenoiria]

Lauchenoirian Politicians Endorse Candidates in the Laeralian Election

As the first round of voting in the Laeralian presidential election, plus their election of General Assembly Delegates, draws near, various Lauchenoirian politicians from across the political spectrum have been commenting on the election, and endorsing candidates. The elections in Laeral, a country which was involved in Lauchenoiria's recent civil war, are of importance to Lauchenoiria due to the relationship between the two nations, particularly in terms of trade following the devastation of the war on the Lauchenoirian economy.

In what comes as an embarrassment to controversial former Prime Minister Laura Moore, who endorsed Progressive candidate Tanvi Misra last week, the newly-elected leader of her party, the Liberal Party of Lauchenoiria, Josephine Alvarez has come out publicly endorsing Liu Mei-han of the New Democratic Alliance. "Liu Mei-han is the right choice for the next President of Laeral," Alvarez told the Lauchenoirian Guardian earlier today. "I'm confident if she is elected, we will be able to increase trade between our two countries, and naturally, I have to agree with her anti-smoking policies!" Smoking has been banned in Lauchenoiria since 2011, and is a popular policy among supporters of the Liberal Party of Lauchenoiria.

The Communists, who have not publicly endorsed any candidate, denounced Alvarez's endorsement, claiming it was a "stunt" designed to distance the Liberal Party from Tanvi Misra, and subsequently Laura Moore. "The Liberals do not care about Laeral. They care only about their own electoral prospects," a spokesperson said, "if they felt it would benefit them, they would endorse Vendorme, or even Hsieh Pai-han." The Communist Party also commented on the various scandals that have plagued Misra's campaign. "It's unsurprising that she's corrupt. She's always seemed suspicious." It is important to note, however, that the present Laeralian government were responsible for the Laeralian intervention in Lauchenoiria on the opposite side of the war to the Communists.

Meanwhile, the leader of the far-right Lauchenoiria First party, Paul Doberman, has continued to show his support for Hsieh Pai-han and Laeral Unbowed! on social media:

 

Paul Doberman (@PaulDobermanLF)
Just now from Lorentonia, Lauchenoiria

I fully support @HsiehPai-han as he is the ONLY candidate in Laeral who is willing to do what is necessary to free Laeral from foreign influence and ensure the sovereignty of his country! For too long both our countries have been under the thumb of imperialist forces who use debt and trade instead of military might to covertly conquer!

A victory for Laeral Unbowed! would signal to all the NEO-IMPERIALISTS in Sanctaria and elsewhere that other countries will NO LONGER STAND FOR this secret war on sovereignty! To all Laeralites I say this: vote for Hsieh Pai-han and take back control of your country!!! #LaeralUnbowed!

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Doberman also told the Lauchenoirian Guardian that, while he believes LPP candidate Damien Vendorme "does not go far enough", he welcomed Vendorme's comments about Sanctaria and the Haven Accords, which he believes are a "plot by Sanctaria to clandestinely occupy Lauchenoiria". This is a view which for the past few months has been commonly associated with the radical fringe elements of Lauchenoirian society.

The Feminist Party, which suffers from the same rumours about Kerlian funding as the Women's Alliance, has endorsed their counterparts, while also trying to distance themselves from the statement of support for the Women's Alliance issued by Kerlian President Joanna Greenwood. "The Kerlians enjoy manipulating elections," their leader Katherine Wright said, "and they're playing up these rumours of Kerlian funding so that the Women's Alliance loses votes." When questioned on why Kerlile would do such a thing, Wright added: "they can't very well spread their propaganda that women are completely subservient in Laeral if the Women's Alliance win seats, can they?"

When asked for comment, current Prime Minister Keitha Noguera's office issued a statement that Noguera would not comment on foreign elections, and that it was her job to focus on the rebuilding of Lauchenoiria following the civil war.

[Laeral]

Day Fifteen: A Server in Meilun
In the days of the Shei Dynasty (1524-1658), the teahouses of what is now Meilun province were seen as among the most refined in Laeral. Famed locations, from the Taijing Teahouse, favored discussion forum of philosopher Kuang Xia, to the Meixiang Teahouse, site of over 600 notable duels, became famous throughout Laeral, and are still spoken of today. As Laeral’s tourism industry has grown, Meilun province’s teahouses have experienced a renaissance, with visitors from around the ‘verse coming to visit and have a cup of tea and a few bites to eat.

