User:Jasonaforbes
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| Image:SlavatoniaMap.jpg | |||||
| Official language | English1 | ||||
| Capital and largest city | Slavat | ||||
| Head of State | Her Majesty Queen Isabella II | ||||
| First Minister | Lady Elaina Clarke - (Conservative) | ||||
| Deputy Minister | Charles du Mont - (Conservative) | ||||
| Area - Total - % water |
Ranked 71st 301,336 km² 2.40% |
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| Population - Total (December 2004) - Density |
Ranked 23rd 58,462,375 194/km² |
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| Unification | 17 March 1756 | ||||
| GDP (2004) - Total (PPP) - Total (nom.) - GDP/capita (PPP) - GDP/capita (nom.) |
$1.621 trillion (8th) $1.672 trillion (6th) $27,727 (19th) $28,599 (20th) |
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| HDI (2003) | 0.934 (18th) | ||||
| Currency | Pounds Sterling | ||||
| Time zone - in summer |
CET (UTC+1) CEST (UTC+2) |
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| National anthem | "Slavatonia!" | ||||
| Internet TLD | .sl | ||||
| Calling Code | +45 | ||||
The United Kingdom of Slavatonia is a fairly new country founded some 250 years ago by a large group of Republicans seeking salvation from a world ruled by Monarchists.
The Head of State is Queen Isabella II, who celebrates nearly 50 years on the throne, making her the longest reigning monarch of Slavatonia. The Head of Government is The Right Honourable Lady Elaina Clarke.
Contents |
[edit] History
The Russian King Peter the Great invaded the island in 1723 and seized it from the aboriginals as a gift to his wife Catherine I. Peter won an easy victory against the natives there who were no match for his armies.
The invasion was Peter’s chance to extend the Russian Empire further as he and his wife now began making plans for “Slavatonia” (“Land of the Slavs”). The island would have become a part of Russia and would be “the corporate capital of the world”. Peter had dreams of a dazzling port with great ships and wealthy merchants. Over 3,000,000 Russians emigrated over to Slavatonia to help with the construction of this new island.
By 1725, millions of people had settled in Slavatonia and the foundations had been placed for a new Imperial Palace. However, that very same year, Peter the Great died of an illness. The crown was passed to his wife Catherine I but the widow despaired at the death of her beloved husband. She refused to continue the construction of Slavatonia, and the island was put to a stand-still.
In 1727 Catherine passed away of a broken heart and the new King was Peter II. Peter was very fond of the political system that ran in France and was obsessed with King Charles VI of France. Slavatonia felt even more neglected by the King’s and Queens of Russia, from Peter in 1727 up until Queen Yelizaveta (Elizabeth), who came to the throne in 1741. The tension was rising as the Slavatonians felt less a part of Imperial Russia, yet they were still charged trade taxes and other fees by the Russian Autocrat.
News travelled across Europe about the poor government in Russia. This news affected English philosopher Albert Cecile who believed in the freedoms of man and was angered by the autocracy in Russia. He began to hear of the ideas of a republic and travelled to Slavatonia to meet with some friends there. Albert used the Slavatonian anger to spark hatred of the Russians and gained over 1,000,000 republican followers. Followers included constables, soldiers and army-generals, all with the ability to organise a military force.
[edit] War
At nightfall, on 23rd April 1755, a group of Republicans crept into the government buildings in Slavat, the country’s main city and captured the Governor General, Ivan Ferdinand, who was the representative of Queen Yelizaveta. By the time the Russian Army responded, Cecile had already stationed his armies around the borders and engaged in a 10-month battle, still holding Ivan hostage.
Even the people of Slavatonia left their houses to help in the war, and a provided a mighty force that defeated the unprepared Russian Army. Queen Yelizaveta surrendered her armies and gave the country up. Most of the Russian supporters in Slavatonia, who had profited from the exploitations, fled the country; however, some were captured for trial.
[edit] Republic or Monarchy?
Albert had major ideas for a democratic republic, but joy swept across Slavatonia and people called him the “Saviour of the Slavatonian people”. Albert was due to become President of the Republic of Slavatonia, but the citizens felt he deserved more. It took much persuasion, but finally, Albert accepted the offer of King. He became King Albert I of Slavatonia and was crowned on the day of independence on 17th March 1756.
