Aloria

[Zanz]

http://forum.particracy.net/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=250

[Pragma]

Sacked minister forms new 'common sense' party
10 August 5633


Above: Tresidder talks to the media outside the Senedd

Former Justice Minister Hedyn Tresidder has followed through on his threat to create a new party weeks after he was axed over bullying and harassment claims. At the launch of the new party - called "Nyni" (Cymerian for "Ourselves") - Tresidder was joined by two other members of his former party, Llafur. The party's launch brands it as a 'common sense alternative' to an administration it says has become 'too metropolitan and too out-of-touch'. 

Prime Minister Endelyn Pengelly described Tresidder's in-caucus behaviour as 'unacceptable' after he was found to have verbally abused other Llafur MPs over a period of two years. The PM also stated that she believed the former minister had 'a woman problem' based on the complaints and her own experiences. Up until then, Tresidder was considered a rising star within the party despite his unorthodox views, which included a more isolationist foreign policy and some more socially conservative stances. Despite deviating form Llafur party lines on some issues, he has consistently topped the polls in rural Ultran and was the cabinet's most high-profile Pagan member. 

Llafur remains the dominant party in Alorian politics, consistently winning around 40% of the vote in successive elections. The party, sometimes called Labour in Luthorian-language news, has a broad coalition of centre-left voters, rural Dradic people, blue-collar workers and urban voters. It has been involved in every government of the past century, but its partners in coalition often change. 

To its left, the Alorian Green Party (Plaid Werdd) has grown in strength in recent years in urban electorates and with younger voters. Plaid Werdd has recently undergone a significant swing to the hard left under its new leader Talwyn Trenouth - who is considered to be a left-populist figure. To its right, the Centre Party (Parti y Ganolfan) wins support from right-of-centre Alorian and Aurorian Patriarichal voters. The Free Citizen's Party (Parti o Ddinasyddion Rhydd) typically consolidates support among fiscally right-of-centre voters, followers of the Abjurant churches, and members of the Dundorfian ethnic minority. The Free Citizen's Party is the current junior coalition partner in the Pengelly-led government and insisted on Tresidder's expulsion to remain in the alliance.

Alôr Ar-Lein is a Cymerian-language news website based in Llyn, Aloria.

[Pragma]

Further council defections in Sir Dderi dent Pengelly's Llafur
5 October 5633


Above: Rural Sir Dderi has previously been voted "the most beautiful place in Artania"

Sir Dderi County Council has been rocked by further defections from Llafur, reducing the party's representation to just 2 seats on the 40 member-strong local authority. It follows a growing trend of increasing rural support for independents, localist parties and Hedyn Tresidder's new right-wing populist Nyni party.

Llafur held 10 seats on Sir Dderi County Council at the start of the year, but anger over changes to rural speed limits and the emergence of the populist Nyni party have led most of the caucus to defect. Six now sit as Nyni councillors while a further two have become independents. Both of those independents say they won't seek re-election, but four of the Nyni defectors plan to stand as candidates for local or national elections under Tresidder's new banner. Overall control of Sir Dderi's local authority remains in the hands of the Hosian democratic Centre Party.

Tresidder's flagship local policy is the abolition of regional assemblies and metropolitan mayors, with their powers to be devolved back to county and parish councils. Metro mayors were introduced by the Llafur government earlier in the term and were intended to organise cooperation across the country's diverse urban centres, but critics have decried them as yet another layer of bureaucracy. Nyni is also campaigning hard on a platform of reversing speed limit changes and loosening environmental regulations on farmers.

Rural areas are not the only places where discontent with the national Llafur-led government has been growing on a local level - and not all of this sentiment is on the populist right. The Alorian Green Party (Plaid Werdd) recently won two council by-elections in the city of Karlstadt, both in Dundorfian-speaking wards located close to the city's prestigious university. The results suggest a growing appeal for the Greens in Dundorfian-majority areas. Green leader Talwyn Trenouth told Gawonau Byw on by-election night that "young people can no longer be taken for granted by this neoliberal Llafur-PDR government". Polling suggest that the PDR, Llafur's centre-right coalition partners, are also at risk of losing council seats to the Greens in Karlstadt, Porthffreiheit and Elsoff.

