alternatehistory.com

(OOC:

This is a DBWI on a Philippines where the EDSA movement failed. POD is that Artemio Tadiar, in command of the troops facing the protesters, obeys orders and fires into the crowds, dispersing them.

Major parties:

KBL (New Society Movement): Basically corporatist, conservative and not too concerned with human rights. Only decided to hold contested elections to please the West on whose aid they depend. Their standard bearer in the Assembly is Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. Many suspect he's just a puppet of his mother, Imelda.

UNIDO (United Nationalist Democratic Organization): Basically a coalition of anti-Marcos forces - ranging from Socialists to Christian Democrats. Has seats in Parliament, but have historically been like OTL MDC in Zimbabwe - every election, activists get their heads bashed in, police break up rallies, parliamentary candidates are disappeared - though if you vote their way, they simply ignore your vote and doctor it. They might be able to win, if the international observers do their job. Their current leader is Sergio Osmena III.

Muslim Democrats: The successors to the Mindanao Alliance, they were before 1986 one of the few opposition parties allowed into the National Assembly. Essentially a regionalist party.

Communist Party of the Philippines: Technically illegal, but here simply as protest votes. Voting for them practically guarrantees a stay in Bilbilid Prison, if the military catches you. The leader of the party is Jose Maria Sison, in exile in Switzerland. Parliamentary candidates from the party are running as Independents.



Issues:

Human rights - the ruling KBL has agreed to hold real elections (the 2006 ones were considered to not have been free and fair) and there are concerns of "vote fudging." UNIDO, of course, has reversing this a major part of their collective platform.

Economy: Basically the recession has plunged an already shaky economy into the shitter, and only the most die-hard KBL party hacks deny otherwise.

Constiutional reform - The KBL wants to revise presidential elections into a yes-or-no ratifying referendum. UNIDO is opposed, naturally.

Family planning: The split on this issue actually transcends party boundaries. As an overwhelmingly Catholic nation, many are opposed to in on religious grounds. Some of the more secular KBL people and the liberal wing of UNIDO support family planning and more 'women's health' clinics, however.)

IC: So, personally I'm voting UNIDO, even if I know very well that they're going to ignore it. I hope the UN and OSCE folks do their job, because I do not want that bitch Imelda to be running things at the National Assembly. Basically the only good man left in the KBL is President Virata, and he's practically this side of senility, IMO.
Top