History of Elysium
The history of Elysium dates back to 2011 with the foundation of Elyria by Robert Smith and others. Elyria merged with other micronations located around the Savannah River in 2015 to form the Empire of Elysium. The first few years of Elysium saw inactivity until around 2019, with the formation of the Vox and Democracy Now Parties, the first political parties. The nation saw its first scandal the same year with Tillgate, when an incoming Chancellor was removed from Parliament by the Vox Party, resulting in the Chancellor becoming head of government.
The ministry of Kyle Smith, which followed Tillgate, saw the establishment of a Discord server, resulting in increased citizenship. The time period also saw the rise of politicians such as Adam Johnston, who would later become leader of the Progressive Party. 2019 also saw the rise of Tau Barclay, who became Chancellor in mid-2019. Summer 2019 saw the Great Elysium Council pass numerous major reforms.
Upon the resignation of Tau in December 2019, Kyle Smith became Chancellor once more; however, the nation was promptly surrounding with scandal surrounding the Vox Populi organization, founded during Tau's ministry. Following this scandal, though, numerous reforms were passed by his administration; he would resign in April 2020. May saw the rise of the New Elysium Party, which would later be dissolved due to inactivity in Elysium. The rest of the year saw the founding of the Rhinoceros Party, Elysium's first satirical party.
In July 2020, Elysium became a republic, with Adam Johnston serving as Prime Minister during its period as such. The republican era saw the rise of the conservative movement, which was headed by the Democratic Traditionalist (and later the National Democrats). In late 2021, a referendum was held regarding monarchism, with monarchists winning. The referendum resulted in Elysium becoming a monarchy the same year.
Elyria (2011-2015)
On July 1, 2011, the Republic of Elyria was established by Robert Smith, Brian Gmeisa, and Riley Nim. The early Elyrian state elected Brian Gmeisa to be the first President of the nation, with Robert Smith being appointed Minister of Political Administration and Riley Nim appointed Head of Land Administration. Despite early growth, Brian Gmeisa went inactive and, for nearly two years, little to no development was made on the micronation other than the creation of a few national symbols. Upon the expiration of Brian Gmeisa's term, Robert Smith was elected President on 15 March 2015.
The primary objective of the Smith presidency was to establish relations with nearby nations; the first ally Elyria found was the Kingdom of Valor, another micronation of similar size. The two competed for members but maintained good relations, with the President of Elyria and King of Valor regularly speaking and meeting with one another. Co-founder of Elyria Riley Nim decided to make his own micronation, known as the Democratic State of Quincet; the micronation was ruled by a council of leaders who where elected. Quincet remained smaller than Elyria and the two agreed to allow their citizens to hold dual citizenship, with Riley Nim being given the right to serve as an official in both nations. The foundation of Quincet inspired a friend of Smith and Nim to form the Republic of Sakguwea. The Republic of Sakguwea followed their own strict traditions and, although it was officially a republic, no elections occurred, with the nation being primary governed by the founders of the nation.
Smith sought political reform within Elyria and toyed with the idea of establishing Elyria as a monarchy, but decided against it. Robert Smith changed Riley Nim's ministry to Defense, although little was done with this. Despite the major growth and new allies, the nation still suffered from inactivity and a lack of members.
First Reign of Robert II
Foundation (2015)
Robert Smith acted swiftly to establish official relations with the nearby nations of the Savannah river area. These nations all had troubles with inactivity and size, so, on 9 September 2015, the five nations united to form the Empire of Elysium. The founding nations of Elysium in descending order of population were the Republic of Elyria, the Kingdom of Valor, the Democratic State of Quincet, Republic of Sakguwea, and Kingdom of Romulus. Despite Elyria being a republic, the Kingdom of Valor insisted the nation be an monarchy under the rule of a Grand Emperor. In order to determine the first Grand Emperor, per the system set out in the Treaty of Marus Field, a popular election occurred. The other four leaders of the nations stepped aside and nominated Robert Smith of Elyria to be the first Grand Emperor; he accepted the nomination and was unanimously elected the first Grand Emperor of Elysium.
The political structure of the Empire was basic at first, with a Grand Emperor who had absolute power; each of the leaders of the previous five nations was the governor of their respective nation. No legislative or judicial branch existed and government decisions were made in the field of Marus, where the Grand Emperor took suggestions on the administration of the Empire from the governors and others who assembled there. At one of these meetings, a number of offices were made, with Riley Nim, Chief Councilor of Quincet, being declared Emperor's Hand, a pseudo-head of government. Despite the creation of the office being seen as a major step toward democracy, the Emperor's Hand was merely an advisor.