The Shanjiang Teahouse, another favored site for duellists, was rebuilt in 1961 as a tourist attraction and functioning restaurant. By day, dozens of visitors from around the country and the IDU come to sip tea and nibble on steamed pork buns. By night, the teahouse stages recreations of famous duels. Song Xiulan is one of those reenactors. I spoke to Ms. Song as she was in the employee break room, getting a drink of water after once again being stabbed to death by Shei Dynasty soldier of fortune Hou Guanting. Song hopes to one day play the famous female duellist Bai Fen, but having worked at the teahouse for only four years, she still plays bit parts and unnamed roles in large battles. In her fifteen minute break after her performance, and before she changes uniforms and becomes a waitress for the rest of the night, I talked to her about her view on the upcoming elections.

“I detest Vendorme,” she says. “His kind of nationalism shouldn’t be popular in Laeral. Here at the teahouse, we get visitors from around the IDU. I’m not an expert on foreign policy, but the Sanctarians that visit are just as nice as everyone else. So are the Serrielans, for that matter.” She says that she’s worried that Vendorme will win the presidential election. “He just seems like such a toxic person, and kind of an [expletive], if you ask me. I’m worried by the polls that I’ve seen, but we have a runoff in Laeral. I’m sure that whoever goes up against him will defeat him.” Song herself is enamored of Governor Liu Mei-han and the centrist Alliance party, who she describes as a “new voice” in politics. “I expect that there will be plenty of turbulence after the election, and I think that Governor Liu has what it takes to build a coalition and move the country forward”.

---

Meilun province is a part of the prosperous Riverlands region along the Zhongshui/Laer River. In contrast to it’s heavily populated neighbors, Meilun is more agrarian and rural, however, producing a major proportion of Laeral’s rice production. Meilun also has the second-smallest provincial legislature in the country, behind only Fuxing. The provincial legislature has traditionally been a Progressive stronghold. At present, 16 of the Representatives in the Legislative Yuan (elected in single-member, first-past-the-post constituencies) are Progressives. Until 2017, Progressive Delegate André Lin represented the province as well, until he crossed the aisle to become the first (and only) New Democrat in the General Assembly. The junior Delegate from Meilun, Fernand Cheung, is a member of the LPP.

Governor Liu’s presidential campaign, as well as a wave of New Democratic activists, have descended upon Meilun, seeing the province as a prime source of votes for Liu and New Democratic candidates to the Commons and the provincial Legislature, which will also be up for election. Current polling shows the Progressives with 30% of the Assembly of Commons vote province-wide, with the New Democrats at 35% and the LPP at 25%. Losing control of the provincial Legislature would be a shock to the Progressives, seeing as there has not been a non-Progressive First Minister since 1997.

---

Latest Polling, fromLe Laeralien
Delegate Damien Vendorme: 28% (-1)
Governor Liu Mei-han: 21% (+1)
Prime Minister Tanvi Misra: 19% (+0)
Representative Hsieh Pai-han: 12% (+1)
Delegate Bernard Errante: 10% (+1)
Representative Jean-Pierre Nury: 7% (-1)
Undecided/Other: 3%

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Le Laeralien: Vendorme: Voter Fraud “Threat to Our Election”

La Sentinelle:Critics: Vendorme’s Platform More Politics Than Policy

Le Pays: Vendorme, Misra, Nury, Liu Clash Over Voter Fraud

Les Couloirs: Wil Rén LPP Voters Flip To Liu?

Le Stylo: Is Serriel Meddling In Our Election?

Del. Damien Vendorme (@damien_vendorme_english)
Just now from Goren, Sendrasi

Urgent message to all voters: Watch out for voter fraud! The police and the National Election Commission have heard reports of illegal migrants, foreign citizens, and underage voters trying to sneak into voting booths for their own dark designs. Keep an eye out when you vote for any suspicious activity and report it to the election staff or police. Remember, your vote doesn’t count if it’s cancelled out by an illegal one. #SecureOurVote

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Prime Minister Tanvi Misra (@MisraCampaignEnglish)
Just now from Adelaide, Meridoc

@damien_vendorme The first time I ever voted, I was stopped by police poll monitors, who wanted to check my ID to make sure I was a legal voter. I was detained for almost an hour while they checked my identification against the voter database. When our election staff unjustly search voters for ‘looking suspicious’, it sends the message that their voters aren’t welcome in our democracy. Disproportionately, those stopped are voter of color.

