Why do the troubles always come election year? I mean, it wasn’t like he didn’t had to deal with other matters in the past 3 years, why couldn’t they have just happened then? I mean Balistria, the tsunami, Helslandr, and of course the damn Federation poking its nose where nobody wanted it. It all just snowballed into the shit that he has to deal with now.
It wasn’t his own re-election that he was worried about, he was going to be re-elected, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind. Litengrunn alone made sure of that. No, it was everything else. Turns out, years of military-intervention and steadily rising regional tensions don’t make for good ways of increasing approval ratings. At least, not from the other parties. Up until now the continuation of the coalition with the conservatives was never to be doubted, but the nuclear crisis with the Federation had almost compromised everything. Thank Odin that they’re still on his side, mostly. More than a few left the conservatives when Jens Hauge announced he had no plans to part with the coalition. The deserters were the real problem.
Åsmund Bortnem, that man was an enigma to him. He didn’t even know what his ideology was, all he knew about him was his promised policy of “Pledonia First” if elected. It was mainly the people that Bortnem attracted that he was worried about, however. Right-wing extremists and hirdists, the worst case scenario. Bortnem knew exactly what to say to attract them, make them angry, and make them scared. It always worked. The party was a breeding ground for conspiracy theories. Some were even claiming that Litengrunn was an inside job, an excuse for Pledonia to ban the Iron Front from government and “perfecting the nation” as some put it. All of this under the guise of putting the country and its citizens first. He was also certain that Bortnem would try to convince Hauge to leave the coalition and create a conservative bloc. Bortnem hadn’t been successful yet, but… who knows what could happen in the next month.
“The puppets of Norgsveldet will no longer push their agenda onto us. For too long the issues of Pledonia have been swept aside for the appeasement of the imperialists. If a tsunami and the deaths of thousands of our own blood cannot bring them to their senses, then what hope for them is there? We must now focus on our problems, Pledonians fixing Pledonian problems. I will not let this nation be occupied by people like Nordheim ever again. Pledonia. First.”
The crowd cheered, waving their Pledonian flags and flags of his infamous slogan. He hadn’t won the election yet. It would be a long shot, he knew, not in the history of the nation had an incumbent President ever been voted out of office. He was different, the stars had seemingly aligned for his victory. His campaign ad managers were absolute geniuses, they knew exactly what would rile the people up.
“They say they’re focused on the people, that they want to make their lives better. We can see straight through them. They say they hate the Federation and will do everything in their power to stop their influence, its all a ruse. Norgsveldet supports the federation, they support communism, what broke Frilandr in twain they stand for and wish to protect. Nordheim and his administration bend the knee to Norgsveldet and communism, given the chance they would allow the federation to sweep in here and destroy our very way of life. I will not stand for this, and I know nobody here will either. We must stand strong against those who threaten us, against the communist, against Norgsveldet and the imperialists. We must reignite the spirit of Frilandr and make Pledonia great again!”
"…and now PNN has officially called all 300 seats of the Stortinget, which are as follows:
With 39% of the vote the Democratic Freedom Party claims 117 seats, along with their coalition member the Pledonian Agrarian Party with 63, giving them a majority in the Stortinget. Next, the Pledonian Natinonal Union, achieved 18% of the vote, claiming 54 seats. The Environmentalist League with 9% of the vote, claiming 27 seats. The People’s Unity Party with 7% of the vote, claiming 21 seats. And finally the Ulvriktru Unity Movement, with 6% of the vote, claiming 18 seats."
