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Key events by month

I · Novarum (20) Montero puts national service to a vote	II · Montaris (3) Costing Office prices wealth-tax options (15) National service poll at 40 to 39 (19) National service costed at NAX€291 billion (21) National service tied at 41 on the eve of the vote (21) Parties make their closing cases	III · Ventaris (1) Voters reject national service in all 13 Regions (15) Wakara faith joins the Interfaith Council
IV · Floraris	V · Sementis	VI · Marittima
VII · Crescentis	VIII · Estivis	IX · Aureoris
X · Solaris	XI · Messoris	XII · Sylvaris
XIII · Autumus	XIV · Pluvialis (13) Assembly takes up Seydlitz's vacancy plan	XV · Concordia (1) Government accepts Seydlitz's écu amendment

I (Novarum)

20

MONTERO PUTS A YEAR OF NATIONAL SERVICE FOR EVERY CITIZEN TO A BINDING VOTE

• Every Citizen Would Serve One Year Between 18 and 25 in a Military, Civil, or Cultural Corps of Their Choosing
• Conscientious Objectors Stay Out of the Military Corps, and All Service Is Paid Under the Proposal
• Humanists Back the Year of Service Thirty-Two Years After the Assembly Sank Their Two-Year Bill
• Inside the Federal Accord, the Alliance Declares Against While the Civic Governance Alliance Divides
• Rates of Pay, the Start Date, and Enforcement Fall to the Cortes if Yes Wins
• Voting Opens on 22.II.1761 AN and Runs for Seventy-Two Hours

Cárdenas, FCD -- Leader of the Opposition José Manuel Montero has asked the country to decide whether every young citizen should give a year to national service. He filed the question for the Federal Humanist Party with the Federal Elections Commission on 20.I.1761 AN, and voting in the New Alexandrian national service referendum, 1761 opens on 22.II.1761 AN for seventy-two hours. The ballot asks: "Should every citizen of the Federation complete one year of national service between the ages of 18 and 25, in a military, civil, or cultural corps of their choosing?"

Montero's question finds the three partners in the governing Federal Accord without a common line. The Alliance for a Just Nouvelle Alexandrie, which Premier Marcos Ferreira Gonçalves leads, has declared against. Vice-Premier Elena Svensson's Civic Governance Alliance, which allows its members to differ on policy, is divided on the question. The Federal Consensus Party, the Accord's third partner, has yet to set out a position.

Under the terms filed with the question, each citizen chooses a corps: the military corps serves in the Federal Forces, the civil corps in disaster response, care, and reconstruction, and the cultural corps in heritage, languages, and teaching. No citizen is placed in the military corps against their conscience, and a year in either of the other two satisfies the obligation in full. Service is paid. Illness, disability, and caregiving duties exempt a citizen, and students may defer. The Federal Mobilization Register, on which citizens and legal residents aged 18 to 30 must already enroll, would supply the intake.

The ballot carries a single national question, decided by a simple majority of valid votes cast, and it is open to citizens of the Federation under the national electoral system. A Yes majority would make the year binding national policy and leave the Cortes Federales to legislate the details, among them rates of pay, the date service begins, enforcement, and the department responsible. A No majority would keep the all-volunteer Federal Forces and the registration requirement as they are. Conscription is permitted under Article 23 of the Proclamation of Punta Santiago but has never been activated.

While Montero was Premier, the Humanists opposed both questions put to the nation. Voters approved the National Resilience Fund in 1757 AN regardless and turned down premiership term limits in 1758 AN. During the second campaign, Fred Strong, then Vice-Premier, objected to constitutionally consequential questions being initiated by simple majority and called for the Federal Assembly to review the legislative basis for binding referendums. That review was still before the chamber as the 13th Cortes approached the 1759 AN general election.

The Humanists have proposed national service before. In 1726 AN the Federal Humanist government of Paolo Antonio Aguilar put the National Service Act, 1726 before the Federal Assembly. It spanned military, civil, and cultural service and would have required every national to complete two years between the ages of 18 and 40, with severe penalties for evasion. As amended, it would have assigned a conscientious objector who satisfied a court of inquiry to a non-combat role within the Federal Forces. Every opposition party voted against it, and the Assembly defeated it in 1729 AN by 356 votes to 332. The defeat was the most significant legislative success of the Progressive Alliance, an opposition bloc formed around the Democratic Socialists. Gonçalves has led that party since 1753 AN.

In 1745 AN, Premier Juan Pablo Jimenez, then as now one of the Humanists' two Co-Archons, set out a plan to put the unemployed to work and told the Cortes: "My government will undertake a full revamp of national service programs." Montero sat in that cabinet as Secretary of Defense. The program called for mandatory participation in national service by unemployed citizens, and the government introduced the National Service Revitalization Act, 1745. Opposition parties and civil society groups objected to the expansion of national service requirements.

Compared with the 1726 AN bill as amended, the 1761 AN proposal halves the term, lowers the upper age from 40 to 25, and keeps objectors out of the military corps.

---

▸ OOC: Story Summary & Impact Assessment

TL;DR: Leader of the Opposition José Manuel Montero has put a question to the nation for the Federal Humanist Party: should every citizen serve one year between 18 and 25 in a military, civil, or cultural corps of their choosing? The governing parties are split, with the Alliance of Premier Marcos Ferreira Gonçalves against, the Civic Governance Alliance divided, and the Federal Consensus Party yet to declare. Voting in the New Alexandrian national service referendum, 1761 opens on 22.II.1761 AN for seventy-two hours.