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Liu Mei-han (@LiuMei-han)
Just now from Cordeliers, Corday

選民欺詐的主張往往只是壓制投票的一種方式。試圖非法投票的真實實際情況非常罕見。請記住，如果你有投票的權利，不要讓恐懼把它拿走。抬頭走進投票站，不要讓任何人阻止你投票。
Trop souvent, les allégations de fraude électorale ne sont qu'un moyen de supprimer le vote. Les cas réels et réels de personnes essayant de voter illégalement sont incroyablement rares. N'oubliez pas que si vous avez le droit de voter, ne laissez pas la peur l'enlever. La tête haute, ne vous laissez pas arrêter par les urnes.
All too often, claims of voter fraud are just an excuse to suppress the vote. Real, actual instances of people trying to vote illegally are incredibly rare. Remember, if you have the right to vote, don’t let others' fear take it away. Walk into the polling place with your head high, and don’t let anyone stop you from voting.

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[Laeral]

Day Sixteen: A Bird-Hunter in Lijiang

Lijiang province is among the most rural in Laeral. Covered in dense mountains and immense tracts of wilderness preserve, the province has historically been attractive to sages (several holy sites of the Minjian Faith are located in Lijiang) as well as those seeking a place to hide (famed outlaw Germain Pinson had his final gunfight near the capital city of Yanqing). Out here, in the hinterlands of Lijiang province, it’s not hard for me to imagine that I’m back in the days that this was still the untamed frontier. Much of the land remains undeveloped, covered in craggy mountains and rolling foothills. That’s the exact reason why Guan Lei, a middle-aged Rén man, is with me here and now, on a placid riverbank between hills draped in trees. During the high season, Lei works as a guide, taking well-heeled tourists from Laeralsford and points east on birdwatching tours. In the winter, when the flow of tourists dries up, Lei hunts and traps those same birds. I ask him if this is legal. He curtly shakes his head, and then shrugs. This is what economists call the “grey market”, and here in the impoverished southwest, a great many residents make their living on the fringes of the legal economy.

I stay with Lei the entire day, sunrise to sunset, as we traipse across the rocky landscape along hunters’ trails. The landscape is stark and beautiful, with the leaves of the trees in gorgeous fall color. I note with surprise that Lei doesn’t have a gun, but he doesn’t need one for today’s trip. He’s set cunning traps, most of them with glue designed to trap birds when they perch on a tree branch. Sometimes when he checks a trap, it has a common bird- a snowfinch, perhaps. Those are too small to eat, so he lets them go. Sometimes, it’s empty. But at one of the traps, a migratory songbird sits, entrapped. Auspicious and prized, it will fetch a good price to a collector. When we stop for lunch, after Lei, an orthodox Minjian, says his prayers, I press him on politics. He supports Hsieh Pai-han in the presidential race. “We as Rén need someone who will stand up for us,” he says. “I want to be able to hold my head high both when I’m a tour guide and when I’m a bird hunter. This election is about dignity for Rén, and I believe Hsieh will deliver. Throughout his campaign, he has been showing that Rén aren’t going to be quiet and let easterners make our decisions for us. I think he’s correct, that we need to take back our nation.”

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Lijiang province leans heavily rightward. When the province’s two Delegates were last up for election, the People’s Party candidate racked up a ten-point margin of victory over the runner-up, from the Conservatives. Under Laeral’s election system for the General Assembly, both were seated in Laeralsford, while their Progressive and Socialist challengers were not. Lijiang province’s well-documented independent streak is shown, however, in the strength of the Center Voters, a center-right political party active almost solely within the province as a member of the governing coalition in the provincial legislature, the Council of State, alongside the People’s Party. Although the Center Voters have never gotten close to reaching the 0.75% margin of the nationwide vote required to enter the Assembly of Commons, their candidates occupy 8 of the 35 seats in the Council of State. Lijiang will hold provincial elections this year, as well as elections for the Mayor of Yanqing Municipality. Although polling is sparse in this rural province, the LPP-Center Voters coalition is expected to retain the majority in the Council of State, while the Center Voters candidate is expected to triumph in Yanqing. The factor that could throw a monkey wrench into this is in Laeral Unbowed!’s recent campaigning efforts in the province, where they hope to cut into the LPP’s voter base. As polling is scarce, only on Election Day will it be known if their efforts have been a success.

