[GENERAL ELECTION, 1672] Parliamentary Elections Thread

[Alduria]

All campaign actions/activity of the 1672 parliamentary elections, including speeches, press releases, tweets, press conferences, ads, billboards, go on this thread.

I will be continually giving polling updates and feedback.

I will also throw wrenches and events to react to in the press and in this thread. Nothing will be damaging to anyone - unless their reaction to the event (or lack thereof) damages them.

Refer to the election calendar and announcements here.

[Alfonso Velez]

LIBERTY & DEMOCRACY PARTY PLATFORM:

Campaign Platform:

During this campaign, the Liberty and Democracy Party have released a manifesto taking these policy positions:

-Commitment to expanding free trade with other nations
-Promote deregulation of businesses to allow Alduria's economy to thrive
-Privatize most remaining state owned enterprises, especially Alduria's oil companies. Use revenue from selling these companies to stabilize the economy and build a strong navy. Give preference to selling Alduria's oil companies to Aldurian based companies.
-Prioritizing Defense spending, particularly naval spending with an emphasis on escort ships for trade routes.
-Avoid unnecessary foreign entanglements that could result in conflicts with other nations. Avoid armed conflicts unless they are directly related to Alduria's security or overriding trade interests (ie, responding to attacks on shipping)
-Lower taxes for citizens and small businesses
-Help small business owners by offering legislation to ease regulatory burdens and provide exceptional tax relief during a business' first years
-Move more power away from the National Government to provincial and local Governments, particularly when it comes to welfare programs. The National Government would provide funding for local/provincial directed welfare programs that meet the specific needs of that locality/province rather than a "one sized fits all" policy.
-Place an emphasis on "Alduria First" when it comes to our foreign relations. We won't close ourselves off from other nations--but we will always make sure that our interests are first in mind. This won't stop us from cooperating with other Governments and certainly won't stop us from signing free trade deals--but we have to look out for Aulduria first!
-Use money from privatizing industries to build needed infrastructure in areas that aren't strong economically. In economically strong areas, partner with the private sector to pool resources for infrastructure building. This mutually beneficial arrangement will save the taxpayers money and help businesses by providing infrastructure support to areas that can directly help their businesses too.
-Respect the total separation of Church and State and push back against any legislation that would seek to legislate morality or infringe on people's religious liberties.
-Continue to support the development of Biscarrose and Napoléon by private businesses
-Promote, support, and respect the privacy and liberty of all citizens. Oppose all legislation that infringes on these liberties.
-Promote an open immigration policy and particularly encourage the immigration of skilled workers. Promote programs that help immigrants integrate into Aldurian society.
-Provide tax credits to families so they can grow and prosper without government interference.
-Strongly support and expand settling corporations and ease the requirements for creating such a corporation.
-Invest in medical advancements and create a business-positive atmosphere to attract medical companies to come to and invest in Alduria to help our healthcare system.
-Support a vibrant private insurance industry that is suitably regulated. Ensure greater competition between insurance companies to make costs competitive. Move social safety net programs to provincial levels to better meet the unique needs of their citizens with funding provided by the national government.
-Allow provinces greater autonomy, particularly in the areas of taxation, education, and infrastructure.
-Support freedoms for all people regardless of sex, gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity. Oppose any laws that infringe on these freedoms.

Campaign Efforts & Candidates:

The Liberty & Democracy party has relied heavily on both corporate and "small donor" contributions and while the party has not pulled in as much money as the "big parties" of Alduria, its young enthusiastic voter base has provided a lot of grassroots outreach on social media and elsewhere. The L&D party under Velez's tenure has made it a priority to have candidates stand in almost every electoral district in Alduria--even in places where there is little chance of winning. While the party provides candidates in long-shot districts few resources, Velez sees it as important for these candidates to introduce themselves to their communities to help spread knowledge of the party and its ideals.