The Empire of Elysium faced its first crisis when the Republic of Sakguwea left the Empire, citing cultural differences and a perceived lack of democracy within the Empire. Initially, the leadership of the Empire refused to recognize this new state and placed multiple spies within the nation in order to start a unification movement. Grand Emperor Smith privately met with the President of Sakguwea and the two agreed to work toward a settlement; three days later, the Treaty of the Atlantic was signed, in which both micronations recognized each other as sovereign states. Both nations ended up spying on the other, but the two eventually agreed to non-aggression and mutual cooperation. While the crisis was handled smoothly, many Elysiumites left the nation to join Sakguwea, leading to a stint of inactivity; to combat this, Riley Nim began to campaign for the democratization of the Empire.
Nim ministry
No parties existed in early Elysium; however, two factions rose up, the Tilities and Rilites. The Rilites supported Riley Nim, who campaigned for democratic reform, development of land, and regional autonomy within the Empire. The Tilities followed the Minister of Defense, FPM, who campaigned for a strong federal state, the creation of a Christian state, and absolute monarchy. Although these two factions debated each other often, the lack of democracy within the Empire meant the rivalry was unfocused.
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Due to the lack of elected offices during this time, there was little to no political growth or foundations. While some attempts to write a constitution had been made, all had been abandoned due to a lack of support and lack of interest from citizens of the Empire. Rather, the primary concern of the young imperial government was military development. Due to this policy, the most notable events of this time include the creation of small forts within the nearby woodlands of Quincet and in Elyria. While these forts where functionally useless, they served as a symbol of national pride, with their primary use being to give the nation projects to work on. The largest of these forts, Fort Brim, was commonly used as a spot for members of the Empire to meet during weekends and camp at. During this time, the first fishing derbies in Elysium began to appear, albeit highly unorganized and merely friendly competitions. These contests, as well as the high frequencies of ponds and lakes within and adjacent to Elysium, resulted in activities centered around bodies of water becoming early cultural staples in Elysium. Riley Nim was considered among the best fishermen in Elysium and still holds this distinction in Elyria.
By the beginning of 2019, two political parties had sprung up when the Tilities, led by FPM, formed the Vox Party, which campaigned for absolutism, Christian values, and states’ rights. The Vox Party was primarily founded to challenge the rule of Riley Nim. In response to this, Riley's supporters founded the Democracy Now Party, nominating him as their leader. The DNP stood for centrism and constitutionalism. While being considerably to the left of the Voxists, the DNP was widely considered to be a big tent party, both by those in the party and by outside observers. While Riley Nim's social and economic views were unclear at times, many other leaders in the party took a strong stance for centre-right politics, unitarianism, and imperialism.
Riley Nim and Grand Emperor Robert II worked together to begin the process of early democratization shortly after the rise of political parties, creating the office of Prime Minister, which was directly elected, and an appointed legislature.
FPM ministry
Despite the DNP being the party that implemented the direct election of a Prime Minister, they lost in the following election to Vox Party candidate FPM in a 6-4 vote. This loss is mostly contributed to a scandal which broke a few days before the election in which Riley Nim, DNP candidate, was accused for calling for secessionism in Quincet. Following this scandal, a few members of the DNP’s more conservative wing decided to vote for FPM in order to keep the Empire united.
Once in office, FPM saw much of the organic cultural growth in Elysium – which highly resembled Dixieland culture due to Elysium’s location in the Deep South – as unnecessary. Instead, FPM attempted to produce an inorganic culture based on the nations of Europe, in particular that of the Byzantine Empire. Many early projects, such as building forts, were paused during the first half of FPM’s reign. Still, little political development was made.
In the next election, the DNP was unable to field a candidate and, as such, FPM was unopposed. Despite this, during the start of her term, many former DNP members who became independents made their way into the national legislature and were given high offices in the cabinet. Most notable of these officials was Kyle Smith, a good friend of the Grand Emperor, who rapidly rose to become Defense Minister and oversaw the resumption of building forts. Kyle Smith began to express his frustration with the policies of FPM and called for globalization by creating a Discord server, expanding foreign affairs to spread Elysium’s name, better recordkeeping of historic events and appointments, working toward an elected legislature, and, most importantly, creating a constitution. Despite this new resistance, FPM attempted to pass the most controversial part of her agenda, the Righteous Nation Act, which established Christianity as the official religion and sought to make it harder for non-Christians to become citizens. In response to this, Grand Emperor Robert II called for an emergency election and suspended the act.
