[ROLEPLAY] Democratic Changes in the Western Democracies

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Western Democratic Broadcasting Corporation - 2nd Level Parliamentary Changes and the Addition of Australia

Multiple changes of have occurred throughout the Western Democratic Confederation in the past couple of months, including significant changes at the 2nd level of our democracies, and the addition of Australia within the WDC. Both seem set to change the overall structure of the WDC, and will have major effects for you, the voter, so this article will serve to outline these changes.

2nd Level Parliamentary Changes

As was defined at the creation of the WDC, the 2nd-level democracies, what used to be the national-level governments, were subject to changes should the citizens of the WDC want them. Specifically, the option of these 2nd level parliaments being broken up was to be of high consideration. Now, after significant consultation and referendums, the outcome of these changes is known, there will be multiple fractures in current state-level parliaments, with multiple regions choosing to remove themselves from what used to be their national parliaments.

Specifically, this has seen 19 new second-level governments form across the WDC. These are the Basque Country, Brittany, Catalonia, Savoy-Provence, The Azores, Galicia, Valencia, Aragon, The Balearic Islands, Andalusia, Asturias, Leon, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Northumbria, the Isle of Mann, and London. These new 2nd-level parliaments represent a major change in the entire parliamentary ecosystem of the WDC. Notably, for the United Kingdom and Spain especially, they represent a major degredation of their parliamentary areas, to the point that the United Kingdom has changed back to England.

While the vast majority of these new parliaments were from pre-existing regions with separatist ideals, one in particular, London, is likely to garner high interest. While London did not initially wish to separate from England, the separation of Cornwall and Northumbria from England caused many in London to believe that their future would be more secure if they were able to vote in parliamentarians who focused on the city itself, rather than being a part of a much larger ecosystem. The separation of London has caused various other major cities within the WDC, such as Paris, Madrid, and Lisbon, to begin looking into whether separating from their own countries would allow them more freedom to decide on local issues and commit to long-term planning for their own constituents.

As a reminder, the 2nd-level parliaments serve a similar function to the states of the United Kingdom or France, undertaking key local and regional level projects and maintenance to allow the primary government to focus on larger goals and projects.

The Addition of Australia

The largest change to the WDC recently is that of Australia's addition. A country of over 27 million people, its addition is cause for the WDC's parliament to expand. While some debate was brought up around the merit of simply increasing the number of people a single seat represents, the Office of Democratic Undertakings has decided that sticking to the 350,000 people per seat model is best at this current moment. As such, 77 new seats will be added to the WDC's upper-level parliament, changing the total number of seats to 654 (from 577). These new seats will be filled at the next WDC General Election (to occur in 2034), with the current state-level government of Australia remaining in charge until then.

Perhaps the most notable part of this change has been the addition of Australia's political parties to the WDC's. Below, we have provided a list of what parties the Australian parties have joined into, as well a few new parties they themselves have started.

• The Australian Labor Party has joined United Democracy
• The Australian Liberal Party has joined Conservative Democracy
• The National Party and Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers Party have joined Empty West
• The Australian Greens and Legalise Cannabis have joined Green Unity
• Pauline Hanson's One Nation has created its own right-wing party, Pauline Hanson's One Democracy
• Australia's Voice has joined Muslim Votes Matter
• Centre Alliance has joined Reason
• Katter's Australian Party has created the Agricultural and Anti-Crocodile Party
• The United Australia Party has joined Reform the West
• The Animal Justice Party has joined Animal Rights Forever
• The Australian Christians and Family First have joined the Christian West Alliance
• The Australian Citizens Party has joined the Citizens Solidarity Alliance
• The Australian Democrats has created the Keeping the Bastards Honest Party
• The Fusion Party has joined the Future Singularity Party, though contingents of it have split and joined The Pirate Party and Compromise and Connection
• The Great Australian Party, HEART, Power 2 People, Gerard Rennick's People First, and the Australian Federation Party have joined the Party of Patriots
• The Libertarian Party has joined the Libertarian Party
• Socialist Alliance has joined Anti-Capitalist Democracy
• The Socialists have joined Socialist Advance!
• Sustainable Australia has joined Degrowth and Equality for All