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Latest Polling, from Le Laeralien
Delegate Damien Vendorme: 28% (+0)
Governor Liu Mei-han: 22% (+1)
Prime Minister Tanvi Misra: 20% (+1)
Representative Hsieh Pai-han: 11% (-1)
Delegate Bernard Errante: 9% (-1)
Representative Jean-Pierre Nury: 6% (-1)
Undecided/Other: 4%

Le Laeralien: In Closing Days of Campaign, Questions Remain About Foreign Influence

La Sentinelle: La Sentinelle Endorses Tanvi Misra For President

Le Pays: Has Laeral Done Enough to Secure the Vote?

Les Couloirs: 2018 Is Poised To Break Record For Most Expensive Election Cycle

Le Stylo: Gangs Of Migrants Preparing to Intimidate Voters At Polls

Del. Damien Vendorme (@damien_vendorme_english)
Just now from Dovasary, Sarene

Another police officer was killed in Rilos last night. His name was Frédéric Devos, and he was stabbed to death by vicious criminals, members of the criminal gang White Seas Group. We need more cops on the beat, and prosecutors and judges who won’t go easy on gang violence. In many of our nation’s cities, the police are at war with gangs and crime. I’m sorry to disappoint ‘Inspector Lau’, but nothing but commonsense anti-criminal tactics can help us break up the crime syndicates and avenge the death of Officer Frédéric Devos.
#ourcops #vendorme2018

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Prime Minister Tanvi Misra (@MisraCampaignEnglish)
Just now from Songshan, Meilinis, Laeral

I'm glad to have the endorsement of La Sentinelle, among our nation's finest news sources. La Sentinelle has been a great part of our nation's free press, working to hold politicians accountable and keep the public informed. I'm glad that their editorial staff, after examining all of the candidates carefully, chose to place their trust in me to lead our nation. To my supporters: your help is critical is these final days of the election until round 1. Every door knocked on during canvassing, every phone call made, every poster hung up matters in this critical final stretch. #TanviMisra #Élection2018

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[Trive 38]

BREAKING NEWS - ANNOUNCEMENT FROM TRIVIAN ROYAL HOUSE

Trivian Royal Prince Yuri Yakovlev to visit Laeral

The Yakovlev House has confirmed that Trivian Royal Prince Yuri Yakovlev has checked in a commercial flight operated by Trivy Airlines, from the Tudor Colonial Airport in the Trivian Colonies to Laeralsford.
No further information was revealed by the House, but Prince Yuri is expected to post an update in his Setsuzoku profile.

[Laeral]

Day Seventeen: A Film Worker in Jinhua
Silver Harvest Studios is one of the ‘Five Giants’- the quintet of film studios that dominate the Laeralian film industry. Over the past four decades, one of the ways that Laeral has become best known on the international stage is through film. From the artsy fare favored by Loiraine province’s Marion-Guichard Productions, to the big-budget action movie reboots, spin-offs, and sequels favored by Silver Harvest, Laeralian cinema is a crucial part of the ‘cultural economy’ President Brennan speaks so highly of. In the suburbs of Laonong, capital of Jinhua province, Silver Harvest owns a massive facility spanning over two square kilometers, used to shoot movies. Mickaël Yeoh works within this facility, overseeing safety for the actors and crew of blockbuster films such as Champion of Chance 3: Journey to the West, Ambassador Nice Guy, and Inspector Lau Chronicles: First Strike (the sequel to a spin-off of the popular ‘Gendarme Story’ series). As soon as the closing bell rings, however, Yeoh hurries home, where his wife and two children are waiting.

Mickaël Yeoh had really hoped his parents would approve of his then-fiancee, Minali Desai. As he explained over dinner in his cramped apartment within a public housing project, his parents had reacted badly, first to his asking permission that he marry a daughter of Desi immigrant parents, and secondly to the revelation that Minali was pregnant. Undeterred, the young couple moved to a bleak affordable housing apartment in Laonong’s suburbs, where Minali gave birth to twins. Since then, Mickaël has had to support the family of four on his salary, bereft of the family support traditionally given to new parents. His paternity leave (three months) ended in July, and since then, he’s seen his wife and children less and less. “It seems to me like the government should definitely be doing more to help out with people like me who aren’t able to rely on family support,” he says, while washing dishes. Mickaël supports Liu Mei-han, who also spent time in public housing. “I really think that she understands how hard it is to get by when you’re in our kind of situation,” he says. “Besides, she’s the candidate who’s talking about housing and other basic economic issues. The war in Lauchenoiria, or secularism, and that kind of thing don’t really have an impact on our day-to-day lives, and I’m glad that she’s stayed out of that.” Minali, meanwhile, strongly supports Tanvi Misra, as do a majority (57%) of Laeralites of Desi origin. Both of them have made plans to take the twins with them when they cast their ballots on Election Day.

