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Breaking: Centrist Democratic Leader Victor Cutter and Conservative Leader Jonathan Victor have formally entered into a political alliance called the "United Conservative Alliance", which they have called "the spiritual successor of the United Conservative Party".
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Breaking: Valkyrian Parliament passes law that prohibits warning shots by law enforcement.
Have a comment? ![[Image: 200]](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/qvwi/images/6/67/KTN_News_logo.svg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/200){kind=logo} Second Referendum Day sparks massive change in Valkyria By Allie Vega and Lyle Williams, KTN News Wednesday, 2 May 2018 Stockholm (KTN) — In the second annual Referendum Day in Valkyria, the people have triggered what is perhaps the largest geopolitical transformation in nearly two years, having approved of reforming the United Kingdom of Valkyria into a republic in Referendum 1. At the same time, Chancellor Margaret Harrison and the Alliance of Social Democrats have proclaimed victory on a series of other referendums at vote, which reaffirmed their positions on certain agenda. Harrison, who had placed her own political career on the line, scored her biggest victory since the unification of Qvait and Winston Island with the passage of Referendum 3, which allows Valkyria to remain in the World Forum. Harrison also managed to legalise physician-assisted suicide with the passage of Referendum 2, a promise that she had made in 2015 during the Qvaitican presidential campaign.
The Greens scored victories with the passage of Referendums 5 and 7, which kept recreational marijuana legal and banned tobacco products. The former was legalised on 25 July 2017 after The Greens'-sponsored Free Marijuana Act narrowly passed in Parliament on 17 July without a veto from Harrison. On the other hand, two referendums—4 and 6—that were backed by The New Right have been overwhelmingly rejected. Referendum 4, which would have triggered a recall election for the chancellery, was rejected by 68.4 per cent of the voters. Referendum 6, which would have forced naturalised Valkyrians to renounce their original citizenship, was rejected by 79.3 per cent of the voters, the greatest margin between Yes and No out of the seven referendums at vote. Lastly, Referendum 7 passed with 57.2 per cent support from the voters, banning tobacco products.
Tuesday's vote is a sea change for Valkyrian politics as the Monarchy will come to an end after only two years. Queens Katelynn and Melissa will be stripped of their titles on 1 August 2018 and the nation will be reformed as the Valkyrian Republic. It has been a roller coaster for the initial years of the new Valkyrian regime that formed on 1 August 2016. For the first few months, the nation's political system featured a tricameral legislature before being replaced by a bicameral one after Referendum Day 2017. The move resulted in Harrison being removed from Parliament and established a separate executive branch, but Referendum 1 brings the chancellery back to Parliament. The Queens, who have served as the collective head of state, will be replaced by a popularly-elected President who will have mostly ceremonial powers.
To avoid having a third parliamentary election in three years and a new presidential election from being held in 2018, Referendum 1 keeps the chancellery independent from the Parliament until June 2019, when the first fixed-term parliamentary election is supposed to occur. At the same time, the National Assembly voted to give the Citizens' Assembly the temporary power to elect an Acting President, who will serve until one is elected simultaneous to the parliamentary election. As for term length, Referendum 1 has stipulated that the President should serve a six-year term at the most before needing to be reelected to a second and final term. On the other hand, the Chancellor will serve a three-year term at the most and will not be term limited.
Another reform triggered by Referendum 1 is how members of the National Assembly are seated. Starting in June 2019, members of the National Assembly will be elected in an open list mixed-member proportional representation system, meaning that Valkyrians will have two votes in the parliamentary election: one for their respective constituencies and another for a political party. Furthermore, Referendum 1 issues a ten-year moratorium on referendums that affect the structure of the Valkyrian government. A chief concern of members of Parliament from different sides of the political spectrum is that Referendum Day 2017 changed the structure of the Valkyrian government months after it initially formed and Referendum 1 has changed it in quick succession. Politicians in Stockholm agree that the governmental structure of Valkyria should only be changed rarely, rather than annually.
