Dundorf

[TheNick]

Juliane Offenbach Re-Elected President
June 5649 (backdated)

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President Offenbach yesterday, hours before her re-election, supporting the Dundorfian national football team.

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Dunburg - A short while ago, the Bundestag proceeded to re-elect Federal President Dr. Juliane Offenbach for a second term, the majority that chose to re-elect her was broad: her own party DSDP was joined by the Greens, TLD, DSU and NDZP, with only JSU and DRF in support of their own candidates. The large support that she obtained moments ago in the Bundestag mirrors the popularity that she enjoys in the country as a whole: according to a DunPoll survey conducted for the Zeitung, 72% of Dundorfians approve of her, while 25% of the people disapprove of her work and 3% doesn't know, with these numbers she is the most popular political figure, by a lot. This isn't crazy or hard to believe: the President in Dundorf has mostly a ceremonial role and she is supposed to represent the Unity of the Nation. A job she has taken very seriously: yesterday ahead of her big day, she chose to attend a friendly match played by our national football team (pictured), joining the other millions of Dundorfian who did the same.

Her priorities, she stated in her inaugural speech, remain education and culture, she will in fact be attending the FOMAT in Istalia later this year, supporting our Dundorfian artist Johannes Artsch (known by his fan simply as "JA") and more importantly, she will travel earlier next year to Egelion, to attend the Royal Wedding between Prince Artemio and Princess Anastasia and to discuss with the Egelian government about the best ways to overhaul Dundorf's higher education system. The Federal Government intends to pursue some kind of reform, and the support that the three governing parties provided to her candidacy today means that we will see deeper degrees of institutional cooperation between Karlottenberg Schloss and the Federal Chancellery.

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Below the results of the Presidential Election (420 needed to win in the 1st round, 316 needed from fourth round):
- President Dr. Juliane Offenbach (Incumbent-DSDP, backed by GPP, DSU, TLD and NDZP): 560 
- Hon. Karl Heinrich Muller (DRF): 47
- Minister-President Hon. Thomas Heiss (JSU): 19
- Others: 4

[Drax]

CHANCELLOR SEES FOREIGN ALIGNMENTS AND EDUCATION POLICY SHAPING NEW ALLIANCES
 
ODERVELD - LEUCHTFEUER
 
Chancelry, August 19, 5650: Asked by ODERVELD – LEUCHTFEUER if it looked like the NDZP – TLD – GPP coalition would be likely to hold together after the next election, Chancellor Erica Kleinfelder responded:
 

A policy issue seems likely to put real strain on the governing coalition.  Grune Partei fur den Planeten (GPP) is putting forward a proposal for a nationally run university for public administration and political science. Neue Dundorfische Zentrumspartei (NDZP) and Team Liberaldemokraten (TLD) are not outright opposed but are calling for some restrictions.
 
Since the bill could likely pass without restrictions with Dundorf Sozoialdemokratische Partei (DSDP), Demokratische Sozialunion (DSU) and Dudorfische Rote Front (DRF) support, a split could well occur.
 
Another factor brewing is who do the various parties see as allies.  Do not think at this point we have outright enemies nor does anybody advocate treating anyone as outright enemies, except for DRF who wish only to have relations with Metzist nations.
 
But certain nations are regarded by some of us as pursuing very dangerous policies we should avoid, and there is no unanimity on who to trust.  Do not think think this will make it to the front as an issue in the next election, but it is a growing concern.

 
Kanzlerin Kleinfelder 
 
CHANCELLOR WELCOMES EGELION BANK
 
ODERVELD - LEUCHTFEUER
 
Chancelry, August 22, 5650: Asked by ODERVELD – LEUCHTFEUER if the opening of a regional headquarters of Banco Cascobel - Otienda was a threat to investment banks and regional banking in the Bundesrepublik, Chancellor Kleinfelder replied:
 

Rather the opposite. In the first place, it represents capital flowing into the Bundesrepublik albeit with expectations that profit will also flow out.
 
