Our Fair Country: The Commonwealth of New England
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A very and happy merry Christmas to all aboard this thread, and all aboard also board! 
Republic of Poland; 2016 Polish parliamentary election; Lilja Hrynewycz
Since regaining its independence in 1918, Poland had been a democratic country until the rise of the Endecja Government in the mid 1930s, which saw to preserve Poland's independence by any means necessary, and to continue the Polonisation of the country. After brief disputes with the German government over the treatment of Poland's German minority, President Stanisław Głąbiński agreed to a reduction in the attacks directed against Germans, and was able to secure a secret alliance directed against the Soviet Union. In 1938, Germany and Poland launched an invasion of the Soviet Union, which after nearly a decade of war, saw Poland collapse into a civil war between 1947 and 1948, resulting in the establishment of the Union of Socialist Polish Voivodeships, renamed the Socialist Republic of Poland in 1949. Despite eastern Poland having been invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union during the latter stages of the Eastern European War, the Polish communist armies had been able to secure their eastern borders as the Soviet Union collapsed into its own civil war. Despite being a communist country, Poland remained free from Soviet domination that otherwise dominated eastern European countries.
Poland saw moderate growth in the period after the civil war, but often dealt with unrest in its eastern provinces, leading to the rise of a second wave of Polonisation to create a cohesive state. With a large amount of resistance in southeastern Poland, the Government quickly reversed these policies and pushed a concentrated series of new languages policies that sought to redefine the country's Ukrainian minority as Ruthenian, a very similar ethnic and linguistic group in the region. The distinction was made to ensure nationalistic tendencies did not arise with the neighbouring Ukrainian SSR. This redefinition has long been considered one of the most successful communist language policies in Europe, with opinion polls in the Ruthenian regions of Poland overwhelmingly showing they view themselves as a separate ethnicity than neighbouring Ukrainians.
As Poland began to antagonise the Soviet Union more and more with its friendliness with the west in the 1980s and 1990s, the economy saw multiple problems beginning to arise. The rise of technology in the west lagged in Poland, and agricultural production began to steadily decline year over year. Youth movements began to demand more from the government, and a series of strikes saw Poland's economy collapse in the late 1990s into the early 2000s. President Józef Oleksy of the Communist Party of Poland declared that in 2002 there would be free and open elections for the Polish Sejm, which had not happened since 1934. The election saw pro-Democratic parties capture ninety percent of the seats, and a broad coalition government was formed with the intent of drafting a new constitution. The Socialist Republic of Poland was replaced by the Republic of Poland in the Constitution of 2003, and new elections were held in 2004, which saw Donald Tusk assume the position of Prime Minister.
While both Lithuania and Poland are both parties to the Zollverein, the two countries have a strained relationship, owing to Lithuania's continued claim of ownership of the city of Wilno (Vilnius), and the surrounding territory. Both countries have bilateral treaties regarding the region, and special rights are granted to Lithuanians to travel and settle in the Wilno Voivodeship. Some have extended the possibility of Lithuania joining Poland but the issue has never been seriously discussed between the two governments.
Poland is currently led by the centre-left coalition of the centrist Alliance of all Nationalities for Poland and the Socialist Party, headed by Prime Minister Lilija Hrynewycz, the first Ruthenian Prime Minister of Poland, and second Prime Minister under the new constitution. Prior to the 2016 parliamentary election, Hrynewycz headed a centre-right coalition between her Alliance and the Polish People's Party. Poland has a fast-growing economy, and is considered by the International Development Bank to be one of the rising investment countries for the 2020s.
The 2016 Polish parliamentary election took place on 21 February 2016 to determine the composition of the Polish Sejm and the Government of Poland. Incumbent Prime Minister Lilija Hrynewycz was returned to power with a reduced majority, despite her party losing forty two seats. After an agreement with the Socialist Party, the Alliance of all Nationalities for Poland was returned to government, shifting the policies of the government towards the left. Previously, the government had been supported by the Polish People's Party and occasionally found support from the Union of Minorities.
Unlike all recent electoral campaigns in Poland, this 2016 contest was the first one to not be primarily focused on the economy. Instead, education and access to healthcare were deemed to be the top priorities of the electorate, and the ZwndP-PPL Government had adopted the stance of lowering tax rates where possible, and cutting government spending as much as possible to embrace free-enterprise ideals. This had lead to a decline in the educational attainment of Polish students overall, with indicators showing that students were lagging behind in most key areas. This contrasted with the Communist era, when Poland had the highest scores in eastern Europe. There was also a string of hospital closures in the mid 2010s, mostly rural clinics, which led to a strong backlash and protests against the government.
While these issues were harmful to the government's popularity, the fast-expanding economy and general prosperity helped to ensure that the ZwndP remained the largest party in the Sejm. However, Prime Minister Hrynewycz had already pledged on the campaign trail to take the country away from the policies of lower taxes and austerity, and begin to invest into the country's infrastructure and to fund newer and better healthcare and educational options for all of Poland. A notable pledge that both she and the Socialist Party agreed to during the campaign was the expansion of inter-city rail that was not under the jurisdiction of the Deutsche Reichsbahn. Like Tusk before her, she also noted that this would be the last election she would contest, believing that a person should only serve as Prime Minister for two terms before stepping down.
I love the look of Poland's interwar borders. Also, as always, a very professional looking set of maps. Great stuff.
I dont know who you asked. Ruthenians were either A. the people of the Kievan Rus (i.e. all East Slavs) or B. the Orthodox, East Slavic people of Poland-Lithuania. Northern Byelarussians used to refer to themselves as Litvins, or Lithuanians. The ethnonym "Byelarussian" is an invention of Soviet bureaucrats. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruthenians
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In the article that you quoted:
"After the partition of Poland the term Ruthenian referred exclusively to people of the Rusyn- and Ukrainian-speaking areas of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, especially in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Bukovina, and Transcarpathia."
The term "Ruthenian" was a Latin name for Eastern Slavs, and was never used by those Slavs, who usually preferred 'Rus.' From this, you have "Russia" and the term "Belarus," with the latter being promoted by the Russian Empire, not the Soviets. By the time the Soviets seized power, Belarusian ethnic identity was barely distinct from that of Russians, and those that DID perceive themselves as different saw the so-called 'Ruthenians' in Ukraine as another ethnic group.
What do the different parties stand for? We know what the 2 governing ones are but what about the others?
Idk the specifics but I can say for sure that Seth MacFarlane never became big and none of his creations exist ITTL
The fight between NH, VT, and AD would be fierce to get the foliage picture for September or October.
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