The National Party elects a new leader (Open)

[Arcadian Union]

This will be a diplomatic thread in which your government can make a statement, your media can make news reports and even have interviews with the candidates. Rules are no godmodding, no one liners and show some effort into your post.

The National Party of Arcadia (NPA) was founded in 1982 from a split within the conservative party, with the right wing of the faction wanting to maintain the contusion of the military junta while the the moderate faction agreed that the 1910 constitution should be reinstated. The party is considered to be on the fringe of Arcadian politics and has been labelled far-right and even fascist by some groups and political commentators, the NPA denies these claims and has stated it is merely a "party of patriotic citizens who wish to preserve Arcadian tradition and culture." The party is extremely nationalistic and conservative with it voting against the gay marriage bill and a bill to protect the rights of LGBT+ people within the workplace, the NPA also proposed that every classroom should be adorned with the national flag and the pledge of allegiance should be mandatory, this was rejected in the parliament and people noted that the bill the NPA proposed was legal under the Military Junta, its members have also engaged in violence towards the immigrant population, however the party has denied it is responsible.

Recently Victor Obrik, who has lead the party since 2007 has resigned due to health issues, leaving three prominent members to place their candidacy as leader.

Those candidates come as followed:

The only woman in the race, she was born to a Calvinist family in the north east of the country, she went to a local primary and secondary school before attending the University of Dunrek, graduating with a bachelors in political science. She later joined the National Party in 2009. Korra has been considered to be the moderate wing of the party, with her believing it should drop its xenophobic rhetoric and welcome immigrants as long as they 'assimilate', she also calls for LGBT people acceptance within the party with her stating "being gay does not mean you cannot be patriotic." She favours free trade and an increase in funding to the military and security services, along with a complete overhaul of the education system of which she believes is "too left wing".

The oldest member in the race, he was one of the founders of the party in 1982, he previously served as a corporal in the 5th infantry division which saw heavy fighting against the insrgency and has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the rule of the junta, Renold denies he had any part and claims he mainly served as sentry in a military outpost. Economically he supports free trade but believes the state should have a tight control on the market, he also opposes abortion due to him being a devout catholic; he favours on ending the limit of 100,000 members in the armed forces and believes it should be greatly expanded, he also believes that Arcadia should take immideate action in taking back the Greyjoa islands from the People's Socialist Republic of Cerinda.

By far the youngest candidate in this race at the age of 35, He is also the one surrounded in the most controversy. He has made headlines with his Islamophobic and misogynistic comments with saying "Islam is incompatible with Arcadian values" and "a woman's best place is at home"; he is also rumoured to have been a member of the neo-Nazi National Front, however he denies these claims. A staunch nationalist and traditionalist, he favours protectionism and economic nationalism against what he calls the "free-market neoliberal order", he is a proponent of isolationism and re-funding of the military, on social issues Baudet is against abortion along with same sex marriage, he also calls the debate on transgender rights "lunacy". Born and raised Lutheran, he enjoys support from both the Catholic and Protestant right, through his connections, he has made allies with various right-wing and far right groups who have acted as protection at his supporter rallies. He is credited with coining the terms "Arcadia First" and "Make Arcadia Great Again", otherwise known as "MAGA".

The campaign for leader will last for three weeks till a final election on party leader is held, all candidates have stated they open to interviews to both domestic and foreign press and Q&As during the televised debate, set in two weeks time.

[Arcadian Union]

Bump

[Arcadian Union]

Danford
Capital City of Arcadia
8:30am

Today was the beginning of sixth annual conference of the National Party, it would last about three days and would feature lectures and speeches about the future of the party and how it would progress further. What is to be expected is the three candidates for leadership will give their cases as to why they should be elected leader.

One of the staffers at the conference was a young woman, about 5 foot 4 inches in height with shoulder length brown hair, she wasn't a natural brunette but that wouldn't stop her from dyeing it every few months. The conference was taking place at a huge venue that would seat over 1500 people, and security was tight due to disturbances posed in the last conferences by protesters, and this conference would be no different. Thankfully however, the Danford police department would provide extra security along with the already hired security. What did unnerve her though was Timothy Baudet's security which were members of several right wing street fighting gangs and groups which she considered to be more like thugs than security guards.

She walked through a hallway, clearly trying to look for someone, she gave an anxious look and cautiously walk as two of the aforementioned thugs walked past, wearing masks so you couldn't see their faces along with stab proof vests; she didn't know why they had to wear stuff like that, it's not like any of the protesters were dangerous, the most they did was cause a ruckus and were escorted out of the building peacefully, also why did they have to wear masks? They more looked like they were going to commit a crime more than provide protection. She then saw who she was looking for, the main organizer of the event, and also her boss; she apporached him as he was walking the other way.

"Uh sir"

He noticed her but didn't stop.

"Yes Jessica."

"I wanted to ask, about this conference".

"what is is."

"Well about the security."

"Yes?"

"Do we really need that many?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we have the police, our own security and now Baudet's, it just seems-"

"Would you rather not have the police here?"

"It's not that."

She hesitated before she spoke.

"Do we really need Baudet's men here, like I don't know it just seems like-"

By then he had stopped, turned around, put his hand on her shoulder.

"I know how you might feel, but don't worry about, everything will be fine, you're just nervous, it's normal for a intern, now get ahead and do some work, we've got a long few days ahead of us, alright?"

She looked at the hand on her shoulder and then at him, she said "okay" in a somewhat relieved voice but she was frustrated inside, still, she knew better than talking back to the boss.

She then walked past him as she heard his phone ring and him answered it, he gave a jolly greeting to the caller before the recognizing the man on the phone was the one and only Timothy Baudet.