This morning, Mercia-Lurk awoke to a flurry of political activity; the April 2020 General Election has begun, and the polls are now open!
The voting period for the General Election will continue until the evening of Tuesday 21st April, with the election results being revealed shortly afterwards.
The parties currently standing for election are as follows:
Green Party: The largest of the new parties to run in the April 2020 election, formed from the original Green Party (itself only formed last month) and what appears to be the members of Advance!, a party created by former National Liberals & Social Democrats, with independent candidates. Advance! collapsed in early April when their leader, Earl Eden, stood down from the position of First Minister of the Provisional Government, initiating this current electoral cycle. The Greens are standing 5 candidates in this election. No manifesto or election adverts have appeared from the Green Party as of the opening of polls on Sunday 19th April.
Eco-Socialists: Standing only 1 candidate in this election, the Eco-Socialists are an independent outfit, unrelated to the Green Party. This seems to have been partially by mistake, with the Eco-Socialist candidate, Leon Montan, being seemingly unaware of the Green Party’s existence. No manifesto or election adverts have appeared from the Eco-Socialists as of the opening of polls on Sunday 19th April.
National Liberal Party: The oldest political party in Mercia-Lurk is swinging back into the fray to take the reigns of Mercian government. With 5 candidates running for election, mostly nobles and clergymen of the Mercian Christian Church, the infamous NLP are standing on a culturally conservative plan to continue the defence of the Mercian Christian Church and the unique nature of Mercia’s Diarchy, Church & State relations, and social Christianity, as they have in every election previously. The National Liberal manifesto was released on Thursday 9th April, and can be found here.
A fourth political party, the ‘Mercian People’s Party – Social Democrats’ (MPPSD), stood no candidates and are not appearing on the ballot.
As the polls opened, the Eco-Socialists and the Green Party stayed silent on the electioneering front, while the National Liberal Party shot out of the starting gate with a rero-style poster depicting an overshadowing, green hammer & sickle, with the slogan “Fight Green Communism, Defend Mercia-Lurk!” This poster was produced both in English & Czech for both the communities of Clyro and Lurk.
With nine seats to be contested, under a new and controversial party list system instead of Mercia’s traditional single transferable vote method, the April 2020 Mercian General Election is widely regarded to be an historic event for the long-dormant leader in micronational democracy.