History of the High Kingdoms of Alaxia

See also: History of Ahitereira, History of Empherias, and History of Kiavalar

See also: History of Koresa, History of Peryzium, and Military History of the High Kingdoms of Alaxia

The High Kingdoms of Alaxia is a sovereign state in East Alaxia. It was formed on 4 January 2447 following the death of Joana I of Ahitereira–Koresa, beginning a personal union between them and Kiavalar. This page documents the entire history of the country to the modern day.

Pre-union period (2440–2447)

Early meetings

Many in the elites of both Ahitereira–Koresa and Kiavalar understood that a personal union was converging in the early 2420s with Joana I becoming older and older. Various informal meetings took place with government officials across this time, although with large gaps and more pressing issues within them. The 20s generation was also key to political manoeuvring to ensure the union went ahead. Members of the 20s generation formed the 'What Next Group' in 2424 following the end of the Great War and eventually the focus of the group focused on Ahitereiran and Koresan politics and the potential integration of Kiavalar and expansion of a newer state. Some even proposed an Alaxian federation, including over states in the area such as Empherias, Peryzium, Palakkinen, or even the Hveden Federation and Karkuss. Other groups did exist, such as the 'Valar Pushes East' group who pushed for Kiavalari integration with east Alaxia; the 'Joana's Legacy' group which often discussed post-Joana interests. However, none of the groups would become relatively known until the 2430s.

The What Next Group gained notoriety in Ahitereira after famous journalist Etuarto Barboza came out in support of them and their views on a hypothetical personal union. He claimed that the union provided great benefits to all Alaxians. Over the next decade, he would continue to release pro-unification works including several best-selling books such as 'The Eye of Alaxia' in 2433. In Kiavalar, Jake Russell and Valorie Ward co-authored several articles which pandered to the educated left and many liberals which saw integration with an Ahitereiran-led state as a quick way to introduce better forms of democracy into the country - as well as better economic equality. The What Next Group released a joint declaration on the positive interests of such a personal union in 2435. However, their positions were controversial. Many believed that reforms promised by the side of the union were unfounded and impossible, or that they had vested interest in the benefits. Some criticised them for anti-nationalist sentiment, others believed that voters in the other countries were stupid and could sway elections negatively for them, while others thought it was an insult to Joana to predict her death.

Pro-Kloresan movement

Main article: Kloresan unification movement

In Empherias, prominent pro-Kloresans became more and more popular into the late 2430s. George Pierce, a journalist, would become famous after writing an article in 2438 highlighting the positives of such a union. The establishment of an official group in Empherias known as the 'Alaxian Through Kloresa Society' would see Pierce become a member alongside hundreds of aspiring politicians and activists. One of these members was Gregorik Marsh who quickly gained a rivalry with Pierce. Marsh was also a journalist and believed that while union was good, that they shouldn't give up their sovereignty too easily. Marsh and Pierce would have very public fights across 2439, but Pierce would eventually go missing and be declared dead in 2440. Many, including allies such as George Proweur, George Princeley, and Aleksander Treitschke, believed that this a plot by anti-unionists in Empherias to quiet the movement.

Lewes Haarig, an Empheri-Palakkine news reporter, would be the first news reporter of the public broadcasting company of Empherias to speak out as a pro-unionist in 2440. He was eventually fired in 2441 by the incoming Socialist government, and thus moved to join the ATKS later that year. Haarig would become a leading figure of the movement alongside Proweur in Empherias. The Campbell twins, Ellie and Wallace, were descendants of former prime minister Isaac Campbell, and were keen to use their credibility to advocate for the unionists. Ellie Campbell was elected as a Liberal MP in the 2441 general election.

While the ATKS was primarily liberal, an opposing group of Socialists formed a sector within the People's Socialist Party to advocate for unionism. This was named sALAX, although the sK sect opposed it heavily.

Conferences

There were several conferences between future member states held before the death of the monarch that would formally tie the two nations together:

• Inysta Conference, September 2445 – discussions on the personal union, foreign policy handling, and figuring out internal treaties.

• Esperiy Conference, November 2445 – discussions on the capital city, the early constitution, and defence spending.

• Kayrin Conference, January 2446 – discussions on the trade situation and economy.
• Vreimer Conference, March 2446 – discussions on the inclusion of Empherias or other potential countries for inclusion such as Peryzium, Grensalbourg, and Palakkinen.

First Constitutional convention

Following the conferences in 2446, the first constitutional convention was established in June 2446 amid Joana's falling health. They established very key and basic and binding ideas behind the incoming personal union. The convention contained 13 members, all of which were senior members of the involved countries' governments, and they established that during a period of developing a proper constitution, a provisional constitution would be established giving a 'provisional president' absolute authority for a period of 3 years until a proper government could be elected. The two governments would sign the Acts of Union on 18 September 2446, which would legally bind the two together following the death of Joana I.

Formation period (2447–2459)

Death and funeral of Joana I

Main articles: Joana I of Ahitereira-Koresa and Death and Funeral of Joana I, Queen of Ahitereira-Koresa

Joana I died on 4 January 2447, officially creating the personal union between Ahitereira–Koresa and Kiavalar. In accordance with the Acts of Union signed in 2446, the High Kingdoms of Alaxia was officially formed on the moment of Joana I's death.

Provisional government

The new state would have no initial elected central government, but the Prime Minister of Ahitereira would make a speech on 10 January 2447 called the 'Union of Harmony' where he claimed that preparations for a central government would begin after Joana's funeral and the new monarch's coronation. In the meantime, both countries would continue to act independently, besides the consolidation of the Armed Forces that took place beginning 1 February 2447. The High Chancellor of Kiavalar, Richelieu, put herself forward to be the provisional government of the new central government, and her Ahitereiran counterparts agreed. In July 2447, Koresa was officially separated from Ahitereira–Koresa, and had its own parliament established. Richelieu was made the President of the Provisional Government on 7 September 2447, and would appoint a provisional Minister of Foreign Affairs, finally creating an executive branch of the federal government and consolidating the foreign policy of the countries.

As per the first constitutional convention, Richelieu would have a deadline of 7 September 2450 in order to elect a legislature in which to form a wider constitutional convention. She therefore would aim to form a government as soon as possible.

Construction of Esperiy

The new capital city would be moved to Esperiy, a town in the Yutra region of Ahitereira. This region was classified as a federal territory and therefore independent from any kingdom to ensure no kingdom would be privileged more than others. Government contracts were handed out to various national real estate construction companies to expand the city, with Jonas Gonçal - a modern architect - made Special Adviser to the expansion project.

Second Constitutional convention

Richelieu would appoint a council of eleven people from all nations in various levels of government to discuss how the government would be made up. She was joined later legal experts, and those who negotiated in the 2445–2446 conferences. It was decided first how the judicial branch would work in late 2447. Then, the executive was established and it's powers, and a proposed way of it's election was proposed and amended across early 2448. Finally, the method of electing the legislature, and the structure and power was established towards late 2448 and early 2449 but was the most controversial. The convention was split on the number of chambers, fearing that the balance of power between the higher populated and lower populated states could cause internal conflict. For a long time, the convention was dead set on two chambers: a lower chamber with proportional representation, and an upper chamber with large scale single member constituencies aiding larger parties and higher populated areas.

Across 2448, it was clear that two smaller populated states in Empherias and Peryzium would join, the conversation shifted to the final approach. They agreed on just a single chamber, with 530 constituencies (previously 525 until November 2448). This would be divided with 103 constituencies per constituent country, an equal amount, with districting decided on a devolved case-by-case basis. The final 15 constituencies would be in federal districts such as Esperiy, the Aether territories, and for expats living abroad. The electoral system would be FPTP with no extra system to promote more proportional voting. This would mean that all countries had an equal number of seats in the federal government, giving a boost to smaller populated countries (in balance to the executive and presidential elections, where the larger populated countries had an advantage), and gave larger parties a better chance at getting more seats, which would promote a more stable government after fears that the multiculturalism across the country would lead to hundreds of small parties in parliament. With these issues done, the rest of the constitution could be ironed out through committees and votes established by an officially elected legislature. Thus, the Second Provisional Constitution was signed in July 2449, and elections were set for 11 November 2449.

Empherias and Peryzium's membership

A pan-Kloresan movement sprung in Empherias in the 2440s which led to increased division within the People's Socialist Party over the issue of Alaxian unity. As plans for the upcoming High Kingdoms were being formulated, the Socialist Prime Minister Katelyn Roberts ruled out any involvement of Empherias in any Alaxian political union projects in a public address in June 2445. Despite this, pro-unification Minister of Foreign Affairs Luna Gallagher and several MPs such as Tom James Cook and the notorious Lukas Knight, attended all of the conferences and made promises for Empherias' involvement. Officially, the Socialists won the 2445 general election but the support for the Prime Minister was dwindling amongst the Pro-Kloresan base.

