Our Fair Country: The Commonwealth of New England
- Thread starter CosmicAsh
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The Greatest Flatbush in the history of Flatbushes, maybe ever!
2018 Vietnamese general election
The campaign was marked by the stunning rise in the opinion polls of the Strength & Renewal Party, which branded the Democrats as "too far left," and "enemies of all free people," declaring that they were no better than Labour, and represented the failure of Vietnam to truly grasp its true strength on the world stage. The party, led by veteran politician Huỳnh Trọng Khánh, campaigned across the country on a platform of increasing Vietnam's military power projection, settling old grudges with China and the Philippines, and even went so far as to suggest a military campaign against the Philippines over several disputed islands, and to show that Vietnam was a serious regional power.
All other parties denounced Strength & Renewal, which itself had only been formed in 2011 from disgruntled Democratic Party Assembly Members (AMs), for destabilising Vietnam's political climate. Since 1976, campaigns have been noticeably civil and disagreements over politics never went deeper than electoral disputes. With several physical fights breaking out between S&R AMs and other opposition AMs after a controversial bill was defeated, it marked the strongest flare of political violence since the dictatorship.
There was also a large amount of media scrutiny into the broadly populist People of the Four Immortals, as it become more and more apparent that their platform of broad social progress and protection of worker's rights were shallow, at best, after supporting a S&R amendment which would have eliminated fines and jail punishment for employers found to be engaged in employing children in factories and workplaces. The centrist Party of Progress also saw a significant drop in party activism and donations, with many in the party unhappy with its continued coalition with the Democratic Party.
The Prime Minister, however, remained very popular within his party and with the general public, with all political opinion polls showing him retaining the title of preferred Prime Minister among all the other party leaders. The Democratic Party ran an aggressive campaign in the cities of Saigon and Hanoi, as well as into the traditional base of the Commonwealth Party in the southwest. While the Democratic Party made inroads into these areas traditionally closed off to them, they saw the complete collapse of their vote in the South Central Coast, who were far more receptive to the nationalist agitation of S&R.
The Commonwealth Party continued to campaign on the sole issue of joining the Commonwealth of Nations, and for closer ties to the United Kingdom. Despite a majority of Vietnamese people supporting entrance to the Commonwealth, other issues had always dominated elections, leaving the Commonwealth Party to have no true ideological base, with AMs often voting however they pleased.
The Labour Party under Hồ Trung Dũng continued to campaign on its Contract for Vietnam platform, pledging tougher worker's rights, greater access to healthcare and education, less focus on military matters, and promoting industrial and economic progress, but never at the expense of the worker. Their campaign had been able to raise the most money, and when Hồ Trung Dũng was passed over for a chance of forming a coalition, several riots broke out in major Vietnamese cities.
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Would it be possible to get a wiki page showing the ideologies of the various parties?
@Kanan Why was it controversial for the President to allow the incumbent to try and form a coalition first? Is the Vietnamese Assembly run on different lines than the Westminster system most parliaments run on? (Usually there the incumbent is allowed to test the confidence of the House before the Opposition gets a chance, unless there's a clear majority; that's what happened most recently in British Columbia.)
Not a criticism, just curious because I don't usually see that!
Not a criticism, just curious because I don't usually see that!
One of the most crucial, and abusive, elements of the dictatorship was that the President would simply appoint the incumbent Prime Minister, no matter the composition of the House of Assembly. Vietnam had relatively free elections even during the dictatorship (though voter intimidation was massive, and to the point of outright shooting poll goers in some districts), but even in the cases where the opposition would clearly have won more seats based on preliminary counts or even the official ones, whatever President in office would be coerced by the dictator's Prime Minister at the time to simply offer the job again to the Prime Minister (longest occupant: Dương Văn Minh), who would instantly declare a martial law emergency, deposing the President of his dismissal powers, and curtailing any civil liberties which would have been clawed back since the last election.
This new precedent was established, to offer the largest seat winner the first opportunity, due to this ghastly past.
Very interesting; thank you! I can see why that would be so concerning/trigger protests and riots with that kind of historical context.
@Kanan, how did my country (the Philippines) turned into one of the important destination for refugees from Kampuchea, Indonesia, and Burma? Are there any implications that would affect that kind of situation like politicians calling for closing of the country that deny refugees?
How did Indonesia have 13 million refugees fleeing from problems that most Indonesians faced like issues on economy and hostile climate?