The party has struggled to recruit candidates who avoid going into the fringes. Velez's election marked a turn in the party from a focus on being a fringe Libertarian party to more of a "big tent" Libertarian-minded party. While the majority of the party has been on board with this, a vocal minority faction has not been and has been able to field a small number of candidates whose views are far outside the mainstream. While the party has mostly been able to ensure that these candidates have not ended up in seats where the party has a serious chance of winning that seat, some of the press coverage of these "no hope" fringe candidates may not play well in the media. Fortunately, the party has managed to recruit strong candidates in many seats that are realistically in play. The majority of the party's candidates are successful business people, intelligent young millennials (the party boasts one of the largest slates of LGBTQ+ candidates as well as two transgender candidates), and citizen-activists with a general lack of any "career politicians." The party has invested considerable money and resources into its party re-branding, and hopes that these efforts, along with Velez's personal appearances, will convince voters that the Liberty & Democracy is no longer a fringe party and is a new mainstream party that has just the right amount of maverick energy that Alduria needs to succeed.

[Yakim Beg]

Euran Destiny Party Platform

The Euran Destiny Party believes in the sublime teachings and wisdom of His Serenity the Agha Beg, Yakim Aarash Parizad Salehrad, He of the Sublime Countenance and the All-Seeing Eye, Preceptor of Holy Wisdom, Venerable and Holy Patriarch of the True Faith, Seeker of Gnosis. It is erroneous to consider His Serenity to be the Leader of the Euran Destiny Party but it is true that the reverence shown by the Party Cadres to his thoughts and his examples in living the Rightly-Guided Life means that his "thought-leadership"  serves in the function of coordinating and guiding the spontaneously self-organising adepts in a manner which, to the uninitiated, might be misconstrued as "leadership" in the vulgar and vernacular sense. 

Long experience has taught Yakim Beg that the surest path to survival on the Euran continent is a veneration for obedience, hierarchy, and family. The Harmonious Society and the Sublime State can only be attained through selfless dedication to this precept. Yakim Beg disdains political labels as tawdry things, unworthy of such who would aspire to serve Zurvan through serving the community. Rather than seek to define himself through the appellations of left or right, which are meaningless in the Euran context, Yakim Beg instead seeks to cultivate righteousness amongst the seekers of knowledge. Ancient and noble Alkhiva is now a home for many races, and while there are some inconsiderate and hotheaded who oppose this as a corruption of essential Euran purity, the wise Yakim Beg rejects this and rather considers the refugees who have cast themselves upon the Euran shore to be a necessary transfusion on blood given to a dying man. Yakim Beg, with humbled reverence for the judgement of the almighty, considers it therefore his duty to teach to these newcomers, if they will accept his learning - imperfect as it is, the ways of this very Eura upon which they now propose to build their destiny.

The Euran Destiny Party cherishes the opportunity to create, in this Republic, a Sublime State with a Coordinated Government, leading Rightly-Guided citizens in the establishment of a Harmonious Society that extends the message of Peace, Love, and Protection across the entire Euran continent. But the Party, illuminated by the Transcendent Radiance of the Thought-Leader, understands that this is the work of years, and decades, if not centuries. In the present it is necessary for the Euran Destiny Party to recognise that, in this secular and democratic Republic, the closest thing to a Sublime State has been established for the first time in Eura since the Babkhan Holocaust. For this reason it must be defended and developed irrespective of the cost and to the utmost degree of striving and sacrifice if necessary.


The Euran Destiny Party is, for this election, committed to:

1. Prioritising expenditure on national defence and infrastructure development:
   
   1. The creation of a strong navy to deter Bassarid/USSO sponsored pirate aggression in the Dyre Straits and Norfolk Isles; 
      
   2. The establishment of a powerful, fast-moving, and hard-hitting, gendarmerie, capable of protecting the in-land borders of the Republic and striking far beyond the frontier against those who would threaten the harmonious society;
      
   3. The creation of a comprehensive, ground-based, air defence network, with an integrated communications and command and control network, with all necessary redundancies required to ensure continued operability under even the most adverse of circumstances;
      
   4. An electrical power generation, storage, and distribution system that is hardened against adverse environmental effects, such as are frequently endured when the shamal winds lift up vast clouds of radioactive dust, and worse, from the continental interior, as well as against the consequences of enemy action, for the risk of attack by pirates, bandits, or hostile predatory powers, is an ever present one
      
   5. Saving money by scrapping the wasteful border wall proposals and reinvesting in mobile armoured platforms capable of giving vigorous chase to the transgressors of the frontier even as they retreat beyond our borders - the true means of deterrence lies in demonstrating that there is no safe haven for malefactors to retreat to. 
      