In the following election, Kyle Smith won as an independent; however, the Vox Party, which controlled Parliament, removed him from office without cause. The scandal which resulted from this, nicknamed Tiligate, resulted in massive public outcry for a constitution. As such, on 23 April 2019, Grand Emperor Robert Smith announced a reorganization of the nation, with an elected Chancellor serving the Grand Emperor as head of government and a national legislature simply known as Parliament. Robert Smith also dismissed all the current members of the Vox Party serving in the legislature. Kyle Smith then formed the Imperial Party, drawing large support from the rump faction of the DNP and moderate members of the Vox Party. The Imperial Party would later become the Democratic Traditionalist, which dominated politics and whose successor, the Nationalist Democrats, remain one of the two major parties in Elysium.
First K. Smith ministry
In the first Chancellor election, Kyle Smith went on to win the 80% of the vote to FPM’s 20%. This was helped by the fact that early globalization had began to be done by Grand Emperor Robert Smith II, to the anger of FPM, with the first few global citizens casting votes for Kyle Smith. Despite this initial support, the first global citizen, Adam Johnston, would go on to make the Progressive Party later that day. The Progressives were the first left-wing party in Elysium. The Progressive Party, in her various forms, would go on to dominate politics in Elysium and remains one of two major parties, alongside Kyle Smith's Democratic Traditionalist and their successor, the Elysiumite Nationalist Democrats. In the first 2019 senatorial elections, three Progressives and two Imperialists were appointed to Parliament by Grand Emperor Robert Smith II.
Upon taking office, Kyle Smith opened up Elysium to people outside of local areas and began to accept citizenships online through a public Discord server. This led to rapid growth and a resurgence of activity within Elysium. In partnership with the Grand Emperor and various Grand Senators, Kyle Smith began to write the first constitution of Elysium; modeled heavily after the United States Constitution, it included an upper and lower house, as well as a directly elected Chancellor. It varied greatly from that of the American constitution due to it maintaining and enshrining the Elysiumite monarchy into law, with the Grand Emperor serving as head of state with a number of powers of the affairs of the nation. Despite his success, the opposing Progressive Party took an initial lead in the Grand Senate, although it ought to be noted that the Grand Senate was appointed at this point.
The first Grand Senate passed major acts, such as the Judiciary Act by Adam Johnston, which extended the power of the courts and of juries; the Ernst Fair Use Act, which set out a basic copyright system; and the Marriage Act, which ensured marriage equality. A state industry act was proposed in this session but was defeated by the Imperial Party and WissenTech. Although all of the acts from this session have been repealed or amended. the intent of the acts has survived through other bills and amendments, which merely fix the grammar and loopholes of these early laws. During this session, powerful Grand Senators such as Sir Adam Johnston and Sir Spooky Johnston began their careers in the Grand Senate. Interestingly, there was no Speaker at this time.
On 25 May 2019, the Kingdom of Salibaic briefly joined the Empire. This was the first instance of a foreign state entering the Empire and also the first time the Empire expanded its realms into Europe. Despite this, Salibaic soon pulled out of the Empire with a referendum that the Imperial Party-led government disparaged as fake. The primary cause of secession steamed from Grand Senator Sir Spooky Johnston, who was a major opponent of unification, being accused of being a traitor for attempting to sink the negotiations for unification. As such, the Imperial government had the Department of Justice investigate Sir Spooky Johnston; this affair was leaked by an unknown whistleblower and resulted in public outrage within Salibaic due to Sir Spooky being the Crown Prince of Salibaic prior to the unification. The federal government attempted to cool down the population of Salibaic by explaining the reasons for the investigation, namely Sir Spooky's public opposition to reunification and pushing for hardline anti-federal policies within private negotiations. Despite the efforts of the Grand Emperor and of Kyle Smith, a referendum was held within Salibaic where two citizens voted, compared to the eleven who had voted in the last election.