It also reflects recognition of the Bundesrepublik as a stable harbor for business and investment.  It has long been so. We have learned to live with a mixed public and private ownership of the means of production so we have been able to avoid wide disruptive changes.  This despite a wide range of views on the subject.
 
We believe Banco Cascobel – Otienda will largely find new customers which benefit us and international trade and relations. To the extent some existing banks lose some customers to it, this will create healthy competition for improvement of banking services.

[TheNick]

Tied! DSDP and NDZP Run Even in 5650 Federal Election
October 5650

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The Dundorfian Bundestag and the Federal Chancellery in Dunburg

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Dunburg - The vote counting is almost done nation wide (99.5% of stations reporting) and we're still unable to project whether the DSDP, the Social Democrats, or the NDZP, the Hosian-Democrats, will win a plurality of the votes and a plurality of seats in the Bundestag. The first exit poll yesertday evening exactly predicted this outcome: DSDP and NDZP were tied at 26%, followed by the Greens at 15%, an impressive result for them, the Liberal-Democratic list (TLD) falling to 14% from 19%, the Dundorfian Social Union (pragmatic Socialists) conquering a total 9% of the votes, the Red Front (Communists) falling to 7%. The regionalist conservative party, JSU, got 35% of the votes in the state of Julstoch, a record, translated to roughly 2% nation-wide.

In Dundorf, it's very important to know which party comes first because traditionally the Federal Presidents designates the leader of the largest party as Chancellor, and tasks them to form a majority coalition in th Bundestag. As of now, it looks like that the DSDP will get a very narrow victory over the NDZP, perhaps the closest results in all of Dundorf's democratic history, and put an end to the second Chancellery of Erica Kleinfelder, who was Chancellor from 5637 to 5641 and again since 5646 to today. Among the minor parties, it looks like the Greens' increased activism, especially around education, paid off: they surged to third place replacing the TLD, and among the left-wing parties, the more moderate JSU surpassed the DRF, which was unable to pass the threshold in three out of five states, damaging the size of their Bundestag delegation. JSU, which vehemently opposed the Greens' education reform proposal, also surged in their own state, reaching 37%, a sign that the population of Julstoch don't wish the National School of Public Administration to become effective.

So, if the result remains unaltered when the last polling stations are reported, former Chancellor Jorg Berger of the DSDP will be designated Chancellor by President Juliane Offenbach, thanks to a 0,3% victory over the NDZP, and he will be in charge of building a governing coalition that gains the trust of at least 316 members of the Bundestag.

Our sources on the ground in Lutzenkamp, Julstoch are saying that there are increasing rumors that the JSU, strong in its success, wants to hold a special convention, in order to discuss plans to federalize the party and create a new conservative party with strongly pro-regionalist stances. JSU Leader Bernarde Osschler commented: 

I don't know anything about these rumors, but certainly the good people of Dunlake, Oderveld, Grozvic and Chontalen lack a very strong regionalist voice like Julstoch has! Julstoch has an higher turnout than the other four States because people in this state feel represented by the JSU, which keeps in mind local problems first, Dunburg infighting second. The same can't be said about the other four states, where the national parties dominate. That is because, in the center-right camp, NDZP is a good partner, but they are too focused on national matters, and the TLD sometimes wakes up and decides that it likes to govern with the crazy greens and the big-government socialists, so that's a turn-off for many conservative people.