2. The levying of tariffs on imports from countries without free trade agreements with the Republic in order to pay for the aforementioned;
   
3. Aggressive campaigns of extermination against pirates on the high seas and bandit groups operating in the unorganised territories;
   
4. Engagement and closer ties of friendship with the free Euran states (The Cerid, Constancia, Raspur);
   
5. Engagement with the Tsardom of Phokland to steer it away from its ruinous course of pursuing membership of the USSO and the thraldom to the Bassarids that will entail;
   
6. A posture of "vigilant armed neutrality" as the default for engagement with the wider international community outside of the immediate context of the Euran Continent, the troubles of Benacia and Keltia cannot be allowed to entangle us;
   
7. The fostering of education and indoctrination programmes to equip the next generation of Aldurians with the necessary qualities they will require if they are to survive the harsh and unforgiving climate of Eura -  they must learn the values of comradeship, readiness to support one another, bravery, self-discipline and not least honour and loyalty;
   
8. We must recognise the demographic challenges facing the Republic - in addition to encouraging inward human migration by all who are willing to pledge loyalty and service to the Republic in return for land and work, we must also encourage Aldurians of all races to be fruitful and to multiply, to marry and to rear large families, even while allowing discretion and forbearance for individual preferences. At this precarious stage in the life of the Republic, we can afford for no citizen to be still unmarried and childless by the time that they leave their mid-twenties. This is not a question of morality or personal freedom, but one of absolute necessity - a national service of equal importance to bearing arms.
   

There are those to whom the activities of the party cadres, being cellular and secretive, are strongly suggestive of cult-like behaviour. This suspicion - a legacy of when the EDP first began to organise during the years of the Second Euran War when large parts of the country laboured under the lash of Iteran overseers or feared the sirens that heralded another Raspurid air-raid inbound towards the now cratered and abandoned Iteran cities - is not entirely without foundation. The Party eschews flashy advertising campaigns and glitzy media presentations in favour of building networks of influence at the grass-roots; town-by-town, street-by-street, door-by-door, neighbour-by-neighbour, the work of the Party Cadres is akin to that of missionaries for the great religions in as much as they give succour to the vulnerable and marginalised, establishing soup-kitchens, laundries, benevolent societies, and charitable associations for the relief of the poor. In recent months they have also taught self-defence classes for vulnerable settler communities on the frontiers who have found themselves all too vulnerable to the depredations of bandit clans and rogue Cerid troops operating out of the interior. 

The Party generally prefers to put forward candidates who have already become known in the community for associating with good works and the poor relief, these tend to be humble and unassuming, in contrast to the oratory and charisma associated with the "thought-leaders" of the Party Cadres who emulate the prolix style of the Agha Beg himself.

The Euran Destiny Party has declined to put forward a presidential candidate for this election, judging the time to not yet be fully right.

[Tzvi Barak]

New Center Party Platform

The New Center Party aims to make a great Alduria, internally and internationally. To do this, we have made the following agenda for our party:

- Promote domestic businesses
- Strive for equality for all, regardless of background, sex, religion, or ethnic background
- A defensive ideology for our armed forces
- Improve trading relations with our neighbors and allies (Constancia, Krasnocoria, Natopia, etc.) 
- Help save our rivers and enviornment from pollution 
- Tighter regulations on maritime pirating within our waters. 
- Aid the cleanup of radioactive materials in our nation, and use as much of it to our advantage. 
- Promote the idea of citizen privacy 
- Open borders for refugees from the Euran Green 
- Provide affordable education to all 
- Promote settlement of remote areas such as Biscarrose and Napoléon
- The creation of a balanced policy between Provincial Autonomy and Total Provincial Integration
- Creation of tax cuts for families with children so they may easily afford goods for their children
- Repair damages to infrastructure from the 2nd Euran War and the Babkhan Holocaust