In a public address to the Vreimer Conference 2446, which was held in Empherias, the aforementioned Tom James Cook made the following statement: "Although my government may disagree, the involvement of Empherias is vital in not only the expansion of our economy, but the economy of Alaxia - and to develop the cultural links between our great nations". This led to Cook's public expulsion from the party for disagreeing with the general view of the party. He and Knight would then leave the party all together and reform the People's Populist Party in it's second iteration.

The new party alongside internal pressures from the Socialist party led to Roberts' resignation as Prime Minister on 21 December 2447 although she had delayed the process of union past the death of the monarch. Many in government had secretly negotiated with the now established High Kingdoms. Sofia Hopkins, the replacement PM, announced her intention to run an anti-union campaign in a snap election held in 2448. This election would finally settle whether the nation would join in union with the High Kingdoms or not by which Socialist party wins more seats - furthermore, both parties would agree to form a coalition government until the two parties unite to prevent opposing ideologies from gaining power in the event of a vote split. The 2448 general election saw the Populists win 252 seats to the Socialists' 104 and firmly set unification as a key point of the Socialist's agenda henceforth. However, the pro-Kloresan party still did not have a majority of seats on it's own to issue the mandate of unification.

Lukas Knight, the new Prime Minister, decided to hold a legally binding referendum on 1 July 2448 to decide whether Empherias would join the HKA or remain independent. The PM and ruling party used a lot more campaigning than usual and many more promotions. For the first time ever, there were major political television adverts for both sides. The Liberals, despite being officially anti-unification, didn't campaign for either side and the Socialists under Hopkins underutilised their campaigning skills resorting to more traditional methods. The results were that 54.04% of people voted in favour of unification and Knight now had two mandates for unification.

Immediately after, the process to officially join the High Kingdoms began in September 2448. The coalition government would pass many new laws to create identical systems of government to align with the High Kingdoms law code. Empherias officially joined the High Kingdoms of Alaxia on 1 December 2448. The coalition government previously formed in Empherias would then run the new constituent country under a caretaker government within the High Kingdoms of Alaxia until the first provisional election were then held on 1 September 2449.

Peryzium would join on 15 December 2448.

2449 presidential and legislative elections

Main articles: 2449 High Kingdoms presidential election and 2449 High Kingdoms legislative election

Richelieu, the provisional president, wanted to run for re-election but would approve the usage of the proposed 2448 presidential election method. This required each party getting a number of nominations for a candidate based on the makeup of the devolved lower houses in each constituent country. The candidates with the least amount of nominations would be eliminated until just two candidates remain. The first round of nominations took place on 30 September 2449, and by 5 October 2449 the nominations had finished. The final two parties, the Liberal Party of Ahitereira and Koresa and Rael Carinye would put forward their candidate. Rael Carinye, a Kiavalari party selected Kiavalari politician Čžäräyin Tïsakhar as their presidential candidate, and selected Ahitereiran politician Valena Manel as the vice-presidential nominee to placate supporters of the King's Party which made up a large group of nominations. Richelieu met with the Liberals to discuss her candidateship, and they agreed that despite being an Ahitereiran party, they would nominate Kiavalari politician Richelieu to be their candidate to placate the Janvariye Jin and use her very popular appeal and current position as President to help their bid for election. The Liberals were sure to choose a native Ahitereiran as their vice-presidential nominee, choosing Maneli Veritara.

By 8 October 2449, the two candidates were chosen and campaigning began. All members of the future-Golden Coalition would endorse Richelieu, alongside the entire Red Bloq group, the Alliance party, and the Pink Daphnes. Tisakhar was supported by the King's Party, the Bokanist Values Party, and JCPK. The Nationalist party suggested boycotting the vote, or voting Liberal to prevent major federal restrictions. Richelieu won the election with 66.48% of the popular vote and over 80 million votes, and secured her first elected term until 2454. Veritara became the first Vice-President of the High Kingdoms of Alaxia. Her opponent, Tisakhar, received just 33% of the popular vote and 40 million votes.

The legislative election was the first and was therefore very hard to predict for pollsters and political parties. Polling was difficult, and tactical voting was nearly impossible leading to a lot of the spoiler effect giving primarily the Liberals an advantage. While no single party won an overall majority of the seats (266 or more), the largest party was the Liberal Party of Ahitereira and Koresa, followed by the Liberal Party of Peryzium. Those two parties, alongside the Liberal Party of Empherias, and Janvariye Jin in Kiavalar (Richelieu's old party) would join in a liberal coalition, known as the Golden Coalition. This coalition would have 291 seats in parliament, a majority of 50. Gõçal Bitraş, the leader of the Ahitereira and Koresa branch, headed the Golden Coalition after approval from the other parties, and on 1 January 2450 was sworn into office as Premier of the House of Representatives in a vote 291–239. The opposition was formed by the People's Socialist Party of Empherias, the largest non-Liberal party, who formed a left wing coalition known as the Crimson Coalition with the Red Bloq of Peryzium, the Red Bloq of Ahitereira and Koresa, and Seruiye Jin of Kiavalar. This coalition would maintain just 97 seats, less than 20% of the legislature.

Other parties made general coalitions. The National coalition of Nationalist parties, having such similar views that a coalition could benefit in terms of planning, holds 17 seats. The Naval Coalition of conservative parties formed, this one with more varied opinions but was formed because they believed that Conservatism could have a chance at winning future elections if steps were taken for tactical voting and having a unified prescence in the legislature – they hold 50 seats. No other parties formed a coalition, with their views either varying too much, or by having little to gain by having any formal agreements.

Richelieu's presidency

Richelieu began her presidency in a very strong position. She had cemented a five year term, and with her domination over the legislature also had power there for 3 years. Her main priority was to finalise the constitution, which she wanted to finish before 2453 so that the Liberal party had the main control over how the constitution was constructed. She hid this however, and did allow the Red Bloq and the Conservatives to have some influence over the writing.

Third constitutional convention

The third constitutional convention was more informal and began once the first legislative term had begun in January 2450. Within the legislature, the Premier would create several select committees for the proposal, amendment and scrutiny of several articles of the constitution. On many of these, Liberals were the majority of members due to their majority in the House. Richelieu still had significant leeway over the constitution, having final say on it's usage as per her powers established by the Acts of Union for the President to act more powerfully before a constitution was finalised.

The constitution's first draft was finished on 1 October 2451 after nearly two years. The second draft was finished by January 2452, and the finalised version of the constitution was signed into law by the House of Representatives on 3 October 2452, a month before the legislative election. All constituent country governments signed on 5 October; Richelieu, President of the High Kingdoms, signed the constitution into effect on 6 October; and the monarchs signed on 7 October. Constitution day is celebrated on 7 October.

2452 legislative election

Main article: 2452 High Kingdoms legislative election

The 2452 legislative election was held on 10 November 2452. Richelieu would urge Bitraş to run for a second term as Premier, and endorsed the Golden Coalition in the elections. The prime minister of Empherias, Lukas Knight, and the deputy prime minister Sofia Hopkins both endorsed the PSP and the Crimson Coalition.

With the constitution finished, both the Socialists and the Conservatives would shift their focus to domestic policies and the work of the liberal government. The Liberal party was polling very well despite being an incumbent government because of the great economic boost after the formation of the union and decisions in the constitution. Tactical voting was now very possible with the known results of the previous election. This benefitted the Conservative and BVP supporters who could now coordinate slightly better. The BVP refused to do a proper electoral coalition, and so usually the larger party in each constituency would attempt to win over the other's voter base to ensure a right-wing candidate would win over a Liberal one. Conservative pundits believed that tactical voting could increase the amount of seats the right-wing received by over 25, a 50% increase on their current amount. Local politics would still be incredibly important: the candidates being selected by each party and of course the devolved parliaments. In Empherias, the PSP who was the junior partner in government was becoming more and more popular which helped their position in the federal elections despite the Liberals theoretically having good momentum.

The Conservative party would focus on Northern Koresa and rural Ahitereiran areas to pick up seats, the Red Bloq would focus on Liberal seats in Empherias and Peryzium to pick up seats at lower costs and lower margins. The Liberal party would focus on maintaining losses from the Conservatives, seeing them as their biggest threat to their majority. The Liberals would also try and reduce the threat of the Pink Daphnes would taking a few of their policies. The Liberals would hope for Richelieu's name to automatically help them do well in Kiavalar. The Red Bloq in Peryzium would attempt to win over both Nationalist and Liberal voters by positioning themselves as Peryzi pride representatives and championing some nationalist policies and reframing the narrative around independence towards participation in the HKA. They would also win over Liberal and Conservative voters by positioning themselves more similarly to Empherias where they became a lot closer to the Liberal party on policy and focusing on urban areas where students and working class people live.