The low turnout and the fact that merely two people opposed unification in the initial referendum led to the Imperial government condemning Adam Johnston and Spooky Johnston and removing them from the Grand Senate; Spooky later had his citizenship revoked. Xavier Jackson, who was originally the candidate for the Progressives in the upcoming second Chancellor election, left the party. Despite the government doubting the authenticity of the referendum, they allowed it and began negotiations for the withdraw of Salibaic from Elysium. On 24 May, Xavier Jackson launched the Reformist Party and declared himself the Reformist candidate for Chancellor. The new Reformist Party is seen as many as the first libertarian party within Elysium, with a socially progressive and fiscally liberal platform. The party also called for secularism, constitutional monarchism, and environmentalism. In response, Adam Johnston became the candidate for the Progressive Party but had his citizenship revoked after Salibaic formally left. Despite the withdrawal of Salibaic, many Elysiumites rallied around Kyle Smith in the aftermath.
Following Kyle Smith’s re-election, Adam Johnston and Sir Spooky Johnston reapplied and regained citizenship; Adam Johnston was readmitted to the Grand Senate as a representative of Elyria. Soon following this, Elysium joined a number of other micronations led by Etukan in denouncing Cycoldia. Soon after following a meeting between Christina Nowell, leader of Cycoldia, and Robert Smith, Elysium withdrew from the treaty. Both sides in the following “war” asked for Elysium to provide assistance; Elysium refused, citing its disbelief in micronational war. Salibaic joined the “war” and, with help with a Discord community named after the USSR, attempted to declare war on Elysium; the Chancellor accidentally released a statement recognizing it as a declaration, later explaining it as a mistake and withdrawing it. Salibaic soon withdrew the declaration after internal scrutiny of King Adam I for it. A few days later, the war concluded, with Orini dissolving and joining Elysium, though few other nations recognized the annexation. Orini was initially admitted as a province but, following inactivity, the state was dissolved; Elysium still claims to be the legal successor to Orini.
Soon after Kyle Smith was re-elected, the Elysiumite National State Party, or the ENSP, was founded by Friedrich Garrison. The new party revived the far-right politics of the Vox Party, but, unlike them, stood against monarchy. Democratic Traditionalist and Progressives rallied alike to oppose the new party, with Progressives claiming it was a fascist party and Democratic Traditionalist opposing their anti-monarchial stance. While one member of the ENSP was able to get into the Grand Senate on behalf of Elyria, this proved to be the downfall of the party. Despite more moderate legislation within the Grand Senate, most notably an act restricting the forms of political parties which could operate within the Empire, the sole Grand Senator from the party was expelled from the House following accusations of treason. This marked the first time the establishment political parties banded together to run out far right or far left parties, a trend which continued to most other extreme parties.
Following this, the Libertarian Party was founded by Tau Barclay. The party rapidly grew to be the third-largest in Elysium and ran on a platform of classical liberalism; Tau in particular was popular among both the left and right of Elysium. Tau made it into the Grand Senate, where he gained a reputation for being among the most active legislators, an advocate for government transparency, and an early advocate of professionalizing the government. Soon after entering the Grand Senate, he was elected the first Speaker of the Grand Senate, defeating Johann Kümmel and Philip Irikladis. June and July saw a number of legislative achievements for the government, such as the Government Continuation Act, which formally created an order of succession; the Political Party Registration Act, which governed political parties; and a legislative package which created various new offices, including Deputy Chancellor. Around this time, Tau became the Crown Prince of Elysium, being voted in by the House of Nobles. Elysium formally established relations with the Commonwealth of Matachewan-Prussia, later simply Matachewan, who would grow to be one of Elysium's greatest allies until their dissolution in 2021.
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In late July, the campaigns of Stanley Appleby began. Appleby called for the end of an appointed legislature, believing the nation had grown large enough. His calls were soon joined by that of Adam Johnston, Spooky Johnston, and other reformists; Robert Smith briefly considered stepping down when the calls began to be directed against him due to incompetence. Chancellor Kyle Smith convinced him to not step down and, instead, elections were organized to reform the government. A Great Elysium Council was called, where Governors, the Grand Emperor, Chancellor, Deputy Chancellor, Cabinet, Nobles, and Grand Senators met to discuss reforms. The most active members of this council were Grand Emperor Robert II of the moderate camp, calling for reform but nothing radical, with Kyle Smith, Suyash Adhikari, and Tau Barclay supporting the same policy. Adam Johnston and Stanley Kenney led the reformist faction of the council, and Christina Nowell led a group who opposed reforms and wanted to expand the power of the monarchy. Mrs. Nowell stated: "Reminder that I lost a civil war to lose absolute power, and I would still have more power then Grand Emperor Robert II, who lost it to agreements". Critics responded, calling Cycoldia a borderline dictatorship that Elysium ought not replicate. Despite the spilt groups in the council, major reforms were passed and an election to the third Grand Senate was arranged. Before the election, the Libertarians of Tau and Progressives of Johnston merged to form the Libertarian-Progressive Party, which was co-led by the two.
