Dundorf

[TheNick]

A Red-Green Wave Hits the Bundestag: 5674 Zeitung Projection
October 5674

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The Greens' election party in Dunburg. President Freiland-Weber (left) joined party leaders Milo Jensen (center) and Lola Lehmann (right) on the stage.

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Dunburg - The Nordenhausen Allgemeine Zeitung, on the basis of the currently reporting 74% of votes from all across our nation, that the incumbent center-right government of Wolfgang Prawius (NDZP) will lose its majority in the Bundestag and that the Social Democrats will regain their position as Dundorf's largest party, winning at the moment 26% of the votes to the NDZP's 24%. The Zeitung's Decision Desk can also confidently say that the Green Party will surge to the third position, winning a record 19% of the votes. The GPP saw the strongest increase in votes, almost 7% up from four years ago, and the celebration was immediate: at the Greens' election night party the public was jubilant and were quickly joined by the party leaders, Milo Jensen and Lola Lehmann, visibly content, who took the stage with the Federal President, a member of the Green Party. The leaders were just recently elected in a tandem ticket, and ran the campaign together with a catchy slogan: Milo und Lola für dich (Milo and Lola For You).

The Social-Democrats, with their new Party Secretary Lorena Oberlitz, were the first to react when the Zeitung's exit poll showing them in first place was released at 21: "Today, the Dundorfian people gave us back their trust and I stand ready to commit wholly to address their issues, listen to their concern, and act in their interest as this country's next Bundeskanzlerin!". Chancellor Prawius (NDZP) noted that they retained most votes from 5670 and they remain one of Dundorf's largest political forces, before he acknowledged the "disappointing result after 4 years of hard work". In fact, the most votes inside the current governing coalition were lost by the Liberals: TLD is currently losing about 4 percentage points in votes and are projected to lose between 25 and 30 seats in Bundestag. No reaction was recorded by party leaders if not a general groan and strong disappointment among the attendees of the TLD's election watch party. The KBP also lost ground, but contained their losses to 1 percentage point less than 5670 and minimal seats losses, thanks to a strong showing in Oderveld and Chontalen which balanced the losses in other states.

We already updated you about the strong performances of DSDP and GPP, but not everyone in the left is celebrating: the radical DRF (Red Front) had also big losses, second only to the TLD's, sliding down at 4% and being under the 5% threshold to access Bundestag. Luckily for the party, that threshold is applied on regional results, and the Communists will have Bundestag representation thanks to DRF crossing the threshold in Chontalen and Dunlake.  Also in this case, we were unable to get a comment from the Front's leadership, which is choosing, at the moment, to stay silent. The DSU, Dundorfian Social Union, also had contained losses (-1%) but the party leadership was still happy about the strong results obtained by DSDP and Greens, the DSU's spokesperson Anna Paulsen said: "even if the Dundorfian people didn't choose our party specifically, they chose to reward the parties we're in a coalition with, and we're of course very happy about it. We stand ready to join DSDP and the Greens in a red-green-purple Government for All."

President Anna Freiland-Weber didn't speak from the GPP's stage, because it is a politically-charged stage to speak from, and will instead have a press conference tomorrow morning in the institutional stage of Karlottenberg Schloss. Sources at the Schloss say that she privately congratulated with Ms. Oberlitz of the DSDP and invited her to the residence tomorrow afternoon, after her conference, perhaps to entrust her already with the nomination as Chancellor. NDZP sources also indicated that the President called Chancellor Prawius thanking him for his service in this last term.

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Morning Update (99,8% counted):

5674 Election results (+/- 5670):
- DSDP: 25,9% and 164 (+3,7% and +21)
- NDZP: 24,5% and 155 seats (-1,1% and -12)
- GPP: 19,1% and 121 (+7,3% and +45)
- KBP: 10,5% and 66 (-1% and -3)
- TLD: 8,2% and 52 (-4,4% and -31)
- DSU: 7,8% and 49 (-1,1% and -7)
- DRF: 4% and 23 (-3,4% and -13)

[Drax]

DSDP, GPP AND DSU FORM GOVERNING COALITION
 
ODERVELD - LEUCHTFEUER
 
Foreign Office, October 31, 5674, (backdated): After incoming Foreign Minister Ursula Hoepner met with outgoing Foreign Minister Gunther Krancke for a briefing on current diplomatic activity, ODERVELD – LEUCHTFEUER asked Hoepner how the governing coalition shook out after the October election, and she replied:
 

It was clear Chancellor Wolfgang Prawuius did not have the votes to continue his Right – Center Right coalition and that a green tide had given an opportunity for a Left – Center Left coalition.  Bundesprasidentin Anna Freiland – Weber accordingly asked Lorena Oberlitz, the leader of Dundorfische Sozialdemokratische Partei (DSDP) which got the most votes in the Bundestag, to form a government. She promptly secured support from Grune Partei fur den Planeten (GPP) and Demokratische Sozialunion (DSU) which I lead.
 
