Rheinbund
Established Nation
03JUL2020
National elections: Christiandemocrats largest; Sociodemocrats, Environmentalists and Pacifist-Socialists loose 3%
In yesterday’s national elections, the Christiandemocratic party of Chancellor Rheinfeld became the largest fraction in both the Unionstag and the four Landestage. The second-largest party in terms of votes are the Social-Liberals, followed by the market liberals. Compared with the elections in the beginning of June, the Sociodemocrats lost 2 percentpoints of the votes, and the Environmentalists and Pacific-Socialists 0.5 percentpoint each.
It is difficult to compare this election with previous ones, because this is the first time that really nationwide elections are held for the Unionstag, and because of the voting system change in Retalia (from first-past-the-post to proportional representation per province). However, one thing is clear: The Sociodemocrats have definitvely lost their status as one of the big two in Continental Eiffelland, Helgoland and Rügen, while the Christiandemocrats still dominate the political landscape (even with only 20 to 25% of the votes).
The Eiffelloretalian voting system is a complex version of proportional representation per part of the country. There are a 800 seats to vote for. Helgoland and Rügen are assigned 50 seats each. The remaining 700 seats are divided over the six provinces of Continental Eiffelland and eight provinces of Retalia, based on the number of cast votes, where each province gets 30 seats as a minimum.
The election results for the Unionstag are the following.
Despite a lower amount of votes, the Market Liberals obtained more seats than the Social Liberals. The same, but then more dramaticly, happened to the Sociodemocrats and the Conservative Christians, where the Sociodemocrats obtained more votes than the Conservative Christians (although only slightly more votes) but the Conservative Christians obtained no less than 10 seats more than the Sociodemocrats. This is due to two facts. Helgoland and Rügen, whose votes have more weight at national level because they were assigned more seats than they percentually have inhabitants at national level, tend to vote more conservatively than the remainder of the Union. Furthermore, exactly the four provinces of Retalia and Continental Eiffelland that fell under the 30 seats burden and, therefore, were assigned 30 seats, are the four most conservative provinces of Retalia and Continental Eiffelland. As a result, the votes cast on the Conservative Christians weighted more than the votes cast on the Sociodemocrats.
It already sometimes happened in Former Eiffelland that the election system resulted in less seats for one party than for another one, but this difference was never as dramatic as currently between the Sociodemocrats and the Conservative Christians. Politicians from all political parties already indicated that this is an important flaw in the system and should be corrected. One modification could be that the minimum number of seats per province in Retalia and Continental Eiffelland is lowered; however, that would diminish the influence of the smaller provinces on Union politics. In any case, it can’t be different than that the people who wrote the constitution change foresaw that this could happen: The minimum number of seats per province is not determined in the constitution, but in a separate election law that can be changed by twothirds of the votes in the Unionstag and the Landestage, without having to hold new elections for a constitution change.
A reduction of the seats of Helgoland and Rügen is not on the table. The governments of both Länder already voiced their objections to such a reduction; furthermore, a constitution change would be needed.
The loss in votes for the Sociodemocrats, Environmentalists and Pacifist-Socialists compared with the elections on 2 June have been investigated as well by means of election polls. The Kadikistani intervention in Crotobaltislavonia is the main result. This increased the fear for the Rurikgrad Pact and led to calls for defence budget increases. The fact that the Sociodemocrats, Environmentalists and Pacificst-Socialists immediately objected against extending the armed forces (as phrased by Minister of Internal Affairs Rüdiger Zimmermann (Sociodemocrat): “When we turn Eiffelland-Retalia into an authoritarian militarist country, we exactly destroy what we want to fight for”) made voters turn to other political parties. More in general, the Kadikistani intervention in Crotobaltislavonia led to a turn to the right: Voters went from the Christiandemocrats to the Conservative Christians, voters went from the Socioliberals to the Christiandemocrats and the Market Liberals, voters from the Sociodemocrats and Environmentalists went to the Socioliberals and Christiandemocrats, voters from the Pacifist-Socialists went to the Sociodemocrats, and the Far Rights gained votes from everyone but the Environmentalists and Pacifist-Socialists. The far-left parties and the Post-Delegationists did not experience any consequences to their votes, but their shares in the votes have already diminished to their regular voters.
