Happy Party gains, Party Party holds after polls close

Following the polling period running from May 7 to 8, the winners of the election for Dranoria’s second Parliament have been announced by the Dranorian Electoral Regulatory Post.

Pos	Name	Party	Points	Percentage	Swing
1	Sonja Yeare	independent	40	22%	▲5%
2	Alex Lexington	Happy	39	21%	▲21%
3	Jeremy Oakes	Happy	37	20%	▲3%
4	Damon Reece	Party	27	15%	▼2%
5	Nachington	Party	24	13%	▲13%
6	Michael Sander	Plokko	13	7%	▲7%

His Royal Highness Nachington opened Parliament II immediately after the results were announced.

Jeremy Oakes was elected to his second term, alongside fellow Happy Party member Alex Lexington who gained the seat of the retiring Luke Thomas. He affirmed the “Happy Party gratefully accepts this opportunity to continue guiding the future of Dranoria through its sesquianniversary and beyond.”

From their headquarters in Swagton, Party Party party secretary Nachington, re-elected, commented the party “will continue planning great parties that most citizens are too young to attend”. Damon Reece, re-elected alongside Nachington, announced “Fuck bitches, party on” in his campaign headquarters in Groznaff.

Sonja Yeare was also elected to her second term. She declined to speak of the matter to the Draidon Times.

The defeated Plokko candidate Michael Sander accepted the result, declaring “Plokko is extremely disappointed with the outcome. Next year Plokko intends to conduct a more visible campaign in order to place lower.”

No portfolio adjustments have been confirmed, though it is expected the inactive Minister for Recreation Edward Lance will have his portfolio reconsidered.

The DERP also noted the election had a turnout of 36%, compared to 59% last year, which an increase in inactive citizens has been credited to.

New information about Serius revealed

Inspection of a publication released on MicroWiki by John Gordon of Firdanor (formerly Koss, formerly Sakasaria, formerly Serius, formerly Dranoria, formerly Serius) by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has revealed that the Peoples [sic] Republic of Serius declared war on Dranoria twice, rather than once, as was believed by the Ministry.

The declaration of war known to the Ministry came after John Gordon released a statement criticising the Dranorian government for not providing “aid or some kind of gift” after alleged rioting in Serius during pre-constitutional political disturbances in Dranoria.

After the discovery, Sebastian Lamerichs, Ombudsman of String Theory at the Un-iversity of Optima, stated “Oh god”.

Election date declared

Parliament has voted that its successor shall be elected on May 7.

A new Parliament is constitutionally mandated to be elected after the current Parliament’s one-year term finishes on or before May 25.

The Dranorian Electoral Regulatory Post has announced that new candidates will be able to register until April 30.

As with Dranoria’s first general election on May 25, 2011, all citizens are automatically enrolled to vote and will cast their ballots through the online BallotBin service.

Electoral preparations begin, new parties formed

The Dranorian Electoral Regulatory Post has begun officially accepting nominations by candidates for the upcoming Parliamentary election.

Since the opening of nominations on March 9, six candidates have registered to contest the five seats in Parliament:

• Alex Lexington, Happy Party
• Nachington, Party Party (incumbent)
• Jeremy Oakes, Happy Party (incumbent)
• Damon Reece, Party Party (incumbent)
• Michael Sander, Plokko
• Sonja Yeare, independent (incumbent)

It is not known whether incumbent MP Luke Thomas will contest a second term.

Plokko and the Happy Party were both formed earlier this month. Happy Party Secretary Jeremy Oakes has stated he is “open to the idea of forming a coalition with any person or party the Happy Party can synergise with.”

It is expected Dranoria’s second Parliament will be elected towards the beginning of May to account for travel being undertaken by Jeremy Oakes and Smon McClary later in the month. The election is constitutionally required to be held soon after the current Parliament dissolves, no later than May 25.

Rudimentary analysis by the Dranorian Broadcasters’ Guild suggests that Lexington, Nachington, Oakes, Reece, and Yeare will win seats in the new Parliament, defeating the outsider Sander.