Impact: Gov't Approval: 0|Social Cohesion: ▲ +1

II (Montaris)

3

THE COSTING OFFICE PRICES FIVE WAYS TO TAX THE LARGEST FORTUNES AND LEAVES THE CHOICE TO THE CORTES

• Ingrid Halvorsen Lays Three Reports Before the Cortes Three Days Ahead of the 1761 AN Budget
• An Annual Wealth Tax Would Raise Between NAX€165 Billion and NAX€290 Billion a Year Depending on Its Design
• Stronger Estate and Gift Taxes and a Minimum Tax on the Highest Incomes Are Priced as Alternatives
• Valuation Disputes and Departing Wealth Cut Yields, the Office Warns
• A Child Wealth Account Would Cost About NAX€7 Billion in Year One, Rising to NAX€40 Billion at Maturity
• Moving the Land Taxes Onto the Value of Land Could Keep Their Projected NAX€209 Billion Yield

Cárdenas, FCD -- The Federal Budget and Costing Office has priced five ways to tax the Federation's largest fortunes and recommended none of them. Director Ingrid Halvorsen laid three reports before the Cortes Federales on 3.II.1761 AN, meeting the deadline the 1760 budget set for its reports on the wealth tax and the child account: no later than the presentation of the budget for 1761 AN, due on 6.II.

The 1760 AN Act imposed no annual tax on individual wealth. It referred the design and costing of one to the Office, together with a universal child wealth account and a shift of the land taxes toward the value of land. In the Federal Accord's program, the tax was meant to help pay for the account. Like the Federal Budget Office it replaced, which the Federal Budget Control and Accountability Act, 1746 barred from advocating any policy, the Office advocates no position of its own and leaves the choice of policy to the Cortes. "We have priced what the Cortes asked us to price and several things it did not, because a figure with nothing beside it tells the House very little," Halvorsen said.

The first report sets out five options. Two are annual taxes on net wealth. A tiered tax of 1 percent above NAX€50 million, 2 percent above NAX€500 million, and 2.5 percent above NAX€1 billion would raise between NAX€165 billion and NAX€200 billion a year once avoidance is counted. A flat 2 percent above NAX€50 million would raise between NAX€240 billion and NAX€290 billion on the same basis. Both designs descend from the People's Deal wealth tax rejected in 1754 AN, which the Alliance carried, narrowed, into its 1759 AN platform. The report puts its figures at two to five times the estimates published with the People's Deal for the same designs, and says the gap comes from counting a wider base.

The other three options tax wealth in other ways. Adding together the gifts a person makes over a lifetime and closing the trust and holding-company routes would strengthen the estate and gift taxes, which were projected to raise NAX€455 billion in 1760 AN. The changes would add about NAX€30 billion in the first year and between NAX€60 billion and NAX€80 billion once gifts accumulate. A minimum tax on the highest incomes, counting gains as they accrue and taxing gains held at death, would raise between NAX€110 billion and NAX€175 billion. A surcharge on long-vacant homes, a public register of the owners behind companies and trusts, and a tax on gains when a wealthy resident leaves the Federation would together raise between NAX€16 billion and NAX€29 billion.

The report states that annual wealth taxes have lost revenue elsewhere to disputes over valuation and to wealth moving out, and that several jurisdictions that adopted one later repealed it. An annual tax would have to value every kind of asset on the same footing, the report says, because Article 9 of the Proclamation of Punta Santiago requires equality before the law. Owners whose wealth sits in family businesses or land could face bills they cannot pay without selling, the report notes, and Article 16 protects property from deprivation without evident public necessity. A Royal University of Parap assessment of the People's Deal in IX.1752 AN raised the same two doubts, and the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises raised concerns about the burden on family-owned businesses.

Halvorsen's office also priced the child wealth account on the schedule the Treasury asked it to cost: NAX€1,000 at birth and NAX€250 a year to the age of 18, doubled for a child of a lower-income household. About 5.7 million children are born each year. If the account is opened for each new child from 1762 AN, it would cost about NAX€7 billion in its first year, about NAX€2 billion more each year after that, and about NAX€40 billion a year once the first accounts reach the age of 18. Opening accounts for all children under 18 at once, with the annual payments but without the deposit at birth, would bring most of that cost forward to the first year.

On land, the Office finds that moving the idle lands tax and the real estate tax onto the value of land alone can be done without changing their yield, projected at about NAX€209 billion in 1760 AN, while shifting the burden from improved properties onto idle and under-built land.

The Treasury said the Government would set out its choice in the budget on 6.II. When the Federal Accord agreed its opening program a year ago, it undertook that neither the tax nor the account would be voted before the Office reported. "We will not ask the country to trust numbers we have not shown it," Vice-Premier Elena Svensson said then. Leader of the Opposition José Manuel Montero said the program offered "a child's account here, a new tax there" and "not one honest word about where the money is to come from once the emergency borrowing runs out."

---

▸ OOC: Story Summary & Impact Assessment

TL;DR: The Federal Budget and Costing Office laid three reports before the Cortes on 3.II.1761 AN, three days before the budget. It priced five ways to tax the largest fortunes: a tiered or a flat annual wealth tax (NAX€165 billion to NAX€290 billion a year), stronger estate and gift taxes, a minimum tax on the highest incomes, and a package of anti-avoidance measures. It warned that valuation and departing wealth have shrunk annual wealth taxes elsewhere, and noted the limits set by Articles 9 and 16 of the Proclamation. A child wealth account would cost about NAX€7 billion in its first year, and moving the land taxes onto land value need not change their yield. The Office made no recommendation, and the Government will set out its choice in the budget.