The defections have piled pressure on Llafur Prime Minister Endelyn Pengelly. While polls continue to show her party as the country's most supported by some margin, recent surveys also suggest that the Greens and Nyni could both win upwards of 10% of the vote. Both Green leader Trenouth and Nyni's founder Tresidder have made clear they would not support a Pengelly-led government in any post-election deal, while Pengelly's Finance Minister Max Tschirren has reportedly been considering a leadership challenge. If more than 25% of Llafur's 110 MPs (meaning 33 or over) submit non-confidence letters to the party chairman, Pengelly would be forced into a member's ballot to save her premiership and potentially her political career.

Gawonau Byw (Gavonia Live) is the online version of Gawonau Heddiw (Gavonia Today), a daily newspaper for the Gavonia region of Aloria.

[Pragma]

PDR MP to run as independent over depopulation crisis
2 February 5634


Above: Allega Ruchti MP

Allegra Ruchti, an MP for the Free Citizen's Party (known by its Cymerian acronym, PDR) in Kurmal, has announced she will resign from her party's whip and seek re-election as an independent. In a statement posted on social media, Ruchti said the PDR had 'not only failed to reverse, but actively facilitated' the region's 'severe depopulation crisis'.

Kurmal has been economically decimated by the trend of young people in small towns moving to the coastal city of Port Freiheit, which is located in Ultran. Port Freiheit, also known as Porthffreiheit in Cymerian, is the second largest city in Aloria and the largest majority-Dundorfian city as a result of the mass migration of Dundorfian-speaking young people looking for work. Kurmal's economy was historically reliant on mining, which supported tens of thousands of jobs throughout the region. The decline of the mining industry, as well as high crime and a lack of investment in the city of Felserde (also known as Kraigtreff), have combined to push people out in staggering numbers. Youth unemployment in Kurmal reaches over 50% in some towns and stands at 42% region-wide. 

Ruchti was considered a rising star in the PDR but had been cautioned by the party for voting against its policies on several occasions. At one point, she was given a junior ministerial role in infrastructure but it was removed from her portfolio after she publicly questioned PDR party leader and Finance Minister Joel Kellersberger's handling of the annual budget. She has admitted that her run for re-election as an independent will be 'a tough climb' but said that Kurmal 'needs alternative representation'. Ruchti denied that she was planning to form a new party, or that she would join the populist Nyni party recently formed by a fellow government minister-turned-maverick.

die lokale KURMAL is a Dundorfian language news aggregator based in the region of Kurmal, Aloria.

[Pragma]

Prime Minister Pengelly survives leadership spill
9 May 5634


Above: The PM was all smiles after party members backed her

Endelyn Pengelly, the Prime Minister of Aloria, has survived a crunch leadership vote after a third of her caucus submitted letters to the party's board in a bid to oust her. A ballot of the Llafur party's nearly 54,000 members resulted in Pengelly winning 26,435 (70.4%) votes to the no confidence motion's 11,106 (29.6%). Around 17,000 party members did not cast a ballot, resulting a turnout of 68%.

The Prime Minister described her victory as 'resounding' and said it put any speculation on her position 'to bed'. The majority of her fellow Llafur MPs backed the PM and cheered as she exited Llafur's Senedd party room victorious. 

The crushing blow to the anti-Pengelly campaign was when Finance Minister Max Tschirren refused to back the party coup, despite widespread anticipation that he would be next in line for the top job. Without his support, the move to oust the PM was fronted purely by backbenchers - particularly those from rural regions who fear they could be under threat from the upstart right-wing populist party Nyni, founded by their former colleague Hedyn Tresidder. The overwhelmingly urban membership of Llafur was apparently not convinced by the arguments for ditching the PM so close to an election - nor by Nevyn Kissack, the leader of the rebel group who could have taken over the party if Pengelly had been defeated. Kissack's low profile and lack of previous cabinet experience made him a largely unknown quantity, which ultimately was to his detriment in the eyes of most party members.

