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The Consulate of Olympia

June Foreign Update

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Presidential Greetings

Firstly, I wish to extend my warmest regards to all of Olympia’s diplomat allies and partners. The true judge of one’s character is by those who one surrounds themselves with, thus Olympia is in pretty good shape in regards to character. Please allow us to offer you a glimpse into the inner workings of Olympia, as we welcome you to the region founded on the principle of highlighting the best that NationStates offers, not the worst.

Welcome to Olympia.

X PEPE
Founder and President of Olympia

First Constitution Adopted - Originally From Olympia Chronicles

On the 29th of May, Founder Pepe called a Constitutional Convention. It has a democratically elected President and Senate, a fully democratic House and a democratically legitimized Supreme Court. The region's founder will receive a role, too, which is not elected and can not be recalled. There are, however, checks and balances for the founder in the constitution as well. Otherwise it is rather unideological and mainly kept to the very basic functionings of the region. Founder Pepe explained that a "bare bones" constitution would allow for more changes and discussions later in Senate.

While the region was getting ready to vote, CDLand suggested several changes. After him and Founder Pepe worked them through together, the Constitution was adopted and reached seven signatures.

Elections - Originally From Olympia Chronicles

The first regional elections were held from the 2nd of June until the 4th. Although the votes aren't closed yet, with the legally required 48 hours over, we believe it is fair to call the election in all three cases. Undoubtly, America Billiards has won the race for House Speaker. He was the only candidate. Pepe and Arbor Mist won the Presidential election with a clear majority of 90% over Nosma Washington's and Pichtonia's 10%. They should announce their Cabinet in time.

The following Senators were elected, ranked according to their share of votes:

Pichtonia (IND), 11 Votes
Arbor Mist (TRAD), 10 Votes
CDLand (TRAD), 9 Votes
Christopher Habszollern (ORP), 9 Votes
Ervald (IND), 7 Votes

Voter turnout was at 55.5% for all three elections.

Cabinet Formed

Not so long after Pepe became President, he quickly formed a Cabinet with Pichtonia as Chief of Staff which is also considered as the Communications Director, America Billiards as Secretary of Domestic Affairs, and Ervald as Secretary of Foreign Affairs. We thank them for the great progress they have done so far regarding the build up of our reputation aborad and providing entertainment to fellow citizens at home.

Creation of OBC and Growth of Private Media

Since the creation of the Independent Media Center, two Media Organizations and a Daily Newspaper have been created. This has led to a variety of shows, from TwentyUno to news articles and also chronicles like Olympian Chronicles. Both by different authors, talk about different topics with different approaches. The inactivity is something that Independent Media has to face, as they are not supported by the government and therefore, their audience has to search for information in other media corporations if they cannot keep the demand.

The Olympian Broadcasting Corporation is the government's media outlet, it focuses on news from the region. Since its creation on June 11, it has been the house for 4 weekly radio shows. Although, the Director of OBC, Seal99 also develops the corporation into the printed media, with news articles like the "Politics News Alerts" which covers recent events from Olympian Political life.

The importance of news media organizations is clear: To create discussion in the region and to faithfully document the events of Olympia and its citizens.

Districts Introduced - Adapted From OBC Politics New Alerts

"We're going to shake things up and forever change Olympia." was the opening statement from Pepe, the President of Olympia, when he introduced the Olympian Districts. A Project that is still on development, and shall be fully introduced by June 29. But how will it work?

• Jefferson District and Roosevelt District are the names of the first two districts, each will have a leader which will draft a current citizen from Olympia.
• The inaugural leader of every district will be The President and the Vice President. Every district will choose its own first elected leader in an election within the first week of creation (to be confirmed).
• They will have their own legislature, government officials, and systems that will have to create by their own.
• Newer citizens will be randomly assigned to a district, on a rotating basis to ensure each district has an equal number of active citizens.
• But, no citizen can choose their district, as they will have to be traded by their district leader with the other district leader.
• A point system will be introduced to determine which district is the best.