Under the arrangement Kanzlerin Oberlitz’s DSDP has seven Ministries, GPP has six and DSU three, as follows:
 
Kanzlerin – DSDP
Foreign Affairs – DSU
Interior and Deputy Kanzlerin – GPP
Finance – DSDP
Defence – DSDP
Justice – GPP
Infrastructure & Energy - DSDP
Healthcare - DSDP
Education – DSDP
Labor and Social Services – DSU
Environ, Tourism & Territorial Protection – GPP
Agriculture and Food – GPP
Science, Research & Technology – DSU
Commerce & Industry – GPP
Transport – GPP
Devolution, Territorial Integrity & state Affairs – DSDP

 
Asked by ODERVELD – LEUCHTFEUER what would be her first order of business, she responded:
 

We will be exploring whether the new Kundrati government wants to resume normal friendly relations with us after a long hiatus.

Foreign Minister Hoepner

[Drax]

BUNDESTAG APPROVES ECOLOGICAL TREATY
 
ODERVELD - LEUCHTFEUER
 
Foreign Office, January 21, 5677: Foreign Minister Ursula Hoepner announced today:

The Government has demonstrated its commitment to improving the quality of the environment by joining with other nations in the International Treaty on Emissions Reduction and Ecological Transition.
 
We were able to obtain ratification of this Treaty by the Bundestag which among things obligates the Bundesrepublik to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and making progress on decarbonization.
 
Since we have already made considerable progress in these areas, it is likely this will not be particularly easy.  But it is a commitment to undertake what is truly necessary.

Bundestag

[Drax]

BUNDESREPUBLIK AND KUNDRATI UNION RENEWING RELATIONS
 
ODERVELD - LEUCHTFEUER

Foreign Office, March 21, 5677: Foreign Minister Ursula Hoepner gtoday issued the following statement:
 

For many years there were no diplomatic relations between the Kundrati Union and the Bundesrepublik. Eventually we reopened our embassy and talked with their government but no additional steps were ever agreed upon.
 
Today talks are occurring between the Kundrati Union and the Bundesrepublik at our Embassy in Kasaema. It is our belief that our once friendly relations can be restored.  We are aware of their wishing to avoid foreign domination and we are accordingly shaping our suggestions to avoid the appearance of economic or cultural imperialism.
 
One possibility the Bundesrepublik is putting forward is resuming travel between us and easing any restrictions thereon.  Another is reopening some consulates. 
 
We are also suggesting some student exchange programs; in our case we believe our engineering programs could be very attractive.
 
Two other major items could be reopening trade between us and looking at whether some investment by our investment banking sector would be desirable.
 
These are some initial steps we have been thinking about.  We are very much looking forward to learning what is on the mind of the Kundrati Union.

[
Foreign Minister Hoepner

[TheNick]

Red-Green-Purple Coalition Slightly Ahead Following 5678 Election
October 5678

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The Dundorfian Bundestag (pictured) will be governed for four more years by a (weakened) Red-Green-Purple coalition.

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Dunburg - The Decision Desk here at the Nordenhausen Allgemeine Zeitung is finally able to make a call when 82% of the polling stations are reporting: the incumbent governing coalition led by Federal Chancellor Lorena Oberlitz will win a majority in the Bundestag, but that majority will be very slim. The most recent projection puts the incumbent coalition on track to win between 317 and 321 seats in the Bundestag, when 316 are needed to form a Government, this would represent one of the slimmest mandates for an incumbent coalition in history.
Our projections says that the center-right and Hosian-democratic NDZP will come back on top over the DSDP, regaining ground after the poor performance that the Hosian-Democrats had back in '74; but other than that, there wasn't much movement among voters in these past four years: at most, our projections say that the electoral swings will be cointained between 0.5 and 1.5 percentage points. 