[edit] First Minister Sir Edward van Haughton
[[Image:|thumb|left|200px|Sir Edward van Haughton - 1st "First Minister of Slavatonia" and Slavatonia's greatest mind]] Sir Edward van Haughton (2nd July 1722 - 3rd September 1771) was born in Holland in 1722 to a well-to-do Dutch family. He was great friends with Albert Cecile and played a vital roll in the revolution of Slavatonia.
As King, Albert felt that it was now his duty to form a government. In 1757, he personally consulted Edward and invited him to be the 1st ever “First Minister” of Slavatonia.
Edward now had the task of building a functional political system from scratch. He drew up a rough constitution that stated the roles of the First Minister and the King, and included the foundations of The Assembly. Albert and Edward invited other members of the elite to become politicians and also approved the first plans for the construction of The Assembly. Building work began on the central part of the building in 1758 and the King declared it open in the first meeting on New Year’s Day 1762. Together, Edward and the King appointed 102 Lord Advocates, 66 Advocates and 2 Senior Advocates to The Assembly and named the constituencies across the country.
By 1764, Edward had sorted a taxing system that worked successfully in-land and around the ports. The population was 23 million, 58% of which was employed and there were now over 30 growing states. This was truly remarkable success for just 8 years. He received a knighthood that very same year. He is currently number one in the “Slavatonia’s Greatest Minds” chart of 2006.
The thriving economy attracted many allies, including Russia and Central Europe. However, with allies came jealousy and the mad King George III of the United Kingdom sent a letter to Slavatonia declaring war. It read:
"'Tis true; I know not why I declare war on thee but it seems, dear friends, God wills it…"
Edward was prepared to receive the English Army in a battle that lasted just 2 months, until the English heard about the riots taking place in North America and withdrew. Slavatonia was left unharmed and Edward had succeeded once again.
To celebrate his 50th birthday, in 1769, King Albert requested that Edward extend the halls of The Assembly. The building was to include 48 guestrooms, 13 bars and a Royal wing of residence. Edward processed the plans to an architect. Meanwhile, a Slavotonian newspaper began producing propaganda about a war that was to begin between Russia and the Queen Catherine II, who wanted to get Slavatonia back to Russia. King Albert was absolutely horrfied at the accusations and demanded that he and Edward make a trip to Russia to prove that such a threat did not exist. The trip was a success and Catherine made a speech that dubbed Slavatonia a "most definate friend of Russia". Edward began a compensation scheme, to help seal the wounds that the war of 1756 had left. He would pay Russia £900,000 a year (approx. £17m) for five years. This would be more than enough to get Russia back on its feet and could be invested into making new trade links.
By 1771, architects had completed a complicated plan for The Assembly extension. The plans reached Edward, who was on holiday in London. Unfortuately, he caught tuberculosis and died two weeks later, aged 49. His body was shipped back to Slavatonia and a spectacular funeral took place in Slavat. King Albert announced that Edward had requested his son succeed him as First Minister.
[edit] The Russian Trial
During his career, Sir Edward van Haughton also took care of the trial of the Russians who had exploited Slavatonia before the revolution. He sentenced over 50 men to death by decapitation.
[edit] First Minister Frederick van Haughton
Frederick van Haughton (18th April 1751 - 5th May 1795) admired his father, and was only 20, and had just graduated from the University of London when asked to continue as Head of Government. Frederick now had to oversee the construction of the new Assembly, but was unfamiliar with the plans and had to complete the legislature behind the Russian compensation scheme. Sir Edward was truly outstanding, managing taxes, education, the economy, foreign affairs and also managing to cope with constructing both his own agenda and the King's. Frederick just simply did not have the skills and decided to create a bureaucracy of governers. He selected friends from the elite to become officers of education, officers of foreign affairs etc...and created over 280 jobs. Amidst the growing bureaucracy, Frederick lost track of administration and the number of governers had somehow escalated to 800 by 1775. Construction of The Assembly had not begun and he began to lose the favour of the King.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the east of Slavatonia, news began to spread about a new movement of "Liberals", who opposed the autocracy of the "First Minister", who governed under a heavily bias Assembly. Frederick felt anxious that he would become a hated figure and made a visit to the Liberal headquarters in the east. He decided that he would make reforms to the political system. The reforms he made are essential to the politcal system of today.
Despite the corruption of his government, Frederick was not a corrupt person himself. He was simply young and näive to think that the increasing bureaucracy wasn't at all a problem. His new plan was to increase the involvement of the opposition in the politics of the country. He allowed them to become the Liberal Party and named himself and his ministers, the Conservative Party. Frederick increased the seats in The Assembly to 200 and changed the proportions to as follows...