Campaign Efforts:
We shall run our political campaign on ad campaigns. A large portion of funds collected by NCP will go to this campaign. These ads, while not specifically targeting other parties, will show the public that our promises will be brought to them. Our ads are not only for show, they are our deepest promises. We do not believe in ads to brainwash the public, we believe in ads  that are short and simple and to inform the public with straight facts that will impact them. 

We recruit those who will work hard, not just for us, but for Alduria. Candidates come from all of the nation, from Compostela to Valenciana. We strive to show these candidates that we are not your everyday Center Party. 

The New Center Party has decided to not push for a presidential candidate this election, as we have observed we are not of size to push for this. 

[Natalia Cotilla]

NPC submission for the National-Liberal Alliance:

 

The National-Liberal Alliance - 1672 General Election Manifesto

Foreword
Prime Minister Natalia Cotilla

The heart of politics is not the theories of politics or its study - it's in the potential of our people, and how they want their lives to be.

Our nation is young and presents various opportunities and challenges that we must meet together, united as Aldurians. We must reject the aggressive intervention of the state, opting instead for policies that expand economic freedom, secure our country, and preserve our new home for the next generations of Aldurians.

This election is our nation's first chance to chart its course during its first five years. Each Aldurian needs to pause and consider what kind of nation they want to build.

The National-Liberal Alliance has taken the honored responsibility of governance, cognizant that the actions of the Transitional Govermment would set precedents in our young Republic. That is why we have worked to use the powers of governance wisely. We set up a Development Fund to direct investments into our industries, roads, bridges, and aqueducts. We established the Aldurian Civil Defense Corps. We have made it easy for businesses to register and start. We have devoted grants for small businesses.

But there's more we have to do.
 
This election is the first chance Aldurians have to shape the destiny of the country.

As Prime Minister, I will lead the National-Liberal Alliance in Parliament to deliver results. With this manifesto, the National-Liberal Alliance sets forward a vision for Alduria. Our intention will be to ensure that we keep the balance of power in favor of the people. 

Our platform contains no magic formulas or lavish promises. But it sets out a broad framework for the construction of our country, based on common sense, and above all on the liberty and equality of all the people under the law.
 
The things we have in common as a nation far outnumber those that set us apart.
 
It is in that spirit that I commend to you this electoral program, our National-Liberal Alliance Manifesto.
Natalia Cotilla

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OUR FIVE TASKS

This election is a historic election for Alduria - a young, new country, founded by some of the most hardworking people in the world. It is a country rich in natural resources, in oil, gas and farmlands. It is rich, too, in human resources, with professional and managerial skills of the highest calibre, with great industries and firms whose workers can be the equal of any in the world.

UNDER A NATIONAL-LIBERAL GOVERNMENT:

1. We will build a healthy economic and social life for our people by controlling inflation, encourage the formation of a healthy private economic sector, and ensure that the economic freedoms of the people are not infringed.
   
2. To uphold the rule of law, the Parliament, and build democratic Aldurian institutions that serve the people and preserve their constitutional and human rights.
   
3. To support family life, by helping Aldurians become homeowners, establishing educational standards for the education of our people, fixing our environment and concentrating our social services to properly support the old, the sick, the disabled, and all who are in real need.
   
4. To strengthen our national defense, establish a policy of armed neutrality, and work with partners across Micras to protect our people and our interests in an increasingly unstable world.
   
5. To invest in our national infrastructure and authorize the Development Fund for Alduria to accept foreign donations and help the Government of Alduria secure the financial means from which to build schools, roads, railways, hospitals, canals, airports, military bases, and irrigation canals.
   

