Lord William Wilson elected Prime Minister
Lord William Wilson, Count of Oribrazos, has been elected the sixth Prime Minister of Austenasia. Precise figures are yet to be confirmed, but the preliminary count indicates that Lord Wilson has received 76.6% of the vote whereas his rival candidate, Lady Addison Dillon, received 23.4% of the vote. This translates to thirty six and eleven votes respectively from the forty seven Austenasian subjects who voted yesterday. With seventy three of Austenasia’s population eligible to vote, this was a 64.4% turnout. Lady Addison campaigned on a platform of electoral and governmental reform and environmentalism, whereas Lord Wilson campaigned to promote Austenasian culture and government activity and accessibility. The past several weeks saw Wilson’s campaign dominate the news. Although Lady Addison published a campaign website, Lord Wilson also released weekly campaign videos in which he explained his policies and positions. Lord Wilson is expected to release his first Prime Minister’s Broadcast later today. Wilson’s predecessor, Lord John Gordon, was thanked and congratulated in the House of Representatives yesterday by the Monarch and other Representatives for his time in office as the Empire’s head of government. Lord Wilson’s first involvement with Austenasia came in April 2019, when he was appointed the Empire’s diplomatic Consul to Texas. Wilson became an Austenasian national in January 2020 upon founding the Town of Nahona, which he represents to this day as Representative. He was further instrumental in arranging the annexation of the Town of North Nahona in June and the March of Campo de Jonatán and Territory of Jackson in August late that year. Appointed Deputy Prime Minister on 1 June last year, Lord Wilson also served as Home Secretary from August 2020 to February earlier this year, and has held the office of Chief Herald since 3 June 2020.
Incumbents re-elected in local elections for Kingeston and North Nahona
Local elections took place in Kingeston and North Nahona on Monday 13th July, with the Acting Representatives of said Towns elected to the positions proper. In Kingeston, which was transitioned into a Town from a Crown Dependency in May, Lord Austin Jaax was elected Representative with a 100% turnout. In North Nahona, which was founded in June, The Hon. Payton Moore was elected Representative with a 50% turnout. Both had been appointed Acting Representative of their respective Town upon its foundation by order of Parliament. Both ran unopposed, and both gained 100% of the vote, with no voters choosing to abstain.
Expansion in North America as Tricornia is dissolved
An Act of Parliament passed yesterday enacted territorial changes which saw the creation of a new Town, the expansion of another, and the dissolution of a third. Tricornia, a town annexed only in April, has been dissolved after its founder, Nikola Jovanovic, revealed that he had supplied incorrect information to the government while claiming the land and forged the signatures of its alleged residents. When claiming new areas of land, the government must strike a fine line between respecting the privacy of applicants while also being able to verify their claims. It is not believed that any changes to the current system are planned, but this incident has shown that it is not impossible for it to be abused. Tricornia now holds the unfortunate record of being the land claim with the shortest duration as a part of Austenasia. However, alongside the departure of Tricornia, a new Town has joined the Empire. The new Town of North Nahona has been founded with the annexation of two properties from Texas. A third property has been annexed to the already existing Town of Nahona, which the new town is named after. Each property is inhabited by two people, with a total of six people thereby joining Austenasia. This offsets the loss of the (alleged) same number from the dissolution of Tricornia. Both Nahona and North Nahona now consist of two properties, each inhabited by two people, and form a roughly eighteen mile long line stretching approximately north-west to south-east, with the southern two properties in the older town and the northern two in the new one. In other news, the Pontifex Maximus, Pope Queranus I – better known as Sebastian Linden – has been granted non-residential subjectship by Parliament. Linden has served as Governor of Iostan na Beithe and of Glencoe since January 2018, and briefly reigned as German Emperor in mid-2011.