- Senior Advocates - 3
- Lord Advocates - 18
- Advocates - 179
He introduced The Shadow Ministry and also the "value-voting" system that still stands today and also declared that from then on, the First Minister and a Vice Minister would be elected by the people at the end of his term. Unfortunately, Frederick's plan to gain more respect backfired and he lost the election to the Liberals in 1776. He did not continue his political career and took up a job of management in the King's Palace.
[edit] First Minister Percival Jameson
Percival Jameson (1st October 1741 - 3rd December 1801) was the first left-wing Liberal minister of Slavatonia and came into power having won the general election in 1776. He continued the construction of The Assembly that had been paused for over 5 years and also formed the Slavatonian police force. He tidied up his Ministry, ousting over 1000 now pointless jobs and saving the country a large amount of money. This also meant lower taxes. He gained the favour of both the people and the King, and opened up The House of Generals in The Assembly, allowing the citizens to come and watch the meetings that took place there.
Percival won the next election in 1781 and thus oversaw the completion of the new Assembly complex. He also founded the University of Slavatonia. He died of natural causes in 1801, aged 60.
[edit] The Monarchs of Slavatonia
King Albert I died in 1782 aged 63, a year after the completion of the new Assembly halls. Albert left behind his 34-year-old Russian wife, Katherine de Morganza and their 3 children. Despite having 2 daughters of age, his eldest son, Jacob Warren Cecile (29th July 1766 - 16th March 1786), was 16-years-old and humbly took up the place as King Jacob I Cecile of Slavatonia. King Jacob was young and just ready to attend the University of Slavatonia and so his mother Katherine acted as his regent. Jacob could not cope with the attention and became depressed. He gave up university and ordered that he be taken back to the palace. Jacob failed to leave the palace to attend Royal appointments and even to open The Assembly. His mother died in 1786 of influenza and now there was nobody willing to act as a regent. The country felt the neglect and began to hate their King. The new Liberal First Minister Arthur Jenner made a visit to try and persuade the King to fulfil his duties, but he refused. It is recorded that on 16th July 1786 Jacob died of influenza, aged 19, however conspiracy theories suggest that he was murdered. He ruled for only 4 years, making him the shortest reigning monarch of Slavatonia.
Jacob had only two sisters and the country wasn't comfortable about having a female monarch. Arthur Jenner would have preferred one of Jacob's sisters to become Queen, but following the problems of Jacob's reign, he would have to find a male if he was to please them. It was 7 years (having been temporarily called Arthur, Grand Duke of Slavatonia) before he finally consulted Katherine de Morganza's brother and Jacob's uncle, Nikolas ye Morganzakov (Katherine was forced to "de-russianise" her name because she was married to a Slavatonian). Nikolas accepted the offer but there was much fear about the country being ruled by a Russian King. The Government decided that they would crown him King Albert II de Morganza of Slavatonia. He was coronated in 1793 and ruled for 35 years until his death in 1828, aged 62.
Albert was suceeded by his eldest son who was crowned King James I de Morganza of Slavatonia in May 1828. James ruled for 29 years until his own death in 1857. During his reign, he had befriended poet and composer Gerald Johnson, who wrote the song "Many nations come to see" and dedicated it to him. The King in turn asked the Slavatonian Government to make it the national anthem. King James' wife had died in 1839 having tumbled from her horse and broken her neck. They had only one female child, Isabella, who had married Fredrich von Brandenburg, a distant relative of the King of Prussia.
It took a three year debate (during which another Minister was appointed as a Grand Duke) in The Assembly before Isabella was crowned Queen. The original plan was to crown Fredrich as King, however Isabella made a grand speech to the house. She told them:
- "...I will not let my fate be that of the sisters of my dear cousin Jacob, whose rightful bloodline lead to the throne of my forefathers. There should have been Queens before me, had it not been for such bias primogeniture..."
To which the Minister replied:
- "...Your Highness had that bloodline of which you speak been handed to those Queens that you say should have been before you, been passed to his sisters, we would not be present today, for it should not have led to you..."
Isabella was furious and stormed out. She famously stood in the Slavat square and called out:
- "People. Gaze upon this Assembly hall and see that he who rules is not of true deserve, but is hand-picked and moulded by the politician! If ye be men, then stand and hail your Queen!"