NATIONAL-LIBERAL POLICIES

• Create a National Educational System, funded by the national budget and by special ring-fenced tax levies on property (2%) and income (2%), that is sub-divided into school districts, with a common national educational curriculum that includes science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics.
  
• Establish a Child Benefit to be paid to families, normally to the mother, for each child, with its value increasing each year in line with prices.
  
• Maintain an open immigration system that welcomes stateless persons from all over Micras, but and extending the benefits of the Law of Graces instantly to those that are Alexandrian, Caputian, Babhki, Eurani, Ladino, Wechua, or Slovedk.
  
• Secure the future of the country by keeping the ownership of our national resources like oil and gas with the people, but opening up avenues for private-public partnerships to create more jobs and attract greater investment to Alduria.
  
• Create a national budget that takes into account the investments necessary to secure the welfare of the people of Alduria, perserve their constitutional and human rights, and manages the resources of the Government wisely.
  
• Create a national income tax that will reward hard work, responsibility, and success, respecting that the wealth of the people should rest with them, and that it is the responsibility of the government to build a system that is simple,
  
• To encourage saving, the build up of capital, and the wider ownership of property, we pledge to never enact a burden or tax on investment income on Aldurian citizens.
  
• Build a program to encourage employee share-ownership and our tax policies generally will provide incentive to save and build up capital.
  
• Ensure that our oil tax and licensing policies encourage new production and the growth of our native industry. A competitive and efficient oil and gas industry has an important role in meeting energy demand, together with a proper contribution from renewable sources like nuclear, solar, and wind power.
  
• Create a Common Agricultural Policy to help our producers to compete on level terms across the world.
  
• Establish rules and enforcement applying to the export of live animals and shall halt the export of cows and ewes recently calved and lambed.
  
• Improved pay and conditions of law enforcement and hire 100,000 new police across the country.
  
• Introduce nation-wide Community Policing, and encourage the extension of Neighborhood Watches to more residential areas.
  
• Present a major Criminal Justice Bill to define criminal and civil offenses.
  
• Create a code of family law that will continue to underpin the institution of marriage, give priority to the welfare of the child, and emphasise the primary responsibility of parents for the welfare of children and the family.
  
• Present to Parliament in a resolution the opportunity to vote, reject, replace, or amend all of the orders issued by the Transitional Government one by one, excepting the ratification of Treaties of Friendship and Mutual Recognition with other Micran nations.
  
• Allow families or individuals the option of purchasing their state-owned homes or apartments, while recognizing the special circumstances of rural areas and sheltered housing for the elderly.
  
• Introduce a right for tenants to obtain limited term options on their homes so that they know in advance the price at which they can buy, while they save the money to do so.
  
• Invest in the improvement and restoration of derelict or polluted land, the disposal and recycling of dangerous and other wastes, and reducing pollution of our rivers and aquifers.
  
• Establish a National Heritage Fund to help preserve historic buildings and the artistic treasures for the nation, and grant generous support to Alduria's cultural and artistic life as the country can afford.
  
• Establish a National Sports Council to help in in the encouragement of recreation and international sporting achievement for Alduria.
  
• Create a health care system that provides quality health care for all Aldurians by establishing a marketplace that provides public and private health care options.
  
• Increase the level of real resources committed to public health services, cancer screenings, and cancer research.
  
• Develop a comprehensive research and development strategy in health care for the Republic of Alduria.
  
• Place responsibility for managing hospitals, clinics, and local health services with local teams who are closest to patients and better understand the need of their local communities.
  
• Implement a national training program to expedite and improve the training of doctors, health care specialists, nurses, and other health care service employees.
  
• Protect Aldurian interests by playing a leading and constructive role in international efforts to tackle the many problems which it faces, and continue the Aldurian involvement in the Micras Treaty Organization and the Apollonian and Euran Economic Union.
  
• Foster all our links with the community of nations in our home continent of Eura.
  
• Create a National Highway System to connect all the cities of the Republic, and connected to existing and future Trans-Euran highways, with its most important ports, airports, and other infrastructure.
  