The July 2019 senatorial election was the first true election to the Grand Senate, in which the DTs, led by Kyle Smith, won 42% of the vote. Progressives came in second and Political Evolution in third; the Unity Party would have won a seat but their candidate renounced his citizenship before the results were released. A few days later, Tau retired from the office of Speaker, stating he wanted to focus on the executive government; following this, Adam Johnston became Speaker. The Chancellor and Deputy Chancellor Terms and Nomination Act was passed through the Grand Senate at this time, officially putting term limits on the Chancellor of 16 total and 8 consecutive. Other acts, such as the Unification Act, are seen as part of the pre-localization movement, in which the Imperial government began to work with regions to develop them more directly. In late August, the Grand Senate voted out Adam Johnston as Speaker in favor of Johann Kümmel of the Democratic Traditionalist.
At the end of August, the government came into a foreign policy crisis after a pro-Elysium government was elected in Clamatoa; said government signed a treaty bringing them into the Empire. This outraged many leftists in Elysium, who saw Clamatoa as an escape from Imperial politics, and accused the government of orchestrating a coup in Clamatoa. Despite this, the citizens of Clamatoa and Grand Senate of Elysium both approved the treaty, albeit with later resistance in Clamatoa. Due to this, Kyle Smith resigned his post later that week and Tau Barclay became the second Chancellor of Elysium.
Tau ministry
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Under the Tau ministry, the nation initially saw both major population and activity growth. Elysium held more cultural events during his ministry than any other and many Elysiumites agree the early Tau Ministry was among the least toxic and most community oriented. Chancellor Tau pushed for more private companies to be founded, passing the 5-5-5 Tax Act and the Budget Act as part of this initiative. These two acts marked the first time taxes were introduced to Elysium, with a moderate amount of growth in the public treasuries due to this; despite this, conservatives claimed no growth had come from it. While many companies were founded, most of them were inactive except for the Elysiumite Advocate, a private newspaper which briefly grew large enough to rival Elysium's oldest and state-owned paper, the Josephina Times.
Tau was also a committed globalist and saw Elysium apply to become an observer in the Grand Unified Micronational, as well as founding its own organization alongside her allies, known as Vox Populi. Tau reached particularly high popularity after he campaigned for his own nation, Leo, to join the Empire as a province of Elysium. Under Tau's tenure, Kyle Smith negotiated Greymont to join the Empire, with Tau receiving most of the credit. Tau fought a hard election campaign against independent Chris Ramsay, with Tau narrowly winning. Chris won 46% of the vote, by far the best performance of any independent candidate for Chancellor and the best second place performance. Despite his win in the Chancellory, Kyle Smith led the Democratic Traditionalist to a landslide victory in the September 2019 senatorial election. This conservative backlash, combined with grassroots critics of Tau stating his economics reforms had done nothing but make a bunch of company logos, and backlash from his own party due to a growing socialist movement within the Progressive-Libertarians, led to Tau's approval rating to drop to under 20%. This less than 20% approval rating remains the lowest any public official has achieved and it was not until early 2022 Tau's popularity reached higher than 50% again.
In response to the lack of support from his own party, Tau Barclay called for a snap election in the Grand Senate and left the Progressive-Libertarian Party. Barclay led many libertarians out of the party and into a merger deal with the Democratic Traditionalist; the two parties then founded the Reform Party of Elysium. In the resulting October 2019 senatorial election, the Progressive Party for the first time in its history fell to third place in the Grand Senate, being surpassed by the far-right Free Society Party. Tau's low approval rating led him to call a snap election; he withheld from running in the succeeding election. In Tau's lame duck period, he guided the highlight of his career, the Second Constitution of Elysium, through the Grand Senate and narrowly got it to pass. Tau's new constitution increased the rights of citizens, closed a number of loopholes in the former constitution, abolished Elysium's upper house, the House of Nobles, limited the power of the Grand Emperor, and expanded the power of various government agencies and regions.