There was a roar of applause and Isabella had gained the people's favour, as her speech was printed across the country. The Government was forced to crown her Queen Isabella I von Brandenburg of Slavatonia and she requested a joint-rule with her husband. Fredrich was crowned Frederich von Brandenburg, Duke of Slavat in 1860.
Queen Isabella ruled for 28 years, until she died of natural causes in 1888, aged 62. The joint-rule meant that Fredrich was to take up the role as Head of State. He did so until he died of natural causes in 1899, aged 71. He ruled for 11 years.
[edit] Short list of monarchs from 1756-1899
- House of Cecile
- King Albert I Cecile of Slavatonia (ruled 1756 - 1782 - 26 years)
- King Jacob I Cecile of Slavatonia (ruled 1782 - 1786) - 4 years)
- Arthur, Grand Duke of Slavatonia (stood 1786 - 1793 - 7 years)
- House of de Morganza
- King Albert II de Morganza of Slavatonia (ruled 1793 - 1828 - 35 years)
- King James I de Morganza of Slavatonia (ruled 1828 - 1857 - 29 years)
- Charles, Grand Duke of Slavatonia (stood 1857 - 1860 - 3 years)
- House of von Brandenburg
- Queen Isabella I von Brandenburg (ruled 1860 - 1888 - 28 years) and Fredrich, Duke of Slavat
- Fredrich, Duke of Slavat (ruled 1888 - 1899 - 11 years)
[edit] King Harold and The Great War of Slavatonia
Prince Harold Frederick James Albert Cecile von Brandenburg was born to parents Isabella I and Fredrick, Duke of Slavat in 1859. He is often hailed as one of the greatest Kings of Slavatonia, as in 1918 he took up one of the most vital roles a monarch of Slavatonia has ever played.
He ascended to throne on the death of his father in 1899. In 1918, the Liberal Ministry received a threat of invasion from Germany. The threat followed the election of First Minister Sir Richard Patterson, whose new Ministry was shocked and traumatised by the threat on their first year in power. Sir Richard and his Ministry began writing up a letter, surrendering their country, without consulting The Assembly. According to the laws of the constitution, this was illegal.
King Harold had heard about the surrender and was furious that the Minister was preparing to give up Slavatonia to Chancellor Friedrich Ebert. He ordered a meeting to be held in The Assembly and challenged the legislature. He won a debate that would temporarily hand over the powers of the First Minister. For the first time ever, the King had absolute power.
Having made a speech to the nation, via radio broadcast, Harold drew up a military strategy and made plans for reforms within the armed forces. He prepared the army until it received an attack in 1920. Harold guessed that the German navy would sail to the shore ready for attack. He stationed his soldiers around the border of the whole island and also positioned his submarines under the sea. As the navy approached the submarines emerged from the water and attacked the German fleet. Inland, Harold also guessed that there would be helicopter and aeroplane attacks. He told the nation to stay in shelters and stationed troops inland to receive overhead attacks. The Assembly hall was bombed with minor damages, but the country survived a 5 year war, in which the Germans surrendered.
The same year, to celebrate the victory, Harold commissioned the construction of the Great Railway which would connect Slavat to other major states. He also hired men to repair The Assembly. When The Assembly was complete in 1924, Harold held another general election. The election was won by the Conservatives and power was restored to the First Minister.
Harold was awarded an OOA (Order of Outstanding Acheivement) and is postitioned at second place of the "Slavatonia's Greatest Minds" chart of 2006. The National Rail was opened in 1939, 3 years before his death, aged 83 and having ruled for 43 years. The throne was inherited by his daughter, who was crowned Queen Alexandria I Gottschalk of Slavatonia, as she had married her husband Henry Gottschalk.
[edit] Political History
[edit] Queen Isabella II and Philip, Duke of Slavat
[edit] Queen Isabella II
In 1942, Queen Isabella's mother was crowned Queen Alexandrina I Gottschalk of Slavatonia (22nd April 1896 - 3rd October 1998). In 1953, newspapers began printing stories claiming that Alexandrina was having an affair with King Paul of Greece. By this time, the Liberal Party had spilt into two parties, the Liberals and the New Democrat Party. The country's newly elected New Democrat First Minister Richard Gibbons launched an attack on the royal family claiming that they were "out of date" and "too much of a hindrance". He began campaigning for a Republic of Slavatonia, which would demolish the monarchy. The campaign divided the country and Prince Henry Gottschalk decided that he could not stand the pressure. He asked the Government for a divorce from his wife. The republican Government permitted the divorce without hesitation. The divorce and the speculation would damage the queen's reputation forever, and so she decided to abdicate in 1956, having ruled for just 14 years. She gave up her Royal duties and moved to America, where she died in 1998, aged 102.