At Union level, there are no two-party coalitions possible. Several three-party coalitions are possible though. A continuation of the current coaltion between Christiandemocrats, Sociodemocrats and Socioliberals would have 411 seats; however, given the current unrest in the Sociodemocratic party and its stance towards extending the armed forces, it is questionable whether coalition negotiations between these parties would succeed.
The combination between Christiandemocrats, Market Liberals and Social Liberals would have the largest majority, with 449 seats. This combination would be the easiest to negotiate out, because the stances on several important topics (like the armed forces) do not differ much. Possible problem would be the stance towards economic support packages, at which the Market Liberals look with suspicion.
There are two possible combinations with the Conservative Christians: One with the Christiandemocrats and the Market Liberals, and one with the Christiandemocrats and the Social Liberals. Those combinations are not on the table as first choice, however. The Christiandemocrats, Social Liberals and Conservative Christians find each other easily w.r.t. the defence budgets and economic support packages, but the Conservative Christians’ demands regarding prohibiting the spread of information on homosexuality and transgenderism as well as prohibiting abortions meet a clear veto from the Social Liberals, while the Christiandemocrats and the Market Liberals are not happy with these demands, either.
A coalition containing the Far Rights is only a theoretical possibility. Possible from a mathematical point of view, but all political parties except the Market Liberals explicitly banned the Far Rights from coalition negotiations, even if, like Chancellor Rheinfeld phrased it, “we have to form a twelve-party coalition to exclude them”.
There were also elections for the Landestage in Retalia, Continental Eiffelland, Helgoland and Rügen. The results for Retalia are shown below.
Two three-party coalitions would be possible in Retalia. The most likely one is between Christiandemocrats, Social Liberals and Market Liberals. The other one is between Christiandemocrats, Social Liberals and Conservative Christians, but that will be unlikely. A four-party coalition between Christiandemocrats, Social Liberals, Sociodemocrats and Environmentalists would be possible as well, but it would be difficult to get an agreement between these four parties.
The results for Continental Eiffelland are shown below.
Also in Continental Eiffelland, the coalition between Christiandemocrats, Social Liberals and Market Liberals is the most likely one. Other possible coalitions would be between Christiandemocrats, Market Liberals and Conservative Christians, as well as a four-party coalition between Christiandemocrats, Social Liberals, Sociodemocrats and Environmentalists. However, the latter two calitions would meet the same problems as in Retalia.
The results for Helgoland are shown below.
Like in the beginning of June, the Christiandemocrats lost their absolute majority. For the first time since Helgoland became autonomous, a coalition has to be formed. Possible coalitions are between Christiandemocrats and Conservative Christians, between Christiandemocrats, Market Liberals and Social-Liberals, and between Christiandemocrats, Sociodemocrats and Social-Liberals.
Godebald Modrow, who was the political leader of the Christiandemocrats in Helgoland, indicated that he would step down as political leader of the Christiandemocrats, as well as Minister-President of Helgoland.
Finally, the results for Rügen are shown below.
The coalition between Christiandemocrats and Sociodemocrats lost its majority. The Christiandemocrats could form two-party coalitions with the Market Liberals and the Conservative Christians, or a three-party coalition with the Sociodemocrats and the Social Liberals. The Social Liberals rejected the possibility of such a three-party coalition though, following the principle that “we don’t want to give a coalition a majority again after it lost its majority in the elections”.
03JUL2020
Last school day before Summer holidays
As per tradition in Eiffelland and Retalia, the Friday before the first Saturday of July is the last school day before the Summer Holidays. The schools are closed for two months, till the first Monday of September, the traditional first school day of the new school year. Exception to that rule is for the people who graduated this school year from secondary education or the Berufsschule, and turned 18 this school year or will turn 18 on or before 31 July; those people have to start with their 2 year period of society service from 1 August onwards.