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Jinhua province, one of the two westernmost provinces within the prosperous Riverlands region, is an island of red politics among the river of blue that is western Laeral. Jinhua’s 780,000 voters routinely cast their ballots for left-wing candidates. The Socialist party, largely confined to eastern and central Laeral, even has a delegate from the province, with Jinhua’s other delegate a Progressive. The establishment of many of the nation’s film studios within the province, thanks to generous tax incentives, also acts to keep the province firmly in the red column. Jinhua takes a firm leftward stance on certain social issues, such as prostitution (legalized), school uniforms (abolished), and tobacco (taxed). Jinhua’s provincial Legislature is governed by the Progressives, in coalition with Liu Mei-han’s New Democrats. There are no province-wide elections this election cycle.

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Latest Polling, from Le Laeralien
Delegate Damien Vendorme: 29% (+1)
Governor Liu Mei-han: 21% (-1)
Prime Minister Tanvi Misra: 19% (-1)
Representative Hsieh Pai-han: 12% (+1)
Delegate Bernard Errante: 8% (-1)
Representative Jean-Pierre Nury: 6% (+0)
Undecided/Other: 5%

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Le Laeralien: How The Misra Campaign Recovered

La Sentinelle: Vendorme: Nat’l Open Universities Are Ivory Towers

Le Pays: Why We’re Endorsing Damien Vendorme For President

Les Couloirs: Is the Socialists’ Hélène Zhang Having The Last Laugh Over Nury?

Le Stylo: Secret Aurelie Liao Nude Pics Exposed Online!

Liu Mei-han (@LiuMei-han)
Just now from Lyrene, Bethune

您是否看過Mickaël Yoh關於“33天33省”的故事？我們國家的年輕人，移民和社會中最弱勢群體中有太多人被困在公共住房系統中，沒有機會搬出去。我振興經濟的計劃將有所幫助，但我也制定了公共住房建設和分配方式的根本變革計劃，以便讓公共住房成為像Mickaël和Minali這樣的人可以養家的地方。
Avez-vous vu l’histoire de Mickaël Yeoh sur «33 provinces en 33 jours»? Beaucoup trop de jeunes de notre pays, de nos immigrants et des personnes les plus vulnérables de la société sont pris au piège dans un système de logements sociaux sans possibilité de sortir. Mes projets de revitalisation de notre économie seront utiles, mais j’ai également présenté des plans visant à modifier radicalement la construction et l’attribution des logements sociaux, afin de faire de ces logements un lieu où des personnes comme Mickaël et Minali peuvent élever une famille.
Did you see Mickaël Yeoh’s story on “33 Provinces in 33 Days”? Far too many of our nation’s young people, our immigrants, and the most vulnerable people in society are trapped in a public housing system without opportunities to move out. My plans to revitalize our economy will help, but I’ve also laid out plans for radical changes in how public housing is built and assigned, in order to make public housing a place where people like Mickaël and Minali can raise a family.

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[Trive 38]

Prince Yuri Yakovlev @PrinceYuriYakovlev
Just now from Laeralsford, Laeral

I have landed in Laeralsford. I will be travelling throughout Laeral in the next month. I'll be off to Lyrene in a few hours.

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[Laeral]

Day Eighteen: The Political Revolutionary
Liu Mei-han looks much more like the nice old lady from down the street than a revolutionary reshaping the entire dynamic of Laeral’s political system. She adores her two pet cats, makes her own pork buns, and drinks a cup of black tea every morning before work. Depending on who you ask, she may be a visionary leader, fighting to free Laeral’s government from the tyranny of stale ideas and partisanship. Alternately, she may be a carbon copy of Tanvi Misra, a fresh-faced rebranding of the Prime Minister’s policies. Or maybe she’s a traitor to the left, the turncoat who pays lip service to left-wing values while scheming to undermine worker’s rights and advance a neoliberal agenda.

Liu’s life story has become a fixture of her campaign appearances.