President Freiland-Weber announced that she will invite Wolfgang Prawius, a former Chancellor and current NDZP leader, and Lorena Oberlitz, the current Social-Democratic Chancellor, to "discuss the way ahead for the next Government". It is likely that Oberlitz will ask the President for a continuation for the current leftist government, but the NDZP, being the first party, might ask for itself the Chancellery. Some rumors from trusted sources have it that the NDZP is ready to let Ms. Oberlitz be named Chancellor but ask in return to put Mr. Prawius in Karlottenberg Schloss when the Presidential election is held next year. 

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Morning Update (99,9% counted):

5678 Election results (+/- 5674):
- NDZP: 26,1% and 165 seats (+1,6% and +10)
- DSDP: 25,1% and 159 seats (-0,8% and -5) | Bundesreg. & Bundeskanzlerin
- GPP: 17,8% and 113 seats (-1,3% and -8) | Bundesreg.
- KBP: 10,5% and 66 seats (±0% and ±0)
- TLD: 8,7% and 55 seats (+0,5% and +3)
- DSU: 7,6% and 47 seats (-0,2% and -2) | Bundesreg.
- DRF: 4,2% and 25 seats (+0,2% and +2)
'Bundesreg.' denotes a Party member of the current Federal Cabinet. 'Bundeskanzlerin' denotes the Party holding the Chancellery.

[Drax]

NDZP WILL CHANGE LEADERSHIP
 
ODERVELD – LEUCHTFEUER
 
Neukirchstadt, February 29, 5680: ODERVELD – LEUCHTFEUER asked Former Chancellor Wolfgang Prawius, Leader of the Neue Dundorfische Zentrumspartei (NDZP), if changes were anticipated for the NDZP, and he replied:
 

Well, yes and no.  The NDZP Leadership just met and decided several things.  Fair to say our increase in seats from the last election has encouraged us  to stay the course on policy and who is our constituency.  We have always represented those favoring freedom of religion and traditional social values.  We also favor a pragmatic approach to stabilizing legislation on these matters.
 
Over time we have come to favor the mixed pubic and private ownership characterizing our economy believing stability matters more to economic growth than either public or private ownership of the means of production per se.
 
On the environment, we are as green as anybody but are quite willing to accept half measures rather than no progress at all. In the area of energy particularly, we have been very much in the forefront of moving away from fossil fuels but recognize they are not going to be obsolete anytime soon.  Accordingly, we have favored securing adequate petroleum imports and refining capacity.
 
NDZP has always been internationalist willing to trade and otherwise work with all nations that do not abuse their own citizens or use aggression against others.  Much more pragmatic than ideological per se.
 
So we remain as we have been for many years, but with that said we all feel new leadership will be beneficial.  Going forward, Frieda Gimbel will be the NDZP Leader generally and in the Bundestag.

 
Asked by ODERVELD – LEUCHTFEUER where NDZP was on the President picking the Chancellor, Prawius replied:
 

NDZP  is very much inclined to see what is proposed but have not ruled out drafting something ourselves if others do not.  Our main consideration is we think if the appointment process breaks down, the Bundestag must retain the power to get on with forming a majority new government after an election.

Former Bundeskanzler Prawius

[TheNick]

Wolfgang Prawius Elected Federal President of Dundorf
February 5680

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Karlottenberg Schloss in Dunburg, Official Residence of the Federal President

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Dunburg - After three rounds of voting in the Bundestag, Wolfgang Prawius, a former Chancellor and leader of the NDZP, managed to get elected Federal President of the Federal Republic of Dundorf, defeating two other adversaries and becoming the first center-right President after two social-democratic and one liberal Heads of State. Supporting Prawius was the center-right coalition, composed by NDZP, TLD and KBP. The other contestants were Dr. Francine Florenz, a DSU candidate supported by the Greens and Karl-Heinrich Muller, now effectively a perennial candidate of the DRF. The Social-Democratic Party did not run a candidate nor endorsed anyone, instructing its members to vote blank in the first two ballots and freedom of choice from the third ballot onwards.

A significant number of DSDP Bundestag members (at least 35-40 according to our estimates) voted for Mr. Prawius as President after the NDZP conceded, last year, the Chancellorship to Lorena Oberlitz, who then proceeded to win re-election in the Bundestag with 319 votes out of 630. The margin of victory for the President-elect was similarly slim: he won 329 votes out of 630 electors. We remind our readers that after the third ballot, only a simple majority is enough to elect the new President, while in the first two balltos a candidate needs 2/3 of the votes.

