El Cargotá, a Latin American country with its capital in Bartago. The country was founded alongside the other Latin American republics after the collapse of the Spanish Empire, and has one of the largest indigenous populations in the region, at nearly 30% of the entire population. During the Cold War, as the United States and Soviet Union fought over dominance, with the world as their battleground, El Cargotá became aligned with the US along with most of its neighbors, but remained democratic and never slipped into a military junta.
El Cargotá is now looking for its place on the world stage. While most of its Latin American neighbors are closely allied with the United States, some, such as Bolivia and Venezuela have turned to the Russia-China bloc. The population of El Cargotá is sharply split politically, ever since the 2008 elections, the social democratic Partido Democrático Popular de El Cargotá (People's Democratic party of El Cargotá), led by the charismatic President Miguel Tafalla, has been in control of both the presidency and the unicameral legislature, the National Assembly. Under him, the country has taken a sharp leftward turn, although not as much as Bolivia or Venezuela, and social programs and welfare have expanded. He managed to expand social programs while keeping high economic growth in the country, which made him immensely popular throughout the 2010s, as well as winning indigenous voters through his affirmative action policies.
However, he became controversial after amending the constitution to abolish term limits, allowing him to run for reelection in the 2016 presidential election, with his popularity also wavering due to economic slowdown. In the 2016 presidential elections, opposition parties made huge gains in the National Assembly, however, his party and its left wing coalition still retained the majority with a 116 seats and he still won the presidency. His second term has seen more economic sluggishness, which opposition parties blamed on his raising of taxes to pay for his social programs, as well as industry moving to other countries where the burden of taxation is lighter. Along with that, he has made extremely controversial foreign policy decisions, such as lowering tariffs with China and moving El Cargotá closer to Russia and China. His decision to allow China to rent an important port for 50 years sparked protests in 2018. His softness towards the Maduro regime has also been a cause of controversy. Many have accused him of tampering with the final count of the 2016 elections.
Now, as the 2020 elections get nearer, clamors from the right as well as other left wing parties grow against President Tafalla, and an air of uncertainty has settled in the country over its future…
El Cargotá is a standard Latin American presidential republic, with three branches of government independent of each other, whilst still checking each other. Elections occur every four years, and elections for the presidency as well as every seat of the unicameral legislature, the National Assembly, happen at the same time. The government is based in the capital city of Bartago, and the country is a unitary state, however divided into 200 districts, each of which elects one representative to the National Assembly. The president is elected by direct popular vote. The president appoints judges to the judiciary, and has the power to approve or veto ay legislation, which can be overridden by a supermajority in the National Assembly. The party or coalition with a majority in the National Assembly elects an Assembly Member to be the Premier of the Assembly, the head of the legislature, who assigns committees and chairs.
