10-11-2003, 12:38
OOC: See the thread at http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2048511&highlight=#2048511 for something of the background as to why the election results are so hard to come across.
The final election results in New Hopetoun have been declared, with Sir Josiah Rasmussen's Centre/Left Coalition government claiming 58 of the 105 available seats. The non-government side of the Chamber will be populated with 47 MPs nominally affiliated with the Rationalist Party of former Prime Minister Sir Wilfred Awari.
Results in this election were difficult to achieve in some remote provinces, due to tribal unrest during the campaign. Additionally, reports have filtered down to Port Jackson of vote tampering and even outright robbery of ballot boxes by gangs aligned with some of the more unsavoury elements of Hopetounese politics.
The somewhat fluid nature of Hopetounese party loyalty lowered some contests to the level of a farce, with party leaders rumoured to have been attempting to buy off the leading candidates. While these stories are understandably hard to verify, the peculiar activities of Leon Kanyaru will not do anything to scotch them. Kanyaru, a Minister under the previous Awari administration, ran in this election under the banner of his own Hopetounese Progressive Party before declaring himself a member of the Rationalists. He has since accepted a position on the Rasmussen frontbench and is expected to receive a reward for doing so.
International reactions have been mixed, with many observers claiming that this demonstrates the beginning of Hopetoun's descent into lawlessness. Hopetounese experts (OOC: Think the equivalent of the "Arabists" of the English Foreign Office at the turn of the century) disagree, pointing instead to the fierce tribal loyalties still evident in the nation and the tradition of "vigorous political discourse" there. As one expert pointed out, "at least they haven't declared war over this yet".
The final election results in New Hopetoun have been declared, with Sir Josiah Rasmussen's Centre/Left Coalition government claiming 58 of the 105 available seats. The non-government side of the Chamber will be populated with 47 MPs nominally affiliated with the Rationalist Party of former Prime Minister Sir Wilfred Awari.
Results in this election were difficult to achieve in some remote provinces, due to tribal unrest during the campaign. Additionally, reports have filtered down to Port Jackson of vote tampering and even outright robbery of ballot boxes by gangs aligned with some of the more unsavoury elements of Hopetounese politics.
The somewhat fluid nature of Hopetounese party loyalty lowered some contests to the level of a farce, with party leaders rumoured to have been attempting to buy off the leading candidates. While these stories are understandably hard to verify, the peculiar activities of Leon Kanyaru will not do anything to scotch them. Kanyaru, a Minister under the previous Awari administration, ran in this election under the banner of his own Hopetounese Progressive Party before declaring himself a member of the Rationalists. He has since accepted a position on the Rasmussen frontbench and is expected to receive a reward for doing so.
International reactions have been mixed, with many observers claiming that this demonstrates the beginning of Hopetoun's descent into lawlessness. Hopetounese experts (OOC: Think the equivalent of the "Arabists" of the English Foreign Office at the turn of the century) disagree, pointing instead to the fierce tribal loyalties still evident in the nation and the tradition of "vigorous political discourse" there. As one expert pointed out, "at least they haven't declared war over this yet".