The results were disappointing but a moderate success for the Liberal party. The Golden Coalition shrank to 259 seats, down 32 from the previous result of 291 seats in 2449. With the number needed to reach a majority being 266, this created a new hung parliament despite the coalition. This seems like a terrible result, but in context it actually wasn't that bad and advisers were very happy behind the scenes. Polling had suggested internally that the Conservatives could've won over 70 seats from the Liberals and in key areas like Northern Koresa and Central Ahitereira, but this only materialised as around 15 seats being handed over. The majority of the losses were actually in Peryzium where the Red Bloq picked up many seats, which was seen to be easier to recover in the following election. Therefore, the Liberals were looking at potentially less than 200 seats and to maintain over 250 was a great result. As chief adviser to the campaign put it, "We were always going to lose seats: an incumbent government wielding incredible power and knives in our backs from all directions. There are many pathways to governing".

Still, without a majority, the Liberals needed to negotiate with other parties to get into office again. The Red Bloq had increased their seat count to 130 from 97, and the Conservatives increased their seat count from 50 to 63, shrinking the minor parties further. The coalition reached out first to Alliance and Cyn Serilin, who positioned themselves as centrist liberals. They refused, wanting to hold the government to account from the opposition. The Pink Daphne Party and Feriliye Jin were then in negotiations with their similar policy positions. They agreed to join with key concessions concerning women's rights. With their combined 14 seats, the coalition held 273 seats, a majority of 14. Bitraş was reconfirmed as Premier on 1 January 2453 in a vote 273–257.

2453 budget

Having a majority in the House of Representatives for the rest of her term and the constitution having been finalised, Richelieu could now work on tangible domestic and foreign policy like every other country for the next two years of her term. After the confirmation vote in January, the legislature set out on submitting the first proper budget by April 2453. During this process, the Red Bloq opposition called for the government to introduce a national health service, like that in Empherias, federally to provide for poorer people throughout the union who couldn't afford healthcare. While the economic was doing well, many in the Liberal party were opposed due to the great costs involved by the taxpayer. The Red Bloq debated in the House for weeks and created a fully costed plan in a paper called the Campbell Paper which stated that it would cost $4.4 billion (roughly $57 billion in money today) which would cost just $19 per person per year on average (although the cost would be spread disproportionately to the higher class, with many poor people not having to pay). The Red Bloq forced the Liberals to hold a free vote in the House without a whip to determine the popularity of the plan. The free vote was held on 28 January 2453 and the result was 232–189. Of the government, 89 Liberals of Ahitereira-Koresa and all 10 Pink Daphne representatives voted in favour, while 57 Liberals of Ahitereira-Koresa and all 46 Janvariye Jin representatives voted against. The Empheri and Peryzi Liberals abstained, alongside Feriliye Jin, alongside Cyn Serilin, Durbanar, and all the Nationalist parties. The bill needed 266 votes to get a second reading, and thus the paper was no longer considered.

February to March 2453 would focus on several budget readings in the House of Representatives. The final budget vote took place on 30 March 2453 and would pass 294 to 223. Those voting in favour was the entire governing coalition which would've been enough to pass the bill, but also the entirety of the Alliance Party, Green Party, and Cyn Serilin. The Nationalist parties abstained from the vote. The budget would not be very innovative, only including the barebones spending agreed previously, and saw no major changes. Katelyn Roberts, the Opposition Leader, would scold the government for not including any measures to actually help ordinary people. They would particularly lambast liberals who voted against the free vote, and urged abstainers to consider the benefit for the little costs. President Richelieu signed and passed the 2453 Budget into law on 1 April 2453.

In November 2453, after several months of intense debating to get it right, the legislature passed the Federal Creation of the Independent Royal Commission Against Corruption Act 2453, nicknamed CIRCACA. It would become one of the most important pieces of legislature in the High Kingdoms of Alaxia to this day because of it's everlasting effects. Some historians and political scientists call it as much a part of the bedrock of modern law as the constitution. This new agency, officially a continuation of the Ahitereiran and Koresan neo-collective moment, would be an independent agency to fight corruption. Due to the increase in size in various governmental sectors and corporations, the responsibility of the new commission would be to investigate and eliminate corrupt activities at various levels of administration. While President Richelieu sponsored the bill heavily, the bill actually gave the power to appoint and dismiss the Royal Commissioner to the Premier of the House of Representatives. Bitras would nominate former Ahitereiran prime minister, Rute Franco, to become the first commissioner. The agency was launched fully on 1 January 2454, with Franco's first four-year term to begin there and end on 1 January 2458. The IRCACA had power over all parliamentarians even devolved ones, local provincial leaders, councillors of councils, ministers, advisers, university staff, and employees and officers of public companies. The vote was 494–22.

2454 budget

With a looming presidential election taking place in November 2454, campaigning for Richelieu's re-election would begin as early as March 2454. Having a pretty lackluster reaction to the 2453 budget, Richelieu pushed for a more innovative budget to be passed in 2454 prior to the election year. Richelieu though would also want to save some policy commitments for later. It leaked that Richelieu had privately to advisers said that, "Education reform is important. I would champion education reform. But not in 2453. We have a 2454 presidential election, and a 2455 legislative election to win. And we need a platform to win on. Education is on the agenda circa 2456." which hurt her short term polling, though she recovered as it faded to the background of relevancy. Including in budget discussions were education reforms in the end, but mostly just subsidiaries given to devolved governments for use on education. In particular, $50 million ($636 million today) was to be specifically given to Peryzium who was very behind on education levels. In fact, a Peryzium research paper released in February 2454 revealed the great shortfalls of education in Peryzium and the need for reform there. The reaction to this revelation was mixed. Some believed that direct government aid would increase funding and therefore levels, others believed Peryzi people were just less intelligent than other people, some believed that Peryzium should domestically make their own reforms there, while others believed this was a reason that education should be united and decided in a federal department. Regardless, one small piece of legislation that passed due to this discovery was the Federal Baseline for Education Act 2454 which established criteria that all education departments in the Peryzi government were mandated to hit. The actual government would determine how to hit this criteria, but they needed to reach a minimum satisfactory level of education or lose certain privileges, protections, or be subject to more vigorous investigations by the IRCACA. The act passed through the House of Representatives very decisively 431–86. The $50 million in aid would be included in the 2454 budget.

The 2454 budget would include a large increase of federal expenditure. Transport would be a focus of this budget, with funding being given to establishing bicycle lanes and setting up traffic regulations to prevent rampant and growing car usage. The regulations around highway building would also be changed slightly with less major highways being built. New rail lines connecting the devolved countries would be prioritised to interconnect the countries further and interconnect rail networks. A bridge crossing the sea from Ahitereira to Peryzium was also announced to be in production, with designing having begun in 2451. The first connection would be rail. The budget would also introduce more accessible credit and introduce financial institution regulations. Richelieu used the motto, "Investment is the core of growth" multiple times promoting the budget. The budget allocated millions to the creation of community centres across the union. The Red Bloq championed transport infrastructure but still pushed the government on the lack of major education reform or socialist values such as nationalisation or welfare. The budget was voted on 27 March 2454 and passed 276–241. Richelieu signed and passed the 2454 Budget into law on 1 April 2454.

It had become very obvious by the middle of 2454 the dynamics of the parties. The government consisted of 273 representatives, the Alliance Party's two members and Green Party of Empherias's single member would nearly always vote WITH the government in key votes. Some coined the term 'quasi-governmental parties' to describe them and how they would vote when predicting legislature outcomes. And consistently, the 13 Nationalist party representatives would boycott the vote and abstain. This meant that usually, only 259 representatives rather than 266 representatives would be needed to pass a bill.

Despite the passing of the budget in April 2454, the Red Bloq would introduce the Federal Minimum Wage Act 2454 to the House of Representatives in early May. It would model itself after the various minimum wage bills passed in Empherias and would set a federally bound minimum wage set at $0.75 per hour. This would introduce minimum wages to communities who previously did not have one. Sofia Hopkins, the new Empheri Prime Minister, would openly support this bill. The Liberals of Empherias actually sponsored the bill in an act of consensus across Empheri parties. The Liberal Party of Ahitereira and Koresa then sponsored the bill and adopted it as official Liberal policy. The bill went to vote on 18 July and passed 357–160. Notably, the Janvariye Jin coalition members voted against the bill but it still passed due to help from the Red Bloq. Richelieu, not wanting this to harm her campaigning for the presidential election, would hold crisis talks with the Janvariye Jin. A leak to the press saw newspapers break the story that Janvariye were considering exiting the Golden Coalition and holding a vote of no confidence in the government. It became grave speculation that the government could collapse at any moment with the Kiavalari party pulling out. On 1 August 2454, just three months before the presidential election, Richelieu and Bitras held a joint press conference in which they discussed the minimum wage bill. They announced they would be delaying the implementation of the bill for at least one year, with discussions to continue after the 2455 legislative election to bring in a new group of representatives into the House. Janvariye Jin confirmed on 3 August that they would not exit the coalition after all and that they forced the delay of the legislation. The Red Bloq were furious, with Katelyn Roberts describing it as a gross betrayal.

