17th Florinthian Federal Convention Elections 1580

[Flo]

The Election of the 17th Federal Convention of the Florinthian Federation
1580

The election for the 17th assembled Federal Convention of the Florinthian Federation is set for late 1580, and the campaigns have begun with the start of the new year.

The Centrist Party will be looking to retain their leadership and consolidate their power in the legislature. In 1574, they took advantage of failing confidence in the Liberal Party, who led the nation through a period of stagnation under Prime Minister Willem Oglethorpe, to seize power and select the first Centrist Prime Minister, Ben Blanckenship, who was elected by the ruling coalition of the Cenrist and National-Labour Parties. The Blanckenship mandate was marked by advances in social welfare as well as education and tax reform. A new generation of Florinthians were raised with a can-do attitude passed down by their government, as the 16th Assembled Federal Convention proved to be the most busy, passing over 500 more bills than the previous two administrations combined.

This election is notable as it will be the first to include the expanded legislature, a decision made early on in the 16th Convention. There are now two hundred seats, as opposed to the 148 previously used. The intention of expanding the legislature was to include a "more diverse set of opinions and perspectives within the legislature" as well as address the differences in population among the states and give Florinthians better representation.

The loser parties from the previous election, namely the Liberal and Federalist parties, will look to use the larger number of seats to their advantage, and campaigning has been hard. The new number of seats has also given smaller parties the opportunity to push for seats, as some parties previously seen only as fringe options, such as the Left and Greens now have the opportunity to take seats.

The campaigning has been difficult, and now the election is coming. Below are the parties and their platforms.



Florinthian Centrist Union
Leader: Ben Blanckenship

The Florinthian Centrist Union comes into this election as triumphant victors, having completed almost all of the goals they set at the beginning of their mandate. They see this as an election of consolidation, as they believe they have proven their integrity and ability to complete tasks. That being said, with the work of the previous convention finished, they have set out the following goals for their next term.

Education - Continue education reform, primarily focused on tertiary school in the Federation. The Federation should be seen as a primary destination for those pursuing university degrees, not only from domestic students, but for students abroad. The  Centrists seek to ensure that study programs for foreign students are accessible. They also plan to address the cost of tuition for domestic students, so a university education can become more affordable.

Foreign Affairs - The Centrists see the WBEA as a remarkable success, and want to make efforts to expand the connections between member states as well as expand the organization to include other nations in the West Brigidnan region. The Centrists see Florinthus as being a primarily neutral state, but more efforts could be made to promote cooperation with such nations as Lanlania and Gehenna, and Severyane as well. Mordvania and Oslanburg are also seen as chief nations to cooperate with.



Florinthian National Labour Party
Leader: Lauren Harvey

The Florinthian National Labour Party was seen in the years preceding the 1574 election as the party most expected to succeed. They had great support among young voters and their leader, the late Guy Fontaine, was seen as the future of Florinthian politics. But the the Centrists stole the show, and during the previous mandate Fontaine perished in his Denil home of natural causes, leaving the party somewhat rudderless. Still, they were members of the ruling coalition and in time the next NLP leader approached, a woman named Lauren Harvey.

Harvey was embraced for her no-nonsense attitude and her strong leadership. She had spearheaded many of the bills put forward by the NLP during the 16th convention, and to many she was seen as a natural successor to Fontaine. Her leadership has led to a somewhat more liberal NLP, though this is also credited to the close cooperation with the Centrist party. The main points the NLP wishes to push are below:

Foreign Affairs - The National Labour Party feels that Florinthus should act more like a world leader. The Lanlanians have proven stagnant and unable to push forward for Brigidnan cooperation, and in the meantime places like Nyland are more concerned with local problems. The NLP believes there should be more efforts to promote international cooperation. The WBEA is a good start, but the NLP believes more can be done, and that it should include nations outside of Brigidna.

Military - The NLP believes the current state of the Florinthian armed forces is abhorrent. While Florinthus should not be interested in conflict, it should be prepared to defend itself and its interests abroad. The military requires a complete overhaul, and the recent tax reform provides surplus in the budget to do so.



Florinthian Liberal Party
Leader: Walter Philmore

The new-look Liberal party that came out for the 1574 election fell flat, to say the least. It alienated its old voting base with new ideas and was unable to spur the same sort of youth movement that the Centrists and NLP enjoyed. The end result was a major failure for a party that led for over a decade prior.