The same year saw the next general election and now was one of the most crucial times for Slavatonia in the 20th Century. If a New Democrat government won, the people would see the abolishment of the monarchy and the installment of a Republic. If a Conservative government won, the monarchy would be preserved.
Isabella was angry that her duties could be put on the line as such. Queen Isabella made a speech to the nation, pleading with them to vote Conservative. She pointed out that since the 1920's her family had invested in the oil company Shell. This investment provided the country with an extra £1.2billion a year. During her career as a Princess, Isabella had invested millions of pounds to education and to Slavatonian charities. Her campaign caused Slavatonians far and wide to fall in love with her, and the Conservatives won the election in 1956. Isabella was crowned Queen Isabella Alberta Wilhelmina Alexandrina I von Brandenburg und Gottschalk of Slavatonia in a spectacular ceremony at Slavat Cathedral.
Queen Isabella is the 3rd Queen, 8th Monarch and 11th Head of State.
[edit] The Queen's Full Title
The Queen's full title is:
- "Isabella Alberta Wilhelmina Alexandrina the Second von Brandenburg und Gottschalk, Queen of the United Kingdoms of Slavatonia, By the Grace of God, Keeper of our Laws, Promoter of our Ways"
[edit] Philip, Duke of Slavat
King Harold I chose Prince Phillipos Alexander Constantine of Greece to marry his daughter Isabella in 1934. Queen Isabella II gave him the title Duke of Slavat in return for his efforts during the Conservative campaigns of 1956, in a fight to preserve the monarchy.
[edit] The Fall of the Liberals
In 1994, The Honourable Advocate Peter Grossman was elected fourth leader of the New Democrat Party. In his campaign to become leader, Peter said that he wished to abolish the "extreme socialist" image that the New Democrat Party was known for. He published a document that stated that the party was now for preserving the monarchy and did not want to see changes to the Slavatonian political system - this contradicted previous "NDP" policies. He later persuaded an alliance with the Liberal Party and in 1996 both parties simply became the Liberal Party.
Peter quickly produced an agenda by the end of that year. The next general election came in 1997 and the Conservatives had run a number of successful governments for over 40 years. The economy was on the rise in Slavatonia and Grossman successfully attempted to persuade the media that the Conservatives "would not be able to handle an economy that was rising so rapidly". He managed to produce sums that stated that the re-election of a Conservative would cause "through the roof inflation rates" and would "draw attention away from educating children" and "keeping taxes low". He said in a speech at a party conference: "...This is a vital time in history for Slavatonia; an opportunity for us to boost our economy and improve the quality of life for all - we musn't let the Conservatives lose this country the chance of doing just that...Our country is changing, and so must we..." Of course, this was all propaganda and the Liberals now had policies that were now...
- Lower taxes
- Improving education
- Boosting the economy
- Lower inflation
This completely contradicted the older and more socialist NDP policies which were...
- Abolish the monarchy
- Make The Assembly a fully-elected Senate
- Restrict the independence of independent schools
- 80% tax on the rich
There was now nothing at all liberal about the Liberals and Conservatives found themselves voting Liberal simply for change - the party was even dubbed "The Liberal Conservatives" by "The Slavat Times".
The Liberal Party won the election in 1997 and immediately began making changes. They paid an unnecessary £52bn into renovating schools with new buildings and new facilities and created 130,000 unneeded jobs to be incorporated within the educational system, in order to tackle unemployment problems. By 1999, tax on the rich had risen from a previous 30% to 57% and the government began granting power to The Assembly. There were now 900,000 more unnecessary bureaucracies.
In 2002, Robert Laud, the former leader of the Conservative Party challenged Peter by saying "...Mr. Grossman, presented himself to the people as the new face of 'Liberal' politics by stealing the identity of us, the Conservative Party, when he is in fact the most extreme socialist politician that this country has ever seen! Where are our lower taxes? Where is the low inflation? Where is the improved education? And how on earth is our economy on the rise?" The media speculated that the Liberals were now as extremely left-wing as the NDP had been. "The Slavat Times" dubbed Peter Grossman's Ministry as "Operation NDP". But speculation could not influence a changing Slavatonia, and he won the next election with 51% of the votes. He promised that wages for the poor would soon double and taxes would be lowered, but raised for the better off.