The goal of Olympian Districts is to elect Senate Representatives by these districts. And eventually to have Primaries in Olympia once the region grows. It will be a system that will create chaos in the current Olympian system, but eventually, can create great possibilities for everyone.

Action in the Senate - Adapted From OBC Politics News Alerts

After four days since the motion to vote on the Rules of the Senate was seconded, the voting started and ended today with a 3/5 majority; approving the legislation that contemplates the rules in which the Senate will act upon in future legislations. While The Senate Rules Act is the first legislation passed by the Senate, it's also the first legislation where a Senator had to act as Speaker Pro Tempore in the absence of the Vice President of Olympia.

Senator Ervald Silverblum took the lead of the Senate after waiting four days for the Vice President to open the votes on the rules. Acting as lawful as possible, Senator Silverblum, opened the votes that passed The Senate Rules Act, and now the legislation is on the way to President's office to be signed.

But the action didn't stop there. Senator Silverblum also opened the votes to confirm the nominations to the Supreme Court, that got confirmed with a 3/5 majority win, with only 1 abstained. These actions were supported by his fellow senators in light of the situation. We still need to wait for a formal statement from the Vice President about these events.

The Vice President is not the only one absent: The President filed a Leave of Absence form this past Saturday, and will not return until June 24. Leaving the Executive Branch with only 3 working officers until him or the Vice President Arbor return.

The Debate Chamber of the Senate was presented with a draft for a new legislation: The Judiciary Act, that it's yet to be fully debated and redacted until it can be brought to a vote. In the same debate, a suggestion to start working on a Criminal Code was presented. The current debates have been started by Senator Ervald, which may be appointed Speaker Pro Tempore by the Vice President, as the now working Senate Rules Act dictates. After all, he took the lead in times of need.

Budget Crisis in the House of Reprensetatives

The Federal Budget Report, made by the Vice President to the House of Representatives on June 11, reported a deficit of 67 million dollars that almost caused an imminent shutdown. The deadline to fix the Federal Budget was June 16, the day in which the debt limit of only 12 million dollars was reached. Little participation from the House and the absence of the Speaker made the Vice President heavily criticize the functionality of the House and its officials.

Progressive Representatives recognized the importance of raising taxes to increase the Federal Income a Progressive Member presented a legislation with full numbers and details to increase the taxes and to reduce the Debt Limit. Although Traditionalists members debated on cutting Federal Programs to decrease the Expenses of the Government.

The Leader of the Traditionalist party obstructed the vote in the absence of House Procedure and The Speaker. The bill was passed with an illegal voting that wasn't started by the Speaker. The very next day, the Speaker made a return to the House, the vote was restarted and now the bill has legally passed by 4/6 majority.

Brought to you by the Department of Foreign Affairs

On behalf of the government and our fellow Olympians, we wish you all the best and thank you for your friendship.

Thank you for the update!

[big]July Foreign Update

Forum ~~~ NationStates Page

NOTE FROM THE SECRETARY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Dear readers,

The Department of Foreign Affairs has decided to cooperate with the Olympian Broadcasting Corporation where their media will be used to draft our updates while we organize the articles together and send out the updates. We sincerely hope this partnership will prove beneficial and continue on into the future.

Sincerely, Ervald

CAPITAL July 7th, 2017

Chief of Justice, Space closed the District Elections today exactly at 18:00 ET. He announced the results 5 minutes afterward.
The results didn't have any new surprises as all candidates that registered won their candidature. But the only offices that are currently one hundred percent certain are the 4 Senate Seats of the Districts:

Ervald Silverblum and Cristopher Habszollern, both ran for a re-election which they won for Jefferson District. In the case of Roosevelt, Aremania and Seal99 won the seats for their District.