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Wolfgang Prawius, a long-time member of the Bundestag, attended the session that led him to become President, and shortly afterwards the President of the Chamber officially proclaimed him the President-elect, he waved to the public and left the Chamber accompanied by his closest aides. Our reporter on the field saw the President-elect going into Karlottenberg Schloss, likely to meet with President Anna Freiland-Weber and discuss the upcoming transition. Back in Bundestag, in the center-left field, there was some disappointment coming specifically from Green and DSU members, who wished that the DSDP had remained united and endorsed their joint candidate. DRF's Muller clearly said, protesting, that "the DSDP sold its soul to the NDZP in exchange of the Chancellorship". Au contraire, many center-right commentators praised the Chancellor's decision to not endorse any candidate and thanked the DSDP members who decided to support Mr. Prawius. DSDP Bundestag Fraction leader Jens Van Dijk instead noted: "Wolfgang Prawius is a former Chancellor and a formidable person to lead this country. Our party told its members to vote according to their opinions and conscience, so we were actually the most democratic party out there."

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Results of the Presidential Election - Third Ballot (420 needed to win (first and second ballot), 316 needed to win (from third ballot onwards):
Herr Wolfgang Prawius, NDZP (endorsed by TLD and KBP): 329
Dr. Francine Florenz, DSU (endorsed by GPP): 257
Herr Karl-Heinrich Muller, DRF: 27
Blank: 17

[TheNick]

Singer Heloise To Represent Dundorf in Fomat
May 5682

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Heloise, stage name of Helene Fischer, pictured here in her last concert in Rittersheim.

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Lutzenkamp, Julstoch - Heloise, who recently made a name for herself in the Dundorfian music scene, has won the Lutzenkamp Festival of the Dundorfian Song and, as the winner, has earned the right to represent our nation at FOMAT XLI, which will be held in Nowogard, Valruzia. Heloise, a stage name that Helene Fischer has used ever since her first steps in the music industry, was born in a small village located in western Julstoch, in the mountains, and has started singing at the age of 11, when she joined the Raderath-am-Hof Voice and Arts Academy.

She began singing in local festivals all over Julstoch in her youth, while attending the University of Lutzenkamp and earning a degree in Philosophy. At age 24, she released her first single called Zwischen den Sternen (Between the Stars) and she began doing national tours, drawing bigger and bigger crowds and getting more and more subscribers to her streaming platforms. Today, at 31, Heloise becomes our musical representative internationally, at FOMAT, and she'll sing "Atemlos bis zum Morgengrau" (Breathless Till Dawn), a song that she described being about love and the need to live life with passion. 

From the Zeitung to Heloise: "Good Luck! And bring FOMAT back to Dundorf!!" Listen to Heloise's performance here.

[TheNick]

The Hosian-Democrats Win the 5682 Election, but Bundestag is Split in Half
October 5682

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The Dundorfian Bundestag (pictured) is split in half: 315 members left-of-center and 315 members right-of-center.

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Dunburg - The Hosian-Democrats (NDZP) have won the 5682 Federal Election held yesterday, and the Zeitung projects that Chancellor Lorena Oberlitz's center-left government coalition will lose its majority status in this next term, meaning that her experience as Federal Chancellor is likely over. To be fair, the Zeitung is unable to project any majority in Bundestag: when 99,6% of the votes are counted, the center-right coalition can count on 315 seats, short 1 out of a majority, while the "wide" center-left coalition (including DRF) also has 315. For the first time in history, the Dundorfian Bundestag is exactly split in half between left-of-center members and right-of-center members, so, it is extremely likely that the next Federal Cabinet will be a Grand Coalition led by the NDZP.

...

The biggest loser in this election is surely the Green Party: they are losing around 8 percentage points and are projected to lose no less than 50 seats in the Bundestag, it appears that they lost votes to both the left and right: DRF, the hard-left party, is surging by three percentage points and they performed better in the polling stations where the Greens had the most votes four years ago. According to our analysts, the Greens also lost their moderate vote to the NDZP and the DSDP, two parties that both increased their vote share compared to four years ago. Other than DRF and NDZP, another big surge was registered by the conservative regionalists of KBP, which increased their vote share by 2 whole percentage points, performing much better in rural districts after centering much of their campaign around farmers' issues and agricolture, a very strong sector in Dundorf.

