Kalistani Major History

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Liberals dissolve once again, as hostile opposition to Empire Fades
Emperor to lay out land transfers
Kaliburg, Ananto
August 7, 5162


Emperor remains above politics as his office prepares to unveil ambitious nobility program

The Institutionalists' first electoral contest since overseeing the change from Republic to Empire was a disaster of a result. The prevailing automatic advantage for new Parties, also known as "The Shiny Object Bonus" which rewards Parties who haven't really done anything over those who have to defend a record, granted the upstart Liberal Republicans almost a 2-1 seat count in the National Assembly. Despite not advancing an agenda of any kind other than attempting to impose a police state and working to ban tobacco, as all Liberal Parties do in Kalistan, the LRP gained 50 seats in the last election, almost making a Constitutional Absolute majority. They fell just 3 seats short of their main goal, which was legislative revolution.

However, having failed to obtain this number on their first outing, they dissolved into thin air. The National Assembly held a perfunctory election to refill the seats and the Institutionalist Deputies who lost their seats were instantly re-elected. The path is now completely clear for the Emperor to begin the administrative reforms that will create Counties and assign Counts to them. These administrative districts will come with titles of nobility that will be issued to outstanding Residents of the region and will come with a number of responsibilities, such as maintaining the health and welfare of the County, as well as raising and training the County's component of the Regular Military. "The most that will be expected of any one county is two companies of regulars, in whatever capacity the General Staff requires. These will complement the Standing Regular Forces in times of war, and otherwise, can be used as auxiliaries to handle disasters or more localized emergencies," said Col. Xavier Donnelly, Kalistani Minister of Defense. "We expect that these local forces will act similar to the Militia, and will be nationalized during war time."

In addition, the Emperor is expected to name a number of Cities "free cities" which do not fall under the jurisdiction of a Count. "Life in cities is much different than life in the countryside," opined Fredrich Carr, his Majesty's Interior Minister. "While in consultation with the Emperor about this administrative reform, we wanted to make it clear that capital cities like Sulari or Kaliburg should be self governing, and democratic, if at all possible. In this sense, they would owe allegiance only to the National Government, rather than falling under the administration of Counts or Dukes." The Minister further said that smaller towns would likely have Barons placed over them, the authority of which would be derived from the Count.

It is expected that Kalistan will be divided up into anywhere between 3-7 Counties per Duchy, which could yield as many as 35 Counties, as well as at least 7 Free Cities. More land is expected to go with less populous areas, meaning that some of the largest counties will be found in Odufaray, Neveras and Vrassa. "The County system is something that Kalistan has not had for many centuries," said Minister Carr. "We no longer even have accurate records of the old Counties but it is likely that many counties will end up the same just by pure accident. The rivers which will form the borders of some counties haven't changed that much in thousands of years, for example." This administrative reform is long overdue and it is believed, will yield a deeper entrenchment in the Imperial Structure of Ananto and Kalistan.