She was born in 1964 to a working-class family in Nanhai, where she lived with her four younger siblings in public housing in a slum district of the gritty metropolis of Hanshui. She excelled in school, working her way through the prestigious Sun Jia-wei National Open University, and later the Laeralsford Institute of Political Sciences. Upon graduating, Liu became an academic, teaching at various universities, including Élisabeth-Charlotte Cordé National Open University and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Diplomatic Academy, for around a decade. After being rejected by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Liu was appointed as a specialist consultant for the National Security Council and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, focusing on foreign relations within the Hespian continent, although she kept her academic position at the time. Liu was also appointed as Chair of the Foreign Affairs and Diplomacy Council, a think-tank, before resigning from all of her governmental and non-governmental positions in 2004 for personal reasons, although she only left her academic positions in 2006. In 2006, she ran for the Neidong provincial legislature as a Progressive, where she served, rising to Deputy Speaker of the Legislature, until choosing to run for Governor of the province in 2012. Liu unexpectedly won the Progressive primary and squeaking to a narrow victory. Following her victory, Liu was elected Vice-Chair of the Progressive Governors’ Congress. Her name was suggested for the post of Foreign Minister under the First Misra Government, but she was rejected in favor of Marie-Claire Beringer. However, Liu resigned as Neidong Governor in 2016, after she was named as President Brennan’s Ambassador to the World Assembly, which she held until resigning to form her insurgent political party, the New Democratic Alliance. Governor Liu, now polling in second in the presidential race, graciously agreed to speak for an interview.

Governor Liu, you shocked many around the country when you chose to defect from the Progressives to create your own political party. Would you explain why you chose to take such an unorthodox action, instead of working within the Progressive Party structure?
“I’ve been a member of the Progressive party for decades. My parents were Progressives, and so is most of my family overall. And I won’t deny that it was very difficult for me to make my decision. I had told only my family and close friends about what I was planning, and so when I called a press conference to announce the creation of the NDA [New Democratic Alliance], there were a lot of people on my staff, and a lot of politicians I knew both from Neidong and from the federal government when I was WA Ambassador, who were shocked, and in some cases angry. These were people I counted as allies, and more importantly, as friends. I served the Progressive party for ten years, and I didn’t leave it lightly. But what I saw in the Progressive party convinced me that I could best serve the country without them. There were proud, hard-working people trying to make a better Laeral, and I’m sorry to leave them. But there were also a lot of people who had risen to their positions through nepotism and patronage. There were people who were crooked and corrupt, who worked in the shadows to benefit themselves and no one else. There were also people who were tied to their own ideology, or their own desire for a political win, and blind to many of the problems that ordinary Laeralites face. And one day, I found that I couldn’t look these people in the eye and tell them that I agreed with them.”

You’ve said that your intention is to be a “non-ideological” politician. Could you clarify what this means to you?
“I believe that being non-ideological and being flexible to ideas regardless of their provenance allows for us to go further as leaders of government. I’ve had people call me a populist, a liberal, and a progressive. I don’t need any more labels. I see myself as someone who can put together ideas that work, regardless of where they come from, in order to drive our nation forward. And this is part of why it is necessary for a new party to bridge the partisan gap in our politics. There is a real, strong divide in our country between the left and the right, which has really come to the forefront in just the past month, and so what we need is to find a place between the two in order to move forward.”

What do you intend to be your style of governing and leadership?
“Bold, innovative, and humble. What I intend to do is create a culture of leadership where people and ideas rise based on merit, rather than anything else. I intend to be a president of modernity, of bringing Laeral into the future while keeping a firm grasp on our heritage. There is a place in our nation for advancements in both the finer points of calligraphy and computer coding.

As for humility, I believe that we need to avoid maintaining a political class or a political dynasty. For one, nepotism is not a component of filial piety, and neither is corruption. Tanvi Misra’s children, for instance. I don’t mean to point fingers at her, but what does it say about our politics when Pranav and Priya Misra are on the Progressive Party list for the Assembly of Commons, and Lakshmi is a major player in the Progressive Party hierarchy? Jean-Pierre Nury is the son of former President Nury. Bernard Errante practically inherited his father’s General Assembly seat. These are the kind of dynastic politics we need to avoid in order to create a meritocratic government. Within the New Democrats, I’m very proud to say that of our party list for the Assembly of Commons, 50% are women and 38% are first time candidates. We’re reaching beyond the NOUs, beyond the traditional sources of politicians, in order to find people who can make things work in Laeralsford.”

