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Kalistani News in Brief: Voters vote down Single Party Act in Referendum
Empire assists with Lodamese Wildfires; AeroKal to cooperate with AeroLeon in Egelion
Eveari, Grand Duchy of Ananto
November 12, 5652


Large Turnout, like this early morning crowd at one polling precinct in Senvias, leads Kalistanis to vote "No" in Continuing Single Party Law

Voters vote down Single Party Act in Referendum
In a stunning result, voters across Kalistan have loudly expressed opposition to the continuation of the Single Party Law, which makes the Institutional Party the sole legal political organization in Kalistan. The referendum, agreed to last August, remains a non-binding referendum, and it remains up to the Institutional Party leadership in the National Assembly to formally act upon the result, but this referendum shows definitively that the act's lifespan is coming to an end. More than 69% of voters rejected the proposal "Resolved: The Single Party Act, which gives the Institutional Party the Monopoly on Political Organization in Kalistan, shall remain unaltered, the law of the land." Nearly 7 in 10 voters voted no for this proposal. On top of the overwhelming opposition to continuing the Single Party Act as it is, there was also large scale turnout, with some of the highest numbers turning out for the referendum. In most precincts more than 50 percent of the total number of voters turned out for the election.

Opposition to the Single Party Act was predictably highest in Suldanor, especially in Sulari Free City, which was one of the first cities to organize a Democratic Club, and where Her Imperial Majesty shocked a pro-Democratic audience just a year with what can only be called a "public relations disaster." More than 74% of voters said they wanted the Single Party Act overturned. The numbers were comparatively less over the rest of the Empire, and they were the least supportive on Ananto, where Eveari reported that only 13% of voters wanted the law overturned. Sulari, the most populated City in the Empire, however, alone cast about half the number of votes as were cast on Ananto, and so, the Island was not enough to protect the Law.

The Chancellor of the Empire, who has tentatively signaled support for overturning the law, said she will meet directly with the Empress in the coming weeks to determine how Her Majesty's Government will deal with these referendum results. They are widely believed to be a preview of the upcoming general elections in January. It seems that the democratic impulse will certainly not dissipate by then.

Empire assists with Lodamese Wildfires
In the face of the ongoing Wildfires in eastern Lodamun, the Duchy of Vrassa has committed 15 brigades of firefighters from across the Duchy to assist the Lodamese Government in their efforts to control the blazes and save people and property. The Brigades were dispatched last week, after the request for assistance came in from the Barrington State Government and the Lodamese Commonwealth for assistance. The cost of the assistance is being borne by the Duchy of Vrassa. The Vrassan firefights are currently on the fireline bext to their Lodamese Brethren. Nevaras' Ducal Government has also committed more than a dozen brigades to Vrassa to help prevent the spread of wildfires into Vrassa, which borders Barrington and the Kregon Plateau, and to serve as reserves to assist if needed in Lodamun.

"Lodamun has been having a hell of a year with dry winds," said Nevaran Fire Commander Matt Jones. "They didn't get a lot of precipitation this summer or fall, and are really suffering. Plus the winds in that part have shifted in a pretty unusual pattern, keeping the place dry as a tinderbox. It's a perfect storm, which led to the outbreak of wildfires all along the plateau." Jones said that Vrassa has also had a drier than usual summer and fall, but nothing like Lodamun. "Yeah, one little spark, one downed powerline, and the whole place turns into a blast furnace."

As air quality continues to remain poor in the region, residents of Vrassa City and Red Pass are advised to wear masks in public to keep from breathing in the haze, while residents of Addisjah and Python, while not directly affected by the smoke at ground level, will still experience smoky skies, haze and increased levels of SO2. Vrassa is also opening its doors to the potential of welcoming and caring for temporary refugees in the Addisjah vicinity, until the fires can be put out and they can either return home or make other plans. Many individual homes have already signed up to temporarily house the visitors to Vrassa, and several new Apartment buildings will be made available to Lodamese Citizens temporarily. Tonight's expected rain showers are not expected to have enough energy to make it over the border into Lodamun, and the long term forecast suggests some relief later this month.

AeroKal to cooperate with AeroLeon in Egelion
The Kalistani Aircraft corporation, AeroKal announced that it intends to work with Egelion's AeroLeon to develop a new line of full bodied commercial jet. Spokeswoman Hanna Anderson said "As we are moving toward more biofriendly fuels, Kalistan is slowly pulling back from its role as the Anantonese Ocean's premier commercial jet manufacturer, and moving more towards smaller craft, civil aviation and air taxi services that will allow us to use let petroleum based jet fuel over all, reducing our carbon footprint. However, our slow withdrawal from the market has created a space that AeroLeon seems willing to step into, and AeroKal seeks to cooperate in that transition, so our region keeps its leading edge in Airline manufacture."

Anderson says the two companies will cooperate in increasing fuel efficiency for larger body planes. "We have takens some steps in developing new engines that can handle heavier blends of biodiesel in their turboprops, but the issue of course remains: for long range intercontinental flights, nothing beats the efficiency of kerosene based jet fuel, so our choice, if we want to move toward more of a Sustainable Aviation Fuel or biodiesel blend for our fleet is to either make more space for fuel to allow the planes to fly as far, or conversely, build planes that take shorter flights. AeroKal opted for the latter option, so we now have a part of our budget that we can dedicate toward R&D with AeroLeon to continue to offer passengers the convenience of international flights, while ourselves focusing on building planes that allow us to meet our biofuel goals going forward. Its a win win for everyone involved, and is expected to yield great benefits."

Anderson says the companies will send scientists, chemists and engineers back and forth to work on these problems with one another, and once a reliable, efficient model of large body and mid sized craft are developed, AeroKal will phase out its own versions of these planes, and then will simply buy them from Egelion. "That won't be for a while tough," said Anderson. "It takes a long damn time to design an aircraft engine."

@TheRepublic