2454 presidential election

Main article: 2454 High Kingdoms presidential election

The 2454 presidential election took place on 12 November 2454. This was the first presidential election to use the electoral college as the method for nominations to reach the run-off stage. This was implemented within the constitution rather than using estimated electors for nominations like in 2449. The electoral college allowed each province to award a number of electors to the largest party (based on the results of the most result legislative election in 2452). The electoral college vote saw the Liberal party receive 334 electoral votes, Janvariye on 141, Red Bloq on 119, and the others in various amounts. The college would eliminate the party with the least electors, who then had to choose a new party for the votes to go to. Repeat until just two parties remain. This period of the electoral college nominations took place across August 2454. The first out was Durbanar Jin with their 5 electoral votes. They gave their votes to the Red Bloq. The Nationalists with their 15 electoral votes was eliminated and they gave their votes to the Conservatives. Cyn Serilin with their 26 electoral votes were next to be eliminated and they gave their votes to the Liberal party. It is at this point that Janvariye Jin, second place with 141 votes, confirmed that they were not exiting government on 3 August, and thus their votes were consolidated with the Liberal party's. The next smallest was JCPK with 31 electoral votes. They gave their votes to the Conservatives. The Pink Daphnes were next with 40 electoral votes and they gave theirs to the Liberal party. At this point, the electoral votes were 541 to the Liberal party, 124 to the Red Bloq, and 84 to the Conservatives. Thus, the Conservatives were eliminated and they gave their 84 electoral votes to the Liberal party, who now reached 625 electoral votes against Red Bloq's 124.

With the two parties chosen on 7 August 2454, they would begin their process at selecting their candidates. The Liberals selected incumbent President Clemenceau Richelieu almost unopposed to run for re-election, as she had expected with months of campaigning already. Maneli Veritara would be re-selected as her Vice-President. The Red Bloq would hold a primary on 17 August 2454 on short notice consisting of five people. Four were incumbent members of the House of Representatives, while the other was currently working as an adviser to the Prime Minister of Empherias. The potential candidates were Isabella King (Representative for Charlotte); Katelyn Roberts (Shadow Premier and Representative for Georgina); Amina–Layla Ward (Representative for Gateshaven East and Nieuwbourg); Lily Lovedie (Representative for Vreimer West); and Tom Wright (Adviser to the Prime Minister Sofia Hopkins). The first round of the primary saw Isabella King win the least amount of votes causing her to drop out, followed by Katelyn Roberts who wanted to focus more on the legislature instead of a presidential campaign. The second round saw Lily Lovedie drop out due to low support. The final round saw Amina–Layla Ward win 51.34% of the vote against Wright's 48.66%. Amina–Layla Ward was quite well known in Red Bloq circles and Empherias, but not much in the rest of the country. For the campaign, she sometimes went by just Layla Ward for simplicity.

The results saw Richelieu win re-election and secure a term until 2459 with 72.12% of the popular vote against Ward's 27.88%. Richelieu's vote soared by 17 million votes, and Ward conceded embarrassingly early. Maneli Veritara was re-elected as Vice President.

2455 budget

Richelieu's re-election in November 2454 by a large landslide boosted confidence in the Liberals, and also weakened the Red Bloq's position. The Red Bloq tried to argue for the inclusion of the welfare vote once again, but the government decided not to take the vote due to it being against the will of the people. Despite his future resignation, Bitraş would primarily decide the policy makeup of his final budget. Welfare was too much of a touchy subject, and he had been advised to not include many major education reforms or left-wing reforms due to its usage in the upcoming campaign. Overall, the final budget would pass on 28 March 2455, 273–244, without much controversy. The Red Bloq criticised the budget all the same because of the lack of policy commitments and changes. It would turn out that the premier's biggest concern was keeping Janvariye in the coalition.

Throughout the rest of 2455, not many laws passed. With the co-operation of the Red Bloq in its entirety, and the Prime Minister of Empherias Sofia Hopkins, the Federal Land Seizure of Lava Fields in Empherias Act 2455 would pass 403–127, and would turn over all uninhabitable lava field lands to the central government as federal property. Much of this would be used for research. The Premier would create a new select committee of five members to look at cases involving federal land known as the Federal Land Select Committee.

Liberal leader primary

The Premier, Gõçal Bitraş, announced that he would step aside as both premier and leader of his party at the end of his second term in office on 3 March 2455. A new leader would have to be chosen to be able to campaign in the upcoming legislative election in November. The two final candidates were Şadu Marlene, the representative for Inişta; and Bentare Jonan, representative for Lagoacita. Both represented safe seats of major cities. The party quickly split into pro-welfare and anti-welfare groups, although the pro-welfare was much larger, and would vote primarily based on how their candidate voted in the welfare vote in 2453. Marlene was quite outspoken for welfare, coming from an area of the country with increased levels of poverty and left-wing voters. Jonan had previously expressed his disapproval at the vote citing cost concerns, but his constituency was also conveniently near Conservative-held strongholds in Manar. Ultimately, 61.23% of the vote went to Marlene, with just 25.67% going to Jonan, after polls were tallied on 15 July 2455. Şadu Marlene was to become Leader of the Liberal Party of Ahitereira and Koresa as of 1 January 2456, and would fight the 2455 election campaign.

2455 legislative election

Main article: 2455 High Kingdoms legislative election

The 2455 legislative election took place on 11 November 2455. Prior to the election, all the major parties were somewhat apathetic going in. The Liberals had just won a landslide presidential election, and while worried about their new candidate, were also somewhat complacent about their majority and believed infighting would tear down their opponents. They also believed the Liberals would regain in Peryzium as polling was going well for them again there a little bit. The Red Bloq were disheartened after losing the presidential election so badly, and didn't really know where to target their areas, with many places being so overwhelming liberal or conservative. Secretly, their leader Katelyn Roberts also wanted to step out of the role but was encouraged to stay for the campaign. However, the Red Bloq did have a lot to campaign on. They knew the new liberal leader was pro-welfare, and so could lobby for its passing in the House of Representatives, and they also pushed heavily on education reform and the minimum wage act. They voted for these bills in parliament and while the Liberals also campaigned on education reform and passing these pieces of legislature, they could campaign on having their heart in the reforms. The Red Bloq also had a really good showing in devolved elections in both Empherias and Peryzium. The Bokanist Values Party and the Conservative Party were trying to come to a proper electoral pact but negotiations broke down after key differences in religious policy, although tactical voting would continue helping both of them. Both parties were, even combined, very far away from governance and polling showed that the public didn't really agree with many of their policies. The Janvariye Jin were doing quite bad polling wise in Kiavalar, having been in government for a long time and making little change to Kiavalar itself. The JCPK positioned itself, as Janvariye's rival, as a party outside of the establishment. However, Richelieu's re-election did help the odds for Janvariye.

The results of the election did not actually change as much as expected. The incumbent government consisting of the Golden Coalition, PDP, and Feriliye Jin, lost a net 5 seats going to 268 total seats. For a majority 266 was needed, and thus they only maintained a majority of 4 seats. However, in practice, the Nationalist parties (which moved from 13 to 9 seats) would abstained, making the practical threshold 261 seats for a majority. Regardless, the government could renegotiate with the PDP and Feriliye Jin, and stay in government. Janvariye Jin suffered 7 individual losses going from 46 to 39, weakening their position within the party. The Liberals of Empherias also lost 7 seats going to 27 seats, but the Liberal Party of Ahitereira and Koresa actually gained 8 seats, a good showing for them. Despite losing 2.83 percentage points, the Liberals of Peryzium still gained two seats, but the party was worried that their 35 seats could get wiped out at the next election. The opposition Crimson Coalition gained a total of 11 seats, evenly split amongst the parties within. This made their positions much stronger and painted a message, but didn't change much in composition. The Conservatives did poorly losing 2.35pp of the popular vote and losing 11 seats going from 63 to 52 including the Bokanist Values Party who held 9 seats themselves. The JCPK gained 4 seats from 22 to 26 but could threaten the Janvariye hold over Kiavalar in the next election.

Welfare caucuses in the house

Şadu Marlene, the new Leader of the Liberal Party of Ahitereira and Koresa, was expected to be made the new premier in a vote 268–262. However, back door deals saw the Red Bloq support the government in return for their support on pro-welfare bills. The premier vote on 1 January 2456 was won by the government 409–121, the largest yet. The new premier and thus the government was explicitly pro-welfare. Marlene stated that she would not tolerate the political games of the previous legislative session around welfare. In the previous vote, 103 golden coalition members voted against welfare, 89 voted in favour, and 81 abstaining. The Liberals of Ahitereira and Koresa had gained 8 seats from the last election result, and due to political interference were all pro-welfare, increasing the pure Ahitereira and Koresan vote to 97 votes in favour, and 57 against. However, Marlene had made concessions and convinced another 14 representatives to vote for welfare in return for some concessions. This made the purely internal LAK vote 111–43. With political attitudes shifting heavily left in Empherias' devolved chamber, the Liberals of Empherias voted in favour instead of abstaining hoping to gain some reputation back. The Peryzi liberals, losing ground to the left-wing there, also voted in favour instead of abstaining. This guaranteed another 62 votes in favour. Pink Daphnes would also vote for the bill. With 182–86 votes within the Golden Coalition, and the Crimson Coalition's 141 representatives, any pro-welfare bills would now pass with the pro-welfare caucus. With negotiations done, Marlene would begin drafting legislation to be debated prior to the 2456 budget. Janvariye, Feriliye, and anti-welfare Liberals were not totally content to vote against the government, fearing instability and potentially angry constituents either way. The JCPK had already used the fact that Janvariye nearly destroyed the government in campaigns.