To much of the country's dislike, he broke links with strong economical powers such as America and China after a speech that said: "...Why should we feel the need to depend on other countries, when we are a nation ourselves and can seek to become one of the most successful economies in the world?..." He failed to mention that breaking tradelinks would cause the country to fend for itself, which would require an estimated £80bn investment into labour. He could not therefore meet with his aims to double wages for the poor and raised taxes for the rich to more than 80%! The poor found themselves worse off, now paying 47% of their income to taxes. He also introduced a tax on independent schools, which if it could not be met, would force them to close or become state schools. Still this failed to meet needs and the economy was beginning to fall apart. Unemployment went up from 4% to 28% as the bureaucracy found itself in a loophole of red-tape and contradicting rules prevented people from easily setting up business, finding work or getting an education.
The country was getting uneasy, and The Liberal Party began to urge Peter to take action. He therefore blocked funding to the monarchy and converted The Assembly to "The Slavatonian Congressional Senate" in 2003. Much to her annoyance, he advised the Queen not to attend meetings and named himself "President of the Congressional Senate". On its opening he said: "...This is yet another step that the government has taken in promoting democracy for all in this country..." In spite of saying this, the Senate was immediately infested with corruption, as Peter used money to buy favouritism on votes.
The next election came in 2006, and Peter found himself up against Elaina Clarke, the new leader of the Conservative Party. Elaina said: "Peter Grossman came into politics to abolish the extreme NDP image; Peter Grossman shall leave politics with every single NDP policy on his record that there is to count...He is a greedy tyrant and when will the Liberals realise that he has completely ruined their party and our country?!" She won a landslide victory in January 2006.
Peter Grossman left his office with an ironic speech, in which he said: "...I am so glad to have had the opportunity to govern my most favourite country in the world. This country has seen the true democracy, a better quality of life, better education and an ever more growing economy. And I hope that as I leave this office today, people can recognise my Ministry as one of the most progressive Ministries that this country has ever had, and when people say that, you can say well...it was a Liberal government of course...!" His government was certainly progessive, but was it progress for the better?
[edit] Picking up the pieces
The Honourable Advocate Michael Sayers bravely entered a leadership campaign to become leader of the Liberal Party in January 2006, after the departure of Peter Grossman. He won 84% of the votes for the position and was officially appointed in February of the same year. He apologised to the nation for the corruption of the previous Liberal Ministry and told them: "I have been a Liberal all my life, Peter Grossman is definately not a Liberal. A Liberal is someone who is open to ideas and is willing to work as a team and is in it for everybody...and I know I certainly am." Michael has a lot of work to do if he is to attempt a "cleansweep" of his party to start a fresh and gain public favour again. His newly published policies are:
- Coalitive politics
- Increased employment
- Lower taxes
- Free healthcare
- Reforming trade links
- Semi-Congressional Senate
[edit] First Minister, Lady Elaina Clarke
Some political critics suggest that the downfall of the Liberals was a good thing for the Conservatives. As politics in Slavatonia was beginning to see a new dispute between left and right-wing views, their collapse meant that there was a dramatic swing to the right. Elaina Clarke's campaign slogan was "...Liberalism is social chaos; Conservatism is social order..." She won a landslide victory at the beginning of 2006 with 73% of the Slavatonian votes and immediately began to tidy up the mess that the Grossman Ministry had left. Within a month, she reduced the number of bureaucrats from 900,000 to 30,000 and lowered taxes for the rich to 34% and 12% for the poor. In an official letter to the Queen, she said that: "I am very eager to reincorporate you into the politics of your country and will commence a reformation of the Congressional Senate to restore The Assembly..." It is said that this reformation will take approximately six months to demolish 9 years of Liberal law. Meanwhile, she is granting more state schools the ability to become independent schools with ease and the reduced bureaucracy has decreased unemployment from 28% to 4%. In May 2006, Slavatonia will sign a trading deal with China and India to help boost the economy and relieve the country of intense labour.
Elaina's reforms will save the country of £80bn by 2009 and because of the Liberal fall, she will probably go down as one of the most successful First Ministers of Slavatonia. There are now more than 700,000 members of the Conservative Party, as opposed to a previous 300,000 and Liberal members have plummeted from 800,000 to a mere 150,000.
