06-14-2018, 03:32 AM
The crisis in Lauchenoiria, now seeming to be a civil war in the making, was quickly becoming the subject of one of the largest foreign policy discussions in recent political history. As the news broke of the shooting at the Laeralian embassy and then Skoden's surprise military intervention, newspapers, radio, and TV news channels began reporting on the crisis. After coverage of Foreign Minister Beringer's staid statement on Attache Jingyi's shooting, the immense focus of the media swiftly switched to Legislature Hall, where President Brennan announced that he would seek the permission of the National Assembly to launch a sustained military intervention in Lauchenoiria...
"The most important question is, do we have the votes?" Nicholas Brennan asked. He was riding in his personal limousine for the short trip from Republic House to Legislature Hall, with Prime Minister Misra sitting beside him.
"We should," Tanvi replied. She pulled up a diagram of the Assembly of Commons' partisan makeup. The 2016 elections had delivered a remarkably split lower house of the National Assembly, with 10 separate parties represented in a body of 386 Representatives.
[floatright]![[Image: 0xJMToz.png]](https://i.imgur.com/0xJMToz.png)
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"We only need a simple majority, and you deliver the tie-breaking vote if necessary. 193 votes, that's all we need." She sighed. "Despite my best efforts, the Socialists are refusing to vote aye. Their party whips are weak, but most of their members will probably vote the party line. That gives the other side up to 75 votes, probably 75 exactly."
"I didn't exactly foresee needing to write in support for foreign military interventions in the coalition agreement we signed," Nicholas said. "But go on."
"I've made sure," Misra said, "that no Progressive will vote against it." She didn't elaborate. "The Conservatives have also given me their word that their representatives will vote in favor. I do not expect any defections there. That gives us 170 votes, nearly enough. Moving through the small parties, the Communists will all vote against, the Greens all against, and Laeral Unbowed! probably all against. We need 23 votes from somewhere."
"What's the LPP's stance?" Nicholas asked. The Laeralian People's Party was a major right-wing party, with 63 representatives.
"They haven't announced it," Tanvi said. "If they swing for us, then puts us over the line, with the 2/3rd's majority in order for you to bypass the General Assembly."
"And if not, what are our options for the last 23 votes?" Nicholas asked.
"The United Right will likely vote against," Tanvi said, "but they haven't officially decided yet. That leaves the Centrists and the New Democrats."
Nicholas waited carefully. He knew Tanvi's feelings about the New Democrats, who had splintered partially from their own Progressive Party, bringing with them almost a dozen Progressive representatives.
"If both of them vote in favor, we have enough. If only one of them, we will be close, but we will need to rely on rebels from other parties."
"I'd prefer to avoid that," Nicholas said. "Do what you can to persuade those two parties to come out in favor, and try to get some of the more moderate Socialists to vote in favor. Once this reaches the General Assembly, it'll be all sewn up, but we can't have any missteps here."
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As Prime Minister, Tanvi Misra held the gavel during deliberations in the Assembly of Commons; the upcoming vote was set to be the most important in months or perhaps years. She had just introduced the official text of the Lauchenoirian Intervention Resolution of 2018, giving the President the authority to deploy soldiers to Lauchenoiria. Now, she began to discuss the official procedure for the debate, which she had agreed on with the President on the drive over. "Ladies and gentlemen of the Assembly," she said. "In accordance with the rules of debate, 40 Representatives shall be given the opportunity to speak before the Assembly on this resolution. Each parliamentary party will be given a number of speakers equal to one-tenth of their representatives in this house, rounded to the nearest ten. Speaking time will be set at 15 minutes per speaker, and the speakers will proceed in the order in which the chair of each parliamentary party sends me a note listing their party's chosen speaker. Debate will resume in one hour." She then motioned to close debate for that period of time, dismissed the representatives, and went off to talk with the leader of the Centrists in the Assembly of Commons.
__________________________
With debate expected to last for up to ten hours, the assorted staffers and aides within the Assembly hurriedly prepared for a long night. Cots and sleeping bags were brought in, and staffers and Representatives themselves hurried about to organize remarks or discuss the upcoming vote. The news media, as well, wandered through the halls, seeking a quiet place to broadcast from or an unfortunate subject to interview. Soon, however, the names of the speakers were received, and the first speaker, Representative Zhang Shi-han, of the Green Party (Laeralian Ecology), began to speak.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the Assembly, I rise today to urge our members assembled to choose the path of compassion and vote against the resolution for Laeralian soldiers to be sent to the battlefields of Lauchenoiria..."
Debate went slowly. Prime Minister Misra enforced with an iron fist- or rather, gavel- the rules of debate, silencing cheers and boos and at one point bringing down her gavel violently to drown out the voice of an unfortunate Socialist representative who went over his allotted time. The ensuing hours of debate proceeded slowly, with the media and the assembled representatives watching stoically as points were raised and attacked. All of the Laeralian People's Party speakers came out for the resolution, surprisingly enough, while the Centrist speaker and both of the New Democratic speakers coming out in favor of the resolution. Nicholas Brennan, sitting at the President's reserved seat to the left and slightly below that of the Prime Minister, breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed as if the only question was whether the resolution would gain the requisite 2/3rd majority to be accepted immediately with the signature of the president, rather than proceeding through the General Assembly. At last, debate drew to a close with the final remarks from a representative of the Conservative party.