Political Party
Leader
Ideology
# of Votes
% of Vote
Seats
Status
Democratic Freedom Party
Oscar Nordheim
Democratic Socialist
3,309,780
39
117
Government
Pledonian Agrarian Party
Jens Hauge
Agarian Conservative, Centrist
1,782,189
21
63
Government
Pledonian Natinonal Union
Åsmund Bortnem
Right-Wing Populist
1,527,591
18
54
Opposition
Environmentalist League
Amanda Evensen
Green Politics
763,795
9
27
Support
People’s Unity Party
Svend Haugen
Left-wing populism
594,063
7
21
Support
Ulvriktru Unity Movement
Marion Aalvik
Ulvriktru Conservatism
509,197
6
18
Opposition
“With the coalition achieving a majority, incumbent Chancellor Lukas Gronseth is expected to be re-nominated as Chancellor should Nordheim win. And now the Presidential election, so far it seems a runoff election will be necessary as no candidate has garnered more than 50% of the vote. Oscar Nordheim of the Democratic Freedom Party received 42%, Åsmund Bortnem of the Pledonian Natinonal Union received 36%, Amanda Evensen of the Environmentalist League received 13% of the vote, and Marion Aalvik of the Ulvriktru Unity Movement recieved 9%. Svend Haugen of the People’s Unity Party nor Jens Hauge of the Pledonian Agrarian Party opted to run against Nordheim. This runoff election is to be scheduled for November 1st, with the polls open from 07:00 to 19:00. All either candidate will need is a simple majority of the votes to become elected.”
This was taking much longer than he originally thought it would. He wasn’t super surprised when the election went into a runoff, he was still certain he would win. But now he was… much less certain. Usually the election would’ve been called by now if there was a clear winner. This was going to be a very long night. Especially with Åsmund Bortnem leading his 24 hour runoff election night rally, completely incidentally right outside the Presidential Palace, so that he could hear almost every word. He was technically on public property so it was completely legal, but it wasn’t exactly subtle what he was trying to do.
The gasps came abruptly, with a rain of booing and jeers following suit. It caught Nordheim very much off guard, he assumed that Bortnem was riling them up or something of his usual acts. His phone buzzed, checking it he saw that PNN had finally called the election, he had won. He’ll have to make his speech soon then, but at last he could get some sleep. His thoughts then were drowned out by Bortnem’s rambling. Nordheim couldn’t make all of it out, all he understood was “stolen”, “true patriots”, “time for action”, “fall before us”, “reclaim”. A little strange but, it was Bortnem after all. He didn’t think too much of it.
A few minutes passed, the noise hadn’t died down, the yelling, the chanting. In fact, he could’ve sworn it was getting louder . Probably just chuck it up to-- the door burst open.
“Mr. President, we need to leave.” Stated one of ten bodyguards entering his office. Nordheim couldn’t speak, something was happening, something bad if he needed to evacuate*.* He looked out the window to see an ocean of people. Moving, no, rushing , toward the palace. Riot police stationed outside the palace were outnumbered what could’ve been 20 to 1. They crashed into them like a train, almost instantly overwhelming the police and those who got through rushed toward the fence.
It had been 9 months. At least, that how long that night felt. President Nordheim has been successfully evacuated from the premises before any of the rioters were able to cross the front lawn. As soon as the first one has jumped the fence, all hopes of a peaceful end died with him, being gunned down by the guards.
That night, was just noise. Screams, sirens, whip cracks and thunder. But as the noise faded from the streets… it transferred to screens. News broadcasts, pigeon alerts, phone calls. All noise.
It was all getting to Nordheim, his head pulsating, his brain trying to squeeze out of his skull to escape the noise. He was exhausted, he couldn’t keep this up. He sat in one of his safe houses, he didn’t sleep, didn’t eat. He saw all of the news, pigeon threads, all of it. It was a bag of contradicting information and mass hysteria. Gods, what the hell was even going to happen after this? Saying this didn’t have any precedent was the understatement of the year. Would Bortnem be held responsible? The rioters? His head pounded even more as he gave it a thought. Rubbed his temples, slouching down, trying to ease some of the pain.
He sighed and stood up, he knew what had to happen. F*ck, this was going to be one hell of a Supreme Court case. He went to his desk and began writing.
By the President of the Republic of Pledonia
A Declaration of a State Of Emergency