New this year is, that people who graduated from secondary education, turned 17 this school year and will turn 18 on or before 31 May next year, can already start with the civil part of society service and will start in the military part of society service after they turn 18. This is to give people who would normally go to the Hochschule after absolving the Realschule (the second-highest level of secondary education in Eiffelland-Retalia) the opportunity to avoid having to serve as soldiers without rank after having failed the short education for conscript officer. The reason for this decision is to only accept people aged 21 or above for the short education for conscript officer, and to determine already during the examinations for military service whether someone is fit to become conscript officer. The demands for serving as conscript officer have been raised this year, meaning that only a small number of the people with Hochschule or University degrees can serve the military part of society service as officer.
Also new this year is, that the people who graduated from the Gymnasium (the highest level of secondary education in Eiffelland-Retalia) and have been deemed fit to serve as conscript officer, can opt for going to University first and do the society service after they graduated from University.
03JUL2020
Royal Family stops using military uniforms as evening dress
The Royal Family announces that it will stop using military uniforms as evening dress. The reason is, that members of the Royal Family will not serve as officers any more by default when they do military service. Exception to this rule is for members of the Royal Family who serve as professional soldiers, like currently Royal Prince Johann, who is Major in the Eiffelloretalian Air Force.
The Royal Family emphasizes that this decision is not an expression of any kind of displeasure about the decision by the Eiffelloretalian Armd Forces to not let Royal Princes serve as officers by default, but only when they are deemed fit to serve as officers: “We realise completely that the decision to let a person serve as an officer must be based on the person’s fitness to serve as such and not on his or her ancestry. However, we are of the opinion that somebody who did not serve as an officer cannot wear an officer uniform. So if a Royal Prince fails the conscript officers education, he cannot wear an officer uniform. In order to avoid the situation that the only Prince in a dress suit appears on a gala as someone who failed in an achievement, all the members of the Royal Family, except people serving as professional soldiers, will wear evening dress (like dress suits and tuxedos) for evening events and day dress (like jacquets) for day events.”
National elections: Christiandemocrats largest; Sociodemocrats, Environmentalists and Pacifist-Socialists loose 3%
In yesterday’s national elections, the Christiandemocratic party of Chancellor Rheinfeld became the largest fraction in both the Unionstag and the four Landestage. The second-largest party in terms of votes are the Social-Liberals, followed by the market liberals. Compared with the elections in the beginning of June, the Sociodemocrats lost 2 percentpoints of the votes, and the Environmentalists and Pacific-Socialists 0.5 percentpoint each.
It is difficult to compare this election with previous ones, because this is the first time that really nationwide elections are held for the Unionstag, and because of the voting system change in Retalia (from first-past-the-post to proportional representation per province). However, one thing is clear: The Sociodemocrats have definitvely lost their status as one of the big two in Continental Eiffelland, Helgoland and Rügen, while the Christiandemocrats still dominate the political landscape (even with only 20 to 25% of the votes).
The Eiffelloretalian voting system is a complex version of proportional representation per part of the country. There are a 800 seats to vote for. Helgoland and Rügen are assigned 50 seats each. The remaining 700 seats are divided over the six provinces of Continental Eiffelland and eight provinces of Retalia, based on the number of cast votes, where each province gets 30 seats as a minimum.
The election results for the Unionstag are the following.
You must be registered for see images
Despite a lower amount of votes, the Market Liberals obtained more seats than the Social Liberals. The same, but then more dramaticly, happened to the Sociodemocrats and the Conservative Christians, where the Sociodemocrats obtained more votes than the Conservative Christians (although only slightly more votes) but the Conservative Christians obtained no less than 10 seats more than the Sociodemocrats. This is due to two facts. Helgoland and Rügen, whose votes have more weight at national level because they were assigned more seats than they percentually have inhabitants at national level, tend to vote more conservatively than the remainder of the Union. Furthermore, exactly the four provinces of Retalia and Continental Eiffelland that fell under the 30 seats burden and, therefore, were assigned 30 seats, are the four most conservative provinces of Retalia and Continental Eiffelland. As a result, the votes cast on the Conservative Christians weighted more than the votes cast on the Sociodemocrats.
