Prince Dionisiy elected Prime Minister
HSH Dionisiy I, Prince of Montescano and Duke of Lycaonia, has been elected the fourth Prime Minister of Austenasia with 52.27% of the vote in a closely-fought election. His rival candidate, Lord John Gordon, received 40.91% of the vote, whereas an option to Abstain – which, if it gained a majority, would have forced fresh elections – received 6.82% of the vote. This translates to twenty-three, eighteen, and three votes respectively from the forty-four Austenasian subjects who voted yesterday. With fifty-nine of Austenasia’s population eligible to vote, this was a 74.58% turnout. Lord Gordon campaigned on a platform of social democracy and progressivism, but also pledged to nationalise private businesses. Dionisiy’s campaign promises focused on promoting the Romano-Christian culture of the Empire, as well as implementing internet-based referenda on important legislative issues. Despite criticism from some quarters for referring to “climate change hysterica”, the Prince has also pledged to minimise Austenasia’s carbon footprint, and is currently overseeing the construction of a solar farm in Seleucia ad Cilicia. Prince Dionisiy is expected to release a Prime Minister’s Broadcast tonight detailing his plans for the rest of the year. As well as the general election, local elections for Representative took place in the towns of Palasia, Gebirgspark, Chalcedon and Nahona. Palasia saw its incumbent, Dionisiy’s rival Lord Gordon, re-elected, whereas the other three towns had the Acting Representatives appointed upon their annexations (Lord Kristof Fondrk, Lord Ismetcan Sarac, and King William I, respectively) elected to the position proper.
New Town established at Chalcedon
A new Austenasian Town was yesterday founded as an enclave of Kadikoy, Turkey, the modern-day site of the ancient town of Chalcedon. The new Town consists of a section of an apartment building and is home to six people. One of its residents, İsmetcan Saraç – who initiated the process of having the properties join Austenasia – has been granted the title Count of Bithynia and appointed Acting Representative of the new Town. Said new Town has taken its name, Chalcedon, from the settlement which has occupied the site since prehistoric times and is most famous as having been the venue of the Fourth Ecumenical Council in 451. Chalcedon was only renamed to Kadikoy in the sixteenth century, and is now a suburb of the Anatolian part of Constantinople (Istanbul). The Austenasian Town’s resurrection of the prestigious Greco-Roman name of the location can be seen as a further emphasis of the Empire’s Roman and Christian heritage, although all six residents of Austenasian Chalcedon are Muslim. Lord Saraç has become the fourth Representative to join the Fatherland Party, giving the Opposition an equal number of seats in Parliament as the governmental coalition. Furthermore, this most recent expansion has increased Austenasia’s population to 97, the highest so far in its history.