![[Image: SGDX9mNl.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/SGDX9mNl.jpg) Margaret Harrison in March 2018 With the passage of Referendum 2, Harrison has finally been able to keep a promise that she made during the 2015 Qvaitican presidential campaign—legalise physician-assisted suicide. Referendum 2 legalises PAS for patients with terminal illnesses such as cancer or advanced heart disease. Since initially taking office as President of Qvait on 1 April 2016, Harrison had been repeatedly pressuring her allies in the legislature to legalise PAS, but they feared that such a move would have been politically harmful in a future election. Unable to find support in Parliament, Harrison took her case directly to the people by putting PAS up for vote on the Referendum Day ballot. On Tuesday, Referendum 2 passed with 55.6 per cent support. During her speech on Tuesday night, Harrison praised its passage and criticised her fellow Alliance members for their "lack of faith" on the issue.
Starting 1 August 2018, patients with terminal illness will be able to ask for PAS. Referendum 2 requires the physician to notify the requesting patient of alternatives and also that the patient makes two oral and one written requests for PAS. At no point can the physician administer the PAS medication to the patient. The medication can only be voluntarily self-administered by the patient. A physician and at least two witnesses must be in attendance for self-administration.
A number of "right to die" groups around the nation praised Referendum 2's passage and Dignity Valkyria founder Elias Martin called Harrison a "champion of freedom" for her advocacy on the issue of PAS. Martin said, "We were fighting for this right ever since [Patrick] Beckley became President of Qvait in 2000. Our eighteen year long campaign has finally succeeded." However, conservatives have been relatively quiet or moderated on the issue. Centrist Democratic Party Leader Victor Cutter said that he did not support PAS, but he will support "the wishes of the people". On Tuesday night, the former Qvaitican president said, "While I may not agree with assisted suicide, the people have spoken." A high-ranking official from the CDP has told KTN News that mentions of the party's opposition to PAS will be removed from the party manifesto in 2019.
![[Image: sdQsJl5l.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/sdQsJl5l.jpg) Nicole Chancellor in April 2018 In what was the most politically perilous referendum, Harrison was not forced to eat her words as Referendum 3 passed with 63.1 per cent support. After Referendum Day 2017, Harrison promised that a referendum on Valkyria's membership in the World Forum would be on the ballot, but she also promised that she would resign as Chancellor if the referendum forced Valkyria to leave. On Tuesday night, Harrison said that the passage of Referendum 3 meant that "internationalism won the day". Referendum 3's passage comes at the cost of Opposition Leader Nicole Chancellor, who was in the Oppose camp of Referendum 4 (2017), which determined that a slim majority of voters opposed membership in the World Forum. The nationalists campaigned in the No camp of Referendum 3, hoping to make Valkyria leave the World Forum and make Harrison keep her promise of resigning.
The passage of Referendum 3 is an electoral defeat for the 28-year-old opposition leader, who will be stepping into a 2019 parliamentary election against an increasingly defiant alliance between the Centrist Democrats and Conservatives, collectively called the United Conservative Alliance. The UCA, which is led by CDP Leader Cutter, has made its highest priority the "restoration of conservatism with integrity", alleging that Nicole Chancellor does not care about democratic institutions and the rule of law. The opposition leader hit back, calling Cutter and Conservative Leader Jonathan Victor "liars" and "politicians of yesteryear".
Current polling from the Harris Group on the 2019 parliamentary election shows the governing ASD winning a majority in the National Assembly, but also shows a statistically even divide between The New Right and the UCA in their bid for leading the right-wing opposition. Conservative political analysts such as Jay Dawson and Rickey Ortega have said that an entente between The New Right and the UCA is the only way to remove the ASD from the government and bring in the return of a conservative government, but political historian Marcella Stokes says, "It is quite difficult to see how The New Right and the United Conservative Alliance can agree to a ceasefire and form a government together considering that there are irreconcilable differences between the two camps." Stokes went further to say that the divide among conservatives is the only reason why Harrison is Chancellor, "If they actually overcome their differences, then they have a real opportunity to unseat this government."
