Election Occurs
Today in Ostentia sees the first time in over eighteen months that an election has essentially been a forgone conclusion. We touched upon this issue with a political cartoon last week, the AAPA-CCP Coalition was virtually guaranteed victory at this election, following yesterday's election. Considering the times we are in, it was remarkably mundane. Indeed, only three major parties were represented at a national level, the AAPA-CCP Coalition, The Alliance and the Boo Party. At a national level, the Coalition polled around 57% of the vote, while Boo gained approximately 43. The share gained by the third Alliance Party was negligible. This is the first time in almost a year that a majority has occurred in a General Election, and the first time in over eighteen months that it has occurred without challenge. Still, we can be thankful at least that elections occurred. Had Inevitable succeeded in becoming Acting Prime Minister following the sad disappearance of Sir William Buttersworth, now all but confirmed dead, we would likely not have continued the democratic process, what with his plans to indefinitely postpone the elections and form what was essentially a war economy. Instead we saw a National Government, which, while achieving little, maintained the country for the necessary extra week. The coming of the AAPA Party several terms ago, it would seem, marked a new, moderate era of Ostentian politics.

Poisoner Trial To Commence Thursday
The trial for the main suspect in the Valaxian Poisonings has finally been given a concrete date, September 17th, this Thursday. It will commence at the Valaxian high court, with high security covering all members of the jury as well as the judge. Vox Valaxia will bring you details of the first and second days in Friday's Issue.

The Week in Politics™
This last week has been run by a National Government, and hence we have seen little “politics as usual”. However, what with the Parliamentary clean-up period, we have seen several pieces of legislation passed. A Constitutional Court, to deal with matters of constitutional importance, was set up. A bill proposing a large overhaul of how Ostentia's healthcare system works was passed, though without the original name-change intended by author Commoncold0 (from Boo Health Service to National Health Service). Minimum wage was finally established as a national standard, rather than state-based, and the Electoral College was abolished, replaced with a simple First-Past-The-Post system for the election of the Prime Minister, essentially reverting to the system used during the country's early days. Governmental announcements were also few, comprising only Commoncold0's cabinet announcement. However, on the media front, Ostentia saw the return of one of its former major broadcasters, Charles Dean's Ostentian World News, which saw widespread approval during its first airing this week...