In this time, the Reform Party, meant to be a unity party between conservatives and libertarians, became primarily a conservative party, with Robert Smith and Kyle Smith taking the primary leadership roles. Meanwhile, in the general election campaign, Kyle Smith announced his wish to return to the Chancellery and received the nomination of the Reform Party. Despite this, two previously unknown Reform Party politicians, Gaber Vaduz and Rican Warr, both ran for Chancellor. The majority of Progressives supported Adam Johnston, although he never was formally nominated by the party; as such, Thomas Bainbridge also ran under the Progressive label. It ought to be noted that, while Adam Johnston was seen as the leader of the socialist wing of the party, Bainbridge was a staunch ally of Tau and a member of the more conservative faction of Progressives. All other candidates ran as independents and had minor campaigns at most.
Second K. Smith ministry
Kyle Smith won the election on the first ballot with 65.3% of the vote; Adam Johnston came in second with 15.3% of the vote and was followed by Rican Warr with 7.7% of the vote. All other candidates got less than 5% of the vote. Kyle Smith's decisive election victory, combined with the Reform Party maintaining their majority, was hailed as the "Reformist Revolution" by the the Grand Emperor, and, despite Tau being a member of the Reform Party, he was excluded from the second Smith ministry due to his endorsement of Adam Johnston.
While hopes for a successful ministry were high, the Kyle Smith ministry was soon hit by scandal. An anonymous government official leaked a document to the Millanic Confederation, stating how the Empire of Elysium attended to use Vox Populi to coerce nations into Elysium. The IAMC then released a public document repeating the accusations made by the anonymous source.[1] This report was then distributed throughout the micronational community by many sources, most notably failed Chancellor candidate Thomas Bainbridge, an action which temporary led to Bainbridge's exile from Elysium. Barclay was the first person to inform the Empire's government of the report, as the government of Elysium had no contact with Millania, clearing the Grand Emperor and Chancellor's name. In response to these allegations, Robert Smith denied the document's validity, stating that many parts of the report did not make sense.
In response to the document, most Vox Populi nations cleared Elysium's name, as did Elysium's major ally Matachewan, a former Vox Populi member state that had left the organization. Matachewan's Brandon Mierzwa and Robert Smith worked together to refute the claims by the IAMC, in particular an accusation that Elysium attended to make it difficult to leave Vox Populi in order to keep nations within the alliance. Matachewan used its own testimony that it had left the organization while receiving no repercussions from Elysium or any Vox Populi member states as evidence that the document was inaccurate. It was in the mist of this scandal that Leo declared a second republic, withdrawing from the Elysium under the leadership of Tau. Tau's sudden reversal of course in Leo and his proposal of using Vox Populi to advance imperial ambitions of Elysium while he was still Chancellor led the government to accuse Tau of being the anonymous individual who leaked the fabricated reports to Millania. Outcry against Tau in Elysium was massive following this, with members of the Reform and Progressive Parties denouncing him. It was in this context that Tau Barclay went into self-exile from Elysium; in his final address to the nation, he blasted Robert Smith for incompetence.
Despite many micronations denouncing Elysium and the reputation of Elysium being tarnished among much of the micronational sphere, it had survived the scandal more unified domestically and without losing any of its pre-existing allies. Ironically, Vox Populi was dissolved regardless of the report due to inactivity and Elysium's wish to distance itself from Barclay's policies as Chancellor. The Reform Party and Progressives entered into a formal alliance against remaining supporters of Tau and Gabriel Hackman's Free Society Party. The new National Coalition, as it was called, dominated Elysiumite politics and Kyle Smith was unopposed in the next two Chancellery elections from the Progressives. In return for their support, Adam Johnston was allowed to become Speaker - there was no office of Deputy Chancellor at the time - despite his party being smaller than the Reform Party. The Vox Populi scandal led to Suyash Adhikari returning to micronationalism. Adhikari then worked with the Kyle Smith administration to negotiate Daeltheria and Ticronvidia's entrance into the Empire. Ticronvidia was particularly a scandalous admission as the region was, until its entrance into Elysium, a member state of Cycoldia, a nation with tense relations with Elysium. In response to Ticronvidia expelling Cycoldian officials and entering the Empire, Cycoldia refused to recognize Ticronvidia's entrance into Elysium. Despite this the only major nation which both nations were close to, Matachewan, recognized Ticronvidia as an Elysiumite region. The entrance of the two nations, in particular Ticronvidia, led to domestic praise within Elysium.