As OBC previously reported, the real competition will be in the General Election for the Delegacy of the World Assembly, where Cristopher Habszollern from Jefferson District and Pichtonia from Roosevelt District won the District Election for the position, and now they will face each other in the General Election for the opportunity to represent Olympia in the WA of Nation States.

The President faced an easy campaign, because he was the only candidate in Olympia to run for the Presidency.

10 minutes after the District Elections Polls closed, Chief Justice, Space, opened the General Elections registration. Within 20 minutes, Brick Cash registered for the Prime Minister race, CDland for the Senate election race and Seal99 for the Speaker election race. In 2 days, the registration forms will close and the election will begin. And finally we will chose a President, Prime Minister, WAD and the last Senate Seat.

Update after the GE:
Pichto won the WAD position with 80% votes against a 20% for Christopher Habszollern.
The Speakership went to Seal99 being the only member to register for the race.
Brick Cash won as Prime Minister, being the only member to register for the race.
CDland retired from the Senate Seat election. United Vietussia won the last Senate Seat after a run-off with Tristan Page.
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JEFFERSON' AND ROOSEVELT' CONSTITUTIONS EXPLAINED

CAPITAL July 9th, 2017

The Constitutional Conventions of the recently created Districts closed 4 days ago with ratified constitution. But these Constitutions are completely different, even from The Regional Constitution. So how will both districts work?

In the case of Jefferson, the biggest turn is the ceremonial head of the Government. Yes, now Jefferson will have a monarch, called Archduke/Archduchess The responsibilities of the monarch are defined to be:
a.The Archduke/Archduchess will open Parliament with a speech prepared by the Prime Minister.
b.The Archduke/Archduchess will dismiss Parliament after the end of the term of Parliament or if Parliament orders it with a majority vote.
c. The Archduke/Archduchess will give royal assent to every law and Amendment passed by Parliament or a referendum.
And this monarch will be elected from the citizens of Jefferson.
Since the monarch cannot rule, the Prime Minister of Jefferson will take charge of day to day operations in the name of the Archduke. The Prime Minister will be elected by the majority party in the Parliament of Jefferson which only includes 3 seats. Currently, Jefferson does not hold any office for Justices.

Now, In the case of Roosevelt, the Constitution is simple, because it is a mini-representation of the Regional Constitution, with its differences. It's a 3 branch Government, with an Executive, a Legislative and a Judiciary.

The Executive will be led by an Elected Governor, he can appoint Deputies that need to be confirmed by the Legislative.
The Legislative is composed of the General Assembly, an organism in which every member of Roosevelt is a part of, the Governor is the Speaker of the Great Assembly.
The Judiciary is only composed of the District Justice, who will give legal advice to Roosevelt's Members.
But the Chair of the Convention also has a place in the Government, as he will assume Governors' responsibilities in absence cases or resignation/removal of the Governor.

A STATE VISIT; THE HEAD OF STATE OF MERRIDEL IS COMING TO OLYMPIA

CAPITAL July 16th, 2017

Confirmed by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Ervald Silverblum, tomorrow July 17th, the Head of State of Merridel is coming to Olympia for a State Visit. OBC asked the SoFA for a comment on the State Visit: "I believe with this state visit, we will be able to witness the ambitious soul and dynamic communities of both Merridel and Olympia. This is not just a state visit, but the start of an alliance between our two regions filled with friendship that will be known down the road of history

According to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and the World Assembly Delegate, Pichtonia, a treaty will be presented during the State Visit.

But it's not the only diplomatic mission that The President of Olympia is intending for his term, as Secretary of Foreign Affair also commented on the State Visit that the Cabinet is doing to the Region known as Equilism.

"The state visit to Equilism will comprise of exchanging embassies between our two regions and I believe there is potential in the future for Equilism and Olympia to become even closer and possibly, partners." Is what Ervald Silverblum commented regarding that State Visit that is scheduled to occur on July 19th.

