Kalistan

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Kalistani News in Brief: Voters return Nationalist Majority
Empress returns to work after maternity leave; Government continues discussions on Currency
Kaliburg, Grand Duchy of Ananto
February 1, 5708


Nationalists return to the Majority with a new attitude and get to work immediatly

Voters return Nationalist Majority
In January 5708, new National Elections were held to seat a new National Assembly. In the election, voters once again return a Nationalist majority to the Assembly, with Nationalists picking up 2 seats from the Moderates over their previous seat count, leaving the factional count at 43 (54.4%) Nationalist Deputies, 26 (32.9%) Moderates, and 10 (12.7%) Socialists. A nationalist policy agenda is sure to follow, but it is likely to be tampered by a number of factors, especially a notable lack of firebrands who dominated the pre-dismissal assembly.

"We had a lot of the militant faction that led to the dismissal refuse to return to office out of disgust," said Chancellor of the Empire, Lord Reginald Hanson, in a brief interview. "Many of them could not have imagined that Her Imperial Majesty would dissolve the legislature and they clearly thought they held all the cards and could force action from her. By appealing to democratic norms. So they called her bluff, and they found out that she remains who she is: The Empress may be a reformer at heart, but she is nothing if she is not an autocrat. At least one of the nationalists told me personally that this legislature is not an vehicle for reform and he has decided to not waste his time trying to make it into one."

A properly chastened National Assembly has taken up the task of postal reform as its second order of business. Its first following a duly administered loyalty oath or affirmation, was a unanimous ratification of the Imperial Proclamation ending the Anantonese Empire and all subsequent acts taken in the interim by Her Imperial Majesty's Government pursuant to the Imperial Proclamation.

Empress returns to work after Maternity Leave
On September 14 of last year, Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Carolina II Ananto and His Highness, the Prince Consort Elliot Rosenfeld welcomed Her Highness Victoria-Monica Miriam Ananto-Rosenfeld to Kalistan. The child was born at 2:04 pm in Kaliburg, and spent the first couple weeks in the NICU due to difficulty with breathing. The Empress remained in hospital the entire period and then after two weeks, doctors felt confident that the infant was breathing well enough on her own that she could be sent home.

"The Minor Princess was born with neo-natal pneumonia due to a bacterial infection that was passed from mother to child," said Lady Christina Ananto-McKinley speaking for the Royal House. "The Empress spent the last six weeks of her pregnancy on bed rest, due to an early labor scare, and in the process contracted a bacterial pneumonia which her system easily fought off, but not before the Minor Princess had been exposed. As a result, the baby was born in an emergency situation and in distress, and intervention was begun immediately. A strong course of antibiotics got the little one's immune system jumpstarted and by two weeks the issue had cleared and both mom and baby returned home."

Since then, the Empress has been on Maternity leave, and on January 27th, did her first full day back at work, though she is working primarily from Cliff House until May. "We expect that the Minor Princess' troubles are over and we wish to formally welcome her to the world." The birth of the Minor Princess makes three children for the Royal couple, and it is uncertain whether the Empress and the Prince Consort will have another one in the future.

Government Continues Discussion on Currency
An important measure was passed through the government and ratified by the National Assembly this week which aims at formally ditching the Ruble in favor of an Imperial Peso. "The Peso is much more appropriate as a monetary denomination in Seleya," said Her Imperial Majesty's Finance Minister, Dr. Roger Berry last week in Kaliburg. "Kalistan has a strong Egelian language component across the entire nation, and the Peso makes far more sense here than the Ruble, which has been the name of the Kalistani currency since time immemorial. We are not sure when or why the ancient Kalistanis randomly selected the Delic currency name for Kalistan, but its days are now officially numbered in Kalistan."

The Peso, which is derived from the Egelian word for "weight" signifying an eighth of an ounce of pure silver. "We obviously will not do that any more: In Kalistan our fiat currency will set one Imperial Peso as the standard unit of currency, and denominate from there. Fractions of a peso will remain known as cents, while denominations larger than a peso will be units of pesos. The Government has decided that this was a perfect time to redenominate and have been authorized to begin creating a new Imperial Peso for the Empire."

Following the announcement of the new currency, Investors asked about the minting of silver coins denominated in Pesos. Dr. Berry was non committal at the time, but said it is unlikely, because Her Imperial Majesty does not want the fiat currency to be confused or linked to specie. "If we can find some way to pull it off, that will still be a discussion for the future," said the Finance Minister.

@TheRepublic