Micronational Press Council launched

The Dranorian Broadcasters’ Guild has become the third member of the Micronational Press Council, founded last week by John Hogg.

President of the DBG, Jeremy Oakes, stated that he hopes the membership in the organisation “will promote synergy between micronational press agencies.”

As the representative of the founding A1 Broadcasting Corporation, Hogg has released a code of practice for member broadcasters.

The Kossian Gazette has also joined the MPC, and it is expected the Kingdom of Zealandia Broadcasting Corporation will apply soon.

The MPC is the most recent intermicronational organisation Hogg, who also established the now defunct Organisation of Active Micronations, has created.

Fleming confirms his personhood

Former Optiman Defence Force officer Tristan Fleming confirmed he was a person yesterday in a statement released to the Dranorian Skype Council.

Reactions to the announcement were generally positive, with Premier of Hackett Brian Mounce commenting that it “[made] sense” and former Nestopian Party Parliament candidate Kate Skinner replying “hehehehehehehe”.

His previously unconfirmed personhood briefly cast doubt on the legitimacy of his time in the Optiman Defence Force, which was required to remove most non-humans from its ranks after the Optiman Senate passed the Military Animal Act, Mark II.

King of Zealandia up to fifth name

The Draidon Times can reveal that the man originally known as Anthony Fowler has adopted his fifth new name.
Magnus Lindström, formerly known as Olof Olofsson, formerly known as King Håkon, formerly known as Anthony Markssen, formerly known as Anthony Fowler, adopted his new name some time today for reasons that are as of yet unknown. Mr Lindström’s rapidly changing name has previously been the subject of comment among members of TASPAC and the wider MicroWiki community. Gustav Knivenfork, Professor of Pseudonym Studies at the Un-iversity of Optima, told the Times that following current trends, Lindström will be up to his 352nd name by the end of this year.
The Dranorian government is known to be stockpiling raw pseudonym in preparation for a possible shortage caused by Lindström’s name-changing exploits. Jeremy Oakes, speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said “There is no cause for alarm. Ministry projections show that sufficient pseudonym will be available for Dranoria’s needs, if we manage it prudently. Panic-buying would be totally unnecessary and counterproductive”.

The Oppressive Roosters

Draidon Literary Superdrome script: The Conquering of Optima (King’s Birthday “re-enactment”)

Narrator: Welcome to the King’s Birthday re-enactment of the conquering of Optima. Starring [Actor 1] as the young, insightful, wealthy king, Trystan Perry; [Actor 2] as the tall, handsome and ruggedly good-looking archduke, Nachington James; and lastly [Actor 3] as the traitorous and deceitful Optiman, Jeremy Oakes.

Scene 1

Narrator: This tale begins one fine day with the king and archduke enjoying a spot of tea in the beautiful gardens of Draidon.

Enter actors 1 and 2

Actor 1: I say, Archduke Nachington, it is a glorious day for buying pokémon, is it not?

Actor 2: Why, yes it is King Trystan, why don’t we do that?

Actor 1: What a splendid idea.

Exit actors 1 and 2

 

Scene 2

Narrator: Later that day, at the local shopping mart:

Enter actors 1 and 2

Actor 1: Here we are at the local shopping mart, Archduke Nachington.

Actor 2: How marvellous, King Trystan, and look, there is a friend, trusted ally and fellow countryman, Jeremy Oakes.

Enter actor 3

Actor 1: Ah, Jeremy, I just wanted to tell you how much we all trust you.

Actor 2: I concur, Jeremy, and let me add that you, Jeremy, are one of our close personal friends.

Actor 3: King Trystan and Archduke Nachington, I have come today to tell you that I am leading Optima to war against Dranoria.

Actors 1 and 2 gasp

Actor 1: But Jeremy, we had such a peaceful annexation, and you were allowed plentiful land in Kasugrad!

Actor 2: And Jeremy, all we asked for in return was for you to obey our simple, yet just laws, which allow much leniency to the people without sacrificing security or safety.

Actor 3: King Trystan and Archduke Nachington, I understand your terms that are extremely fair to me and my people, but I say they are not enough.