Impact: Economy: 0|Gov't Approval: 0

15

A WEEK BEFORE THE VOTE, NATIONAL SERVICE STANDS AT 40 TO 39 WITH ONE VOTER IN FIVE UNDECIDED

• An IOP/NBC Poll Puts Yes at 40 Percent and No at 39, Inside the Margin of Error
• Twenty-One Percent Have Not Decided With Voting Due to Open on 22.II
• Voters Aged 18 to 25, the Age Band the Question Covers, Oppose the Year by 52 Percent to 31
• Svensson Campaigns for Yes and Iñiguez for No After the Council of State Agrees to Differ
• Gonçalves Leads the Alliance Against a Year He Says Should Stay a Choice
• The Consensus Party, Third Partner in the Accord, Has Yet to Declare

Cárdenas, FCD -- A week before polls open, registered voters are split almost evenly on whether every citizen should give a year to national service, an IOP/NBC News poll finds. The survey, conducted 14.II, puts Yes at 40 percent and No at 39, a gap inside its margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points. Twenty-one percent have not decided.

Supporters of the Humanists and the Alliance, the two largest groups in the Assembly, sit on opposite sides. Humanist voters back the question 62 percent to 16, and Alliance voters oppose it 61 percent to 22. Civic Governance voters split 41 to 40, the closest of any party's supporters, while Consensus voters split 37 against to 35 for, with 28 percent undecided. Voters aged 18 to 25, the age band the question covers, oppose it 52 percent to 31. Those aged 65 and over support it 49 to 33.

Asked which corps they would choose if Yes wins, 46 percent named the civil corps, 29 percent the military, and 25 percent the cultural.

The three Federal Accord parties are not campaigning on the same side. The Council of State said in a statement that the government takes no collective position and that each Secretary may argue for either side in their own name, adding that no federal money, staff, or office will be used for either campaign.

Premier Marcos Ferreira Gonçalves, speaking as leader of the Alliance, has urged a No vote. "This question would make it compulsory," he said. "Keep service a choice." He pointed to the roughly 3.5 million volunteers who serve in the Federal Forces, where conscription has never been used. Yuiza Bohi'o, the Secretary for Administrative Coordination and Efficiency, whose Wakara People's Party sits inside the Alliance, is also campaigning for No, warning that a corps run from Cárdenas could send young people wherever a federal office decides. "Let the Regions write it with Cárdenas, not under it," she said in Mayagüez.

The Civic Governance Alliance, which lets its members differ on policy, has two members of the Council of State on opposite sides. Vice-Premier Elena Svensson, the party's Coordinator, is campaigning for Yes, arguing in Beaufort that, after the 1757 Cajamarca micrasquake, a civil corps would train a generation in disaster response. She said she would hold the Cortes to full costing and an annual independent audit. "This is a year of service, not a year of soldiering," she said. Tomás Iñiguez, the Secretary of the Treasury who sponsored the 1760 budget, is campaigning for No, saying the question leaves the rate of pay and the cost of running the corps to the Cortes. "Price it first," he said.

The Federal Humanist Party, whose deputies lodged the question through Leader of the Opposition José Manuel Montero, backs a Yes vote. As filed, the question lets each citizen choose a corps, keeps conscientious objectors out of the military corps, and pays all service. The Federal Consensus Party, the Accord's third partner, has not declared a position.

Nicolás Arreola, the Institute's director, said one voter in five could still decide the result.

Voting opens on 22.II.1761 AN and runs for seventy-two hours. In 1757 AN, the referendum on the National Resilience Fund carried by 51.4 percent to 48.6. If Yes wins, the Cortes must still set pay, a start date, enforcement, and the department in charge. A No vote leaves the all-volunteer Federal Forces and the registration rule untouched.

---

▸ OOC: Story Summary & Impact Assessment

TL;DR: Ahead of the national service referendum, which opens on 22.II, an IOP/NBC News poll conducted 14.II finds Yes at 40 percent, No at 39, and 21 percent undecided, with the gap inside the 2.2-point margin of error. Humanist voters back the question and Alliance voters oppose it, Civic Governance voters split almost evenly, and voters aged 18 to 25 oppose it 52 to 31. The Council of State has agreed to differ. Premier Marcos Ferreira Gonçalves campaigns for No as Alliance leader, Elena Svensson for Yes and Tomás Iñiguez for No inside the Civic Governance Alliance, and the Humanists, who lodged the question, back Yes. The Federal Consensus Party has yet to declare.

Impact: Economy: 0|Political Stability: 0|Gov't Approval: 0|International Relations: 0|Regional Stability: 0

IOP/NBC News Public Opinion Polling

National Service Referendum Voting Intention

NATIONAL SERVICE REFERENDUM VOTING INTENTION
Should every citizen of the Federation complete one year of national service between the ages of 18 and 25, in a military, civil, or cultural corps of their choosing?
% of registered New Alexandrian voters
Margin of error: ±2.2%
Survey conducted 14.II.1761 AN

Response	Percentage in Poll
Yes	40.0%
No	39.0%
Undecided	21.0%

National Service Voting Intention by Group

NATIONAL SERVICE VOTING INTENTION BY GROUP
% of registered New Alexandrian voters in each group
Margin of error: ±2.2% overall; higher within groups
Survey conducted 14.II.1761 AN

Group	Yes	No	Undecided
Federal Humanist Party voters	62%	16%	22%
Alliance for a Just Nouvelle Alexandrie voters	22%	61%	17%
Civic Governance Alliance voters	41%	40%	19%
Federal Consensus Party voters	35%	37%	28%
Independent and other voters	34%	38%	28%
Aged 18 to 25	31%	52%	17%
Aged 65 and over	49%	33%	18%

National Service Corps Preference

NATIONAL SERVICE CORPS PREFERENCE
If Yes wins, which corps would you choose?
% of registered New Alexandrian voters
Margin of error: ±2.2%
Survey conducted 14.II.1761 AN