The Liberals have consolidated their message and simplified their perspective, emphasizing smaller government and increased liberty leading to financial and economic prosperity. Their interests are as follows:

The Economy - The Liberals believe the previous Convention put too many restraints on the economy, particularly the financial industry. While the economy has continued to steadily grow, they believe potential growth is capped by rampant economic regulation. Limiting the regulation to more natural levels will allow the economy to grow more rapidly without allowing corporations to grow too powerful. In particular, they believe the tax reform plan puts too much pressure on businesses and the corporate tax rate should be lowered.

WBEA - The Liberals are in complete opposition to further expansion of the WBEA. They believe that it had its benefits but is quickly growing too large and before long will bind the economies of the member states too closely, which could lead to increased financial risk. They are also in complete opposition to the adoption of a uniform currency, and will attempt to block any plans by the WBEA to do so.



Florinthian Federalist Party
Leader: Bruce Chalmers

The Federalist Party is another of the failures of 1574, owed partly to their failure to capture young voters, and during the campaign much effort was made towards gathering youth support for FFP issues. Their leader, Bruce Chalmers, believes that this election is the Federalists to lose, and that many are fed up with the liberal perspective of the 16th Convention. Their primary issues are as follows:

Immigration - The FFP sees the lax immigration laws as a travesty and point to increased crime in major cities and lower average income in major metropolitan areas as indicators that the "immigration experiment" is and was a complete failure. The so-called "Denil slum", a moderately large sector of low-income neighborhoods where many immigrants landed after entering the nation, is frequently cited as a haven for crime, drug abuse, and prostitution, and the Federalists believe the lax immigration laws are to blame. While they recognize the value of immigrants, they believe the current laws are too weak, and that emphasis should be put on the usefulness of immigrants to further the Florinthian economy. Work visas therefore are to be protected and given special status, but the near open-border policy allowed by the previous Convention will have to go.

Education - The Federalists believe education to be a responsibility of the states of Florinthus, rather than the federal government. They believe the recent education reform laws to be a gross overstepping of boundaries and that power should be given back to local governments to determine what is best for their children. National standards do not require uniform education policy, is the motto of the Federalists when it comes to education. They also believe university should remain as is, in terms of affordability, and that efforts should be made to encourage individuals to enter the work-force, to jump-start the crumbling Florinthian manufacturing sector. ~~ revitalizing the manufacturing sector is another federalist issue.



The Left
Leader: Lance Krejewski

The Left is a party of socialists that believes the Florinthian economy should be returned to the people. They believe the Centrists were on the right path, but didn't go nearly far enough in their efforts, and that the Federalists and Liberals were primarily to blame. The Left have, for the first time, a good chance of gathering seats after the expansion of the legislature, and so are ramping up their campaign efforts. Some of the more radical Centrists have also pledged to join their number, making for an interesting election for the previous fringe party. Their issues are as follows:

Education - The Left believe a university education is the right of all Florinthians and that the government should ensure that all citizens have access to high quality university-level education. The current system is too expensive and benefits the wealthy more than anyone else. An educated population is best equipped to serve the nation and so ensuring that all are educated is a top priority. The Left also believe in further emphasizing aptitude tests at an earlier age, so that students can prioritize their strengths to better serve the economy later in life.

Foreign Affairs - The Left believe Florinthus should be stronger on its cooperative neighbors, namely Oslanburg and Galeae, to ensure that their people have more control in the elections. The Left believe that associating with governments such as these tarnishes the Florinthian reputation abroad, and that more emphasis should be put on nations such as Mordvania and Severyane. The WBEA is seen as a failure, though it could be better if the economies of other members were more socialist.



Green Party
Leader: Akilah Mounib

The Green Party is another party that typically operates on the fringe of the Florinthian political spectrum, but with more seats available has the opportunity to make a splash in the 17th Convention. The Greens are led by Akilah Mounib, a first generation Florinthian who was born after her parents came to Florinthus from A'Sir. The Greens are primarily interested in socialist economics while ensuring that the environment is respected.

The Environment - The Greens believe Florinthus has much to do in terms of environmental work, and that it could become a beacon for clean renewable energy. Investment in nuclear, solar, and wind power should be increased and research into cleaner fuels should be made a top priority. They also believe further environmental regulations should be put into place to protect Florinthus' natural beauty.

The Economy - The Greens believe the economy should benefit everyone in the nation, be they rich or poor. They intend to raise the minimum wage to ensure low-income families have enough to support themselves. They also believe in increased income taxes on top of the current tax reform, to support some of their planned social welfare programs: namely a single-payer healthcare system and universal tertiary education.

[Flo]

RESULTS



* denotes ruling coalition member