When the hastily drawn up 12th October Partisan Democracy Bill was rejected by the Mercian Parliament House on the same day it was penned, it looked as if the political system of the Kingdoms & Lands Represented in the Council of the Diarchal Crowns of the Disciples was to remain dominated by individual interests of the Nobility. However, last night, on the evening of the 14th December 2014, a 57-minute long Meeting of the Mercian Parliament House changed this conception for the foreseeable future.
First on the Mercian Parliament House’s agenda was the 7th November Trade Unions Bill, which was interrupted during the Harland-Hackenschmidt coup attempt of the last Meeting of the House. This time however, briefly discussing the merits of immediately dissolving seditious or sectarian Trade Unions without giving the organisations time to retract their treacherous statements, the motion to pass the Bill did so with 66% of the vote, with 33% oppositions. As of last nights, Trade Unions became legal pressure groups within Mercia’s political community, and the Micropress expects that multiple Trade Unions will be founded in the New Year.
Secondly, the most controversial and crucial Bill of the evening was presented; a rewritten, thoroughly examined Partisan Democracy Bill, dated to the 6th December. The Bill, instead of just introducing Political Parties to Mercia to have powers given at a later date, firmly established Political Parties, Elections, Terms of Office, and definitions of the Government, the Loyal Opposition, and the Crossbench, alongside roles within those Parliamentary organs. Finally, the Bill enshrined all the previously mentioned groups and functions within the Mercian Parliament House, as well as the House itself, into law. Under this Bill, only the Lords of Mercia could be able to dissolve the Parliament.
The Bill initially received some criticism, as it gave powers to the Government to set taxes and tariffs. After further discussion, however, Ministers were largely in agreement that taxation would be rare, unlikely, and probably only affecting territorial citizens, of which there are only 7 (Mercia has a majority expatriate community). After voting, it was realised that the Bill had closely passed; although only 50% of the Ministers present supported the Bill, 25% of Ministers had abstained from the vote, meaning that the Bill was narrowly carried through. Both the 7th November Trade Unions Act and the 6th December Partisan Democracy Act were ratified by the Lord Temporal, HL Karl Friedrich von Ravensburg, at 20:45PM GMT of that evening.
Finally, further relations between the Würtige Empire and the Glorious Nation of Uberquiesenberg, Mercia’s closest neighbour in the south-east of England, were discussed. Kaiser Newton I of Uberquiesenberg, present in his capacity as a Mercian Baron, proposed a treaty to be written binding the Empire and his nation together in times of hardship, a sentiment which was reflected by all Ministers present. Mercia’s other neighbours include the Empire of New Byzantium and the Republic of Venesia, a pair of history-based nations near the Clyran Province of Kernollond in Cornwall, UK.
This Meeting was the third of the term of incumbent First Minister, Marquis Cassidy, his second term of office. However, it was the first time that a revolutionary new approach to Mercian Parliamentarism had been taken; to post the Bills early on the forum boards of the Würtige Empire, where Mercian Ministers without access to the Parliament’s usual Skype venue could cast their votes in advance. This led to midway results for Bills looking vastly different to their final results after all votes had been called; for example, the 7th November Trade Unions Bill looked set to lose with 60% of forum-based Ministers opposing the motion. This then turned around to a staggering 66% victory for the Bill’s supporters.
The 14th December itself was an auspicious day; a new, brief census of Mercia revealed that the nation had increased to include 20 citizens, a 54% increase on the nation’s citizenship since 1st May 2014, when the last census taken showed that Mercia had merely 12 citizens. Humourously, it was duly noted that only 5 of those citizens were ‘Subjects’; Mercian non-nobles without a say in Parliament. Mercia has apparently reached a kind of record within the world, for having a nation with 75% of its population comprising the aristocracy.
The Mercian Parliament House is not expected to reconvene until after the New Year, when Nobles and Subjects alike will usher in 2015.
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