KTN's Levi Hodges, Haajid al-Shaban, and Kasey Winters contributed to this report. Have a comment? ![[Image: 50]](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/qvwi/images/4/4e/KTN_logo.svg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/50){kind=logo}
Breaking: Citizens' Assembly votes to appoint Queen Katelynn as Acting President. As Katelynn Williams, she will take office on 1 August 2018 and serve until after the 2019 presidential election.
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Breaking: Chancellor Margaret Harrison condemns suicide bombings in Imperial Frost Federation.
Have a comment? Valkyrian constitution gets makeover By Allie Vega, KTN News Friday, 27 July 2018 ![[Image: P30gL5S.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/P30gL5S.jpg) Katelynn Williams in June 2018 Stockholm (KTN) — Ahead of 1 August, the Valkyrian monarchy and government officials are preparing for the reconstitution of the state into a republic. After it was announced that Referendum 1–2018 passed, which strips the royal family of their titles and brings about a republic, the two Queens—Katelynn Williams and Melissa Harrison—issued a joint statement, calling on media outlets to stop referring to them as queens and instead use their first and last names. On 5 June, the Citizens' Assembly voted to name Williams as Acting President of the Valkyrian Republic until one is elected in July 2019. Since then, Williams has used the title "Acting President designate of the Valkyrian Republic" instead of "Queen of Valkyria". Melissa Harrison, who is the daughter of Chancellor Margaret Harrison, announced that she will seek to be elected into Parliament and represent the people her mother served while she was a member of the Qvaitican House of Representatives and Valkyrian Parliament.
With her daughter seeking her old seat, Chancellor Margaret Harrison announced that she would seek election into Parliament through the Labor Party list. If it were not for Referendum 1–2018, Harrison could have served as Chancellor until 2022 at the latest, but by bringing the chancellery back to Parliament, the officeholder will serve a three-year term at the most rather than what would have been a potential six-year term. Opposition Leader Nicole Chancellor has not yet announced whether she will seek election as President or Chancellor, but Centrist Democratic Party leader Victor Cutter, who once served as President of Qvait, announced that he will run for President of the Valkyrian Republic.
Even though Cutter was once President of Qvait, the office that he will run for in 2019 will have extremely limited powers. The President of Qvait was the head of state and government, but the President of the Valkyrian Republic is just the head of state. However, the President will have the power to nominate people to the Courts of the Valkyrian Republic and cast the tie-breaking vote on legislation in the Citizens' Assembly. While this President will not have the power to sign or veto bills into law, the tie-breaking vote in the Citizens' Assembly can be the de facto signature or veto of legislation. When it comes to judicial nominations, the President has the de jure power to fill the Courts, but his or her nominations must be approved by the Chancellor's party or coalition, giving the latter the de facto power to fill the Courts. Legal scholar Yvette Lynch tells the KTN, "There is give and take between the President and the Chancellor when it comes to the Courts and the passage of legislation."
On Friday, the Parliament ratified the new constitution despite opposition from classical liberals on portions of the document and national conservatives on the document in its entirety. While the ratification was successful, the Parliament added stipulations that made the implementation of the new constitution transitional rather than abrupt. For now, there will be an Acting President who was voted upon by the Citizens' Assembly, a Chancellor operating independently from Parliament, and a 99-member Citizens' Assembly. However, the first President will be elected alongside a Parliament that regained control of the chancellery and a Citizens' Assembly that has 100 members by 1 August 2019. It will be on that date that the new constitution will be fully operative.
![[Image: qCuixxbl.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/qCuixxbl.jpg) Margaret Harrison in July 2018 When the new constitution enters into effect on 1 August 2018, it will do so with a clearly-defined bill of rights known as the Basic Rights Code. The current constitution featured a bill of rights, but it was not listed out all at once. In the new constitution, a section was dedicated to naming the rights of the people of the state. The Basic Rights Code retains the freedoms that were granted by previous constitutions, but the Alliance of Social Democrats made additions to the bill of rights, which led to opposition from classical liberals. The additions made grant new freedoms such as the rights to collectively bargain, food, housing, internet, and water. Conservative MP Eric Lockhart told the KTN, "The ASD will bankrupt businesses in Valkyria with these unattainable freedoms. I would love to live in a world like this, but it is unrealistic."