THREE BOMBINGS IN THE OLYMPIAN CAPITAL; PRIME MINISTER AND HOMELAND SECURITY YET TO MAKE AN STATEMENT

CAPITAL July 17th, 2017

Olympian Freedom Children's Hospital in flames after the bombing

This is an RP article to be played out on the Town Hall and on the RP Forums

Yesterday, Homeland Security sources confirmed that terrorist threats were rising on the capital. After the report, the Assistant Under Secretary of Homeland Security, Dick Watergate called for a Press Conference. In it, he said "We are well alarm of the threats being vocalized by a terrorist group." and "[...]however this government is confident that talk will not result in harm." Lasts words of the Assistant before a bomb in the Olympian Freedom Children's Hospital exploded, a Hospital that is near where the Press Conference was taking place.

Within 10 minutes, two new bombings occurred in CU and Cancer Research Ward. A known group of terrorists, the Axis State Fighters claimed on their twitter page to be the main responsibles of the terrorist's attacks, although there hasn't been an official word from the Prime Minister nor the Homeland Security Secretary on the investigation.

The number of deaths goes up to 32 and 100 injuries confirmed by now, although local authorities are still counting the numbers while transferring patients and survivors to other hospitals.

Olympian Capital Mayor issued the State of Emergency, and City Wide Curfew until further notice

SUPPLEMENTAL DRAFT SHAKES UP THE DISTRICTS AND SPARKS CONTROVERSY IN THE COURTS

CAPITAL July 21st, 2017

Olympia recently held the first shake up of its districts with the first Supplemental Draft. At random selection, one random citizen from each District was drafted to be placed in the other District. Pepe, the President of Olympia, was drafted, moving from Jefferson to Roosevelt. Making the transition from Roosevelt to Jefferson was OBC Director and Senator Seal99.

Along with the draft picks, the districts mutually agreed to a trade, sending Senator Ervald to Roosevelt and World Assembly Delegate Pichtonia to Jefferson.

The draft sparked a court case regarding whether the government had a right to terminate district Senatorial terms as a result of a supplemental draft. A decision is expected in the coming days after the Supreme Court finishes collecting legal opinions from the public.

WHAT IS HAPPENING AT THE CAPITOL?

CAPITOL July 22nd, 2017

The Senate of Olympia will end its 2nd Term in less than 20 days, but there have are a lot of unfinished bills yet to pass since the First Term. The Judiciary Act is one of the most debated Bills in the Senate, but its writing is going slow with only 3 Parts written so far and many mistakes yet to correct. The Penal Code, another piece of legislation, has been on recess for days now without any ongoing debate.

Besides, the Senate still has 2 more bills to debate, plus a Request to amend the Judiciary Branch on the Town Hall. But it's not the only House being slow, as the House of Representatives was presented two bills regarding Foreign Aid and Citizenship, but the debate in those has been going slow. The main piece of legislation was the Amendment to The House Procedure that pretends to introduce Political Parties and Committees to the functioning of the House.

With less than 10 days for the 3rd Election Registration, our Legislative Branch has to improve the Activity within the Debate Floors if they want to get a re-election.

THE PRESIDENT IN A LEAVE OF ABSENCE; PICHTO APPOINTED AS ACTING PRESIDENT

NATIONAL PALACE July 29th, 2017

The Past 27 of July, The President of Olympia, Pepe, made a farewell address via OBC. He talked about the state of the Region, the growth that it had and the fact that he will not be President next month. He made several comments regarding the next election and talked about what the next President of Olympia should consider.

At the end of his address, he appointed Pichtonia, the World Assembly Delegate, as Acting President until the election of a successor. The Election Registration for President starts on 3 days.
2 candidates from Jefferson District have published their Platforms before the Registration even begins.

The State of the Region is in a soft spot since the Activity has decayed considerably. The Citizens can only hope for the next President to put Olympia back on the road of progress.

Brought to you by the Department of Foreign Affairs

On behalf of the government and our fellow Olympians, we wish you all the best and thank you for your friendship.

And thank you for the update!