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Election Results (+/- 5646):

• DSDP (center-left): 28,339,603 (26,4%; +0,9%) | 172 seats
  
• NDZP (center-right): 27,945,926 (26,1%; -0,6%) | 171 seats
  
• GPP (center-left, ecologist): 16,253,569 (15,2%; +4%) | 97 seats
  
• TLD (center/center-right): 14,973,350 (14%; -4%) | 84 seats
  
• DSU (left-wing): 9,783,285 (9,1%; +1,6%) | 57 seats
  
• DRF (far-left): 7,407,261 (6,9%; -1,8%) | 31 seats
  
• JSU (right-wing, regionalist): 2,447,101 (2,3%, +0,1% in Dundorf; 35,4% in Julstoch) | 18 seats
  

[Drax]

CHANCELLOR SEES NEW GOVERNING COALITION LIKELY AFTER ELECTION
 
ODERVELD - LEUCHTFEUER
 
Bundestag, November 19, 5650: As the counting of votes was drawing to a close, ODERVELD – LEUCHTFEUER  asked Chancellor Erica Kleinfelder how it looked for a continuation of the governing coalition, and she responded:
 

Well our information is the most likely result is a very narrow Dundorf Sozialdemokraten Partei (DSDP) victory over Neue Dundorfische Zentrumspartei (NDZP).  A narrow victory but a victory nonetheless, and DSDP is to be congratulated.  President Juliane Offenbach will ask DSDP’s Jorg Berger to form a governing coalition which he certainly should be able to do.
 
We are wrapping up some talks between the Kingdom of Dorvik and the Bundesrepublik, and hope to announce the results  forthwith but are preparing to brief the incoming government on their status should circumstances so require.

Bundestag

[Drax]

OUTGOING CHANCELLOR ANNOUNCES ARRANGEMENTS WITH DORVIK
 
ODERVELD - LEUCHTFEUER 
Chancelry, November 26, 5650: Outgoing Chancellor Erica Kleinfelder announced two arrangements made by her office with the Government of the Kingdom of Dorvik:
 

First and most important our military training base in the South which was jointly established by the Kingdom of Dorvik and the Bundesrepublik many years ago, but became solely operated by Oberkommando Bundeseswehr (OKB) after the attack on us by Kirlawa, will be again a joint operation with the Kingdom.
 
The Bundesrepublik is fortunate to again have association with Dorvik in our training since we recognize the Dorvish have been the Artanian pioneers  in both military construction and battle tactics.  The OKB is working with the Dorvish High Command on joint projects for the very near future.

The Government of the Kingdom of Dorvik has also agreed to work with our Impotunternehmen der Bundesrepublik (IdB), our federally owned import corporation, to see that it can buy sufficient processed steel to supply our manufacturing sector.  A steady and reliable supplier of this resource has long been a concern for our economy. 

Chancelry

[font='Times New Roman', serif]The Government of the Kingdom of Dorvik has also agreed to work with our         Impotunternehmen der Bundesrepublik (IdB), our federally owned import corporation, to see that it can buy sufficient processed steel to supply our manufacturing sector.  A steady and reliable supplier of this resource has long been a concern for our economy[/font]

[TheNick]

Jorg Berger Becomes Chancellor, Again
November 5650

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Official Portrait of Chancellor Jorg Berger (C) Bundeskanzleramt

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Dunburg - Jorg Berger has officially returned to the Federal Chancellery in Dunburg today, after his successful election by the Bundestag yesterday. A coalition composed by the Social Democrats (DSDP), the Greens and the Pragmatic Socialists (DSU) elected him with a total of 326 votes in favor, out of the 316 necessary to gain a simple majority of all members in the Bundestag. The coalition was negotiated quickly by Mr. Berger, immediately following his designation as Chancellor by President Juliane Offenbach, the ideological affinity of the three parties made the job easier for Mr. Berger.

Berger already served a term as Federal Chancellor, from 5641 to 5645, before losing the office to outgoing Chancellor Erica Kleinfelder (NDZP). Since 5637, Dundorf had the same two Chancellors, serving two non-consecutive terms: Kleinfelder (5637-5641 and 5645-5650) and Berger (5641-5645 and 5650-now), the alternation of the now consolidated two main parties of the nation, and also the most historic.