It already sometimes happened in Former Eiffelland that the election system resulted in less seats for one party than for another one, but this difference was never as dramatic as currently between the Sociodemocrats and the Conservative Christians. Politicians from all political parties already indicated that this is an important flaw in the system and should be corrected. One modification could be that the minimum number of seats per province in Retalia and Continental Eiffelland is lowered; however, that would diminish the influence of the smaller provinces on Union politics. In any case, it can’t be different than that the people who wrote the constitution change foresaw that this could happen: The minimum number of seats per province is not determined in the constitution, but in a separate election law that can be changed by twothirds of the votes in the Unionstag and the Landestage, without having to hold new elections for a constitution change.
A reduction of the seats of Helgoland and Rügen is not on the table. The governments of both Länder already voiced their objections to such a reduction; furthermore, a constitution change would be needed.
The loss in votes for the Sociodemocrats, Environmentalists and Pacifist-Socialists compared with the elections on 2 June have been investigated as well by means of election polls. The Kadikistani intervention in Crotobaltislavonia is the main result. This increased the fear for the Rurikgrad Pact and led to calls for defence budget increases. The fact that the Sociodemocrats, Environmentalists and Pacificst-Socialists immediately objected against extending the armed forces (as phrased by Minister of Internal Affairs Rüdiger Zimmermann (Sociodemocrat): “When we turn Eiffelland-Retalia into an authoritarian militarist country, we exactly destroy what we want to fight for”) made voters turn to other political parties. More in general, the Kadikistani intervention in Crotobaltislavonia led to a turn to the right: Voters went from the Christiandemocrats to the Conservative Christians, voters went from the Socioliberals to the Christiandemocrats and the Market Liberals, voters from the Sociodemocrats and Environmentalists went to the Socioliberals and Christiandemocrats, voters from the Pacifist-Socialists went to the Sociodemocrats, and the Far Rights gained votes from everyone but the Environmentalists and Pacifist-Socialists. The far-left parties and the Post-Delegationists did not experience any consequences to their votes, but their shares in the votes have already diminished to their regular voters.
At Union level, there are no two-party coalitions possible. Several three-party coalitions are possible though. A continuation of the current coaltion between Christiandemocrats, Sociodemocrats and Socioliberals would have 411 seats; however, given the current unrest in the Sociodemocratic party and its stance towards extending the armed forces, it is questionable whether coalition negotiations between these parties would succeed.
The combination between Christiandemocrats, Market Liberals and Social Liberals would have the largest majority, with 449 seats. This combination would be the easiest to negotiate out, because the stances on several important topics (like the armed forces) do not differ much. Possible problem would be the stance towards economic support packages, at which the Market Liberals look with suspicion.
There are two possible combinations with the Conservative Christians: One with the Christiandemocrats and the Market Liberals, and one with the Christiandemocrats and the Social Liberals. Those combinations are not on the table as first choice, however. The Christiandemocrats, Social Liberals and Conservative Christians find each other easily w.r.t. the defence budgets and economic support packages, but the Conservative Christians’ demands regarding prohibiting the spread of information on homosexuality and transgenderism as well as prohibiting abortions meet a clear veto from the Social Liberals, while the Christiandemocrats and the Market Liberals are not happy with these demands, either.
A coalition containing the Far Rights is only a theoretical possibility. Possible from a mathematical point of view, but all political parties except the Market Liberals explicitly banned the Far Rights from coalition negotiations, even if, like Chancellor Rheinfeld phrased it, “we have to form a twelve-party coalition to exclude them”.
There were also elections for the Landestage in Retalia, Continental Eiffelland, Helgoland and Rügen. The results for Retalia are shown below.
You must be registered for see images
Two three-party coalitions would be possible in Retalia. The most likely one is between Christiandemocrats, Social Liberals and Market Liberals. The other one is between Christiandemocrats, Social Liberals and Conservative Christians, but that will be unlikely. A four-party coalition between Christiandemocrats, Social Liberals, Sociodemocrats and Environmentalists would be possible as well, but it would be difficult to get an agreement between these four parties.
