Talk Elections

The Background:

The central European country of Frenemy has just finished its most recent legislative elections.  Each forumite who signs up for this game takes control of one of the parties that participated in the election, and will attempt to maneuver their party into as influential a position as possible.

There are 600 seats in the Parliament, calculated using the D'Hondt method, with 4% threshold for representation except for designated regional parties, which need only get 4% in one region, but cannot be listed on the ballots of any other region.

The Rules

The players "scores" in this game will be determined by how many cabinet positions their party gets, determined by number of cabinet positions divided by their party's proportion of seats (parties can't have more cabinet positions than they have seats!).  Shadow cabinet seats are worth the proportion of the parliament that is in opposition (e.g., if 44% of the parliament is in opposition, a shadow cabinet seat is worth 44% of its government equivalent).  A player's score is halved if he enters a government with a party that his party pledged not to enter government with (this only applies if it's the originally negotiated coalition - you can't halve another player's score by having your party support their government after the fact!).

The players can negotiate either in this thread or via PM, and once a stable coalition has been formed the members of that coalition will post the details in this thread, the other parties will decide whether to support the government or enter opposition, and the composition of the shadow cabinet will be decided.  After the composition of the government and the opposition have been decided, the final scores of each player will be calculated.

The Parties:

Conservative Democrats:  23.74%, 144 seats (last election:  23.47%, 141 seats)

The Conservative Democrats are one of the two traditional largest parties in Frenemy, and generally subscribe to a more conservative Christian Democratic philosophy.  They support "social welfare while recognizing the need for a private sector."  CD governments generally stress balanced budgets and inflation-targeting monetary policy, and recent CD governments have introduced mandatory maternity leave, a child tax credit, and a flat corporation tax of 18%.  The CD is strongly opposed to Fruntisch independence.  The CD supports the European Union and voted for the Greek bailout, but is against Turkish entrance.  It has pledged not to form a government with the Social People's Party, Left - Attack!, or the Frunt National Party.

Workers' Party:  20.43%, 124 seats (last election:  40.92%, 247 seats)

The Workers' Party is the main left-wing, Social-Democratic party in Frenemy, and had the misfortune of being the incumbent party (in coalition with the Greens) elected in the 2006 election.  The combination of being blamed for the economic crisis, their unpopular program of tax hikes and raising the retirement age from 65 to 68 in order to close the budget deficit, and their advocacy for the Greek bailout alienated much of their traditional voter base and caused the WP to lose more than half its support in the election.  Other actions taken by the previous Worker's Party government include a tax on financial transactions, a $250 billion fiscal stimulus bill, and the introduction of an 8-Euro minimum wage.  The WP is opposed to Fruntisch independence but supports a referendum to decide the matter.  The WP is pro-EU, supports greater European integration, and the admission of Turkey.  It has pledged not to form a government with the Social People's Party, Left - Attack!, or the Free Liberal Party.

Social People's Party:  20.38%, 123 seats (last election:  6.34%, 38 seats)

The Social People's Party is a populist party best known for its call for a total moratorium on immigration.  It is the most strongly anti-EU party, and opposes what it calls the "Islamization and imposition of Sharia law on Frenemy."  The major parties have generally called it "racist" and "far-right" and have pledged not to form governments with it.  The party's economic policies range from strongly conservative (re-introduction of the gold standard, reduction of the personal and corporate income taxes to a 6% flat rate) to ones generally associated with the left-wing, in its opposition to "globalization" and support of protectionism, support of the nationalization of large banks, and its being the only party besides Left - Attack! to pledge not to vote for any cuts to pensions or healthcare.  In the most recent election, the SPP took the most votes from the WP of any party, with its populist message playing well with disaffected left-wing voters.  At its 2008 party meeting, the SPP was the only Frenem party to support John McCain in the US presidential election instead of Barack Obama.  The SPP is opposed to Fruntisch independence but supports a referendum to decide the matter.   It has pledged not to form a government with Minority Interest.

Left - Attack!:  16.82%, 102 seats (last election:  4.62%, 27 seats)

Left - Attack! is the result of a 2003 merger between two far-left parties in Frenemy:  The Left and Attack!.  The Left was the renamed Frenem Communist Party that governed East Frenemy while it was under the Iron Curtain, while Attack! was a Trotskyist party that typically got 2-3% in West Frenem elections and was suspected (but not proven) to have links to far-left terrorist organizations.  Due to this somewhat inauspicuous history, its has generally been treated similarly to the SPP, as a pariah in Frenem politics.  It is the only party to support the abolition of private property and as such considers itself the only truly "left-wing" party in parliament.  It strongly opposes "globalism," "neoliberalism," and "austerity," and opposes the EU as a body they see as promoting all three.  It benefited strongly from disaffected left-wing votes, especially from the Greens, in the last election, despite various antics such as adopting as their election slogan "Shoot the Bankers!"  Party leadership has recently created something of a stir by suggesting they would be willing to form a government or even an electoral pact with the SPP.  Left - Attack! is opposed to Fruntisch independence but supports a referendum to decide the matter.  It has pledged not to form a government with the Free Liberal Party.

