Presidential Election Won By UPC / Grea Kriopia Ticket, Run-Off Avoided by Southwestern Germany (Ervald)

Facing down two competing tickets (Ellenburg/Cordova and Vor/Andusre) with a confident and proactive campaign, UPC/GK secured 52.5% of the votes on October 11th. The UPC/GK ticket ran on a Zelda-themed platform, centering on Passing the Baton, Tech, and the ongoing Wars. Their opponents, Ellenburg/Cordova and Vor/Andusre won 19.7% and 27.9% of the vote respectively. Ellenburg/Cordova’s platform focused on a frontier platform, a more aggressive Navy, and a combined media ministry. Vor/Andusre’s platform focused on Strengthening Independence, cultural events that are more inclusive, and media that help simplify discussions of complex issues. There were 61 votes cast in total, a slightly lower turnout compared to the last Presidential election where UPC/GK ran unopposed.

Election Reform Squeezes Past Referendum by Sincluda

After months of discussion in the Senate, and passing a narrow public referendum vote, a new Elections Act was made law Sunday, October 20th. The new Elections Act transforms the way elections are conducted in Europeia, most notably by shifting to an “approval voting” system for Senate elections, where voters have no restrictions on the number of candidates they may vote for, and all who receive majority support are elected. It also eliminates Senate size polling, and Senate size is instead determined by the number of candidates elected. The original bill proposing this concept, the Approval Voting Amendment Act, was vetoed by President UPC following a lengthy legislative assessment by then-Attorney General Calvin Coolidge back in June. The concept remained popular enough to remain on the Senate floor, but not without significant debate; the Elections Act only passed by a vote of 3-2 on Tuesday, October 8, where it was then sent to the President’s desk. President UPC sent the bill to referendum “due to the scope of the changes present in [the] act and their focus on elections -- one of our region's key sources of activity.”

The bill remained in referendum debate for four days and was the source of lively activity, including an EBC Op-Ed and debate broadcast. The two most prominent debaters were The Ven. Senator Decacon (Rand), who was the bill’s primary author and heralded the simpler voter experience it would bring, and The Ven. PhDre, who argued it would lead to less competitive elections. The bill came to a vote on Saturday, October 19th, and polls closed the day after, in which it achieved a narrow victory of 19-17. The new Elections Act is already facing reform, as some issues brought up during the debate have led Senator Rand to begin drafting the Run-Off Improvement Act.

Halloween and Zombies Arrive in Europeia by Grea Kriopia

Europeia celebrated Halloween with a variety of events this year coinciding with the annual Z-Day event. From the Ministries of Culture and Gameside, citizens participated in a Halloween costume contest with their spookiest looks as well as a Gameside flag contest challenging Europeians to bring out their best Halloween vexillology. The costume contest saw submissions of cute pumpkin cats, murderous cult-building lambs, re-designed Euro flags, and a particularly scary French flag while the Gameside flag contest featured fun flag re-designs with spiders, bats, and more. Topping all of these celebrations off was a spooky movie night hosted by President UPC on Halloween night watching Ghostbusters!

Celebrations were interrupted by a surprise arrival of the undead, causing President UPC to issue an emergency radio broadcast to the region for Europeia's Z-Day plans. This year, Euro pursued two government-backed groups exterminating zombies and pursuing a cure, although efforts were hampered by a dark cult of zombie followers led by Kuramia! The region fought valiantly before ultimately succumbing to the zombie horde. Event organizer Europeia aka SkyGreen created an achievement badge for all those who participated!

Joint ERN-SPSF Wargames Sharpen Sailors' Skills by Grea Kriopia

Last week, the Europeian Republican Navy (ERN) completed a series of wargames with our friends from the South Pacific Special Forces (SPSF) focused on chasing and move+endorse training. ERN sailors and SPSF troops alike jumped from region to region with one another thanks to the diligent guidance of ERN and SPSF officers, testing their skills in hypothetical games to be put to use on the battlefield in the future. For the ERN, 8 sailors reported in total in a fantastic turnout and training opportunity for our Navy. Thanks to our SPSF for their help in organizing!

More Regions Adopt Asperta by UPC

Europeia recently entered into an agreement with the South Pacific to share the Asperta Recruitment Bot with them. The bot, written by Europeia's Presidential Technology Commission, is now in use in The North Pacific, The League & Concord, 10000 Islands, The Region That Has No Big Banks, and the South Pacific. This comes after the announcement of the retirement of Dot's recruitment features earlier this year, which posed a significant obstacle to recruitment in many regions across NationStates. Asperta was initially only designed to support recruitment in a single region, but a major overhaul of the bot's internals over the summer allowed Europeia to share our technology with other regions. Regions seeking access to this recruitment tech should contact Europeia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sincluda.