During your campaign, you’ve described your views on a great deal of policy issues, which range from all over the political spectrum. Would you mind explaining the unifying theme, if there is one, behind your policy views?
“As I’ve said before, I’m not a fan of grand, unifying, political theories. But what I can say is that a great deal of my policy positions are based on my own history. When I was Governor of Neidong, I would not have fought nearly so hard for better, safer public housing if I hadn’t spent eight years living there. I wouldn’t be fighting so hard against the tobacco industry and it’s underhanded tactics if I hadn’t seen my uncle keep up his smoking habit even as it killed him. When I was a teenager, I was an activist for Chinese-language representation in government, and against voter suppression. And so it’s not a coincidence that those causes remain dear to my heart. At my core, I am shaped by my personal history. And so if there is anyone out there trying to find out how I work, I will make the job easy for them and point them to my memoir, Forward. It’s an enjoyable read, I promise.”

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Neidong province, with over 1.8 million residents, a location adjacent to Laeralsford and the mighty Laer River, and a household income several thousand Marks above the national average, is perhaps the archetypical Riverlands province. Liu Mei-han held the Governor’s Palace in Gaolan for six years, having been elected twice, and remains broadly popular in the province. Upon leaving office, she appointed her protege, Mina Delannoy, as Governor, while the province’s Legislative Yuan is governed by a New Democrat-Progressive coalition. If any province in the nation can be considered to be a New Democratic stronghold it is Neidong; recent polling of voting intentions in the presidential race shows that in Neidong, Liu is running an impressive 27 points ahead of her performance nationwide. Liu’s supporters are anxious to raise voter turnout in the province; Neidong’s Chief Prosecutor has lobbied the National Election Commission to increase the number of polling places in the province, arguing that voters will face unreasonably long wait times when they go to the polls tomorrow. Although there are no province-wide elections this year, voter enthusiasm is expected to be high.

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Latest Polling, from Le Laeralien
Delegate Damien Vendorme: 29% (+0)
Governor Liu Mei-han: 22% (+1)
Prime Minister Tanvi Misra: 18% (-1)
Representative Hsieh Pai-han: 13% (+1)
Delegate Bernard Errante: 7% (-1)
Representative Jean-Pierre Nury: 6% (+0)
Undecided/Other: 5%

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Le Laeralien: Voter Turnout Predicted To Increase

La Sentinelle: New Democrats Eye Path To Government

Le Pays: Vendorme, LPP Remain Election Favorites

Les Couloirs: Voter Suppression: Not a Myth, But Not a Bogeyman

Le Stylo: “33 Provinces” Guest Mickaël Yeoh Flooded With Donations

Malcom Cadiou (@malcomcadiou)
Just now from Xiancheng Teahouse, Laeralsford, Laeral

New polls, especially turnout polling, is showing record-high voting intentions among Rén and western voters. This is good news for Liu, Hsieh, and maybe Vendorme. I’m not so sure about Misra, seeing as Liu stands to capture a good chunk of the Rén electorate that makes up so much of the Progressive voting base. I’ll be live-posting tomorrow election for Les Couloirs tomorrow, right here at @malcomcadiou. See you then!

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OOC Note: The first-round election is tomorrow! Thanks to everyone who's stuck with me so far; I'm sorry I haven't been more responsive to all of your roleplay submissions. Real life's been hitting me hard, and my exams this year are cutting into the time I have for this. It's been difficult at times for me to manage the pace of daily updates, but I'm hoping that I'll be able to maintain the rate of at least one post per day until the end. I've been inspired and heartened by all of your roleplayed responses to the thread; please keep them coming.
-Laeral

[Laeral]

Day Nineteen: A Tattooist in Harcour
Jordan Lacaze, 23 years old and living in eastern Harcour province, sometimes remarks jokingly that he has one of the most dangerous jobs in the country. He works at a tattoo parlor, one of less than 70 in the entire country. The fourth of the 14 Edicts of the Minjian Faith, the predominant religion of Laeral, states that “Nor shall you mutilate or defile your body, for you are a creation of the Divine and to defile such a creation is to defile their will.” In essence, devout Minjian, seeing the human form as sacred, see tattooing as a sin. “Yeah, I’ve had people demonstrating outside the store, some people yell slurs at me, and once someone slashed my car’s tires,” says Lacaze. “They say Minjian is a religion of peace, but there’s people calling me an agent of evil for trying to help people express themselves." Jordan himself has three tattoos- one on his forearm, one on his back, and the third on his leg. The one on his forearm reads “avec nos yeux bien ouverts” (with our eyes well open). “There’s some kind of crusade going on against tattooing,” Lacaze says. Tattoo parlors are illegal in seven provinces, and presidential candidate Hsieh Pai-han has pledged to pass a nationwide ban upon taking office. “I seriously don’t know if I’ll vote this election,” Lacaze admits. “I’m glad that people like Vendorme and Hsieh are taking immigration seriously, and I like that they’re thinking big. But I can’t vote for Hsieh, seeing as how he’s kind of crazy and wants reparations for colonialism and all, and I really don’t know enough about Vendorme to judge. I guess I should do some research before the polls open tonight. I'll definitely vote in the second round election, though, probably for Vendorme.” If he’s going to decide, he’ll have to do it soon. Voting closes at 20:00 tonight.