Free Liberal Party:  9.34%, 56 seats (last election:  11.25%, 68 seats)

The Free Liberal Party is a market liberal party and the traditional coalition partner of the Conservative Democrats.  They strongly support civil liberties (bringing down the last Conservative Democrat government in 2006 by voting against their identity card legislation), and also neoliberal economic policy, such as a flat tax, privatizing rail and the postal service, and introducing more of a role for the private sector in the provision of entitlements.  They are a favorite target of the left due to their perceived status as the party of the wealthy.  They are pro-EU and support Turkish entrance, and the party leadership supported the Greek bailout despite substantial defections from the backbench (a position perceived to have hurt them going into the election).  The FLP is opposed to Fruntisch independence but supports a referendum to decide the matter.  It has pledged not to form a government with the Social People's Party or Left - Attack!

Green Party:  5.12%, 31 seats (last election:  11.26%, 68 seats)

The Green Party is the traditional coalition partner of the Worker's Party, and is broadly similar in ideology but seen as somewhat further left, in that they oppose nuclear power (as the name implies), and are generally more skeptical of neoliberal policies such as free trade.  They support the EU and Turkish entrace, and voted for the Greek bailout.  They take no position on Fruntisch independence and suggest a referendum to decide the matter.  The party leadership's support (despite backbench defections) of the government austerity program cost them much support in the election, leading to their relatively disastrous result.  It has pledged not to form a government with the Conservative Democrats, Social People's Party, or the Free Liberal Party.

Frunt National Party (regional party in Frunt):  3.10% (68.74% in Frunt), 18 seats (last election:  1.33% (36.24% in Frunt), 8 seats)

The region of Frunt has never really thought of itself as part of Frenemy, having been incorporated into the Kingdom of Frenemy in medieval times prior to the concept of an ethnic nation-state.  A large minority of its people still speak Fruntisch (a language related to Frenem but not mutually intelligable) as their first language, and it is majority Catholic as opposed to the rest of Frenemy, which is majority-Protestant.  Many people in Frunt believe that Frenem social spending is disproportionately spent outside for Frunt (true), while many outside of Frunt believe that military spending is disproportionately spend in Frunt (also true, since they bordered East Frenemy during the Cold War).  This has understandably led to much mutual antagonism, and separatist sentiment in Frunt has only increased with the government's austerity program, leading to a landslide within the region for the separatist Frunt National Party in the last election.  The FNP is center on economic policy, and socially conservative.  It is willing to form a government with any party so long as they pledge to support an independence referendum in Frunt and to approve state funding for Fruntisch-language schools.

Minority Interest (regional party in Capitol District): 0.41% (9.31% in Capitol District), 2 seats (last election: 0.38% (8.75% in Capitol District), 2 seats)

Minority Interest is a political party that supports the rights of Turkish and other immigrants in Frenemy.  They describe themselves as a social liberal party, and generally vote centrist on economic issues and center-left on social matters.  Obviously, they are very pro-EU and pro-Turkish admission, and their parliamentarians frequently are involved in shouting matches with SPP members.  It has pledged not to form a government with the Social People's Party.

The Cabinet Positions

(Shadow) Chancellor (worth 4 cabinet seats)
(") Vice-Chancellor (worth 2 seats)
(") Minister of Economics
(") Minister of Foreign Affairs
(") Minister of the Environment
(") Minister of Defence
(") Minister of Social Welfare
(") Minister of the Interior
(") Minister of Education
(") Minister of Health
(") Minister of Agriculture
(") Budget Minister
(") Minister of Labor
(") Minister of Transportation
(") Minister of Justice

Feel free to post "in character" and give speeches! :)

Players:

Conservative Democrats: Teddy
Workers' Party: Vadzul
Social People's Party: ChairmanSanchez
Left - Attack!: Morgan
Free Liberal Party: Dallasfan(?)
Green Party:
Frunt National Party: Vosem
Minority Interest: Sewer

Can I have the Social Peoples Party?

Sure.

There is no Liberal party?

Read more closely.  (There are two).

I see a Green party that's on the left, I see a "Free" party that's right-wing, a Left party that's left, a Social People's party that's left, the worker's party that's left, and a Conservative party that's right-wing.