National healthcare and 2456 budget

The agenda for the parliamentary term would be three major welfare points: Education, Minimum Wage, and Healthcare. For the 2456 budget, they wanted to focus on healthcare. During the election campaign, the Red Bloq had re-written the plan for a national health service as the original one was over 3 years old by this point. The proposed Nationalised Healthcare Act 2456, modelled loosely off of the Campbell Paper 2453, would cost $5 billion and would be paid for with a brand new tax that would be paid in higher amounts by wealthier people as a larger percentage of their pay. The tax itself was relatively small from each person though. On average, it was less than $25 per person per year (although those earning less than the median would pay less, and earning more would pay more). The bill had many different iterations and amendments with some failures, but eventually the final voting date was set as 10 March 2456, a month before the budget. Prior to the vote on 5 March 2456, the Janvariye Jin officially announced that it would be leaving the Golden Coalition as it broke away from government policy. Together with the conservative Naval coalition formed the Anti-Welfare Caucus. Ultimately, 138 representatives would join this caucus to vote against welfare bills, including all the conservative parties, the rebelling LAK members, and Janvariye Jin. Feriliye Jin would stay neutral and in government, although saying they would abstain the vote. The government technically on now held 182 representatives, not enough for a majority. The vote on 10 March was cancelled as the Jonan Çalma, leader of the BVP, would call for a vote of no confidence in the government. This was the very first proper vote of no confidence in a government since the union was formed. The Red Bloq, wanting these pro-welfare bills to pass, stated they would vote with the current government to keep them in power. The vote concluded on 9 March 2456 with 360–170, voting in favour of confidence in the government. The vote on the healthcare act was held on 12 March 2456 and passed 330–161 with 39 abstentions. The healthcare system would be created over the next year and would enter operations on 1 July 2457.

The worrisome thing for the Liberals were that if the Red Bloq found an issue to divide them and break the coalition, they would be completely kicked out of government. They had to focus extra hard on party unity and attempting to win back the right-wing voters.

On 5 April 2456, Katelyn Roberts would resign as Leader of the People's Socialist Party of Empherias in the House of Representatives, and therefore as Leader of the Crimson Coalition and Shadow Premier. She was replaced by Isabella King, the representative for Charlotte, who had previously ran in the primary to be the party's 2454 presidential candidate.

Exteras growth, radar extension, and SONII

Concerning non-partisan issues, during this time the government would build the High Communications Command (HCC) - a fixed service radiocommunication and early warning system. Its combined services produced over 180 channels and equipment was in place to multiplex them to contain up to 10 different calls each. The Kepler Warning system would be a series of radar stations setup in 6 lines to detect bombers and missiles in case of an early attack. It would include a computer system and be an extension of the HCC system. It would begin construction in 2459.

The government would introduce a new regulatory body for the Exteras language. The grammar, the vocabulary would now be all regulated by this body, which would reunite every fortnight, and would be elected by a public committee. This would ensure the language was simple, easy to learn, and was kept up to date. Exteras would hit a 35% fluency rate in the country. Furthermore, a government initiative would see more schools adopt Exteras as a primary language alongside urban centres.

Advancements in electronics technology would see the invention of a 'computer' back in the early 2450s, a machine that could compute simple arithmetic and data transport operations very quickly. The government would buy and adopt the machine on the advise of the Technology committee and soon fifty two were produced and delivered to various institutions. The first commercial videotape recorder would release in June 2456 intended for industrial applications and also television programming. This is known as SONII.

Education reforms and 2457 budget

Main article: 2457 High Kingdoms education reforms

The primary agenda for the 2457 budget would be the passing of education reforms. The new budget would pledge more funding to education, but this was not the main priority of the bill. It would establish education at the federal level creating the Curriculum of National Education (CNU). They would be partly controlled by devolved governments and their respective ministers of education to allow more local decisions about education to take place, but they would be overseen by the CNU at regular intervals. To uphold strict requirements about teaching standards, the regulator would also run through the CNU at a federal level. The New Education Act 2457 would pass after months of debate on 3 January 2457 with 403-127, with some of the anti-welfare liberals voting for the bill. The CNU was very criticised immediately by many. A lot of those supporting the bill approved of a federal education committee, but disliked many of the establishment people in charge of the new CNU and their daft proposals, and wanted some regulation. An amendment would be passed to the Education Act which would allow a committee in the house to sack the head of the CNU if they disapproved of them. The regular budget was pretty ordinary and saw no major changes in spending and passed 330–200.

Scandalous end of 2457

The end of 2457 would see several scandals and issues for the incumbent government. Following the budget in June, a key adviser to the president Richelieu would resign in disgrace after it was revealed in a tabloid that he engaged in multiple sexual acts with other women behind his wife's back. This came after rumours in the tabloids of a different MP possibly having an affair. Many labelled Richelieu's advisers as 'unloyal in relationships, and unloyal to the country' and the right span it as going against religious values. Richelieu had managed to sweep it under the rug by the end of the month due to other pressing issues. On 29 June 2457, a terrorist attack took place in Rosetta, Empherias, injuring three. A group known as the Rose Valeria took responsibility for the act, citing that the government in Wynnoa had accepted total submission too easily and that the 'fascists in Esperiy control the hard-working Empheri too hard'. The attack was relatively harmless with bombs destroying an empty building, with those injuries being injured by the rubble. A lot of people weren't really intimidated, but some in Rosetta did fear and asked for a government response. The Rosetta Police would arrest two suspected terrorists but gave them just 6 months in prison for negligence. Then, on 5 July 2457, a terrorist attack took place in Barberos, Peryzium, killing five men and two women, in a banking institute. The attack destroyed the top floor of the building and shocked the government. President Richelieu made a statement on 6 July 2457 denouncing these terrorists and committed to placing an executive order that day to introduce stricter policing temporarily to root out these attacks. The group claiming responsibility for this attack were the Rose Valeria's sister organisation the Eagle Valeria. Richelieu held a public memorial in Peryzium on 8 July 2457 for the victims. The government of Peryzium devoted itself to rooting out the causes of these attacks, and the government of Empherias announced it would increase security after they had a similar bombing.

The next few months were relatively calm until two more terrorist attacks took place in September 2457. The first was on 10 September 2457 and attacked a street in Esperiy, killing three Ahitereiran men, while the second was on 17 September 2457 and targeted a Peryzi MP in the Peryzi town of Bistramos, who died in the attacks alongside two other men. These were met by harsh words from the president, ramped up security from the Peryzium government, memorials to the fallen MP, and a proposal to give security to individual MPs which passed in Peryzium for the next five years. Attacks calmed down slightly, and many public arrests were made in the next few months.

On 16 October 2457, the Education Committee in the House of Representatives voted to sack the boss of the CNU in a majority vote after reviewing his curriculum choices and education reform, and voted to replace with him with one of his colleagues. As the original appointee was an ally of Richelieu and very establishment, this damaged the government's credibility and polling of the president.

2458 budget

Work on the 2458 budget began in January 2458 and would see primarily more budget to the military, policing, and security, and the introduction of a joint policing act to give more powers to anti-terrorist organisations. The welfare caucus would also attempt to pass the minimum wage act previously introduced in 2454. The Federal Minimum Wage Act 2458 would be introduced in February 2458 ahead of the budget and would pass at a wage of $0.80 per hour. The budget itself would pass 318–212, with twelve Liberal defections. The election campaign for the 2458 elections would begin for the election in November 2458 and the Liberals needed to prove their record was working and commissioned studies to be done on the progress of the welfare bills on the effect of people.

Karkuss Oil Crisis

See also: Karkuss Oil Crisis

On 15 May 2458, Karkuss would invade oil fields that had been claimed and occupied by Fazar since the Great War in the 2410s. This posed a massive political problem for the High Kingdoms of Alaxia and the first test of the strength of the union. President Richelieu immediately issued a statement on 16 May 2458 alongside the Premier Marlene condemning the invasion. However, on 18 May 2458, the Prime Minister of Empherias Sofia Hopkins issued a statement of congratulations to Karkuss for reclaiming their rightful land. Karkuss had been a long time ally of Empherias, while Fazar was unknown and untrustworthy, while to the rest of the HKA, they wanted to maintain a coordial relationship with Fazar.

