Shine Vyerkhem Medeelliin AgyentlagShine Vyerkhem Medeelliin Agyentlag (New Verham News Agency) is the state news network of New Verham,
owned by the national government under a 55% share. NVNA strives to report all major news with integrity and honesty.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
9th October 5111Recent October elections conclude, netting ruling PAP, president Mönkhdevshil a third term in powerHaving held some degree of a supermajority over the national legislature and winning the presidential elections for fifteen years now, the PAP has earned yet another five years in office with the conclusion of the recent October general election. Opposition candidates were quick to accuse the PAP of "strong-arming" voters into reelecting current candidates and getting new ones into office, a claim which a spokesperson for the party denied.________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
by:Janggi Kyeinnüdtei
Political commentator and analystBAATRYNSENTII - With the October general elections having concluded once again, the end result as confirmed by the State Election Committee has continued the PAP's dominance over the legislative and executive branches for a third five year term, bringing the PAP into fifteen years in power now, and soon-to-be twenty upon the conclusion of this new term, which will be sworn in over the next week. Political analysts cite the return of private business whilst maintaining strong regulations aimed at protecting workers, alongside the execution of more public works projects as key policies that netted the PAP another victory. Opposition candidates were leading in the polls among some electoral districts in the run-up to the elections on the ninth, but failed to gain a solid foothold. However, the United Liberal Party alongside the Democratic Party gained more seats than in the 5106 election in the Vanukean-speaking south, signaling a change in direction for the political demographics of minority areas, beating out regionalist parties for the first time. However, this was but a singular victory - elsewhere, in some Sekowan-speaking areas and Dundorfian ones, the two parties failed to chart, faring abysmally in the Dundorfian-speaking north, where regionalist parties have consolidated a strong foothold there.
Other notable shifts came within the PAP itself. Long believed to have other strains of the party's ruling ideology, Mönkhdevshilism, a term coined by the president himself to describe his political philosophy during the formation of the organization, these differing branches of political thought were finally seen to have been developing into cohesive "blocs" within the party itself. So far, the general makeup of the party has split among three currents - Standard Mönkhdevshilism, which follows strictly the Six Philosophies of the president, Right-Mönkhdevshilists, who consist primarily of fiscal conservatives, who have expressed concern about government spending in recent years, and express a moderately socially conservative stance, and Left-Mönkhdevshilists, who argue that the president's ideals can be interpreted through a left-wing lens, and argue that the party should strive to shift further to the left than its current progressive rhetoric, and has espoused limited market socialist policy. Political candidates elected this month fell into the Standard Mönkhdevshilist and Left-Mönkhdevshilist categories, and are expected to govern over the Supreme Congress in a dual role, while Right-Mönkhdevshilists remain in the minority among the governing bloc.
Voters among opposition parties largely voted in similar step to the prior election, showcasing the large, encompassing big-tent nature of the ruling PAP. The Democratic Party and the United Liberal party earned roughly an even split among the Majority Opposition, the largest opposition bloc in the Supreme Congress at the present moment, while the New Verham Progressive Party dipped in seats, with more votes falling to the Left Group, consisting of the Democratic Labor Party and the Socialist Party. Campaigning somewhat aggressively this year to regain its large seat share in the 1st session of the Supreme Congress after the 5101 elections, such efforts partially paid off, as the DLP saw a marked increase in seats gained, raising their current number from 23 to 32. Not enough to unseat the Majority Opposition, but a noticeable rise nonetheless. The large drop-off for NVPP support among voters was the party's continually perceived neoliberal bias among the public, with recent gaffes made by party president Giel Venebrugge towards promoting a plan of offshore wind turbines in the Caltropic Lakes whilst hypocritically supporting the construction of oil rigs proving tough for the party to recover from. He has since distanced from such remarks, and has now voiced criticism for the potentially negative environmental impact of the rigs, but political analysts and NVPP members alike agree it was "too little, too late".
In his congratulatory post-election speech, the president continued to push forward with current projects and continue a broad policy of economic and social modernization, announcing that the bulk of his next term would be devoted to foreign policy overtures, the "exhaustive" modernization of the armed forces, which currently stand drastically outdated and weakened due to the aftermath of the civil war, strengthen the Guilder via monetary reform, and to continue guiding the development of private enterprises through the government's oversight. Among such social modernization policies was the announcement of a comprehensive civil rights reform in the country, enshrining protections for women, minority groups, and the LGBT, which elicited criticism from the center-right Democratic Party, but such opposition was largely muted. Stating that the protections would help to continue to break the country from its regressive past, president Mönkhdevshil shared his solidarity with LGBT groups across the country, declaring that they lacked adequate, concrete protections under the law and were heinously targeted for bigoted attacks, for which he condemned and vowed to take action against. He also stated that his first act upon being sworn in for his third term was to pass a decree among the Grand Council of State fully establishing the legality of same-sex marriage in the country, after years of ambiguous laws or repressive actions curbed couples from being able to marry freely.
As with the previous election, SVMA has acquired the official results as of the concluding of the general election, and have included them below.
Official Results for the Supreme Congress, as per elections ordained on the 9th of October 5111
Government -People's Action Party: 243 seats
(-2)Majority Opposition -Democratic Party: 46 seats
(-8)United Liberal Party: 32 seats
(+27)New Verham Progressive Party: 3 seats
(-24)Left Group -Democratic Labor Party: 32 seats
(+23)Socialist Party: 7 seats
(-16)Diagram of the Supreme Congress as of 9th October 5111