Have you read the descriptions? The Free Liberals are more libertarian than anything else, the SPP is far-right, and the Conserva-Dems are center-left.

In any case, I'll take the Workers' Party.

Libertarian = Not the kind of Liberal I'm thinking of.

Well, what kind of Liberal do you want? There's the Communist Left-Attack, the leftist Greens, and the center-left ConservaDems. The left seems pretty well covered. If you want my honest opinion, the party that's missing is the center-right.

Something like the two parties in my signature.

Ah, I see the problem, I thought the CD supported flat PERSONAL taxes.

Okay, I'd like to be in the CD

I'd like to open talks with the Workers Party

Hans Krueger

"The Workers' Party is receptive to talks with the Conservative Democrats. Shall we conduct our talks in private?"

I want Left - Attack!

I'll be the Frunt National Party.

Viktor Gruntesky

The Social Peoples Party is willing to open talks with the Left-Attack.

I made this

()

The languages I used are a combo of German, Polish, Danish, possibly some Czech. Frunt is Hungarian, as well the Turkish Party has a bi-lingual logo in Turkish.

Very cool, Teddy!

(I just realized that I made a slight error in calculation that would've allowed for a Black-Red-Green coalition with no penalties for anyone, so I changed my descriptions so that the Greens now pledge not to form a government with the CDs.  Just a heads-up).

Damn. I knew it was too good to be true.

This is a Flag I made for my own personal nation that I will allow Frenemy to use

()

And in further nerfing of the black-red-green coalition, i.e. making it impossible now, I adjusted the percentages so that the Conservative Democrats lost 5 seats (now 144) and the FNP gained 5 (now 18).  Blame my own mathematical stupidity (I was thinking along PR lines when I came up with the percentages, not D'Hondt).  Sorry that that makes your graphic out of date, Teddy.

Now that's just cruel.

In other news, I'm in a blizzard (it's only freaking October!) and probably going to lose power. I'm pissed.

Okay, I'm at my aunt's house on her computer. I should be good to go for a while.

A rules clarification that I made on another forum:

Yes, you can form a government with less than 50%+1 of the MPs so long as 50%+1 support it. However, only parties within the governing coalition can be part of the cabinet.

I'll also add in two additional "enticements" to preserve balance.

The "cordon sanitaire" is preserved: If the SPP and Left - Attack! are not part of the governing coalition, all other parties get an unmodified 10-point bonus.

The "cordon sanitaire" is no more: If either the SPP or Left - Attack! are part of the governing coalition, each gets an unmodified 30-point bonus.

Hmm, yes it's about time I be active on this forum again yes?

I would like to take Minority Interest.

Sign me up although I'm not entirely sure what for yet.

I'm waiting for the power to come back on across the (part of the) USA (that matters)


Also, Dallas, be the Liberals, I want to have a chat with them.

If you're waiting on me, I'll be away from home during the interim, so I should be good to go.

Krueger "Concerned" Over Coalition Talks

Hans Krueger, the Chairman of the Frenem Workers' Party, said yesterday that he was "concerned" that coalition talks with the Conservative Democrats may have fallen apart.

"I spoke with (Conservative Democrat Leader) Tanek Tedofsky about a number of policy issues the other day," said Krueger, "and it seemed as though the talks were going well. But since then, Mr. Tedofsky has seemed distant, and has failed to respond to my communications."

Asked what he intends to do, Krueger responded, "I believe that a coalition between the Workers' Party and the Conservative Democrats would be in the best interests of the people of Frenemy. However, if the Conservative Democrats continue to be uncommunicative toward us, then I shall no alternative but to seek other options."

Krueger was also concerned about rumors that Tedofsky was planning to meet with senior members of the Free Liberal Party, the traditional coalition partner of the Conservative Democrats. “The Free Liberals are the party of the wealthy elite,” Krueger said. “They do not have the interests of ordinary Frenemians in mind.” Krueger has previously pledged not to form a government with the Free Liberal Party.

A coalition between the Workers’ Party and the Green Party was defeated in the recent elections. Tedofsky’s Conservative Democrats now hold a plurality of seats, but no one party or traditional coalition has a majority. Krueger’s Worker’s Party is the second largest party, followed by the Social People’s Party. A coalition between the Conservative Democrats and the Workers’ Party would contain 268 seats, 33 short of a majority.

OOC: My power has been restored, and I am eager to continue this game.

EDIT: Fixed the math on the number of seats. I was looking at the wrong parties.

Viktor Gruntesky

The Social Peoples Party is eager to play a role in government and is willing to form a coalition with any party which respects our nations cultural heritage, and stands for the "little man" against the Bankers who have brought so much chaos to this nation.

OOC: who represents the other parties while they are vacant? I need to talk to them before I can go ahead.

Me