This article has been published by the 'Quadrangle Gazette' - the official journalistic wing of the Office of Governing Commissioner. With legislative elections having been scheduled a mere six days ago, the New South Scottish political landscape has well and truly roared into life. Already, the Crown Dependency has borne witness to the establishment of four political parties and the holding of an unprecedented election debate. A number of interesting political distinctions have emerged following the proclamation of the political parties - chiefly observed through the lens of the three party electoral alliance. This pact, known informally as the ‘grand alliance’, includes the territory’s first party, the Party for National Reconstruction and Development for New South Scotland (PNRDNSS), the Centrist Liberal Alliance of New South Scotland (CLANSS) and the Behemoth Party. Together, these parties are slated to face off against the much smaller but tenacious Citizen’s Party (CP), which was established shortly after the PNRDNSS. Despite CP leader Sophia Albina's absence from the debate, it nonetheless emerged during the proceedings that disagreements over the balance between ideology and pragmatism is the main factor driving the alliance/CP split. This emerged when each party leader of the alliance sought to highlight their individual party’s unique ideological bent, with Arcadius Tomson of the PNRDNSS touting his organisation’s status as a “a purely right-wing party”, Silvia Paysais of CLANSS underlining her party’s “center-right liberal” focus and Alejandro Whyatt of Behemoth claiming the status of a “third way party” for his organisation. This was contrasted by Ms. Albina’s remarks after the debate, which denounced the alliance’s collective ideological focus as “political grandstanding“, highlighting her party’s “technocratic pragmatism” as an alternative. THE ISSUES: Though united by a common interest in promoting New South Scotland’s cultural identity, international ties and economic performance, alliance party leaders also ventured to distinguish their respective party’s specific goals and aspirations from those of their counterparts. To that end, the PNRDNSS and CLANSS leaders each highlighted the importance of developing a unique territorial cultural identity, with Ms. Paysais mentioning the value of artistic engagement in particular. Mr. Whyatt of Behemoth, meanwhile, pointed to frequent debate between citizens on issues of macronational and ideological importance as the key to promoting domestic activity. Some differences within the alliance emerged over the question of outside engagement with the wider micronational community. This saw PNRDNSS leadership propose making formal contact with other micronations in the Crown Dependency's capacity as an autonomous Austenasian territory, identifying this as his party’s first priority, while Ms. Paysais of CLANSS said her party would focus first and foremost on using outside engagement to increase the population via immigration. This seemed to contrast with Mr. Whyatt’s rejection of the GUM and his resulting focus on domestic issues, possibly revealing a point of disagreement within the electoral pact over the motivations and necessity of New South Scottish engagement with the wider community. What unites all parties (including the CP), however, is an aspiration for the creation of a New South Scottish economy, although CP leader Ms. Albina rejected painting the issue in terms of the socialism/capitalism debate, instead suggesting drawing inspiration from Empire of Adammia’s example and using state-owned enterprises to forge an economy in her party's manifesto. Taking another approach, the PNRDNSS hopes to focus on the use of stock markets to drive growth, whereas neither Behemoth nor CLANSS appeared to offer a specific economic agenda (although their respective leaders both seem entirely committed to economic development as a matter of principle). Otherwise, the Behemoth Party and CP appear split on the matter of direct democracy, with Behemoth leader Whyatt seeming to place a focus on the use of referenda to solve the “most pressing issues” and settle disputes over the GUM, while the CP’s Albina remains resolute in her rejection of this method of public consultation. GOING FORWARD: At the time of writing, there are about twenty-four hours left for citizens to enroll as candidates on party (or independent) electoral lists, with submissions closing at 23:59 (UTC+10) 04/05/20. This leaves the door open for citizens to approach party leadership with candidate applications or start their own parties, as well as for non-citizens to apply for citizenship, join the Discord server, and do the same. Although the participating parties remain politically distinct, the grand alliance appears set on running on a single electoral list against the CP. This is expected to create tense negotiations in the coming twenty-four hours as party leaders negotiate for a favourable position on the list. This in itself may create an opportunity for the CP and other smaller parties in the near-future. Though electoral list submissions close in a day, there is still over a week before the elections themselves. According to the Office of Governing Commissioner, it is therefore hoped that a second, far more policy-oriented debate will be able to be held in the coming days. Quadrangle Gazette, 04/05/2020
New South Scotland
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