Corps	Percentage in Poll
Civil corps	46.0%
Military corps	29.0%
Cultural corps	25.0%

19

NATIONAL SERVICE WOULD COST ABOUT NAX€291 BILLION A YEAR, THE COSTING OFFICE ESTIMATES

• The Office Puts the Annual Cost at NAX€224 Billion to NAX€358 Billion, Depending on Pay
• The Central Estimate Equals About 0.6 Percent of Output and 1.4 Percent of Federal Spending
• About 6.75 Million Citizens Would Serve Each Year Once Exemptions Are Counted
• Rates of Pay Are Not Set by the Question and Would Be Decided by the Cortes
• If the Military Corps Drew 29 Percent, About Two Million a Year Would Pass Through the Federal Forces
• Iñiguez and Svensson, on Opposite Sides, Had Both Asked for the Figures

Cárdenas, FCD -- A year of paid national service for every citizen aged 18 to 25 would cost the Federation between NAX€224 billion and NAX€358 billion a year, with a central estimate of about NAX€291 billion, the Federal Budget and Costing Office, led by Director Ingrid Halvorsen, said in a note published three days before voting opens. The central figure is equal to about 0.6 percent of national output and about 1.4 percent of the NAX€21,155.0 billion appropriated for 1760 AN.

The Office estimates that about 7.7 million citizens reach each year of age between 18 and 25, and that about one in eight would be exempt for illness, disability, or caregiving duties. That leaves about 6.75 million serving in any year. Students may defer but would still serve, so deferrals do not lower the yearly total.

The terms announced with the question say service is paid but leave the rate to the Cortes Federales. The Office therefore costed a range, from a stipend of about NAX€23,650 a year to about NAX€37,840, and added 40 percent for training, housing, supervision, and administration. It did not cost the start-up of the three corps.

The note also considered the Federal Forces, which have about 3.5 million volunteers on active duty. If those serving chose as voters did in the 14.II poll, in which 29 percent named the military corps, about two million citizens a year would pass through the Forces. That intake would equal more than half the Forces' present active strength.

Both camps inside the Civic Governance Alliance, a partner in the governing Federal Accord, had asked for the figures. Tomás Iñiguez, the Secretary of the Treasury, has campaigned for No on the ground that the question leaves the cost to the Cortes, while Vice-Premier Elena Svensson, who backs Yes, has said she would hold the Cortes to full costing and an annual independent audit.

Voting opens on 22.II.1761 AN and runs for seventy-two hours.

---

▸ OOC: Story Summary & Impact Assessment

TL;DR: The Federal Budget and Costing Office estimates that a year of paid national service for citizens aged 18 to 25 would cost NAX€224 billion to NAX€358 billion a year, about NAX€291 billion at the center, or roughly 0.6 percent of output and 1.4 percent of federal spending. About 6.75 million citizens would serve each year. Pay is left to the Cortes, which is why the Office costed a range.

Impact: Economy: 0|Political Stability: 0|Gov't Approval: 0|International Relations: 0|Regional Stability: 0

FEDERAL BUDGET AND COSTING OFFICE: NATIONAL SERVICE, ANNUAL COST
About 6.75 million serving each year; running costs of 40 percent added to pay; start-up costs excluded

Estimate	Yearly stipend	Annual cost	Share of output	Share of federal spending
Low	NAX€23,650	NAX€224 billion	0.4%	1.1%
Central	NAX€30,750	NAX€291 billion	0.6%	1.4%
High	NAX€37,840	NAX€358 billion	0.7%	1.7%

21

ON THE EVE OF THE VOTE, NATIONAL SERVICE IS TIED AT 41 PERCENT WITH NEARLY ONE VOTER IN FIVE UNDECIDED

• Yes and No Stand Level at 41 Percent in a Final IOP/NBC Poll, With 18 Percent Undecided
• No Has Gained Two Points Since the 14.II Survey, and the Undecided Share Has Fallen by Three
• Consensus Voters Swing Toward No After Gabaza Declares Against the Question
• Caputian Regions and North Lyrica Lean Yes; Boriquén, Santander, and Valencia Lean No
• Alduria, the Largest Electorate, Is Within the Margin of Error at 38 to 43
• Voting Opens on 22.II and Runs for Seventy-Two Hours

Cárdenas, FCD -- Registered voters are evenly divided on national service on the eve of the referendum, a final IOP/NBC News poll finds. The survey, conducted 19 and 20.II, puts Yes and No at 41 percent each, with 18 percent undecided and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.

The Institute's survey a week earlier had put Yes at 40, No at 39, and the undecided at 21 percent. The largest movement since then is among supporters of the Federal Consensus Party, who split 37 against to 35 for in the first poll. After the party's leader, Francisco Gabaza, declared against the question in a campaign statement, Consensus voters now oppose it 48 percent to 29.

The country divides by Region. Yes leads in the Isles of Caputia, New Caputia, and North Lyrica, the Federal Humanist Party's strongest ground, and in the Wechua Nation by 44 to 38. No leads in nine of the thirteen Regions, among them Boriquén by 53 to 30, Santander by 50 to 34, and Valencia by 47 to 36. In Alduria, the largest electorate, No leads 43 to 38, inside the margin of error.

Voters aged 18 to 25 oppose the question 55 percent to 30, and those aged 65 and over support it 50 to 33.

Nicolás Arreola, the Institute's director, said the outcome would turn on turnout and on the undecided.

Voting opens on 22.II.1761 AN and runs for seventy-two hours. The question is decided by a simple majority of valid votes cast.