[Alduria]

NPC SUBMISSION FOR THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF ALDURIA:

Working people around Micras have always sought a future without war, exploitation, inequality, and poverty. They strive to build a brighter future, one based on democracy, peace, justice, equality, cooperation, and meeting human needs. That future is socialism, a system in which working people control their own lives and destinies, and together build a better world.

The Communist Party of Alduria is dedicated to the struggle of the Aldurian people, and of socialism in this country.

The working class and all who work for a living – the vast majority of the people – face a relentless, vicious, and amoral enemy: the capitalist class. Our country is oppressed by one of the most controlling, despicable, entrenched capitalist ruling classes ever, concentrating enormous political, economic, and military power in the hands of a few transnational corporations. These corporations seek to steal, embezzle, extort, and scheme all wealth from the tens of millions of working people, from small businesses and family farmers, from men, women, and children, from seniors and youth, and from the employed, underemployed, and unemployed. They exploit people as workers on the job and the same people as consumers at the checkout counter. Their foremost weapon to maintain their dominance is racism, used to divide working people and achieve extra profits. They work hard to extend ultra-right control over the government and government policy.

The Communist Party of Alduria will work to:

• Consider which aspects of production and distribution will be socially owned and how;
  
• Strive for strategic planning which maintains necessary balances in the economy between the production of goods and commodities, heavy industry, and the production of machinery;
  
• Seek the proper combination of material and moral incentives at all levels of the economy from the individual worker and work collectives in specific industries through city, state, regional, and national levels;
  
• According to circumstance, this may include market mechanisms in combination with strategic planning and regulation;
  
• Seek mechanisms for the daily functioning of the economy such that the quality, variety, flexibility, and efficiency of production are constantly increased;
  
• Removal from the electoral system of the financial contributions of monopolies, to be replaced by public funding and guarantees of honest elections where each vote counts and all votes are counted;
  
• Establish a foreign policy of international cooperation to solve problems of war and aggression, poverty, education, environment, health, and development;
  
• Ensure the complete separation of church and state;
  
• Full legal protection from hate crimes and racial profiling, and the outlawing of oral and written racist propaganda;
  
• Implementation of affirmative action and compensatory programs to achieve actual equality for the racially and nationally oppressed and women;
  
• Prevention of the freedom of monopolies to move assets in ways that harm workers and communities without full compensation; the guaranteed right to a job at living wages or full income through public works and public service jobs; the growth of public ownership of industries;
  
• Elimination of management prerogatives coupled with the expansion of workers and union rights to prevent socially harmful management decisions;
  
• Full funding for education, affordable housing programs, day care, social security, a universal health care program, youth job training and recreation programs, and cultural programs;
  
• Creation of a national social fund to make up for past and continuing wrongs and to help achieve equality in facilities and infrastructure for communities of the racially and nationally oppressed;
  
• No taxes for workers and low and middle income people; progressive taxation of the wealthy and private corporations;
  
• All media to be free of monopoly ownership.
  

[Alfonso Velez]

VELEZ RALLY IN PUNTO SANTIAGO: IT'S TIME TO PROTECT OUR TRADE ROUTES

Good Morning Ladies and Gentleman,

It's a pleasure to be here with you all today and it's an honour to stand here with so many of our brave men and women in the armed forces. As our nation continues to grow and develop one thing is clear: we need to invest more money in our military and our navy in particular. Our nation stands for peace. We must never allow ourselves to be drawn into pointless international conflicts and to send our brave men and women into harm's way except to protect Alduria, our trade, and our national interests. The Liberty & Democracy Party stands for this importance balance.

While we will make sure that this country never becomes involved in pointless conflicts, we must also be vigilant against threats to our nation whether they be from another nations or non-state actors. Recent revelations about the vulnerability of our trade routes to piracy remind us about the importance of making the building of a strong navy a priority. This party will make the building of new naval vessels a priority and focus on building coastal defense ships, cruisers, frigates, and other fast escort ships which can provide protection to our trade routes and quickly respond to any other incidents as they may occur. A good navy is the key to protecting our nation and our trade routes which are essential for the livelihood of our country, citizens, and businesses. 