The result has been taken as a reprieve for Endelyn Pengelly's embattled premiership. Facing a rural revolt within her own party and rising discontent in her coalition partners' caucus room, the PM is going into an election later this year with a net negative approval rating of around -20%. Both the left-wing progressive Green Party and rural populist Nyni are polling over 10% for the first time while Pengelly's allies in the centre-right PDR are flailing in their eastern, Dundorfian-speaking heartlands.

Pengelly is likely to remain Prime Minister after the elections, as the PDR and the other major centre-right party (the Centre Party) are unlikely to have a majority between them. Neither would be in a position to refuse an offer to join Llafur in government, while both have rejected the idea of working with Nyni or the Alorian Green Party. The Greens, for their part, have said they would rather see Pengelly step down but would not vote against her if it would otherwise lead to a government involving Nyni.

Alôr Ar-Lein is a Cymerian-language news website based in Llyn, Aloria.

[Pragma]

Election 5634: Llafur largest party as minor parties surge
19 July 5634


Left: Seats per party. Right: Highest-polling party by county.

After a vigorous and divisive campaigning period, Llafur has once again finished first in seats and votes across Aloria. With 93 seats in the 241-member Senedd, the social democratic party gained more than double the amount of seats of any other party, putting it in poll position to form another government. Llafur party leader and Prime Minister Endelyn Pengelly, who had only recently survived a leadership challenge in the spring, told Alôr Ar-Lein that her party's victory was 'a rejection of extremism and populism' and pledged to work with other 'moderate voices' in the Senedd. Though victorious, Llafur's vote share fell from 43.4% to 34.2%, primarily driven by losses in urban areas to the Greens and in rural areas to the populist Nyni party. 

The Greens performed strongly in big cities and coastal towns, garnering over 20% of the vote in Karlstadt, Porthffreiheit and Kaunlaran. Their support surged from 7.8% to 15.4% and they have more than doubled their seat count to a new record of 35. Greens leader Talwyn Trenouth said her party would 'hold Llafur to account in the Senedd' and pledged to 'fight toxic right-wing politics' on the national stage.

Led by controversial former Llafur member Hedyn Tresidder, Nyni's first election saw them win 29 seats on 11.2% of the vote. They topped the poll in Sir Langwm, Sir Dderi, Sir Sdorom and Sant Stefan - all small rural counties which send only a handful of members to the Senedd. In the major cities of Llyn and Porthffreiheit, the party attracted little support. Overall, however, the party's strong starting performance has clearly been picked up by other party leaders and has become one of the key talking points of the results. Tresidder said that the results were 'a smack across the arse of the establishment', fitting his caustic public persona and aggressive campaign.

The two main centre-right parties of Alorian politics struggled, with the Centre Party dropping from 20.4% to 18.1% and the liberal PDR falling from 20.7% to 14.9%. The Centre broadly held and could become Pengelly's new coalition partners if the PM deems the PDR to be too unpopular. 

The PDR, Pengelly's junior coalition partners, narrowly topped the poll in Porthffreiheit but lost many of its younger voters to the Greens. In Kurmal, formerly the PDR's stronghold, former PDR member-turned-independent Allega Ruchti won a seat against expectations on a platform of combatting depopulation and bringing new, green jobs to the former mining towns around the city of Prif. Ruchti has not yet indicated if she would support a Llafur minority government, but many disenchanted PDR voters have called on her to form a new social-liberal party - tapping into an era of political change and major party decline. Other suggest she could join a minor party and lead it into the mainstream. 