---

▸ OOC: Story Summary & Impact Assessment

TL;DR: On the eve of the national service referendum, a final IOP/NBC News poll conducted 19 to 20.II puts Yes and No at 41 percent each, with 18 percent undecided. Consensus voters have moved toward No since Francisco Gabaza declared against the question, Yes leads in the Caputian Regions and North Lyrica, No leads in Boriquén, Santander, and Valencia, and Alduria is within the margin of error.

Impact: Economy: 0|Political Stability: 0|Gov't Approval: 0|International Relations: 0|Regional Stability: 0

IOP/NBC News Public Opinion Polling

National Service Referendum Final Voting Intention

NATIONAL SERVICE REFERENDUM: FINAL VOTING INTENTION
Should every citizen of the Federation complete one year of national service between the ages of 18 and 25, in a military, civil, or cultural corps of their choosing?
% of registered New Alexandrian voters
Margin of error: ±2.2%
Survey conducted 19 to 20.II.1761 AN

Response	Percentage in Poll	Change since 14.II
Yes	41.0%	+1
No	41.0%	+2
Undecided	18.0%	−3

National Service Final Voting Intention by Group

NATIONAL SERVICE FINAL VOTING INTENTION BY GROUP
% of registered New Alexandrian voters in each group
Margin of error: ±2.2% overall; higher within groups
Survey conducted 19 to 20.II.1761 AN

Group	Yes	No	Undecided
Federal Humanist Party voters	64%	15%	21%
Alliance for a Just Nouvelle Alexandrie voters	21%	63%	16%
Civic Governance Alliance voters	42%	41%	17%
Federal Consensus Party voters	29%	48%	23%
Independent and other voters	33%	39%	28%
Aged 18 to 25	30%	55%	15%
Aged 65 and over	50%	33%	17%

National Service Final Voting Intention by Region

NATIONAL SERVICE FINAL VOTING INTENTION BY REGION
% of registered voters in each Region
Margin of error higher within Regions
Survey conducted 19 to 20.II.1761 AN

Region	Yes	No	Undecided
Isles of Caputia	55%	29%	16%
New Caputia	53%	30%	17%
North Lyrica	52%	31%	17%
Wechua Nation	44%	38%	18%
South Lyrica	40%	43%	17%
New Luthoria	38%	44%	18%
Alduria	38%	43%	19%
Oportia	37%	41%	22%
Valencia	36%	47%	17%
Islas de la Libertad	36%	45%	19%
Cárdenas (FCD)	35%	48%	17%
Santander	34%	50%	16%
Boriquén	30%	53%	17%

ON THE EVE OF THE VOTE, THE PARTIES MAKE THEIR CLOSING CASES ON NATIONAL SERVICE

• All Six Parties NBC Invited Made a Closing Case Before the Deadline
• Gonçalves, Gabaza, Laurent and Bohi'o Ask Voters to Vote No
• Svensson Backs Yes, With Full Costing and an Annual Audit as Her Conditions
• Montero Sends No Closing Statement as Fred Strong Makes the Humanists' Case in Beaufort
• NBC Invited Six Parties to Give Voters Up to Three Sentences Before Polls Open
• Polls Open on 22.II.1761 AN and Stay Open for Seventy-Two Hours

Cárdenas, FCD -- On the eve of the national service referendum, NBC News invited the Alliance for a Just Nouvelle Alexandrie, the Civic Governance Alliance, the Federal Consensus Party, the Federal Humanist Party, the Republican Party of Oportia and the Wakara People's Party to make a final case to voters in no more than three sentences. All six made one, though the Federal Humanist Party's came from a surrogate rather than from José Manuel Montero, its de facto leader.

Marcos Ferreira Gonçalves, the President of the Government and leader of the Democratic Socialist Party, answered for the Alliance: "Three and a half million New Alexandrians already serve because they chose to, and that choice is what makes our Federal Forces strong. This question would turn the choice into an obligation for every young citizen, every year. Keep service a choice, and vote No."

Elena Svensson, Coordinator of the Civic Governance Alliance, said: "A year given in service, in a civil corps as much as a military one, would train a generation to answer the next disaster before it reaches their town. My support has always come with conditions: every écu costed before the first cohort is called, and an independent audit every year. Our members vote their conscience on this question, and mine says Yes."

Francisco Gabaza, leader of the Federal Consensus Party, said: "This drastic measure will have a devastating effect on our economy, our youth, and our communities. The armed forces are best served by motivated volunteers who work hard to keep our nation safe. That is why we say NO to this resolution!"

For the Federal Humanist Party, the case fell to a surrogate: Montero, who put the question on the ballot, made no closing statement. Speaking in Beaufort, Fred Strong, a Humanist deputy for North Lyrica and a former Vice-President of the Government, said: "This Federation is the creation of settlers. It was formed across three vast continents through dedication and sacrifice. Let us honour the sacrifices of those who went before us by instantiating the obligation of service."

Sofia Laurent, leader of the Republican Party of Oportia, said: "A free country asks its young people to serve; it does not order them to. This question hands Cárdenas a year of every citizen's life and leaves the bill for the Cortes to write later, and Oportians did not join this Federation to give either away. Vote No, and keep the year yours."

Yuiza Bohi'o, leader of the Wakara People's Party, said: "The Wakara People's Party asks one question of any national plan: who runs it, Cárdenas or the Regions? This one leaves the answer to a federal office that has not been written yet, and our young people deserve more than a blank page. Vote No, and let the Regions write service with Cárdenas, not under it."

Voting opens on 22.II.1761 AN and runs for seventy-two hours. The question is decided by a simple majority of valid votes cast.

