Last Sunday, 17 May, Electoral Registrar and MP Capt11543, on behalf of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MoIA), announced the opening of the declaration period for the upcoming Parliament elections. Declarations shall stay open for five days, ending tomorrow, Friday, 22 May.
The first registration came in on Monday, 18 May, with the submission of the Scarlet Flame Alliance; that is, the electoral alliance between IGNITE and the Order of the Scarlet Rose (OSR). However, their registration was not acknowledged, as they had marked both McBrittle419, leader of IGNITE, and Kaiserin_, leader of OSR, as leaders, whereas the MoIA insisted that there may only be one leader of an electoral alliance. Despite McBrittle419 amending the registration to designate herself as the sole leader of the Scarlet Flame Alliance, the MoIA has yet to acknowledge their registration.
The second registration came yesterday, Wednesday, 20 May, with the Alexandrian National Party (ANP) standing alone in their registration. The application, submitted by Thritystone, leader of the ANP, has yet to be acknowledged or rejected by the MoIA.
Despite less than 24 hours left to declare, there is a notable absence thus far: Labour/Public Servants (LPS) and the Greens. The two parties, who have long collaborated in Government, notably in the recent “Traffic Light Coalition” (LPS, IGNITE, Greens) that brought Prime Minister McBrittle419 to power, are both yet to declare their candidacy for Parliament, despite both parties and their leaders being active in the electoral process nonetheless (Capt11543, Secretary-General of LPS, was the Electoral Registrar who opened declarations, and Greens Leader TheStormcrafter was involved in the MoIA’s decision to reject the Scarlet Flame Alliance’s registration). This could suggest that the two parties are still involved in a process of negotiating cabinet positions and specifics of an electoral alliance.
Assuming an LPS/Greens alliance joins the fold before declarations close, Alexandrians will have three choices for their next Government; the Scarlet Flame Alliance, the ANP, and LPS/Greens. Key issues are likely to include “making Alexandria fun again”, which has been a selling point of Scarlet Flame and a rhetorical tool to distinguish them from the governing LPS and Greens, boosting activity, and certain financial and economic concerns, which have been mostly platformed by the ANP and their supporters involved in the banking and finance sectors.
Once declarations close tomorrow, 21 May at 1:30 PM EST, voters will have 72 hours (that is, until 24 May at 1:30 PM EST) to select their pick for our next Government.
The Royal Screamer wishes the best of luck to all of the parties, and encourages all Alexandrian citizens to exercise their right to vote.