Ravneby — A five-party bloc will lead the next government, with Socialist leader Steve Bennett serving at the helm as the third prime minister of the Valkyrian Republic. After nearly three weeks of inter-party negotiations, the Alliance of Social Democrats welcomed the Pirate Party and The Greens to what had already been a three-party bloc between the Socialist Party, Labour Party, and Populist Left in what will be a government controlling 365 of the 623 seats in the Storting, comprising nearly 59 per cent of the unicameral legislature and having a 53-seat majority.

After his appointment as prime minister by Jarlskona Kate Murphy, the Storting formally confirmed Bennett as the third prime minister, ending the three-year premiership of Stella Kaufman and ensuring socialist leadership for the first time in Valkyrian history, which had long been in the hands of monarchs, conservatives, fascists, liberals, and a handful of social democrats in its history. Yet, the socialists will rely on political support from social democrats, ecologists, and civil libertarians to retain control of the government through 2025 at the latest.
 

Coalition agreement
The five party leaders gave their signatures of approval to a 102-page coalition agreement that shows their agreement to wide-ranging reforms on various political issues from the Kalkara War to intellectual property law. The 2022 agreement starkly differs from the 2017 agreement made between the socialists, social democrats, and liberals, which was vaguer to ameliorate the difference of opinion between the socialists and the liberals, who could not agree on various issues. The new agreement establishes a framework for constitutional and statutory reforms that broadly appeal to the left.

Most of all, the five leaders agreed on an immediate withdrawal of Valkyrian troops from Hystaiga, which was the most important issue to those who voted in the general election, according to KTN polling. On 8 July, the Storting voted to revoke the war directive on Hystaiga, initiating the withdrawal before the finalisation of the coalition agreement. While the withdrawal has largely occurred without violence, neither Hystaiga nor Valkyria has announced that a ceasefire is in effect. The new government hopes to have a ceasefire in place to allow for a peaceful withdrawal and negotiate reparations.

The new agreement will also see a continuation of the trade policy seen in the previous two governments. After Margaret Harrison became prime minister, most major parties on the left and right largely abandoned the free trade policies pursued by previous governments. Throughout the Harrison government, the government pursued what they called free and fair trade, with emphasis on fair. When Stella Kaufman took over as prime minister, the government did not pursue any trade agreements to satisfy nationalists in their faction. With the new government under Bennett, Valkyria will continue the free and fair trade sought by the Harrison government which also aims to satisfy their contingent of agrarians and industrial workers.

Additionally, the new government will investigate Valrissi fundamentalist groups in the continental north of Valkyria, something that the Populist Left has been calling for for years. These groups have been accused of forced religious conversion and the disappearance of people unwilling to join them. The Kaufman government largely refused to investigate these groups due to vehement opposition from The New Right, particularly its faction of northern members led by Jake Marshall. In February, the faction amicably broke away from The New Right to form the Northern Party.

The Alliance will also initiate intellectual property reform sought after by the Pirate Party, which made its parliamentary debut in the general election. The agreement will see the government pass legislation that makes copyright subject to periodic renewal every five years and limits patent rights on what the government considers essential items, among other things. While the coalition agreement sets out on reforming intellectual property law in the direction of the Pirate Party, it does not completely acquiesce to their campaign for the outright abolition of copyright.

However, the Pirates did earn promises from the other parties on a constitutional amendment that bans corporate donations in elections and limits corporate lobbying on legislation. According to the coalition agreement, the government will enlarge the public fund that the Electoral Commission maintains so all parties and candidates can use those funds instead of relying on private donations.

In bringing The Greens back into the Alliance, the new government will pursue a more aggressive climate strategy than what was seen during the Harrison government. As part of the agreement, the government will set a timeline to ban fossil fuel vehicles by 2030. Concerning fossil fuel plants, the government will aim to close them by 2035. As part of their new climate strategy, the government will try to close all petrol stations by 2035 and provide accessible charging stations in all residences, workplaces, schools, and shopping centres.

To accomplish their decarbonisation goals, the government will establish a climate fund to help lower-income Valkyrians in the transition to renewable energy but also hopes to establish international partnerships that see Valkyria and other countries pooling their resources and sharing electricity to provide an equitable distribution of power stations. For now, the Valkyrian power grid remains independent, but the new government will try to build a wide area synchronous grid throughout Cordilia.