The dithering of the current Government on this issue must end: it's time to act to protect our trade routes!

[Alduria]

Latest news to react to:

FROM NEWSFLASH: https://www.alduria.cc/showthread.php?ti...272#pid272

BASSARID GOVERNMENT EXTENDS ALDURIA PROTECTION AGAINST THEIR PRIVATEERS
DECREE FROM THE HAND OF THE BASSARID EMPRESS ENDS THE PRIVATEER CRISIS

PUNTA SANTIAGO, ALDURIA (Newsflash) -- The Bassarid Empress Díapaza Bréidle issued a decree yesterday extending protection to Aldurian vessels in the high seas from the rising threat of Bassarid privateering, which previously surrounded Alduria completely.

The leader of the Haifo-Pallisican Imperial Trade Union, commonly known as the Bassarid Empire, wrote in the decree:

IT IS HEREBY DECREED by the Arbiters of the Council of Courts that all vessels affiliated with the Alliance of the Bassarid Oceans shall be prohibited from knowingly or explicitly targeting any vessel lawfully and honestly flying under the banner of the Republic of Alduria.

A series of decrees issued by the Bassarid Empress seem to signal a disavowal of privateering and piracy by the Alliance of the Bassarid Oceans. However, experts on the matter seem to disagree.

Professor Lemuel Armstrong in the University of Punta Santiago specializes in foreign affairs, especially in Micran piracy. "This could be a distancing effort that cound end up emboldening the Bassarid privateers further," he explained. "This could basically be their government letting them loose across Micras. The only thing privateers and pirates know is their greed and their thirst for violence. We don't know whether this will be the trick to protect Aldurian shipping yet."

The Government of Alduria, however, believes differently. The Department of State expressed relief and a desire in the Government to move forward. "This is a sign from the Bassarid Empire that they respect other nations and are willing to act as positive forces in Micran geopolitics," the newly appointed Deputy Secretary of State John Albertson explained. "We are relieved to know Aldurian shipping won't be impacted, but we're still going to enact non-lethal defense mechanisms in our merchant fleets and encourage private ship owners to do the same." 

[Tzvi Barak]

BARAK PRESS CONFERENCE: WE MUST END POLLUTION IN OUR RIVERS

Good day,

I am here to talk to you about the ongoing pollution of our beautiful rivers. Our nation has begun to expand industrially, to which I am proud of. But this has one problem, the pollution of our rivers will, without a doubt, increase. As a developing nation, we simply cannot afford for this to happen! Alas, at this point, simply going around the rivers and picking up trash isn't going to be enough. Myself, and the New Center Party, stand for the restoration of our river's beauty.

But simply talking will not do a thing! Immediate action is required to solve this issue. One thing that we must do is to set tougher environmental regulations for businesses, in order to dissuade any further damage. We must also begin to build water treatment plants. This would make it so our water may be purified, and used to our advantage. If we do not fix these issues, our water will be useless! We wish not for a drought or tainted water that our citizens will ingest. Agriculture will be spoiled, and our people will have nothing to eat! 

It is the people's decision to do their part for Alduria. But the message is clear, we must end pollution in our rivers. 

[Alduria]

Questions from the press - Barak Press Conference

Newsflash reporter Marta Lopez: "Deputy Prime Minister, thank you for being with us today. What kind of environmental regulations would the New Center enact? Could you provide some specifics?"

NABC reporter Joseph Delors: "Deputy Prime Minister, thank you. The Bassarids have enacted protections for Aldurian ships and commerce. What do you think about that? What will the Aldurian government do? What would you do as Prime Minister?"

(OOC: I am happy to throw a question or two at a press conference you guys do - feel free to message me in Discord if you do one and want me to throw a couple questions. One will be a softball or a clarification on your remarks, the other will not be so soft.)