The new governing coalition is expected to build on the foreign policy legacy of the past government, since the Greens will retain control of the Foreign Ministry, while one big change is expected to be on education: the DSDP and DSU both expressed approval to the Greens' Higher Education Reform proposal and the DSDP has in mind a plan to strongly boost public education. DSU will gain the Defence and Infrastructure Ministries, and its leaders have yet to speak about their political platform. Now, they're celebrating their first ever presence in a Federal Cabinet after spending years in opposition, and their 'feel-good' sentiments can't diminish knowing that the gambit of separating from the DRF, some years ago, finally paid off.

[Drax]

GOVERNMENT LOOING AT CHARGING STATIONS
 
ODERVELD - LEUCHTFEUER
 
Oberegg, August 19, 5652: Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Ursua Hoepner met with Dinkelacher Bruder, Mailbaum – Bain (M-B) and OCHEL  management and Ministry staff in Oberegg to discuss electrical vehicles. 
 
Dinkelacker Bruder was originally a used truck and truck repair and service operation, but it took up manufacturing small trucks, got into selling Alorian KC Grands and then formed a subsidiary to make them, and partnered with Inland Bio to make bio fuel farm equipment for sale in western Dundorf and Aloria.
 
OCHEL makes affordable passenger cars and lots of them.
 
Mailbaum – Bain (M-B) manufactures quality electric cars and to date has stuck to the market for them.
 
The Government has pushed nuclear power so that most of the Bundesrepublik has electricity generated by Nationales Konsortium fur Kemenergie (NKK) with the remainder from privately generated wind energy, solar energy and hydroelectric power.  So the electricity is there for conversion to electric vehicles.
 
But petroleum based fuel is reasonable. So there is only a slow or perhaps glacial move toward electrical vehicles.  With our main oil supplier becoming unstable, it makes sense for the Government to consider alternatives.  The main actual obstacle to more electrical vehicle use in the Bundesrepublik is the dearth of fueling stations other than at the home of owners individual or commercial.
 
ODERVELD – LEUCHTFEUER sources indicate Hoepner proposed a joint venture by M-B and others to establish recharging stations on highways financed by low interest loans from the government, but M-B was very reluctant.
 
Dinkelacker interjected if the Government would build some highway charging stations it would get in the electrical vehicle business. Hoepner responded she had enough budget to have the Ministry build charging stations in one Bundeslander. If it looked like a going concern they could be sold to private enterprise.
 
Dunlake primarily because of its proximity to Aloria was chosen with the plan being to build them on highways connecting Oberegg, Nordenhaus, Vogelsberg and Gross Rudolfskirschen.
 
OCHEL and Dinlelacker Briuder also agreed to get with Fuchstal Elektrisch to see what they could do about producing a small electrical passenger vehicle and a small truck thinking Fuchstal Elecktrisch ought to have a suitable battery prototype.
 

[TheNick]

Bundestag Approves Higher Education Reform
January 5653

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The Hofmann University's main building in Dunburg

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Dunburg - After years of work and deliberations, the Bundestag finally approved the Government's main piece of legislation for this term: the long-awaited Higher Education Reform, informally called as Die Gesetz zur Bildung für Morgen (Education for Tomorrow Act) by the lawmakers who created the bill. Since the last term, the Greens' decided to shift their priorities on education, in an effort to rebrand themselves as the "young and educated party", and they were quickly followed on this issue by the Social-Democrats and the Social Union once they formed a government together two years ago. In that Government's contract, the three center-left parties put education reform as their number one priority, the main parties on the center-right (NDZP and TLD) remained kind of skeptic, but open to debate, while the JSU, in order to defend the State Government's legislative autonomy on education, launched a very strong opposition.