As Ceironia, Fazar, and Azyeri began mobilising in their responses to the event, the House of Representatives would debate the crisis. On 17 August, during a debate on the possibility of sending the Army of the HKA into Karkuss' eastern territories through Empherias, the pro-Fazarian rhetoric had pushed the Shadow Premier Isabella King to walk out of the parliament and was followed by the other 61 members of the PSP of Empherias. With the majority of the opposition out of parliament, the day was suspended. Tabloids pushed the narrative that the HKA was on the brink of war with Karkuss, and polling suggested that the majority of the population was anti-war with Karkuss. After the walk out, many assumed that the PSP would return to co-operation, however this was not the case. On 20 August 2458 ordered the Liberal Party to reconsider it's position on the war to neutrality or risk the government. Marlene, in command of Richelieu wanting to be pro-Fazar and maintain their military alliance, refused. On 22 August 2458, The Red Bloq officially cut ties with the government and withdrew it's confidence in the Premier. A vote of no confidence in the Premier was held on 28 August 2458. Wanting to punish the pro-welfare liberals, the anti-welfare liberals voted no confidence alongside the Crimson Coalition. The results were 182-348 in favour of the government, and therefore the House of Representatives voted no confidence. The premier was ousted with immediate effect, leaving the position of premier vacant from 28 August 2458. With no proper government in place, President Richelieu was given temporary powers and appointed caretaker MPs to run specific departments very quickly, and declared that the HKA foreign policy and military was still on standby and political insecurities did not weaken the country.

With elections in November 2458 anyway, a government returning wasn't a huge priority, but Marlene did argue, trying to appeal to conservatives and anti-welfare liberals, that restoring her as premier in a large crisis for best for stability. This call went largely unnoticed and for the rest of August, the government are trying to figure out a way of restoring any sort of stability in government. The government is paralysed for the time being. In the devolved governments, Sofia Hopkins had denounced the federal government in July for being so pro-war and declared that if the Army tried to invade Karkuss through Empherias, the Empheri government would intervene and prevent it. Whether she actually had the power to do this was unknown. On 31 August, fearing that Hopkins had orchestrated the government collapse to make the HKA more unstable and for being so anti-war, the Richelieu placed Sofia Hopkins on a watchdog list and began to spy on her moves. On 1 September 2458, a representative from the Liberal Party asked the Supreme Court of the High Kingdoms to interfere and declare whether Hopkins had the right to unilaterally stop the army from going through Empherias. The case was to be examined on 18 November 2458 unless something urgent occurred. On 3 September 2458, the Supreme Court was also petitioned by a Kiavalari representative to review if the Red Bloq constituted being a terrorist group similar to the Valeria's for weakening HKA security. The case was thrown out on 2 November 2458.

On 20 September 2458, the HKA navy began to mobilise as tensions ramped up in the crisis. The navy moved to the Karkuss coast. The Karkuss army was not on the border with the HKA, but several kilometres back to try and de-escalate and not promote a full land war, which it would certainly lose, and the HKA army only had a few numbers of men in Empherias itself, in pre-established military bases, with the core of the army stationed in southern Koresa. The HKA army had followed Hopkins' orders not to move into Empherias. The Supreme Court was once again petitioned on 22 September 2458 whether the HKA army had the authority to override devolved governance on troop placements, and whether Hopkins' refusal to allow them access was illegal. Richelieu held crisis talks with Hopkins over the week of 20–27 September, hoping to come to a resolution. The Supreme Court would view this case alongside the 1 September 2458 application on 18 November 2458.

On 27 September 2458, the entire Imperial 2nd fleet of Karkuss was destroyed by Ceironian missiles. On 28 September 2458, Sofia Hopkins announced a statement sending their best wishes to the families of those who died, in the thousands. Hopkins made a speech the day after in which she condemned war in all forms and felt horrific for the ones who died and their loved ones. Karkuss killed zero men on any side. On 1 October 2458, the Ceironian government offered the Karkuss government to admit their defeat and surrender to Fazar. The nearest country was the HKA, and to show the rest of the HKA how committed to peace she was, Hopkins suggested Empherias as a place for sides to meet to discuss peace terms. They would meet in Gateshaven on 1 October 2458 through to 3 October 2458, although negotiations quickly fell through. A second round of negotiations in the city ensured a temporary ceasefire was made on 20 November 2458.

During the major fighting in September, the Liberals would try and elect a new premier before the dissolution of parliament on 3 October 2458. Bentare Jonan, representative for Lagoacita, and runner-up in the Liberal primary, was considered for the role of Premier. He was anti-welfare, but said he would respect all of the currently passed legislation. He was pro-war and pro-intervention and would work with Richelieu. His vote to become premier was held on 30 September and he lost by 4 votes, 263-267, and thus no premier was selected. A final bid on 2 October would see Herteu Vitoria of Aurĩzrio attempt to be made premier in a caretaker capacity. He was currently serving as the Head of the Defence Committee, was only barely anti-welfare and did not reveal his stance on passed legislation, stating that he would leave it until the election campaign. He would reach 267-263 votes, and was elected the 3rd Premier of the House of Representatives.

2458 legislative election

Main article: 2458 High Kingdoms legislative election

Prior to the ceasefire announced on 20 November 2458, the legislative election would take place on 14 November 2458. This election would be very messy and have wild campaigning. The centre of the Red Bloq campaign centred on the fact that they were the reasons why the country now had unilateral access to minimum wage, higher education standards (although criticising the Liberal led approach), and a national healthcare system now in place for over a year. They would take a lot of the credit for this. They also pitched themselves as anti-war, hoping to urge the government to cease action in Karkuss. This would hit very hard in Peryzium where standards were improving, and also the other countries. Kiavalar had a weird political situation where Janvariye was very unpopular and the JCPK soared, however they were anti-welfare too and wanted less federal intervention. Other parties in Kiavalar were expected to do well and cut into the JCPK gains, especially Seruiye and Cyn Serilin. Nationalist parties gained popularity helped by the rise of the Valeria's. The terrorist attacks allowed the nationalist groups to receive high levels of scrutiny but nationalism was beginning to be more popular, especially in Empherias. In Empherias, the popularity of Hopkins was at an all time high, and the nationalists were expected to overtake the Liberal party in performance in the upcoming elections. Other anti-war alternatives such as Alliance and Greens are also expected to do well. In Ahitereira and Koresa, anti-welfare conservatives are expected to try and do well against the incumbent government, but Richelieu was still liked and many enjoyed the pro-welfare reforms made by the Liberals. In some poor areas, the liberals did very well, while in traditional liberal seats conservatives did better proposing the new welfare bills as a waste of money. In Ahitereira, the anti-war sentiment was not as large, and many backed the war. This was an incredibly important election. The results would be the basis for the electoral college going into the 2459 presidential elections and could determine who the two parties were going head to head.

The results saw the governing coalition collapse in support going from 268 to 195 seats, a loss of 73 seats. The Crimson Coalition rose from 141 to 199, an increase of 58 seats. The premier, Herteu Vitoria, who had been elected in October 2458 on the eve of the election, sought re-election to the post but required 266 seats for confirmation. After trying to obscure his true opinions during the election campaign, the results showed an abysmal defeat for the party and Vitoria had to focus on negotiating a coalition before January. He believed that he could form a coalition with the anti-welfare people he sympathised with such as the Naval Coalition of the Conservative and Bokanist parties, and the JCPK. He came out very in favour of anti-welfare, although stated he wouldn't repeal any bills. The JCPK was dissuaded by this and the fact they'd be required to coalition with rivals Janvariye Jin, and withdrew support soon before the election. Vitoria wanted to hold the vote regardless on 1 January 2459 despite theoretically not having the votes, needing 71 for a majority and only guaranteeing 60 from the conservatives. Vitoria lost the vote 211–319, with 44 pro-welfare LAK members voting against in rebellion. The Red Bloq then decided to hold the vote to elect the Leader of the People's Socialist Party of Empherias, the largest party in the Crimson Coalition, to become Premier. They held negotiations with the Liberal parties to ensure their support, needing 67 representatives. Even if a quarter of LAK representatives supported the pro-welfare government, they'd be elected. The vote was held on 8 January 2024 after a week of vacancy, and Isabella King was elected 336–194 to become the new premier. She formed a government consisting of the liberal parties of Empherias and Peryzium (19 combined) as well as 92 out of the 126 LAK representatives. 34 anti-welfare liberals did rebel against the LAK and formed their own opposition caucus known as the Anti-welfare Golden Coalition alongside the Janvariye Jin. This held 65 total seats, ahead of the combined conservatives by 5 seats. The Pink Daphnes and Feriliye Jin were not included in government discussions, but did stay together as a bloc after exiting. The remaining liberal representatives in government were known as the 'government golden coalition'.

With Isabella King elected premier, the first ever Red Bloq in the role, she would set out her agenda beginning in February 2459. She hadn't actually expected to be elected and so held several meetings with Prime Minister of Empherias Sofia Hopkins, several former prime ministers of Empherias such as Elizabeth Rose and Alice Rettels, and key members of her party. The left had been very vague about their policies going forward because they were worried that quickly passing socialist policies could scare and anger many into forming a united conservative front, which could destroy the left in any presidential or future election.