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▸ OOC: Story Summary & Impact Assessment

TL;DR: All six parties NBC invited made a closing case on national service: Gonçalves, Gabaza, Laurent and Bohi'o for No, and Svensson and, for the Federal Humanist Party, Fred Strong for Yes. Montero made no statement, leaving the Humanists' case to Strong.

Impact: Economy: 0|Political Stability: 0|Gov't Approval: 0|International Relations: 0|Regional Stability: 0

III (Ventaris)

1

VOTERS REJECT NATIONAL SERVICE IN ALL THIRTEEN REGIONS, 78.0 TO 22.0, DAYS AFTER THE FINAL POLL HAD IT TIED

• No Carries With 108,074,000 Votes to 30,482,000, a Majority Against of 77,592,000
• Days Earlier, the Final IOP/NBC Poll Had Put Yes and No Level at 41 Percent Each
• North Lyrica, New Caputia, and the Isles of Caputia, the Humanists' Strongest Ground, Also Vote No
• Turnout Is 41.5 Percent, Highest in Oportia at 74.9 Percent
• Federal Forces Stay All-Volunteer, and the Federal Mobilization Register Continues Unchanged
• Gonçalves, Bohi'o, Gabaza, Iñiguez, and Laurent Campaigned for No; Svensson and the Humanists Backed Yes

Cárdenas, FCD -- Voters have rejected a year of national service for every citizen between the ages of 18 and 25, by 78.0 percent to 22.0, in the national service referendum that closed on 1.III.1761 AN. Of 138,556,000 valid votes cast on a turnout of 41.5 percent, 30,482,000 were in favor and 108,074,000 against, a majority against of 77,592,000. The question failed in every one of the thirteen Regions, and the result is binding.

The final IOP/NBC News poll, conducted 19 to 20.II, had put Yes and No at 41 percent each, with 18 percent undecided. The Institute's director, Nicolás Arreola, had said the outcome would turn on turnout and on the undecided. In the poll, voters aged 18 to 25, the age band the question covers, had opposed it by 55 percent to 30.

Of the four Regions where the poll had shown Yes ahead, the miss was widest in the Wechua Nation, which the poll had put at 44 to 38 in favor and which voted 76.7 percent to 23.3 against. The other three, North Lyrica, New Caputia, and the Isles of Caputia, are the Humanists' strongest ground. They came closest to approving the question and still rejected it: North Lyrica by 53.2 percent to 46.8, New Caputia by 54.4 to 45.6, and the Isles of Caputia by 58.8 to 41.2.

Boriquén and Valencia, which had returned the two highest Yes shares in both the 1757 AN and 1758 AN referendums, gave this one its two lowest, 8.9 percent and 10.4. Alduria, the Region with the largest electorate, voted 82.0 percent to 18.0 against. Oportia returned the highest turnout in the Federation, 74.9 percent, and rejected the question by 86.8 percent to 13.2.

The Federal Accord did not campaign as one. The Council of State took no collective position and left each Secretary free to argue either side. Premier Marcos Ferreira Gonçalves, as leader of the Alliance, and Yuiza Bohi'o of the Wakara People's Party campaigned for No, as did Tomás Iñiguez of the Civic Governance Alliance, the Secretary of the Treasury. The Federal Consensus Party, the Accord's third partner, declared against the question. "The armed forces are best served by motivated volunteers who work hard to keep our nation safe," Francisco Gabaza, the party's leader, said in his closing case. Sofia Laurent, leader of the Republican Party of Oportia, also asked voters to vote No.

Leader of the Opposition José Manuel Montero filed the question for the Federal Humanist Party, which backed Yes. He made no closing statement, and Fred Strong, a Humanist deputy for North Lyrica, made the party's case. Vice-Premier Elena Svensson, Coordinator of the Civic Governance Alliance, campaigned for Yes, while Iñiguez, her party colleague, argued for No. "Our members vote their conscience on this question, and mine says Yes," she said in her closing case.

The margin was the widest of the three referendums the Federation has held since 1757 AN. The National Resilience Fund carried by 51.4 percent to 48.6 in 1757 AN, and in 1758 AN voters rejected premiership term limits by 64.0 percent to 36.0. The Humanists first put compulsory service before the Federal Assembly in 1726 AN, when the National Service Act, 1726 would have required two years between the ages of 18 and 40. The Assembly defeated it by 356 votes to 332 in 1729 AN.

The Federal Forces remain all-volunteer, and citizens and legal residents aged 18 to 30 continue to enroll on the Federal Mobilization Register.

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▸ OOC: Story Summary & Impact Assessment

TL;DR: By 78.0 percent to 22.0 on a 41.5 percent turnout, voters rejected a year of national service for citizens aged 18 to 25, and the question failed in all thirteen Regions. The final IOP/NBC poll had shown a 41 to 41 tie. The Federal Forces stay all-volunteer.

Impact: Economy: 0|Political Stability: 0|Gov't Approval: ▲ +1|International Relations: 0|Regional Stability: 0

15

THE INTERFAITH DIALOGUE COUNCIL ADMITS THE WAKARA FAITH OF YUKIYU ATABEY TWO YEARS AFTER THE COLLOQUY OF THE FAITHS SEATED IT

• Member Organizations Meeting in Cárdenas Vote to Admit the Council of Bohiques of Guánica
• A Faith of Nine Million, Most in Boriquén, Joins the Standing Body Founded in 1697 AN
• Secretary-General Benoît Lacombe Says the Council Was Missing a Voice Until Now
• The 1759 AN Colloquy Had Seated the Faith Apart From the Council
• Estrada and Guacanagari Welcome the Vote as the Government Prepares Its Wakara Language Legislation
• A Bohique Speaking for the Delegation Says the Faith Will Bring Its Teaching on the Land to the Council

Cárdenas, FCD -- The Wakara faith of Yukiyu Atabey has a seat at the Interfaith Dialogue Council. Meeting at the Council's headquarters in Cárdenas on 15.III.1761 AN, its member organizations voted without dissent to admit the Council of Bohiques, the governing body of the faith, whose clergy, the bohiques, serve roughly nine million adherents, most of them in Boriquén.