Among the provisions contained inside the bill, tuition has been eliminated completely for Bachelor-Abschluss level courses (3-4 years) offered in state universities, and tuition eliminated for poor students and reduced for middle income ones in regards of Master-Abschluss level courses (2 years) and the Doktorat (2-4 years). The so-called Einstufiger Studiengang (one-stage course of study like Law and Medicine, for example) will have the same tuition level as the Master-Abschluss students. But reduced tuition isn't enough, according to the Education Ministry: scholarships are fundamental too, and the reform introduces two different types of them. The Chancen-Stipendium Dundorf (Opportunity Scholarship) is a scholarship offered to poor and underprivileged students, in order to guarantee their access to studies, while the Leistungs-Stipendium Dundorf (Best Achievers Scholarship) is offered to particularly deserving students in their field of study, both scholarships provide direct financial payment to students and housing provision within the campus or the city. The reform doesn't involve itself on the issue of academic support, so the universities will continue to decide autonomously on it.

Another big move in the reform is the establishment of the Nationale Schule für Verwaltung (National School of Administration), which is a new public university specifically created to train and recruit future public servants, but will not offer Political Science courses as previously intended in order to not add "competition" to other well-established departments across the nation (like Lutzenkamp). The NSV will follow a new provision in this bill that intends to create more green and more digital campuses across the nation, by renovating or rebuilding from scratch the buildings, and will be located in Dunburg.
Research will be prioritized as well by reallocating most funds from private institutions to public ones, and increasing the overall GDP expenditure for R&D, with the only mandatory Federal Research priority being Healthcare, meaning the State Governments will maintain their autonomy in determining other research priorities. Finally, last but not least, the bill directs Universities to create, where possibile, trainership and internship opportunities in the public or private work sector, in order to facilitate the trasition from studying to working and reduce the risk of youth unemployment or underemployment.

The JSU, which spoke against the bill fearing a "centralization" approach, said it was relieved that many provisions were left under the State Government's jurisdiciton (for example curriculums, research priority and oversight on university governance) but condemned the overall "overtly socialist and very radical proposals" saying the private sector shouldn't be punished but used as an asset. This comes as the party prepares for a special congress in which its evolution from a Julstoch-only party to a national regionalist conservative party is discussed, and this bill was the reason they feel a "strong pro-State government voice" is more than ever necessary in Dundorf.

[TheNick]

The JSU Becomes the KBP
October 5653

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Anders Roth, the Minister-President of Julstoch, and the new Leader of the KBP

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Lutzenkamp, Julstoch - The JSU (Julstochian Social Union) completed its first Special Party Congress, held at the Friedrich Pohl Auditorium in Lutzenkamp, and called by the leadership of the party last July in order to elect a new Leader. But more importantly, the Congress was held to decide finally whether or not to 'federalize' the party, which means transforming the Julstoch-only party into a national party, contesting all five states in the next Federal Election. The Congress was open to JSU members of the Bundestag and the Landtag and the party vote was open to every JSU member, for the first time, observers from the other four states were allowed and they were given speaking slots at the convention.

The convention saw a majority of speakers in favor of the party 'federalization', including the top three candidates for Leader: Annika Leisinger, Anders Roth and Paul von Kahl. Their main differences are about the ideological direction of the party: Mr. Roth doesn't want to change, and keep JSU conservative in nature, Ms. Leisinger wants to pivot to the center while Mr. von Kahl proposes to transform the party in a catch-all populist movement. Heinz Andersson, considered a minor candidate, and the current Mayor of Raderath-am-Hof, stood with the 'anti-federalization' side saying that "the nature of the JSU is to be a party to represent Julstochian voices in Dunburg, if we become a national party, Julstochian voices will be less prominent". The Minister-President of Julstoch, Anders Roth, defended his position: "right now Julstochian voices account for a marginal share of the Bundestag, and they are always ignored when it comes to coalition-building, if we have a national federalist party, led by a strong Julstochian like me, I can guarantee you that in five years, we'll make Lutzenkamp as the Capital of Dundorf!".