"We will now proceed," Prime Minister Misra said, "to a roll call vote on this resolution." As the vote proceeded in alphabetical order, each representative stood and said either 'aye' or 'nay'- abstention was forbidden on military force resolutions. To Brennan, it seemed as if there were more 'ayes' than 'nays'- and the continuously update vote counter reinforced that belief. When Prime Minister Misra banged her gavel to signal the close of debate, she read: "By a vote of 264 in favor and 122 against, the Lauchenoirian Intervention Resolution of 2018 is hereby passed. Ladies and gentlemen," she said, breaking from her script, "pending the signature of the President in favor, the Allied Provinces of Laeral is now at war."
"The most important question is, do we have the votes?" Nicholas Brennan asked. He was riding in his personal limousine for the short trip from Republic House to Legislature Hall, with Prime Minister Misra sitting beside him.
"We should," Tanvi replied. She pulled up a diagram of the Assembly of Commons' partisan makeup. The 2016 elections had delivered a remarkably split lower house of the National Assembly, with 10 separate parties represented in a body of 386 Representatives.
[floatright]
[/floatright]"We only need a simple majority, and you deliver the tie-breaking vote if necessary. 193 votes, that's all we need." She sighed. "Despite my best efforts, the Socialists are refusing to vote aye. Their party whips are weak, but most of their members will probably vote the party line. That gives the other side up to 75 votes, probably 75 exactly."
"I didn't exactly foresee needing to write in support for foreign military interventions in the coalition agreement we signed," Nicholas said. "But go on."
"I've made sure," Misra said, "that no Progressive will vote against it." She didn't elaborate. "The Conservatives have also given me their word that their representatives will vote in favor. I do not expect any defections there. That gives us 170 votes, nearly enough. Moving through the small parties, the Communists will all vote against, the Greens all against, and Laeral Unbowed! probably all against. We need 23 votes from somewhere."
"What's the LPP's stance?" Nicholas asked. The Laeralian People's Party was a major right-wing party, with 63 representatives.
"They haven't announced it," Tanvi said. "If they swing for us, then puts us over the line, with the 2/3rd's majority in order for you to bypass the General Assembly."
"And if not, what are our options for the last 23 votes?" Nicholas asked.
"The United Right will likely vote against," Tanvi said, "but they haven't officially decided yet. That leaves the Centrists and the New Democrats."
Nicholas waited carefully. He knew Tanvi's feelings about the New Democrats, who had splintered partially from their own Progressive Party, bringing with them almost a dozen Progressive representatives.
"If both of them vote in favor, we have enough. If only one of them, we will be close, but we will need to rely on rebels from other parties."
"I'd prefer to avoid that," Nicholas said. "Do what you can to persuade those two parties to come out in favor, and try to get some of the more moderate Socialists to vote in favor. Once this reaches the General Assembly, it'll be all sewn up, but we can't have any missteps here."
___________________________
As Prime Minister, Tanvi Misra held the gavel during deliberations in the Assembly of Commons; the upcoming vote was set to be the most important in months or perhaps years. She had just introduced the official text of the Lauchenoirian Intervention Resolution of 2018, giving the President the authority to deploy soldiers to Lauchenoiria. Now, she began to discuss the official procedure for the debate, which she had agreed on with the President on the drive over. "Ladies and gentlemen of the Assembly," she said. "In accordance with the rules of debate, 40 Representatives shall be given the opportunity to speak before the Assembly on this resolution. Each parliamentary party will be given a number of speakers equal to one-tenth of their representatives in this house, rounded to the nearest ten. Speaking time will be set at 15 minutes per speaker, and the speakers will proceed in the order in which the chair of each parliamentary party sends me a note listing their party's chosen speaker. Debate will resume in one hour." She then motioned to close debate for that period of time, dismissed the representatives, and went off to talk with the leader of the Centrists in the Assembly of Commons.
__________________________
With debate expected to last for up to ten hours, the assorted staffers and aides within the Assembly hurriedly prepared for a long night. Cots and sleeping bags were brought in, and staffers and Representatives themselves hurried about to organize remarks or discuss the upcoming vote. The news media, as well, wandered through the halls, seeking a quiet place to broadcast from or an unfortunate subject to interview. Soon, however, the names of the speakers were received, and the first speaker, Representative Zhang Shi-han, of the Green Party (Laeralian Ecology), began to speak.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the Assembly, I rise today to urge our members assembled to choose the path of compassion and vote against the resolution for Laeralian soldiers to be sent to the battlefields of Lauchenoiria..."
Debate went slowly. Prime Minister Misra enforced with an iron fist- or rather, gavel- the rules of debate, silencing cheers and boos and at one point bringing down her gavel violently to drown out the voice of an unfortunate Socialist representative who went over his allotted time. The ensuing hours of debate proceeded slowly, with the media and the assembled representatives watching stoically as points were raised and attacked. All of the Laeralian People's Party speakers came out for the resolution, surprisingly enough, while the Centrist speaker and both of the New Democratic speakers coming out in favor of the resolution. Nicholas Brennan, sitting at the President's reserved seat to the left and slightly below that of the Prime Minister, breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed as if the only question was whether the resolution would gain the requisite 2/3rd majority to be accepted immediately with the signature of the president, rather than proceeding through the General Assembly. At last, debate drew to a close with the final remarks from a representative of the Conservative party.
"We will now proceed," Prime Minister Misra said, "to a roll call vote on this resolution." As the vote proceeded in alphabetical order, each representative stood and said either 'aye' or 'nay'- abstention was forbidden on military force resolutions. To Brennan, it seemed as if there were more 'ayes' than 'nays'- and the continuously update vote counter reinforced that belief. When Prime Minister Misra banged her gavel to signal the close of debate, she read: "By a vote of 264 in favor and 122 against, the Lauchenoirian Intervention Resolution of 2018 is hereby passed. Ladies and gentlemen," she said, breaking from her script, "pending the signature of the President in favor, the Allied Provinces of Laeral is now at war."