The party policies are:
- Boosting the economy
- Reforming trade links
- Increased employment
- Better education
- Reduced bureaucracy
- Fairer taxation
- The Assembly
- The monarchy
[edit] Political System
[edit] The Queen's Role
Slavatonia has its monarch as its Head of State. The country is a constitutional monarchy, meaning that the Queen's role is largely ceremonial. The Queen is an ambassador for the country and attends State visits around the globe, helping to encourage business deals and relationships, proposed by the Government.
The Queen is automatically a "Senior Advocate" of The Assembly although most monarchs choose not to disclose their political opinions, to avoid ruining their reputation, and therefore rarely attend meetings. She is obliged to open the first Assembly meeting on New Year's Day, with a speech from the throne. Unlike most monarchies, the speech is not written by the Government, but is written personally by the Queen herself, however, she must seek the Government's approval.
The Queen is the figure who legalises laws passed on by the Government, although almost never having the power to decline them. This has only happened once in 1972 when the Government tried to hand Royal residencies over to the state. Isabella declined the proposal and overruled the Government.
During what is now known as the "Grossman Period", when Peter Grossman came into power, the role of the Queen became faded and the Government failed to present her with law proposals, on the founding of the "Slavatonian Congressional Senate". First Minister Lady Elaina Clarke is making efforts to reincorporate the Queen into the traditional political system. Her Majesty is currently accompanying First Minister Clarke on a tour of all of the Slavatonian States, meeting with the people, in an attempt to make the royal family known.
[edit] The Assembly
The Assembly of Slavatonia is informally known as the House of Democracy. It must NOT be mistaken for a type of parliament or congress, as it has no power.
The idea of an Assembly for politicians was based on an idea by the First Minister Sir Edward van Haughton, who began the construction in 1758. It came as a part of Sir Edward's "Great Task" to construct a fully-functional political system. King Albert I opened the halls on New Year's Day 1762 and helped Edward appoint 102 Lord Advocates, 66 Advocates and 2 Senior Advocates.
There were 102 Royal constituencies represented by the 102 appointed Lord Advocates and 66 Standard constituancies represented by the 66 elected Advocates. The two Senior Advocates were the King and the First Minister. The house would become a place for all politicians and Advocates to meet and debate on political matters and issues.
The next major reform came during the Government of First Minister Frederick van Haughton who increased the seats in The Assembly to 200 and changed the proportions to as follows...
- Senior Advocates - 3
- Lord Advocates - 18
- Advocates - 179
He introduced The Shadow Ministry and also the "value-voting" system that still stands today and also declared that from then on, the First Minister and a Vice Minister would be elected by the people at the end of his term.
[edit] Value-voting
The value of your vote depends on what type of constituency you are officially a citizen of in Slavatonia. If you are in a Royal constituency, your vote is worth 8 points, whereas in a Standard constituency, it is worth 19 points. The Senior advocates can vote with votes worth just 5 points. The party with the most points wins the General Election.
[edit] Anthems
The Slavatonian national anthem was penned and composed by Gerald Johnson in 1843. The lyrics are:
- Many nations come to see
- Gaze upon the land of the free
- Mighty God whose hand doth guide
- Kings of Justice do abide
- Slavatonia! Slavatonia!
- Brothers rise at the Saviour's flare!
- Slavatonia! Slavatonia!
- How thy land is rich and fair!
- Slavatonia! Slavatonia!
- How thy land is rich and fair!
The lyrics mention the “Saviour”. There is much speculation as to whether this refers to King Albert I or Christ.
Sometimes, Slavatonians may also sing an older anthem, which is now the royal anthem, but was once the national anthem. It was written and composed by an unknown Advocate in 1759. The lyrics are:
- The cannons roared across the land
- To save our precious isle
- We lifted arms to bring them down
- Victory, our soldiers smile
- Then Justice rang about the land
- For thus came forth our King
- To rid us of autocracy!
- And now we freemen sing!
- Bring forth golden regalia
- To dress our mighty King!
The lyrics may vary, however, under a female monarch...
- The cannons roared across the land
- To save our precious isle
- We lifted arms to bring them down
- Victory, our soldiers smile
- Then Justice rang about the land
- And now we praise our Queen
- Our symbol of democracy
- And now we freemen sing!
- Bring forth golden regalia
- To dress our gracious Queen!
