Political Complications: Major Shift In Political Balance, MRDP Congress Selects New Party LeaderOctober 15th 4347
Above: This past week, congress of Mae'r Rhyddfrydwyr a'r Diwygwyr 'Parti (Liberals' and Reformers' Party) met in Karlstadt, Ultran, at the Sankt-Herman Theater, a landmark site for culture in the regionAloria has been in a state of slight political turmoil for the past two years. First the rise of "Werin Da," a Draddwyr supremacist party, characterized by its leaders in work clothes, inflammatory rhetoric, and extremely anti-development and industry environmental policies. This party's creation brought many people who were sympathetic to such views out of the woodwork and to become engaged in politics to promote ultranationalist and corresponding Anti-Artanian views. Many of their efforts have been revolved around anti-Dundorfer speech, which has marginalized the nation's large Dundorfian minority, which makes up the second large ethnic group in Aloria.
The election of 4345 was largely a referendum on the Artanian Union, but was also largely reflective of a growing ethnic divide within the nation and how a divide has alienated many voters. In a surprising move, Heitere Republiker (The United Republicans,) a socially conservative, pre-dominantly Dundorfische 'third-way' party, which has been the strongest opposition to the pro-AU MRDP-ADP coalition of the past, endorsed the far-right Werin Da candidate for the office of President. Meanwhile, the Alorian Democratic Party, also predominantly Dundorfische, junior partner to the MRDP in the coalition government, lost a significant number of seats due to a weakening party organization and disillusion with the continual predominance of the MRDP in the coalition which led to many voters simply voting for the MRDP.
Following the failure of the ADP in the 4345 election, the party folded, with most voters joining the ranks of the MRDP, which bolstered the economic left wing faction in the party, while an influx of HR voters, disappointed by their party's lack of strong opposition to hateful speech against Dundorische people, which in turn created a slightly more conservative faction. The ADP's dissolution led to the Alorian Election Board certifying petitions for snap-recall elections, leading to an MRDP victory in all of Aloria's states, but a loss in a two-thirds majority, a crucial element to promote the MRDP's pro-Artanian financial and international agenda. Following the election, the MRDP proposed a coalition with the Dremidyyd Social-Democratic Party, the oldest seated party in the Senedd, nominating a Dundorfische member of the MRDP, a former governor of Gavonshire and a former ADP member, Florian Kreuzwald.
Additionally, at the party's convention last week, the first seriously contentious one in the party's fourteen year history, Florian Kreutzwald, the Prif Gwenidog candidate, won the election for Party Leader, after Llywyld (President) Rhys Cadwgan resigned his party leadership to "focus wholeheartedly on Aloria, her citizens, the battle against racial hatred, and an Artanian future." Mr. Kreutzwald won the leadership election with a 48 percent majority, contested with 34% supporting David Cadwgan, the President's brother who is a trade economist and member of Senedd, and 18% writing in the name of the Foreign Minister Lywellyn Bennet, who declined to officially run. It is quite likely that Mr. Bennet , according to analysts, will run for President after President Cadwgan retires, provided President Cadwgan does not seek a third term as President of Aloria.
Also adopted at the convention was a new manifesto for the next five years, running into next election. It is titled "The Liberal Dream: Artania and Aloria, Hand In Hand to Fight Racism and Promote Prosperity." The new manifesto focuses on spreading awareness to oppose the Werin Da party's rhetoric and to confound its policy ambitions, to fight for compromise on the Artanian Mark, and to fuel membership in an Artanian Economic Community, as well as promotion of free enterprise, improved trade schools and more selective and rigorous university programs, improved language education in schools, and more social openness.