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Harcour province, part of the fertile Riverlands region and bordering the Laeralsford Municipal District, is in some ways a suburb of Laeralsford. The eastern part of the province, bordering Laeralsford, is dominated by housing for workers who commute into Laeralsford, and the offices of corporations and government contractors unable to afford Laeralsford real estate. To the south, however, Harcour borders conservative Therese province, while socialist stronghold Loiraine is to the east. Harcour went for Brennan in 2010 and was a key battleground in 2014, when Brennan held the province by less than 20,000 votes in a province of 1.3 million. Harcour’s Delegates, last elected when the province leaned further left, are a Progressive and a Socialist, both of whom are up for election. While Progressive Matthieu Lu-Rossignol is expected to be easily reelected, the Socialists’ Gaelle Fouquet has a difficult re-election fight ahead of her. Harcour is considered a prime pickup opportunity for the New Democrats. Fouquet was a member of the 2009 trip to Serriel with Tanvi Misra, and has therefore been caught up in the Serriel Affair. Additionally, Fouquet is a reviled figure among right-wingers nationwide, and the Conservative and LPP candidates for the delegacy have encouraged their supporters to put the NDA’s Murielle Godin as their second choice on the ranked-choice ballot. Although Fouquet’s campaign had an early scare when polling showed Godin leading her by a slight margin, the Socialists have flooded the province with funds in an effort to save their embattled incumbent. Voters cast their ballots in that contest tonight.

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Latest Polling, from Le Laeralien
Delegate Damien Vendorme: 27% (-2)
Governor Liu Mei-han: 22% (+0)
Prime Minister Tanvi Misra: 19% (+1)
Representative Hsieh Pai-han: 12% (-1)
Delegate Bernard Errante: 8% (+1)
Representative Jean-Pierre Nury: 7% (+1)
Undecided/Other: 5%

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Le Laeralien: Stakes High At First-Round Election

La Sentinelle: Conservatives Brace for General Assembly Losses

Le Pays: How To Follow Tonight’s Election

Les Couloirs: Yellow Wave In GA?

Le Stylo: “Brennan Has A Love Child In Kerlile!”: Highly-Placed Servant Tells All!

OOC: Some issues I've been experiencing with Imgur are the reason why there's no pictures on this update. Sorry!

[Laeral]

First-Round Election: Live Coverage

Malcom Cadiou (@malcomcadiou)
Just now from Les Couloirs Offices, Laeralsford, Laeral

This is Malcom Cadiou of Les Couloirs, back for another night of election live coverage. Polls closed at 20:00 for the #Élection2018, and the National Election Commission will release results starting in about half an hour. Tonight, two candidates will be chosen to proceed to the next round of the presidential election, and Laeralites in 11 of the 33 provinces will elect their Delegates in the General Assembly. Ranked-choice voting is used for those, so results will take days or even over a week to tally. But we should know who’s advancing to Round 2 of the presidential election in only a few hours, but maybe longer if it’s close.

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Malcom Cadiou (@malcomcadiou)
Just now from Les Couloirs Offices, Laeralsford, Laeral

Polling shows right-wing candidate Damien Vendorme in the lead, with centrist candidate and founder of a new political party, the NDA, in second. However, incumbent PM Tanvi Misra is hoping to snatch second place. She’s been in third since news broke of a scandal involving a legislative trip to Serriel. The top two candidates will advance to the second round of the election, which will be held on December 23rd.

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Malcom Cadiou (@malcomcadiou)
Just now from Les Couloirs Offices, Laeralsford, Laeral

In the General Assembly, Laeral’s upper house, the center-right Conservatives are defending a great number of seats- eight, of which they’re expected to lose four. The other big narrative of the night is that the NDA is expected to gain an impressive five seats, bringing their total to six. Political scientists theorize that, since that centrist party is the likely second or third choice of many voters, they benefit under a ranked-choice voting system.

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