Lockhart also pointed at what he called opportunism, "How opportune is it for [the ASD] to make these revisions when the purpose of changing our constitution was to become a republic?" The Conservative MP said that a referendum on the new constitution should be held on Referendum Day 2019, despite the fact that Referendum 1–2018 placed a ten-year moratorium on referendums that affect the structure of the Valkyrian government. In response to Lockhart's remarks, Labor MP Angelica Sherman told the KTN that the Parliament had the "legal authority" to ratify the new constitution and justified the other additions by saying, "The people voted for these changes in 2016, 2017, and 2018." However, Opposition Leader Nicole Chancellor alleged that the Alliance of Social Democrats have "nefarious motives".
The 28-year-old political leader said in a Central Valkyrian News interview that the Alliance of Social Democrats are "testing the limits of their power, from constitutional revisionism to suspicious legislation". Chancellor cited the recent legalisation of coca production as evidence of Harrison's alleged authoritarianism, "At no point during any of [Harrison's] campaigns did she talk about legalising coca production. This legislation came out of nowhere and was rushed through Parliament by the ruling coalition. The same could be said about these unannounced and uncalled for revisions to the constitution that were ratified today." While it is true that Harrison never spoke about coca during her political campaigns, Vice Chancellor Taeler Shaw and the Populists of the Left presented it as a political issue in the 2017 election campaign.
With eleven months to go before the general election, the various political parties in Parliament are already preparing for what one MP has described as "all-out war". An aide to one Green MP told the KTN that the party's relationship with the Alliance of Social Democrats is "already on thin ice" and one Conservative MP said that a three-way alliance between The New Right, the Conservative Party, and the Centrist Democratic Party is "being looked at as a potential counterweight" to the Alliance of Social Democrats. A Harris Group poll conducted between 24–26 July showed the Alliance of Social Democrats having 53 per cent of the vote, The New Right at 25 per cent, and the United Conservative Alliance at 20 per cent. The remaining two per cent went to the Islamist Front and the Communist Party. Compared to the current National Assembly, the poll shows an increase in support for the current government and a decline among the United Conservative Alliance, with little change for other parties.
KTN's Lyle Williams contributed to this report. Have a comment?
Breaking: The United Kingdom of Valkyria has been dissolved and the Valkyrian Republic has been formed; Katelynn Williams has been sworn in as Acting President.
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Breaking: Opposition Leader Nicole Chancellor announces she will seek the chancellery in July 2019 general election.
Have a comment? Qaweritoyu legalises slavery By Tara Cross, KTN Worldwide Thursday, 9 August 2018 Stockholm (KTN) — On Tuesday, Qaweritoyu Prime Minister Joanna Barrett and her government passed legislation that legalised slavery within the borders of her country. The move by the Qaweritoyu government sparked international outrage as the Sedunnic government quickly called on the international community to condemn and embargo Qaweritoyu until slavery is abolished. In Ryccia, the government warned that if one of its citizens were enslaved in Qaweritoyu, war would be unilaterally declared. The leader of GI-Land said, "This act is backwards and blatantly stupid." Leaders in the Frost Empire and Erinor also condemned the legislation and imposed an economic embargo on Qaweritoyu. On Wednesday morning, Qaweritoyu President Davis called the legislation "backwards", but justified that the citizens of Qaweritoyu voted for Barrett.
Valkyrian Chancellor Margaret Harrison issued a sharp rebuke, saying that Barrett and her government "belong in the past". In the company of every political party leader in the Valkyrian Parliament, including Opposition Leader Nicole Chancellor, Harrison said, "There is not a single political leader in Valkyria that believes in slavery, an ancient form of economics that should only exist in history books." Only a few hours later, both chambers of the Valkyrian Parliament unanimously voted to condemn and embargo all forms of trade with Qaweritoyu until the legislation is repealed. Valkyrian Vice Chancellor Taeler Shaw said, "Every person in Valkyria is free and we believe that the same freedoms that we enjoy are the same freedoms that all of humanity is entitled to enjoy."
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