The results for Continental Eiffelland are shown below.
You must be registered for see images
Also in Continental Eiffelland, the coalition between Christiandemocrats, Social Liberals and Market Liberals is the most likely one. Other possible coalitions would be between Christiandemocrats, Market Liberals and Conservative Christians, as well as a four-party coalition between Christiandemocrats, Social Liberals, Sociodemocrats and Environmentalists. However, the latter two calitions would meet the same problems as in Retalia.
The results for Helgoland are shown below.
You must be registered for see images
Like in the beginning of June, the Christiandemocrats lost their absolute majority. For the first time since Helgoland became autonomous, a coalition has to be formed. Possible coalitions are between Christiandemocrats and Conservative Christians, between Christiandemocrats, Market Liberals and Social-Liberals, and between Christiandemocrats, Sociodemocrats and Social-Liberals.
Godebald Modrow, who was the political leader of the Christiandemocrats in Helgoland, indicated that he would step down as political leader of the Christiandemocrats, as well as Minister-President of Helgoland.
Finally, the results for Rügen are shown below.
You must be registered for see images
The coalition between Christiandemocrats and Sociodemocrats lost its majority. The Christiandemocrats could form two-party coalitions with the Market Liberals and the Conservative Christians, or a three-party coalition with the Sociodemocrats and the Social Liberals. The Social Liberals rejected the possibility of such a three-party coalition though, following the principle that “we don’t want to give a coalition a majority again after it lost its majority in the elections”.
03JUL2020
Last school day before Summer holidays
As per tradition in Eiffelland and Retalia, the Friday before the first Saturday of July is the last school day before the Summer Holidays. The schools are closed for two months, till the first Monday of September, the traditional first school day of the new school year. Exception to that rule is for the people who graduated this school year from secondary education or the Berufsschule, and turned 18 this school year or will turn 18 on or before 31 July; those people have to start with their 2 year period of society service from 1 August onwards.
New this year is, that people who graduated from secondary education, turned 17 this school year and will turn 18 on or before 31 May next year, can already start with the civil part of society service and will start in the military part of society service after they turn 18. This is to give people who would normally go to the Hochschule after absolving the Realschule (the second-highest level of secondary education in Eiffelland-Retalia) the opportunity to avoid having to serve as soldiers without rank after having failed the short education for conscript officer. The reason for this decision is to only accept people aged 21 or above for the short education for conscript officer, and to determine already during the examinations for military service whether someone is fit to become conscript officer. The demands for serving as conscript officer have been raised this year, meaning that only a small number of the people with Hochschule or University degrees can serve the military part of society service as officer.
Also new this year is, that the people who graduated from the Gymnasium (the highest level of secondary education in Eiffelland-Retalia) and have been deemed fit to serve as conscript officer, can opt for going to University first and do the society service after they graduated from University.
03JUL2020
Royal Family stops using military uniforms as evening dress
The Royal Family announces that it will stop using military uniforms as evening dress. The reason is, that members of the Royal Family will not serve as officers any more by default when they do military service. Exception to this rule is for members of the Royal Family who serve as professional soldiers, like currently Royal Prince Johann, who is Major in the Eiffelloretalian Air Force.
The Royal Family emphasizes that this decision is not an expression of any kind of displeasure about the decision by the Eiffelloretalian Armd Forces to not let Royal Princes serve as officers by default, but only when they are deemed fit to serve as officers: “We realise completely that the decision to let a person serve as an officer must be based on the person’s fitness to serve as such and not on his or her ancestry. However, we are of the opinion that somebody who did not serve as an officer cannot wear an officer uniform. So if a Royal Prince fails the conscript officers education, he cannot wear an officer uniform. In order to avoid the situation that the only Prince in a dress suit appears on a gala as someone who failed in an achievement, all the members of the Royal Family, except people serving as professional soldiers, will wear evening dress (like dress suits and tuxedos) for evening events and day dress (like jacquets) for day events.”