In any case, Ruchti will be joined on the crossbench by two other independents, one Lorman minority interests member from Porthffreiheit, a single Coalition of Trade Unionists member from Llyn and another Llyn MP belonging to the moderate-progressive Future Party. Parties that fell short of obtaining representation include the Women's Equality Party, the Communist Party of Aloria, the far-right Freedom Alliance and a localist Sildarian interests party.

Below: Each party's share of the vote.



Alôr Ar-Lein is a Cymerian-language news website based in Llyn, Aloria.

[Pragma]

Llafur confirms coalition with Centre Party
4 December 5634


Above: Pengelly announces coalition deal

Prime Minister Endelyn Pengelly has confirmed that her Llafur party will ditch its alliance with the liberal PDR in favour of the Hosian democratic Centre Party. The announcement comes after several months of negotiations between Llafur and both the Centre and the PDR. The deal includes a commitment for Centre Party leader Mikelig Queinnec to become the new Finance Minister, replacing embattled PDR leader Joel Kellersberger.

Both members of Pengelly's previous coalition suffered in the last election, with Llafur losing votes to the Greens and the right-wing populist Nyni party and the PDR losing votes also to the Greens as well as to independents like Allegra Ruchti.

The Centre Party has a history of coalitions with Llafur, and the two have historically dominated modern Alorian politics. The Centre Party is Hosian democratic, with moderate-conservative social views and an economic ideology that has been variously described as 'paternalistic', 'social democratic' or 'welfarist'. The hope among Llafur figures is that the Centre Party will allow them to pursue bigger infrastructure investments in rural areas in comparison to the budget hawks in the PDR, who often advised against costly spending plans even as rural areas turned away from the coalition parties.

The Green Party has called Pengelly's refusal to negotiate with another left-of-centre party 'outrageous' and 'a betrayal to Llafur's original values'. Greens leader Talwyn Trenouth told Alôr Ar-Lein that the Prime Minister had not contacted the Greens at all after the election, despite its strong performance and holding some common ground on social and environmental issues. A Llafur party spokesperson declined to comment specifically on why the Greens had been excluded from government formation negotiations, but stressed that Llafur was only looking for 'reliable partners'. As the Greens won more seats in the Senedd than the PDR, a Llafur-Centre coalition will actually leave Trenouth's party as the official opposition and Trenouth herself as the opposition leader. This entitles her to extra questions in the Senedd and could boost the party's exposure in national media.

Alôr Ar-Lein is a Cymerian-language news website based in Llyn, Aloria.

(this post is backdated)

[Pragma]

Ruchti says 'time has come' for new political movement
15 July 5635


Above: Allega Ruchti MP

Former PDR MP-turned independent Allegra Ruchti has announced the formation of a new political alliance with the help of several minor parties and other independents. The group, to be called the "Alorian Democrats" will not be a formal political party but instead a 'forum for alternative local voices', according to Ruchti. 

Ruchti was once considered a rising star in the liberal Free Citizen's Party (known by its Cymerian acronym, PDR) but left over concerns about the party's approach to rural areas. The PDR had historically succeeded in Dundorfian-speaking rural areas along linguistic lines, but those lines have started to break down as the rural-urban divide has grown in Aloria. The Greens have also benefited from the PDR's losses, but in Kurmal it was Ruchti who represented the 'left behind' vote. Ruchti was courted by the Greens, but later said she viewed them as 'too eccentric and radical'.

The Alorian Democrats will include a number of smaller political parties that have, until now, achieved little success. This includes: the Women's Equality Party, a feminist single-issue party; the Port Freiheit Lorman Party, which aims to represent the Ultranian city's large Lorman ethnic minority; the Future Party, a progressive party that supports environmentalism, social liberalism and secular humanism; and a number of other minor localist groups in Allegra Ruchti's home region of Kurmal.