Kyle Smith, being the former Minister of Defense, reorganized the military of Elysium with the help of the Grand Emperor and Brandon Mierzwa. Under these reforms, a new system of military ranks, the Elysiumite Foreign Legion, and general staff were introduced. Elysium also created a deal with Matachewan to exchange armaments' blueprints, but little came of this. Robert and Kyle Smith also created a citizenship application for Elysium, which formalized the long informal process. After passing these reforms, the Kyle Smith administration focused on its major projects, the localization and industrialization of Elysium. Although it was the first Smith ministry which introduced widespread globalization in Elysium, this focus on finding citizens and allies from outside of South Carolina led to the regions of Elysium being ignored and the nation falling to an all-time low number of local citizens. In response to this, the federal government introduced localization quotas for regions; if regions failed to reach a certain number of local citizens, they were stripped of some of their autonomy. Due to these actions, Elyria in particular oversaw the most growth of any region and again came to the forefront of population and influence in the Empire. Upon achieving high levels of localization, Elyria became the first region to pursue industrialization, and, as such, the new state-owned Imperial Agricultural Corporation was set up in Elyria first. This program saw moderate success during the Kyle Smith ministry and was often times used as evidence of the success of Kyle Smith's programs over Tau's programs. The Grand Senate also passed major amendments which undid a number of Tau's reforms. In the January 2020 senatorial election, the National Coalition won eight out of eleven seats, with the only seats not going to members of the coalition being in Daeltheria. Kyle Smith was also re-elected to his fifth term, second consecutive term, by a massive 84% victory over the independent J.P. Bubbles, who won a mere 16% of the vote.
Kyle Smith's forth term saw less reform, with most government activity focused on continuing the programs he put in place and expanding them. During this time, Kraxar's Duke attempted to declare independence; shockingly, the locals of Kraxar opposed it and declared a new government which stayed in Elysium. Despite this, Kraxar remained inactive and the government eventually disbanded it. It was also during this time that Elysium and Leo held a joint conference, which led to the two nations connecting once more and Tau returning to Elysium; in turn, Robert Smith ended his campaign for reunification. The growing economic leftism in the Reform Party led to the Reform Party and Progressive Party merging into the New Elysium Party in March 2020. This new party stood on a platform of nationalizating industry, localization of regions, electoral reform, monarchism, and trade unionism. The party did not adopt an official social policy; however, a majority of the party was socially conservative. The party acted swiftly to end Elysium's current electoral system, single transferable vote, and replaced it with mixed-member proportional representation. These reforms were done as there was rarely more candidates running for a seat than there was seats and, in the few seats where there was an excess of candidates, it was often an extreme excess. As such, only a few seats truly held elections and, in those that did, their power was muted.
These reforms were implemented only a few days before the March 2020 senatorial election and, in the resulting election, the the NEP won an astounding 95% of the vote, with the Elysiumite Verdant Party, a new environmental party, winning only 5% of the vote. In the new Grand Senate, the NEP won 19 seats and the EVP a mere one seat; Kyle Smith was re-elected to a third consecutive term with 73% of the vote, Johann Kümmel of the EVP won 14% of the vote, the rest of the vote was captured by various independents. Despite the success of the party, Tau denounced the NEP, stating that he had not been informed of the merger despite being the co-founder of the Reform Party; NEP leadership shot back, saying that Tau had been missing from imperial politics for months and it was silly to think he would all of a sudden be hailed as the leader of the Reform Party for returning. Alongside his supporters, Tau then joined the minor Pacoist Party; it was led by the leadership of the micronation Pametchia and had never seen much prominence within the Empire.
The new Tauist leadership were soon exposed for conspiring to create a republic and Tau was again exiled from Elysium. Hopes for Kyle's sixth total term were high after he, alongside Robert Smith, released the Imperial Development Plan. The Development Plan outlined various problems within the Empire, such as individuals who held overlapping regional citizenship due to the various mergers in Elysium. The document also sought a new golden age of diplomacy due to most of the community no longer being angry at Elysium over the Vox Populi scandal, with the possibility of trade being brought up as regions continued to localize and relations were formed with nearby micronations. The plan also called for introducing reforms to increase transparency in the government, the creation of a petition and referenda system, and growth of the civil service. These proposed reforms, combined with major growth in the number of citizens of Elysium, led citizens in Elyria to vote in a Kyle Smith-backing conservative government, and soon it was declared in various newspapers that Elysium was undergoing a "conservative revolution".