Their 2459 budget, the very first all-socialist budget, aimed to increase funding for universal healthcare significantly. There wasn't much specifically passed in this budget with a lot of the government working through departments to boost existing welfare departments behind the scenes. The budget passed on 31 March 2459 with 345-174 with 11 abstentions after amendments made by Durbanar Jin and Alliance.

On 7 September 2459, the Education Committee in the House of Representatives voted to expel Etuarto Çoto, the boss of the CNU, in a majority vote, replacing him with a more left-leaning person. Their hope was that the curriculum could be heavily revised to promote better learning from younger ages, with a more progressive testing system, and newer theories. This move garnered a lot of backlash however as it was seen by many that the previous CNU head had done nothing wrong. Etuarto Çoto would be prominent in a lot of right-learning press and would become outspoken against what he coined the 'socialist education agenda'. This ensured he would not get rehired though, but Çoto called for the suspension of the Education Committee - which did not happen.

The Supreme Court were to hear on 18 November 2458 the case regarding the legality of Sofia Hopkins' decision to suspend the ability of the HKA army to enter the territory of Empherias during the Karkuss Oil Crisis. During such move, the HKA army did respect the prime minister's wishes and did not enter the country beyond the units already deployed there before 1 May 2458. President Richelieu herself intervened and suggested the court delay proceedings until 2 December 2458 due to negotiations. The ceasefire of the conflict was signed on 20 November 2458, and as such the HKA army was never required to move or attack during an offensive into Karkuss. The constitution itself was very vague on the matters of the military and it while the army was entirely federal, it was unclear whether devolved governments had the power to prevent access through their borders. Ultimately, the Supreme Court cleared Sofia Hopkins and the socialist government of all wrongdoing, although it would clear up the confusion that anybody would have surrounding the constitution. The judgement was delivered on 6 December 2458. The judgement of the case Vevona Ŗeikare AMP v Sofia Hopkins EMP (2458) set a precedent that a devolved government could lawfully issue their opinion that federal bodies such as the Army should not act within their borders and would have the ability to deny them this access unless the federal government explicitly passed in law that devolved governments could not overrule these bodies or unless there was emergency powers granted to federal departments by order of the President to seize the power of devolved governments to stop them. While not stated in the trial explicitly, the expectation was that while Hopkins did have the power to stop the army from entering Empherias, the President did have the powers to enact emergency powers, or the House of Representatives have the ability to pass a law, to ignore Hopkins' decision.

2459 presidential election and Liberal primary

Main article: 2459 High Kingdoms presidential election

The presidential election would be held on 13 November 2459 and Richelieu was retiring after her second term. Therefore, a Liberal primary would choose a successor. The main decision for many prominent Liberal elite was whether to endorse a pro-welfare or anti-welfare candidate. Several high profile Richelieu pro-welfare advisers stood but many did not resonate enough. Kian Tyrpitz, an anti-welfare liberal, was chosen by elite due to his outspoken nature. He argued that the pro-welfare Liberals had given up the premiership and control of the House of Representatives to the socialists, and the only way for the liberals to win back power was by making coalitions with the anti-welfare right wing. He tried still to win back pro-welfare liberals by positioning himself as a classic anti-interventionist liberal, even promising not to start any war. He received a lot of backlash by party members who were mainly pro-welfare, and his opinion polling dropped significantly, and he failed to win over anti-war people who still rallied behind the left wing parties. The election would become a pro-welfare versus anti-welfare vote, with Tyrpitz being relatively anti-welfare preferring classic anti-interventionist liberalism and being Kiavalari where they dislike government handouts. Many Ahitereiran and Koresan liberals disliked this approach however and vowed to vote for the pro-welfare Red Bloq candidate.

The endorsement stage saw the Liberal party receive 456 electoral votes and the Red Bloq receive 293 electoral votes. In a shocking twist, the Pink Daphnes endorsed the Red Bloq pro-welfare candidate. A socialist primary elected Lily Lovedie as their candidate for president. There were protests about Tyrpitz' candidacy and many liberals wanted a different candidate chosen by the people. The election saw Tyrpitz win 50.09% of the vote against Lovediee's 49.91%, the closest margin ever (of just 300,000 votes). Interestingly, around 60% of registered Ahitereiran liberal members voted for the PSP, and over three quarters of registered Empheri liberal members voted for the PSP too. Tyrpitz would be sworn into office on 1 January 2460.

Nationalist period (2459–2469)

Tyrpitz's presidency

The immediate aftermath in the election saw some major polarisation. Those who supported the anti-welfare liberals had now elected by popular vote a president who was anti-welfare, but didn't have control over the House of Representatives who had pro-welfare parties with an overall large majority. On the other hand, the pro-welfare liberals who overwhelming supported the left in areas like Ahitereira, Peryzium, and Empherias, and had lost their nominations to a Kiavalari anti-welfare liberal. There were some calls then for the Liberals of Ahitereira and Koresa to completely separate their associates from Janvariye Jin. The very slim margin also highlighted how on the edge Tyrpitz's position was. Polling had seen pro-welfare policies become more and more popular and the trend was only going to increase.

2460 budget

Isabella King wanted to achieve some great things before the next elections in late 2461 to boost the pro-welfare camp in the House of Representatives and embarrass the president. She had set out plans to have her major policy commitments in the 2461 budget just before elections to show the population the effort put in, but wanted to use the 2460 budget to again develop the economy slowly and make sure public services were being run efficiently. The Conservatives of course would use this to attack King for her complacency and tried to vote on amendments to block pro-welfare policies to no avail. The budget passed once again on 31 March 2460 with 345–174 with 11 abstentions.

On 18 June 2460, the Liberal Party of Ahitereira and Koresa made a shocking move. The party council had voted to expel all anti-welfare members, including sitting representatives, from the party. These remaining anti-welfare liberals would sit as independents, although sometimes known as the AWL (anti-welfare liberals), while the LAK leadership asserted that they would run new representatives in these seats. This was huge for the party who finally adopted a specifically pro-welfare stance. However, many anti-welfare liberals would leave the party in droves and join either the AWL or the Conservative parties. The President, Tyrpitz, having also been expelled, sat as a Janvariye Jin president similar to his predecessor Richelieu.

During the latter half of the year, nationalism grew again in popularity reaching higher approval rating. They attracted people from both sides of the argument: pro-welfare and anti-welfare. Pro-welfare nationalists wanted nationalism and powers to local devolved governments or independence to allow devolved governments to control these services by giving them more budget or better management, while anti-welfare nationalism believed that taking back control of a lot of vital services could give devolved governments the power to scrap them. A majority in general were for preservation of culture and anti-Exteras language learning which attracted a lot of people but mainly conservatives. Prominent nationalist politicians rose up in the ranks.

In 2460, the House of Representatives voted to lower tariffs and taxes to attract the headquarters of foreign companies to move to the HKA, alongside subsidiaries and new business ventures. This was proposed by the Liberals, but the Red Bloq wanted to push for higher investment alongside public service growth. Immigration was also advised to growth the economy and population, and a crisis visa was issued to refugees of nuclear war. The Arctic colony, later Illuaq, was invested in greatly during 2460–2461 with the help of better technology.

2461 budget

The government wanted to have this budget be superb and springboard the 2461 election campaign for the left wing parties. In February 2461, the Red Bloq and Liberals announced a semi-electoral pact where they would stand down for each other in some marginal constituencies. It was also announced by the ministry of statistics that welfare policies introduced had been hugely effective in relieving poverty for some families, increasing life expectancy, and helping the growth of the economy. She anticipated somewhat the nationalist uptick, and proposed the separation of the healthcare into 5 devolved segments, which would be in the new amendment for the budget. The budget would also see a minimum wage increase by almost double, a reduction in university tuition fees, and new federally-enforced benefits introduced. They also had a provision on new workers rights and enshrining the rights of trade unions in the constitution, although this specifically would need to see a constitutional amendment passed by 2/3 of the chamber and the president. The budget passed on 31 March 2461 with 356–174, supported surprisingly by the nationalists. The trade union constitutional amendment needed 354 votes in the House of Representatives to pass, which the budget had by a slim margin. However, the nationalists abstained, bringing the vote to 345–174, failing to pass the vote. The President, Tyrpitz, did announce that he would have vetoed the amendment regardless.

2461 legislative election

The 2461 legislative election was held on 10 November 2461. Polling had nationalist parties doing very well at the expense of all parties, but particularly conservatives. Liberals would lose a lot of their anti-welfare base to the Conservatives and other right-wing parties although the anti-welfare base as a whole shrunk significantly. The Socialists would do well as the incumbent and their policies had been both popular and successful. However, liberals would gain back iffy on the fence pro-welfare people. The electoral pact in marginal constituencies between the Liberals and the Socialists would also help them do quite well. In Kiavalar, the Janvariye wouldn't suffer as much as before not being incumbents although they were going through a wave of being disliked. Some left wing parties there would fall slightly as they endorsed the government in many votes.