Actor 1: Then, Jeremy, you leave me no choice. Archduke Nachington, conquer them.

Actor 2: Leave it to me, King Trystan.

Actor 2 puts Actor 3 into a headlock

Actor 2: Jeremy, my former close friend and trusted ally, cry uncle!

Actor 3: Uncle.

Actor 1: Jeremy Oakes, your micronation is conquered and all of you are convicted of treason. I sentence you all to a lifetime of being my bitches.

Narrator: And that is how the traitorous Optimans were conquered by the incredibly handsome Dranorians.

Ultamiya releases “anti-Dranorian propaganda”

Earlier today, President David Salapa of the Republic of Ultamiya released “propaganda” protesting the amount of regulation on MicroWiki, targeting Dranoria based on the actions of Chancellor Jeremy Oakes as an administrator for the site. The image was described as “just woeful” by Håkon of Zealandia, supporting Oakes’ response to the release.

In his response published on the MicroWiki Fora, Oakes stated that the perceived “over-regulation” was merely edits to articles intended to bring them in line with conventions on editorial style on MicroWiki, and attempts to codify those styles in order to make MicroWiki, which calls itself a micronational encyclopædia, look encyclopædic.

The release follows months of conflict over editorial policies on MicroWiki. Salapa appears to have first become convinced that Oakes was targeting him following the performance of routine copyediting on a page to which he had contributed extensively, Diplomacy of the Republic of Ultamiya, which was followed by a brief edit war against Oakes and administrator Aldrich Lucas, and then “very long but coherent rambling” against the “debatable existence of the MicroWiki policy on [capitalisation]“, though Lucas responded that the policy had been “de facto convention [...] since at least when I became an admin and basically every article on the wiki [...] uses sentence case”. Salapa, wondering “where the frick [the policy] came from tyo [sic] b [sic]“, claimed that the title style from the Chicago Manual of Style he has used in his contributions to the wiki looked “more professional”.

It is not known if the “propaganda” also targeted Michael Sander, former Prime Minister of Optima, who was promoted to administrator on MicroWiki at 07:30 ACDT, a few hours before the release of the propaganda.

From the Editor: Regarding SOPA/PIPA protest

Much of the Internet community has, over the last few months, come out in opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) currently under consideration by the United States Congress. This has become especially apparent in recent hours, with the popular encyclopaedia Wikipedia, social news site reddit, image host Imgur, and the micronational community’s own MicroWiki among those blacking out their content in protest or set to do so soon, while other websites including the webcomic Questionable Content have merely put up large notices.

While it is clear that in their current form, SOPA and PIPA are unnecessarily harsh in their attempts to curb online piracy, Dranorian Broadcasters’ Guild-operated sites will not be performing any action beyond posting this notice, as it is clear to us that the blacking out of major sites, especially Wikipedia, in addition to the large amount of campaigning against SOPA and PIPA across the Internet performed recently, is sufficient in informing the general population of SOPA/PIPA. It is our opinion that any further blackings out will merely inconvenience those who have already heard about SOPA/PIPA.

Jeremy Oakes

President of the Dranorian Broadcasters’ Guild

Acting Editor of the Draidon Times

Michael Sander rejoins Optima

Former Optiman Senator and Minister for Finance and Commerce Michael Sander has regained Optiman citizenship after leaving the country in January.

“Optima has a lot more to be proud of today than it did when I left about a year ago,” he stated upon re-applying for citizenship, “and that can be attributed to the mutually beneficial relationship established between Optima and Lesser Dranoria. Dranorians have worked hard to get the nation to where it is, and they should feel deservedly proud.”

After renouncing Optiman citizenship, Sander was mostly absent from micronationalism, but not the micronational community, for several months, then stood as a Reform Party candidate for the Guevara Electorate and Chariman of the Council of State in the Zealandian elections on December 1, where he was defeated by Socialist Unity Party members Matthew Burklandssen and Anthony Markssen, respectively.

It is not yet known whether Sander will pursue political office in Dranoria.

Sander left Optima previously in December 2008, leading a short-lived seccession attempt in his home province South Garella.