From Lochway With Love [WBU Expansion into Kave]

[Flo]

Lochway, Kave
Late Summer, 1600


92 seats Social Democrats (Socialdemokraterne Center-left)
67 seats The Conservatives (Konservativ, Center-right)
28 seats The Left (Venstre, Left)
10 seats The Green Alternative (De Gronne Alternativet, Left/Green) 
2 seats Peoples Party (Folkeparti, Right)
199 seats total.

The votes had been tallied and Kave had a new Parliament. The Social Democrats had taken the election in a landslide, winning over 45% of the vote on their pro-unity ticket with the ambition of forming a coalition to join the newly formed WBU. 

Negotiations had taken place and a new governing coalition had been formed from the Social Democrats, The Left, and The Green Alternative. This gave 130/199 seats in Parliament and a majority strong enough to approve an application for joining the WBU.

Or at the very least, to start the process. A process which would likely be long, difficult, and complicated. 

But for now, the Social Democrats celebrated.

[Flo]

The Ducal Palace
Lochway, Kave

The Duke of Kave was not celebrating. His preferred party, the Conservatives, had been defeated in the general election, and by opponents who wanted to join the WBU at that!

He paced in his study, pondering what options he had. If only it had been 100 years earlier. He could have simply rejected the government and send it back to the voters, who would presumably respect his opinion. Alas, the last 100 years had not been kind to the authority of the Kaven monarchy, and the Duke was much weaker than his ancestors had been.

Still, he was not without influence. While he could not demand a re-vote, he could reject the prime minister. This would be very controversial though, and could have consequences for the Duke himself. While he was not terribly unpopular, there was academic musings about whether Kave even needed a monarch anymore -- imagine that!

He could put obstacles in the path of any WBU-talk as well. After all, that was the crux of his disagreement, though there were other more ideological differences between the Duke and the Social Democrats. While the SocDems did have a mandate following their election, and would likely be successful if allowed to be, he could potentially delay the process long enough until the next election where he could try to campaign more openly against the WBU. Even this was controversial, however, because a Duke typically did not openly campaign for a party or agenda like that. The Duke was, after all, a representative of the will of the people, and so would not try to so openly influence said will. This was likely a less dangerous path.

Even with their mandate, this was still a significant decision. Surely he could advocate for it to be put to the voters directly through a referendum, couldn't he? This could work. He wouldn't have to campaign for either side, but instead merely ask that the will of the people be determined directly, rather than assumed from a general election where there were many reasons to vote for a given party agenda. Then, the Conservatives could do the lobbying for the anti-WBU agenda on their own.

This could work. For now, he would wait for the opportunity to speak up.

[Flo]

The process for joining the WBU was relatively simple. The prospective member state would have to submit an official application for membership, which would have to first be approved by both the government as well as the citizens directly. 

Upon receipt a valid application, the WBU government would then have to approve the application, followed by a WBU-wide vote among the citizens to approve the application as well.

Following that, the decision was final and required customary final approvals from the governments involved, and then came the long, arduous process of actually binding the new member to the WBU.

It was this process that would now begin in Kave. Diplomats had notified the WBU that this process would be beginning, though no official applications had been submitted yet, obviously.

[Flo]

THE LOCHWAY CHRONICLE

OPPOSITION SKIPS TOWN, DELAYING GOVERNMENT COALITION EFFORTS TO VOTE ON WBU APPLICATION

Lochway, Kave - Parliament is in disarray as opposition MPs have refused to show up for work, denying parliament a quorum and delaying a potential vote on Kave's WBU application.

The decision comes as a shock, as none of the opposition leadership made any announcements as to a potential refusal to arrive for the vote. Tracking down members of the opposition, made up of 67 Conservative and two People's Party members has been difficult and rumors are abound as to where they could be.

The governing coalition meanwhile, is irate, with leadership calling out the members of the opposition as being "lazy and childish" and "refusing to respect the will of the voters." Needless to say something like this hasn't happened in Kave yet, and the next steps are uncertain. Parliamentary procedure does allow for the Prime Minister to effectively demand they return, at which Parliamentary Police will have to find and escort the MPs back to Parliament, but the Prime Minister has not yet made such a proclamation, though has said they have two days to arrive in Parliament before "drastic decisions are made".

It's just the first in a long line of obstacles the opposition likely plans to place in the way of any potential WBU talks in Kave.