At their quadrennial conference at the Royal Alexander Hotel in Port Prosperity this week, the New Liberals vowed to create 'a fair, free and liberal Hutori’ and contest a Presidential election for the first time in party history. As the Royalist and Reform Parties push for a vote of no confidence, it came as no surprise that the conference felt more like a campaign nominating convention than a meeting on policy.
The meetings began with New Liberal rising star and Member of Parliament for Axminster South, Peter Knox, calling the meeting to order and listing the successes of the first ever government to include the New Liberal Party. “Regardless of who may be at the top of the ticket,” said Knox, “the New Liberals have taken on leadership roles in this government.” He went on to praise party leaders Pavel Jucewicz, Constance Okafor, and Russell Selwyn, saying “It was our Defense minister who increased military readiness with our allies, it was our foreign minister who hashed out trade deals left and right, it was my friend, our fearless Parliamentary leader who stood up to the racist bullies in the Reform party saying once and for all that a united Hutori is a great Hutori.”
Image: New Liberal MP Peter Knox opens the New Liberal conference It was Selwyn, and his recent battles with Reform Party Justice Spokesperson Frederick Stanton, that were on the minds of many in attendance. “He has a record of speaking for the voiceless,” said Felicia McGinty a university student at Bishop University attending her first conference, “and I believe him when he says he has our backs!” “He’s had to make hard choices like raising taxes and the retirement age,” said Throne and Altar pensioner Miles Haddington, “but he’s the only one who is willing to do what he thinks is right, regardless of whether it is good for politics.” “[Selwyn arguing with Stanton] is the reason I joined the party,” said New Liberal Parliamentary candidate for St John’s Bay Laura Jennings, “I’ve never seen someone stand up to a bully like Stanton on behalf of the Mashacara before.”
Image: Party Leader Russell Selwyn walks the hallways of the Royal Alexander Hotel during the opening speech Jennings, the 29-year-old daughter of the chief of the Ehnita Tribe and first-ever New Liberal Mashacara candidate is part of a new wave of young candidates from the party running in districts that traditionally support the Conservative Royalists or the Reform Party. Like Jennings, the majority of the New Liberal candidates for Federal office are under the age of 35. Many are not of Lutheran descent and see themselves as answering the party’s call for a more diverse pool of candidates in their ranks. “It is time for the Mashacara to get off the sidelines, and into the voting booth,” said Jennings, a native of Tremaine who went to St John to start a business after university and never left. Jennings is running to unseat Reform candidate Malcom Green, a long time MP who is rumored not to support the party’s current segregationist agenda. While the district leans to the right, the Reform Party has stopped raising campaign funds on Green’s behalf. Jennings clearly believes she can win, saying, “The people of St John are not racist, they just want low taxes and good governance - and you know what? So do I.”
Image: Laura Jennings is the first ever New Liberal Mashacara Candidate for Parliament Jennings was not the only young candidate receiving the support of the party today. The 34-year-old Lord Mayor of Port Prosperity, Rebecca Doyle, gave a rousing keynote speech with notes in hand in which she called for a winner-take-all attitude and a nation-wide effort to win local, provincial, and federal elections:
‘There is nothing unprincipled or wrong with wanting to win. There is no noble victory in defeat. Losing robs you of a chance to make people’s lives better. I got into politics to make people’s lives better. What is the point of being right, if you can’t put policy into action? We should be proud of what we have achieved in government, and we must do what we can to get back there again. All of us here today must vow never to stop fighting for chance to build a fair, free, and liberal Hutori!'
Doyle, a candidate for Parliament for Prosperity Cove, is the hugely popular Lord Mayor of the conference host, Port Prosperity. Port Prosperity, of one of Hutori’s largest shipping and Naval cities, is also one of its most conservative. Yet, Doyle has won re-election twice as a centre-left Mayoral candidate in a right-wing stronghold. Many in the party believe she could challenge Selwyn for Parliamentary Leader should the New Liberals lose seats in the no-confidence election. Such a result could lead to a major policy shift within the Party. One of the few policy areas on which the New Liberals allow their MPs to vote their conscience relates to the status of the Crown. While many of the current leadership like McDonnell, Selwyn, and Jucewicz are staunch Republicans, candidates like Jennings and Doyle - who have to run in more conservative districts - espouse Monarchist views.
Image: Port Prosperity Lord Mayor Rebecca Doyle gives a rousing speech calling on the party to create 'a fair, free and liberal Hutori’ Perhaps the most surprising events of the night related to the nomination process for a Presidential Candidate. As the New Liberal Party was founded only a decade ago, the Party did not run candidates in either of the past two Presidential elections and, therefore, did not have a nominating process in place. However, as no-confidence elections are likely, the party scrambled to decide on a candidate. The Party began with five nominations - Foreign Minister Constance Okafor, Defense Minister Pavel Jucewicz, Parliamentary Leader Russell Selwyn, New Liberal Governor of Roccoto Sarah Selkirk, and retired Air Force captain and businessman Richard Sterling. Selwyn was deemed the front-runner, but after the first two rounds of voting eliminated Sterling and Jucewicz from contention, Selwyn - the party’s first elected official and first member of Parliament - shockingly withdrew his name from contention without explanation. In the end, Okafor emerged victorious with 67 percent of the final tally. Selkirk conceded the nomination to Okafor, saying “The world already knows the good work you’ve done on behalf of the Hutori people, now let us all work together to make sure you, dear Constance, become our next President!”
Image: Foreign Minister Constance Okafor accepts the nomination for President at the end of the New Liberals' quadrennial convention Okafor, the university professor turned foreign minister, accepted the nomination saying,
“You all today have summoned me to the highest calling one can imagine. I could not be more humbled or grateful. I never imagined just 10 years ago when one of my former students, Russ, and best friends, Pavel came to me with a vision for a new Party, that I would ever become that party’s nominee for the Presidency. I have given my life to public service, and I am thankful for the opportunity to continue to serve. I will always push for freedom and liberty for all people. I will not let the evils of racism and totalitarianism divide this great nation. I will continue to pursue an agenda of free trade and global cooperation abroad, and strength, stability, and equality at home. I will not let you down. God bless you all, and God bless the great nation of Hutori!”