All intranational Valkluft flights between mainland cities and those on Fjernøy will also discontinue, with the next government promoting alternative, low-carbon travel such as high-speed rail. The government will have Transport Valkyria, the state enterprise responsible for public transport, have an entirely electric bus fleet by 2027. The government will also introduce an annual transport tax to offer zero-fare public transport throughout Valkyria. The phase-out of fares would see Transport Valkyria becoming a non-profit enterprise, away from the for-profit scheme it currently operates.

Included with all the promises made to the other parties, the Socialists gained a few wins as well, earning their support to nationalise the housing industry. With Valkyria experiencing a rising cost of living, many voters who rent expressed disdain for their living conditions, describing living pay cheque to pay cheque, with their landlords increasing their monthly rent by as much as 60 per cent. The Socialists believe that nationalisation will end homelessness and provide a buttress against the rising cost of living by eliminating the "element of heartless greed", a phrase oft-repeated by Bennett and other Socialists.

The Alliance will also nationalise the defence industry. Throughout the Kalkara War, defence corporations came under intense scrutiny from the left, especially from the Socialists, who accused them of profiteering and influencing government policy. In 2017, Harrison campaigned on nationalising the industry, but she had to abandon that promise to secure liberal support for a left-wing government. However, with the Liberals no longer constituting part of the Alliance, the Bennett government will not face any obstacles in nationalising the defence industry.

The inter-party agreement also endorsed Valkyrian entry into a supranational union, provided that the organisation adheres to the principles of peace, freedom, and democracy, promotes the ecological restoration of Cordilia and the rest of Pacifica, and exists in the service of the people and not oligarchs. Whereas the Kaufman government disengaged with the World Forum and did not send a representative or attend any WF meetings, the new government will do the opposite and reengage in the affairs of the global organisation.

Cabinet formation
The coalition agreement outlines the distribution of senior cabinet positions, which will be a 5–4–3–2–1 composition between the five parties. It is the understanding of the KTN that the allocation of cabinet positions was a point of contention between the Socialists and Labour. Heading into the inter-party talks, the Socialist Party wanted to take the labour minister position, leading to a pointed objection from the Labour Party. Eventually, the two parties reached a settlement that saw the Socialists taking the labour minister position in exchange for Labour taking the finance and health minister positions.

Office	Officeholder	Party
Minister of Foreign Affairs	Avianna Aldridge	Labour Party
Minister of Home Affairs	Taeler Shaw	Populist Left
Minister of Defence	Amalia Rollins	Socialist Party
Minister of Agriculture	Halla Eiríksdotter	Populist Left
Minister of Communications	David Mira	Pirate Party
Minister of Culture	Jón Antonsson	Populist Left
Minister of Education	Kyle Roderickson	Labour Party
Minister of Energy and Science	Leifr Magnússon	Socialist Party
Minister of the Environment	Ruby Burke	The Greens
Minister of Finance	Ivar Mikjálsson	Labour Party
Minister of Health	Julia Burns	Labour Party
Minister of Labour	Eirik Bjørnson	Socialist Party
Minister of Planning	Daniel Yamamoto	Socialist Party
Minister of Trade	Róselía Sebastíansdóttir	Pirate Party
Minister of Transport	Golriz Farahani	Socialist Party

Other than the dispute over which party would take the labour minister position, the parties secured all the seats they wanted with the Populist Left taking the agricultural minister, the Pirates taking the communications and trade ministers, and the Greens taking the environmental minister. Additionally, Labour will have an outsized role in Valkyrian foreign affairs, signalling a return of Harrisonisme in the international realm; the Populist Left will spearhead the home ministry, leading any investigation into cultist activity in the continental northern region; and the Socialists will oversee the withdrawal of Valkyrian troops from Hystaiga.

The new cabinet brings many new faces but also brought back a few old ones. Amalia Rollins, the former Socialist leader and Bennett's predecessor, will return as the defence minister. Julia Burns, having served as the defence minister under Harrison, will return to the cabinet as the health minister. Burns has a unique relationship with Bennett as they both served in Njord Group, a naval special operations unit, during the 2014 war of the South Pacific. However, the two war veterans say they never crossed paths during their time in the military.