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Chancellor Lorena Oberlitz, who ran her campaign around the recent historic trade deal with Xsampa and the economic stability of the past years, acknowledged that she will likely not be Chancellor in the future: "we worked hard to preserve workers' rights, to protect our strong Social-Democratic economy and to widen our international ties. While I'm happy for the result of my party [the DSDP], it's clear that the coalition that supported these efforts no longer enjoys the support of the Dundorfian people. I called Frieda Gimbel, the leader of the NDZP, and congratulated her on the NDZP's convincing victory. I also assured to her that the DSDP is ready to cooperate closely with her in the event of a future political transition."

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President Prawius, according to sources close to Karlottenberg Schloss, has called Frieda Gimbel and invited her to Palace for a meeting tomorrow at noon, while Chancellor Oberlitz will go to Palace in the afternoon. In this situation of a hung Bundestag, it is likely that the Federal President will ask NDZP and DSDP to form a Grand Coalition to ensure political stability. Calling both party leaders tomorrow at the Palace sure looks like this is the path the President is going to take.

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5682 Election results (+/- 5678) - 99,5% counted:

- NDZP: 27,9% and 176 seats (+1,8% and +11)
- DSDP: 25,6% and 161 seats (+0,5% and +2)
- KBP: 12,5% and 79 seats (+2,0% and +13)
- GPP: 10,0% and 63 seats (-7,8% and -50)
- TLD: 9,5% and 60 seats (+0,8% and +5)
- DRF: 7,5% and 47 seats (+3,3% and +22)
- DSU: 7,0% and 44 seats (-0,6% and -3)

Total 630 seats, 316 needed to win.

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Center-Left (incumbent, DSDP/GPP/DSU): 268

Center-Right (NDZP/KBP/TLD). 315

Wide Center-Left (DSDP/GPP/DRF/DSU): 315

Große Koalition (NDZP/DSDP): 337

[TheNick]

Bundestag Votes Freda Gimbel In, She's the New Chancellor
November 5682

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Federal Chancellor Freda Gimbel (right) in Bundestag, shortly after the conclusion of the vote.

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Dunburg - Following last month's Federal Election, which produced a victory of the NDZP and a unique case of hung parliament, Freda Gimbel has officially became the new Federal Chancellor of Dundorf. She was voted in by 337 members of the Bundestag, and she is supported by a Grand Coalition composed by NDZP, her party, and the DSDP. Former Chancellor Lorena Oberlitz, who is the leader of the Social-Democrats, has agreed to this "GroKo" after the NDZP agreed to give Ms. Oberlitz the position of Vice Federal Chancellor and Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs.

There was little surprise for the decision of NDZP and DSDP to proceed with a GroKo: after the election, no bloc obtained a majority of the seats in Bundestag, set at 316, and therefore no political coalition could be formed, moreover, the Greens stated that they wouldn't have joined any cabinet after the terrible results at the polls, making it harder to imagine any other coalition other than the good, old NDZP-DSDP Grand Coalition. The KBP, a party that in the past argued against NDZP's cooperation with the Social-Democrats, this time isn't protesting, we interviewed party leader Leonie Hagsburg: "Well, the Dundorfian people gave us an unprecedented hung parliament, so there was little choice here. We advised the NDZP, our ally, to enter this Grand Coalition but to champion rural and agricultural affairs and to put farmers first. We are glad, as a first step, to see that the NDZP will be getting the Agricolture ministry, instead of the Socialists." 

The full list of ministers has not yet been released by Karlottenberg Schloss because Federal President Prawius will nominate Ministers this evening, according to our trusted sources. However, we can give you what Ministry each party will get:
- Federal Chancellor: Freda Gimbel (NDZP)
- Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister: Lorena Oberlitz (DSDP)
- Interior - NDZP
- Finance - DSDP
- Justice - DSDP
- Defence - NDZP
- Infrastructure & Energy - NDZP
- Healthcare - DSDP
- Education - DSDP
- Labor and Social Services - DSDP
- Environment, Tourism and Territorial Protection - NDZP
- Agricolture and Food - NDZP
- Science, Research and Technology - NDZP
- Commerce and Industry - NDZP