Founded in 1697 AN, the Interfaith Dialogue Council brings together representatives of the faith traditions recognized under the Proclamation of Punta Santiago, large churches and small communities among them, along with new religious movements, and keeps regional offices in Punta Santiago, Parap, and Chambéry. Until now its roster did not carry the traditional religion of the Wakara people. In 1759 AN, a separate Colloquy of the Faiths of the Federation, convened apart from the Council, seated Yukiyu Atabey beside the Faith of Inti, the Bovic Church, and the Melusinian Faith for three days in Cárdenas.

Archbishop Emeritus Benoît Lacombe, the Council's Secretary-General since 1745 AN, said the vote closed a gap in a roster meant to speak for all of the Federation's faiths. "A council that speaks for the faiths of this Federation cannot leave out the faith of the Wakara," he said. "We were missing a voice."

The faith's roots lie in the village practice of the Wakara around Lake Cherusken. It nearly vanished in the anarchy that gripped Boriquén between 1708 AN and 1712 AN, when much of its priesthood was scattered and the sacred precincts of Guánica were among the few places its observances survived. After the Plan de Hato Rey of 1717 AN committed the Federation to protect Wakara culture, traditions, and customs, the Wakara Renaissance compiled the faith's oral areytos into a written canon, formalized the office of the Bohique Supremo, and founded a College of Bohiques at Guánica to train its clergy.

Sofia Estrada, the Secretary of Education, Sports, and Culture, welcomed the admission. "At Hato Rey the Federation promised to protect the Wakara and their culture, and their faith is part of that culture," Estrada said, adding that the department is preparing the legislation on the Wakara language and culture that Article 27 of the 1760 budget provided for.

Mayani Guacanagari, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, who co-founded the Wakara People's Party in 1722 AN, recalled the years when Guánica was one of the few places that kept the rites. "When the militias came, the bohiques held on in Guánica because there was nowhere else to go," she said. "It is right that their faith now sits at the Federation's table."

Admission to the Council does not add the faith to the list in the Proclamation. Whether it should join the native religions that receive special federal subsidies under Article 14 is a separate question.

A delegation from the Yukiyu Atabey Temple at Guánica, seat of the Bohique Supremo, attended the vote. A bohique who spoke for the delegation said the faith would bring to the Interfaith Dialogue Council its teaching on caring for the land and the water, which has carried its clergy into the conservation movements of Boriquén. The Wakara Identity Act, 1724 directs federal departments to encourage Atabey Gardens throughout the Federation. "Two years ago we came to Cárdenas as guests," the delegate said. "Now we come back as members."

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▸ OOC: Story Summary & Impact Assessment

TL;DR: On 15.III.1761 AN in Cárdenas, the Interfaith Dialogue Council, the standing interfaith body founded in 1697 AN, voted without dissent to admit the Council of Bohiques of Yukiyu Atabey, the traditional faith of the Wakara people, with roughly nine million adherents, most in Boriquén. The Interfaith Dialogue Council's roster had not carried the faith, though the 1759 AN Colloquy of the Faiths had seated it. Secretary-General Benoît Lacombe said the Council had been missing a voice, and Secretaries Sofia Estrada and Mayani Guacanagari welcomed the vote. Admission does not change the federal subsidy list under Article 14 of the Proclamation. That is a separate question.

Impact: Social Cohesion: ▲ +1|Cultural Development: ▲ +1

XIV (Pluvialis)

13

THE ASSEMBLY TAKES UP SEYDLITZ'S PLAN TO FILL EMPTY SEATS BY ELECTION, THE FIRST OPPOSITION MEASURE OF THE 14TH CORTES

• Speaker Orocobix Magüana Calls Emmanuel Philibert Seydlitz to Move the Second Reading of His Vacancy Act
• Seats Falling Vacant a Year or More Before an Election Would Go to a Special Election 45 to 90 Days After Certification
• A Caretaker Deputy Would Answer for the Region Until the New Deputy Takes the Oath
• If a Disaster Empties More Than Half the Chamber, Local Executives Would Name Temporary Deputies
• Under Current Law the Party That Won the Seat Names the Replacement
• Premier Gonçalves Offered Early Consideration and Said He Would Ask His Justice Secretary to Help

Cárdenas, FCD -- The Federal Assembly opened debate on the Federal Assembly Vacancy Act, 1760, the first Opposition measure introduced in the 14th Cortes Federales, and Speaker Orocobix Magüana called its author, Emmanuel Philibert Seydlitz, the Federal Humanist Party Deputy for the Isles of Caputia, to move the second reading. The Act would fill seats that fall vacant a year or more before an election by special election instead of party appointment, and would set out how the Assembly keeps working if a disaster strikes it. It shares the order paper with the Public Order and Liberties Act, 1760 and the Avey Port Revenue and Joint Oversight Act, 1760.

Under Article 14 of the Cortes Federales Act, 1694, the party that originally won a vacant seat names the replacement. Seydlitz's Act would instead require the Federal Elections Commission to hold a special election whenever a seat fell vacant at least one year before the next regular election. Polling would fall between 45 and 90 days after the Assembly certified the vacancy, or after the Speaker did so during a recess, and the winner would serve out the remainder of the term.

