OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER of the Liberale Democratisch Partij of VanukuIssue 04 - May 2835Vandermark resigns from politicsTwo years ago the members of the Liberale Democratisch Partij celebrated their twenty fifth anniversary in Vanukese politics. It was a bittersweet celebration, however, as the Party had just suffered its fourth consecutive electoral defeat. With nine months to go until the next elections, the Party's members met at the Bomostos Town Hall yesterday for the LDP National Conference to officially launch their election campaign.
The first topic at hand was the position of Party President and as such the Chair of the Conference called for nominations to challenge current Party President and former Opperste President Nicolaas Vandermark. Minister for Finance Rutger Westerveldt and former Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Claudios Hogarth both nominated themselves as candidates for the position. These two were to become the only members in contention for the position, after Vandermark shocked the crowd by withdrawing his candidacy.
After spending 27 years as the President van de LDP and 15 of those as Opperste President van vanuku, I feel I have achieved all that I can. I made a promise to the senior Party members only a week ago that if a deserving candidate presented himself, I would withdraw my candidacy and allow the Party to take a new course. Today I am honouring that promise and wish both Westerveldt and Hogarth the best of luck for the vote.
When pressed, Vandermark refused to endorse either of the two candidates although he did suggest that Westerveldt had more experience than his opponent. It seemed that many in the conference took that statement as enough of an endorsement as Westerveldt eased through to a clear victory ahead of Hogarth.
Today, Westerveldt attended his first press conference as Party President and announced his successor as Minister for Finance of The Eerste Republiek Vanuku.
2814 to 2829 were the LDP's most proud and successful years. I have been chosen by my colleagues to bring the Party back to the forefront of politics and back to the success we once enjoyed. As such, I stand before you today as the new President van de LDP and as the new candidate to become the Opperste President van Vanuku. My first task has been to appoint a Vice President and a replacement for my former role as Minister for Finance. After a busy 24 hours, the decision has finally been made. The LDP's long-standing representative within the Axis Agreement Organisation, Commander Thomas Bell, will be promoted to Vice President and will maintain his duties to the Axis. I'm also happy to announce that former Party Vice President Marien Wendell has agreed to replace myself as Minister of Finance for Vanuku.
Question Time with Axis Commander Thomas BellCommander of the Axis and newly appointed LDP Vice President Thomas Bell was also present at the press conference and was the centre of several questions from the media.
Morning Sun Herald's Ferdinand Wim questioned the Commander on the present health of the Axis, with a particular emphasis on the recent withdrawals of several member states.
Good evening Mr Wim and thankyou for your question. It is understandable that some may be questioning the state of the Axis considering the organisation has lost several members over the recent years. Central Macon, Cobura and Mordusia were all key members of the organisation and it is important that we do all within our power to bring them back. It is also of a particular importance that we ensure our remaining members who have gone through recent changes in government remain committed to our organisation.
Despite recent developments, however, the Axis is still in a very strong position and remains as the largest and most powerful military organisation in Terra. The Axis Agreement has seventeen ratifiers, whilst the Axis Military Treaty has a significant eleven member states. I don't think there is anyone out there who could deny the power that the Axis holds.
The Vanuku Post's Frank Lowie continued with the Axis theme, querying whether or not the Axis had plans for another multi-national military exercise and if Vanuku would, again, participate in it.
The most recent military exercise from the Axis was by far the most successful yet and there was very little not to like about it. It proved that this organisation has the strength to defend any of our member nations should they ever come under attack.
Whether or not there is another military exercise in the future is as yet undecided. The Axis Leadership Council has, instead, been discussing ways to improve the ability of the organisation to act, in the case of war, as fast and as accurately as possible. As such, the military exercises may soon enough be replaced with a more permanent method of training and developing the combined militaries and paramilities of member states and parties. As soon as this eventuates the Axis will undeniably be the most powerful, fundamental and indespensible way to guarantee national security and consequently nations like Cobura and Mordusia would not have had the reason to leave our organisation.