Mr. Roth went on to win the leadership election (results below) and to win the party Referendum on 'federalization', which effectively created a new Party on the Dundorfian scene: the Konservative Bundespartei (Conservative Federal Party), which plans to sit on the right of the NDZP but using state affairs and regionalism as an issue to gain cross-ideological support. Members who opposed the 'federalization' remained in the party but requested the creation of state chapters of the party which will contest state elections: a request that was welcomed by Leader Roth as a way to keep the base united. As per the data of the Federal Electoral Commission, the national party, KBP, is composed by the union of five state parties, among them, the JSU.

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Results - 100% votes in

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Leadership election:

• Minister-President Anders Roth: 392.881 (56,2%)
  
• Member of the Bundestag Annika Leisinger: 133.604 (19,1%)
  
• Member of the Julstochian Landtag, Paul von Kahl: 90.912 (13%)
  
• Mayor of Raderath-am-Hof (Julstoch), Heinz Andersson: 81.923 (11,7%)
  

"Federalization" Referendum:

• Ja: 545.812 (86,3%)
  
• Nein: 86.728 (13,7%)
  

Blank ballots not counted

[TheNick]

Fragmented Bundestag Emerges from the 5654 Federal Election
October 5654 

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The combined DSDP-NDZP vote share fell below 50% for the first time in decades.

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Dunburg - NDZP wins the most votes (by 0.3%) but the DSDP is projected to win more seats, and this is only takeaway from the most fragmented and polarized election Dundorf saw in years: neither the traditional center-left or the center-right won a majority (>316 seats) in the Bundestag, the incumbent Government (DSDP-GPP-DSU) lost its majority, and the parties farthest from the center saw the biggest increases. The two historical parties remain the largest and most important forces in the Bundestag, but their combined vote share hit a low 46%, down from 52% of four years ago, thus making it impossible to form a Grosse Koalition. Also other 'mainstream' parties saw losses, for example the Greens fell to 78 seats from 97, and the Liberals had more contained losses across the Five States, eight seats down compared to four years ago.
The far-left party DRF (Dundorfian Red Front) gained almost 2 points and surged to 53 seats, while the more pragmatic leftist party DSU, which is part of the current government, won 70 seats, thirteen more than four years ago. The Front, said an anonymous campaign source, employed a more populistic tactic this time that worked very well in the state of Chontalen and Oderveld, and this new tactic gave new life to a party that was losing members ever since the DSU was formed.
And then there is the newly formed conservative-regionalist party, KBP which was able to keep a good showing in Julstoch and elect members from Chontalen and Oderveld - states where they never had a political operation if not for the last few months.

This uncertain result in the Bundestag leaves the door open for only one viable coalition, the so-called "Dundorf-Koalition", composed by the DSDP, the TLD and NDZP, an enlarged GroKo that has never been tried before. There is one other possibility, the "Grosse-Links-Koalition", composed by the current center-left coalition plus the DRF, but it is unlikely given their hard-line stance that they will join a government. President Offenbach will have talks in the following days with the Chancellor Berger and all other political leaders, but sources at Karlottenberg Schloss say that she is 'pretty sure' that the Dundorf-Koalition is the only way to proceed. There is also another question for the President: who to appoint Chancellor? Traditionally, the position is given to the leader of the largest party, but it has never been specified if it is the total number of raw votes (which NDZP won) that matters, or the number of seats in Bundestag (which DSDP won), it's the first time in history that the victor of the popular vote doesn't coincide with the party that holds a plurality in the Chamber.

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Election Results (courtesy of the Bundeswahlkommission):
- NDZP: 26,772,122 / 23,4% / 149 seats ( -2,7% and -22)
- DSDP: 26,372,382 / 23,1% / 150 seats (-3,3% and -22)
- GPP: 14,099,806 / 12,3% / 78 seats (-2,9% and -19)
- TLD: 13,756,276 / 12% / 76 seats (-2% and -8)
- DSU: 12,436,824 / 10,9% / 70 seats (+1,8% and +13)
- KBP: 10,989,563 / 9,6% / 54 seats (+7,3% and +36)
- DRF: 9,800,804 / 8,6% / 53 seats (+1,7% and +22)