Until the new Deputy took the oath, a caretaker Deputy named by the Assembly or the Speaker would represent the Region, receive its correspondence, and attend to constituents. The Assembly sits in the Legislative Palace, which rebel troops held for little more than a day during the Spring Crisis of 1739. A separate article covers an emergency or disaster that leaves more than half of the seats empty. The Governor, Mayor, or other executive authority over each affected territory would appoint a qualified temporary Deputy until an election filled the seat, and a majority of the living, sworn members would form a quorum in the meantime.

Seydlitz is a son of Gerhardt Eugen Seydlitz, Premier from 1698 AN to 1703 AN, and was appointed Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in 1754 AN in the government of José Manuel Montero. He first filed the measure in mid-1759 AN, in the closing year of the 13th Cortes Federales. It did not advance before that Cortes ended, as Montero's government gave its time to the economic recovery and to measures it expected to pass before the general election. Seydlitz raised it again in the opening confidence debate of the new Cortes and reintroduced it as FA-1760-07 after the Federal Humanist Party went into opposition.

Marcos Ferreira Gonçalves, then President-elect and now Premier, answered Seydlitz in that confidence debate. Gonçalves, who leads the Democratic Socialist Party and chairs the Alliance for a Just Nouvelle Alexandrie, agreed that the question deserved attention before an emergency arose. He offered early consideration alongside his own program, which he said would remain the incoming Government's first priority, and he welcomed cooperation across the chamber on the Act. He said that if the Assembly granted his government its confidence, he would ask the nominated Secretary of Justice to work with Seydlitz on the text, and he named three questions still to settle: who would appoint temporary replacements, how long they would serve, and how the seat would return to elected representation. The undertaking does not make it a Government measure.

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▸ OOC: Story Summary & Impact Assessment

TL;DR: The Federal Assembly has opened debate on the Federal Assembly Vacancy Act, 1760, the first Opposition measure introduced in the 14th Cortes Federales, moved by Emmanuel Philibert Seydlitz (FHP, Isles of Caputia). It would replace party appointment with special elections, held 45 to 90 days after the Assembly or the Speaker certifies the vacancy, for seats that fall vacant at least a year before an election. It would also provide a caretaker Deputy in the meantime and let local executives appoint temporary Deputies if a disaster empties more than half the chamber. Before taking office, Premier Marcos Ferreira Gonçalves offered early consideration and help with the text, behind the four measures of his first program, all since enacted.

Impact: Gov't Approval: 0

XV (Concordia)

1

THE GOVERNMENT ACCEPTS SEYDLITZ'S AMENDMENT PUTTING ZEED'S SHARE OF AVEY PORT REVENUE IN ÉCUS

• Emmanuel Philibert Seydlitz Moved the Change at the Request of Zeed's Ambassador
• Secretary of State Gabrielle Fitzgerald Accepted It for the Government as a Friendly Amendment
• Speaker Orocobix Magüana Declared It Made to the Bill Without a Division
• Zeed's Half of the Port's Net Revenue Would Be Paid in New Alexandrian Écus
• Inside Zeed, the Commonwealth's Own Currency Is the Zeedic Ruble
• A Committee Report and a Final Division Still Lie Ahead Before the Chamber of Peers

Cárdenas, FCD -- The Federal Assembly has amended the Avey Port Revenue and Joint Oversight Act, 1760 so that the Commonwealth of Zeed's share of the net revenue of the Port of Avey would be paid in New Alexandrian écus. Emmanuel Philibert Seydlitz, the Federal Humanist Party Deputy for the Isles of Caputia, moved the change during the second reading debate at the request of the Ambassador of the Commonwealth of Zeed. Gabrielle Fitzgerald, the Secretary of State and the member in charge of the bill, accepted it for the Government as a friendly amendment on 1.XV.1761 AN, and Speaker Orocobix Magüana declared it made to the bill without a division.

The amendment adds a third paragraph to Article 5, the article that changes how the charter of the Avey Port Authority Corporation divides the port's net revenue. It reads in full: "Revenue paid to the Commonwealth of Zeed shall be in Alexandrian Ecu." From the financial year 1761 AN, the charter would divide that revenue equally between the Federation and the Commonwealth, which has received 35 percent of it since 1738 AN. Zeed's own currency is the Zeedic ruble; the new paragraph sets the Commonwealth's share in the Federation's currency.

The rest of the bill is unchanged. Part III would still set aside one-fifth of the Federation's share each year, about a tenth of the port's total net revenue, for the Avey-Rusjar railway, paid through the Community of Goldfield Development Bank. Part IV would still direct the Secretary of State to open talks on the future of Avey through the Joint Oversight Commission of Avey within twelve months of the Act coming into force, and to seek to conclude them at least a year before the protection period ends on 18.IX.1801 AN.

The bill remains at second reading. Its legislative progress lists a committee report and a final division in the Assembly still to come, followed by concurrence in the Chamber of Peers and Royal Assent.

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▸ OOC: Story Summary & Impact Assessment

TL;DR: The Federal Assembly has added a paragraph to the Avey Port Revenue and Joint Oversight Act, 1760 requiring the Commonwealth of Zeed's half of Avey's net port revenue to be paid in New Alexandrian écus. Emmanuel Philibert Seydlitz (FHP, Isles of Caputia) moved it at the request of Zeed's Ambassador. Secretary of State Gabrielle Fitzgerald accepted it for the Government as friendly, and the Speaker declared it made without a division. The even revenue split, the railway allocation and the talks on Avey's future are unchanged; a committee report and a final division remain.

Impact: Gov't Approval: 0|International Relations: ▲ +1

See also

• NBC Newsfeed
• NBC Newsfeed/1760