The results were very shocking and divisive and would lead to some serious reforms for the democratic process. The incumbent Crimson Coalition gained two seats despite a swing of –0.61, while the Golden Coalition gained forty-four seats, the largest gain of a coalition in a single election in history, despite a swing of –1.07. This was primarily the fault of split votes amongst conservatives and nationalists. In many places in Ahitereira and Koresa, the Conservatives and BVP split the vote between them, so despite having a larger base and perhaps the Liberals losing votes, the constituency would be gained by the left. Nationalist parties also failed to make a huge dent this year primarily because they gained enough votes to funnel away votes from right-wing alternatives but not enough to win that many seats outright. The Nationalists won 20 seats, an increase of 9 from the previous election, with just 2 of these seats being outside of Empherias. The National Party of Ahitereira and Koresa in particular were the ones to gain these two seats despite rising from 700,000 total votes in 2458 to over 6 million in this election, an increase of 757%. The Nationalist party were quick to call this result out. All conservative parties and BVP combined totalled just 10 seats, putting them behind the Nationalists and Pink Daphne group as they lost five-sixths (50) of their seats.

The Crimson Coalition had 201 seats, short 65 for a majority, and once again reformed the Crimson–Golden alliance from the previous election adding in their 189 seats. Isabella King was renominated to be premier of the House of Representatives despite the Red Bloq of Peryzium getting more seats than the People's Socialist Party, and she was confirmed as premier in a vote 390–140 on 1 January 2461. The Liberals were very keen to try and placate the Nationalist vote despite them only holding twenty seats in the chamber. The worry for many Ahitereiran and Koresan representatives was that nationalism would rise in popularity as a trend and ultimately begin winning more and more liberal seats as they overcome issues of vote splitting. By placating the nationalists, they wouldn't be able to target the government as heavily. Therefore, one of the main agendas going into the 2461–2464 session would be nationalist and democratic reforms aimed at satiating those in nationalist parties.

In March 2461, during budget negotiations, the Bokanist Values Party decided to change their policy stance on welfare to vote with the government, stating that it did not want to overturn existing laws and put those who benefitted from it in potential danger. One representative stated that the system was too integrated now and would cost more than it was worth to undo it. However, they did say they wanted to put in place significance reforms to the current system such as devolution. Many believed that the BVP did this change because:

1. As they appealed to devolution and a more localised version of the federal healthcare system, they could try and sway nationalist voters on both sides of the aisle politically to their side and regain marginal seats.
2. They believed that the issue would most likely swing in favour of the healthcare systems staying in place, owing to the liberals still being quite popular in many places, and polling supporting the increasing approval of the pro-welfare policies. Diverting to supporting the issue now may hurt them short-term, but they have just five seats anyway, and they would be in a better place long-term having supported a popular policy for longer than other right-wing parties for example.
3. It fit with their other manifesto pledges of appealing to the working class vote with their charitable interests to support some pro-welfare policies, although they can remain critical of how they are ran.
4. It would create a wedge issue for why right-wing voters would vote BVP over Conservative, and it would create a valid reason for the BVP not to go into a proper electoral pact with the Conservatives, which they already didn't want to do because of their party leadership not being very friendly.

Not much changed with the budget however apart from some vague administrative reforms to federal services, and extra funding to the military as requested and scientific investment. The budget vote was held on 30 March 2461 and passed 445–85 , with the government, the BVP, Cyn Serilin, Durbanar Jin, the Alliance party, Feriliye Jin, the Pink Daphnes, and Green party voting in favour; and the other conservatives, nationalists, JCPK, and Janvariye Jin voting against.

Democratic reform agenda and 2462 budget

On 1 June 2461, premier Isabella King would hold a speech in which she laid out her plan for her Democratic Reform Agenda (DRA). The first act of this plan was to increase the powers of the provinces established in the constitution to be fully functional based on the Ahitereiran model of province-power. The Provincial Government and Powers Act 2461 would pass on 8 October 2461 with votes 441–89. As an amendment to the constitution, it crossed the 356 threshold of seats and was passed into law by President Tyrpitz on 13 October 2461. This act did not state how any government would be elected or how the power procedure would go, but it would give existing councils extra powers. For example, the Wynnoa Assembly in Empherias which already had jurisdiction over the entire province of the same name would receive the new powers set by the federal government with their mayor becoming the new Governor of Wynnoa, but for other provinces where this was not the case, nothing would happen immediately. New powers would transfer on 1 November 2461.

On 30 October 2461, the government of Kiavalar launched a supreme court case to challenge the federal decision. The supreme court did not issue a ruling on the condition that the government would issue an amendment to the act granting some Kiavalari provinces a delay in implementing the new powers. Through loopholes, this allowed a certain few Kiavalari provinces, where governance with various internal kingdoms made provinces too powerful, to indefinitely delay the implementation of these powers forever.

The next part of this agenda was the Establishment for the Provinces a new Governorship and Assembly Act 2462 which would pass on 18 March 2462 with votes 423–107. This would provide the provinces with new identical governmental structures. It would apply to all provinces, although specifically for those provinces who did not receive new powers under the loophole, this new government would be elected but receive zero actual power with it all being ceremonial. The act specified that every province, alongside Esperiy, the Aether islands, and the island of Etherevar, would all receive a governor - a sort of head of state of each province - totalling 78 in all. They would be directly elected although through a run-off system similar to the President, where only two candidates run in the final elections. The act would also establish an elected chamber consisting of 50 elected representatives known as a State Assembly, elected using MMP (through 50% constituencies with FPTP, and 50% proportional representation). The constituencies of the State Assembly were not the same as those used in the House of Representatives, and would be drawn by an independent body with the ability to be challenged by the High Court if it showed political biases.

The budget vote was held on 29 March 2462 and passed 445–85 with the same vote as previous. The budget didn't include any specific thing but did commit $6 billion to regeneration in certain poverty stricken deprived areas as decided by the provinces they are allocated to. The budget also included an increase to federal minimum wage by the inflation rate of the last few years.

The next piece would be to introduce by-elections for vacant seats in the House of Representatives. The Creation of Special Elections Act 2462 would pass 410–120 on 15 June 2462. Up until this point, if there was a vacancy in the house or a member was suspended, the party leadership of their party would replace that representative with somebody else, or in the case of independents (which never happened), a neutral MP would be chosen by the premier and approved of by 2/3rd of the House of Representatives. The new rules would be that if a suspension of over 21 days was given to a representative, or they resign or die in office, their seat would become vacant and a by-election would be called in that constituency as soon as possible to elect a new member. This would for the first time, alongside governor races, give the incumbent government mid-terms of some degree. The act would be in effect from 1 July 2462.

The first elections to the provinces state assemblies and governorships would take place in November 2462, two years before the legislative and presidential elections were to take place in late 2464. Governorship and State Assembly elections would take place every four years, with the next taking place in November 2466.

2462 gubernatorial elections and by-elections

Main articles: 2462 Arkegyll by-election, 2462 High Kingdoms gubernatorial elections, and 2463 High Kingdoms February by-elections

The first test of the new democratic reforms were after a long-term People's Socialist Party Zack Sutts, representative for Arkegyll, passed away after a long illness on 23 October 2462. A by-election was scheduled alongside the gubernatorial elections all held on 9 November 2462. The by-election saw the Conservative party win, increasing the Tories in the House from 10 to 11 seats - and giving the Empheri conservatives their first seat ever. This was because the Nationalist party did not run due to funding issues, and the Liberal party did not run due to deadline and internal issues, allowing the Conservatives to sweep the right wing vote, while the PSP suffered lower turnout and votes going to the Green party candidate instead, who was well liked likely. However, all three candidates win over thirty percent of the vote making it a very tight race.

The gubernatorial elections saw pretty much expected results. Liberals and Socialists won the majority of province governorships with 29 and 23 respectively. The JCPK, Alliance, and BVP all won 5 governors tying for third, a very respectable number for minor parties. Janvariye Jin received 4 governors, the Conservatives and Nationalists received 2 governors, and Pink Daphnes won just the Vitoria province.

During the summer, two more representatives would die in office, both in Ahitereira and both in Inysta. The first was Zalaşar Joa of Zgjõplau who died in a freak accident on 19 December 2462, and the second was Diega Maneli of Gaupé who died of old age on 30 December 2462. Both by-elections were scheduled simultaneously for Thursday 15 February 2463, amid budget discussions. During these by-elections, Gaupé was held by the incumbent Liberals, but Zgjõplau was gained by the King's party, making it the second by-election to be won by a Conservative candidate in less than a year, and in fact the only party to win any by-election apart from an incumbent party.

Superpower period (2489–2504)

2489 presidential election and 2489–2494 presidential term

Electronics

First mobile phones