How did Indonesia have 13 million refugees fleeing from problems that most Indonesians faced like issues on economy and hostile climate?
Witch0Winter
Banned
That map is uncannily like the maps from one of my textbooks in college and now I want to check if I have any homework I forgot to do. 
Which is to say, great job on the map.
Which is to say, great job on the map.It's close, and reachable by rafts, really.
That map is uncannily like the maps from one of my textbooks in college and now I want to check if I have any homework I forgot to do.
Thank you so much!! Haha, that was the exact type of look I was going for!
Well, it's comparable but the reasons behind it are a lot different.
Then why are people fleeing from Burma, Indonesia and Kampuchea?
IIRC the Burmese government was overthrown by the west in the early 2000s ITTL, and assuming interventionism is handled in much the same way in OFC as it is IOTL then I think that answers your question about Burma
Economic Planning Group; International Development Bank
The group was born out of the British Empire-wide Imperial Conferences, which began in 1953 to invite Portugal to discuss colonial matters, as well as future economic planning. This soon expanded to include Argentina and the United States, and by the early 1960s, a group was proposed of the top economic powers of the time to discuss economic coordination and a means to further safeguard their countries against any future economic slowdown. The initial meeting, in 1965, consisted of the United States, Canada, New England, Argentina, Brazil, United Kingdom, France, Australia, Portugal, and Germany. Membership was gradually expanded over the years, with Portugal leaving the group in protest of it being downgraded to non-voting role in 1996. The Soviet Union joined in 2006, which also saw India join alongside them. Despite the varying ideologies of the membership, consensus has always been reached. The group has thus far successfully combated all of the economic downturns, with the only notable exception being the Long Recession of the 1980s.
Today, the Economic Planning Group is composed of the world 18 largest economies, and have become deeply intertwined with the technically separate International Development Bank. Since 2006, all members of the Economic Planning Group have been on the Council of Reserve Banks, and the collective membership of the EPG vote on the independent Governor of the International Development Bank.
The International Development Bank is an international organization headquartered in London that had been formed following the end of the German Civil War to help the rebuilding of central Europe from the long decades of warfare that had plagued it. Initially, the bank only included the British Commonwealth, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Czechia, and the United States, but quickly expanded its membership to nearly all independent countries, except those in the Soviet Bloc by the early 1970s. The bank's success in helping to rebuild Germany caused it to be used to also invest in capital projects in newly independent African states. The organisation saw its final influx of members in 2004-2006, when the members of the former Soviet Bloc, and including the Soviet Union joined.
The bank today works to stablise the world financial system through emergency loans, capital project developments, and measures to ensure high employment and economic growth, while seeking to lower poverty worldwide. The IDB is also responsible for recording statistics on the world's economy, and monitoring the impact of various policies both implemented in member countries and how it has an impact on a wider scale. Only four countries today are not part of the IDB, with two of them having been suspended. Indonesia and Paraguay are suspended indefinitely from the organisation, South Africa had never been involved with it, and the Vatican City also is not a member. All members pay into the funds of the IDB, with members of the Economic Planning Group paying more overall due to their more advanced economies, as well as their voting rights.
The IDB is governed by the Governor of the Bank, who is responsible for the executive function of the bank's policies and management, and the position is elected every year with no term limits. In order to be elected, an EPG member state must nominate a candidate, and voting takes place in a round system where the lowest vote winner is dropped in each round. Every member of the EPG (Leader, Finance Minister, and Central Bank Governor) is given a vote, for a total of 54 electors, and 40 are needed to win the election. The incumbent governor, Thomas Lemieux, is set to complete his term on 31 December 2019, and is to be replaced by Pierre Moscovinci, who was elected on 1 December 2019.
The Governor must work with the Council of Reserve Banks, a separate planning organisation composed of the independent Central Bank Governors which meet periodically to discuss policy and vote on pressing issues, such as large expenditures like bailouts and investment packages, that have been planned by the Governor and the bank writ large. The Chair of the Reserve Banks is rotated every year between member states, and is responsible for coordinating lending policy, working with the Governor, and formulating the complex yearly funding formula all member countries must follow. Loose political groupings of ideologically similar reserve governors have formed in recent years, and are often manifested in support or opposition of specific policies set forward by the Chair. But given that a 3/4th consensus is needed for major votes, these groupings are more for more broad symbolic monetary direction than an organised political opposition.
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