Although Ruchti herself is an avid moderate, and her alliance will include several progressive members, many analysts suspect the new group could attract disaffected supporters from the political right. With the centre-right Centre Party now allied to Llafur in government, and the liberal PDR's time in government widely viewed as underwhelming, many right-wing voters are questioning where their next vote will go. Ruchti has previously said that she believes there is a 'silent majority' of voters who are not left-wing enough to support the Greens, not right-wing enough to support Nyni or other smaller right-wing parties, but disenchanted with the establishment moderate parties as well. A new force, theoretically, has a wide base to draw from - but will have to appeal to people disaffected for different reasons in very different parts of the country in order to obtain enough seats to enter government. 

die lokale KURMAL is a Dundorfian language news aggregator based in the region of Kurmal, Aloria.

[Pragma]

Hedyn Tresidder denies drunken cat-calling accusations
11 February 5636


Above: Tresidder talking to reporters

Hedyn Tresidder, leader of the right-wing populist Nyni party, has denied accusations that he drunkenly cat-called a group of women just metres away from the Senedd building. The incident, which occurred last week, was quickly reported to the police and Tresidder was interviewed under caution shortly thereafter. He is facing charges of public nuisance which could see him censured and even removed by the Senedd's ethics committee.

Tresidder has a history of attracting complaints regarding his behaviour towards women, which ultimately led to his expulsion from Llafur's Senedd caucus. He has even been called a misogynist by the Prime Minister herself. All such accusations are denied by Tresidder, who says he is 'a loving husband and father'.

Tresidder's Nyni party managed to secure 11.2% of the popular vote and 29 seats in the 5634 general election. It also won the most votes in four counties, and has since piled more rural council seats onto its already impressive accumulation of Llafur defectors. So far, none of its elected official have called on Tresidder to resign, and most have previously defended him against accusations of misogyny. Even though, Tresidder's history of getting into hot water could leave the party looking for alternative public figures to push its agenda. Some Nyni MPs have gained more of a public spotlight and social media presence since the election, but none yet have the name recognition that their controversial party leader brings.

Gawonau Byw (Gavonia Live) is the online version of Gawonau Heddiw (Gavonia Today), a daily newspaper for the Gavonia region of Aloria.

[Pragma]

Coastal towns under threat as tourism stalls
16 October 5636



Residents in Aloria's coastal towns have been expressing their angst over new figures that show a major lull in tourism, potentially threatening thousands of jobs. Tourism in Aloria is down over 25% in the last four years, with areas dependent on the industry along the northern and western coasts particularly vulnerable to these trends.

Towns in northern Ultran and on the Sildarian coast are heavily reliant on tourism, which has historically provided jobs in the hospitality industry, in food and in attractions like theme parks and piers. The Kaunlaran coast, in Ultran, is one of the most tourism-dependent areas with over 20% of people in some towns being directly connected to hospitality services. Many restaurants and pubs cater specifically to urban visitors looking for an authentic slice of the Alorian coastline.

Coastal Aloria is facing a number of problems that are contributing to the decrease in tourism, according to Professor Annik Trenerry of the University of Sildar. Trenerry's research says that water pollution "has turned once pristine beaches into murky pools", while an increase in crime has made many rural citizens "fearful" of booking a shoreline retreat. Coastal towns struggle with low educational employment and few employment opportunities outside of the tourism sector, contributing to a "hostile environment" for young people which "creates disorder". One other factor Prof. Tenerry raises is the high cost of living in cities, which combines with cheap flights overseas to make small town holidays increasingly less affordable to middle class Alorians.

Minister for Tourism Kenan Trewella has pledged to combat the crisis, having announced yesterday that he will be commissioning a study into ways to reverse trends in the short term and diversify coastal economies in the longer term. However, Green party leader Talwyn Trenouth has blasted Trewella as a 'do-nothing minister' and said the government's poor ecological record is driving away visitors. The Greens have made revitalising the tourism industry a centrepiece of their campaign for recent local elections and having gained dozens of coastal councillors since the last election. 

Alôr Ar-Lein is a Cymerian-language news website based in Llyn, Aloria.