This seemed all the more possible when Ringston entered the Empire. Ringston was founded as a province in central Illinois by conservative population Gabriel Hackman and rapidly grew to become the third-largest region in Elysium. At first, most of the Ringston government backed the NEP, but, after a disagreement with the federal government, backed a new regionalist Patriots Party of Elysium. The Patriots Party stood on a platform of fiscal liberalism, pro-life politics, and states rights. This party was denounced by the NEP and, following this, Ringston's newly elected Patriot government declared independence; Elysium recognized their independence, not wishing to make a big deal out of the issue.
On 14 April 2020, Kyle Smith resigned, stating he felt that he had failed the citizens of the Empire. The Empire was deeply saddened to see him resign and many citizens sent him personal messages stating their support and thanks for his service, including incoming Chancellor Johnston and Grand Emperor Robert II.
First Johnston ministry
Adam Johnston, being the Speaker of Elysium, assumed the Chancellery only a few hours after Kyle Smith's resignation. Johnston was from the left wing faction of the NEP and was the founder of the Progressive Party. When Adam Johnston became Chancellor, he was the first self-described socialist to become Chancellor, in addition to being the first openly gay Chancellor.
The Johnston ministry devoted the first few days of its ministry to undermining the recently independent Ringston. First, the government of Elysium released documents it held on Gabriel Hackman, explaining how he failed to abide by the Elysiumite constitution, commited voter fraud in Leo, conspired against Matachewan and Leo and had undermined the Cycoldian domestic agenda. Following this, Hackman was denounced by much of the foreign community and Ringston lost a large percentage of its population, dissolving soon after this. Adam Johnston received considerable support from conservatives for his actions against Ringston.
Despite this, Adam Johnston's support of left-wing polices and of leftist politicians acted as a bulwark against the conservative revival in Elysium. Soon, this conservative revival died out and Elysium continued to grow more left-wing than it had ever been before due to the actions and popularity of the Johnston ministry. As a result, the Freedom of Sexuality Act was passed, which made it illegal to discriminate against individuals on a basis of gender or sexual orientation. The act was the creation of Felix Earls, a NEP backbencher, but was championed by Adam Johnston. Despite Robert Smith's previously conservative views on marriage, he assented to the Act, as Johnston changed his views on LGBTQ affairs. At the same time, Robert Smith guided the Transparency Act through the Grand Senate, which required the Chancellor's cabinet to produce a number of reports and agendas at certain times; despite the popularity of this act, the Johnston government rarely enforced it. The act also created Chancellor's Questions, similar to the UK's Prime Minister's Questions. While this was enforced for the first few months, it rarely occurred until the Doe opposition. The Grand Emperor worked with First Minister of Ticronvidia, Javkase, to work out the Compromise of 2020. Under this compromise, the former relations many Commonwealths held before becoming member states in the Empire could be renegotiated at the imperial level, expanding Elysium's foreign influence.
Outside of the legislative area, the Johnston ministry held a number of public events with the help of the new Secretary of Entertainment and Culture, Chris Ramsay. During this time, the United Royal Republics of Jockromasa joined the Empire of Elysium and merged with Greymont to form the Region of Greater Jockromasa-Greymont. Despite the large number of citizens this brought to the Empire, Jockromasa was soon after expelled from the Empire after its governor, Evan Paul, was accused of espionage by the Grand Emperor and narrowly avoided impeachment in the Grand Senate. After the Grand Senate refused to impeach Paul, the Imperial High Court expelled Jockromasa following the request of the Grand Emperor. Adam Johnston orchestrated the first debate with recorded audio between Adam Johnston and Kyle Smith, with Robert Smith moderating the debate. After Jockromasa left the Empire, many members of the NEP left the party to form the Democratic Socialist Party of Elysium. Despite its name, the party was not democratic socialist but rather a big tent party which opposed the one dominant-party system which had been formed under the NEP, and, while leader Johann Kümmel was a self-described socialist, there were also a number of conserveratives and moderates in the party. The party also called for a free but regulated market rather than traditional socialist market values. The new party rapidly grew to become the second-largest in Elysium, but still could not outcompete the hegemony of the NEP. In the resulting 2020 III senatorial election, the NEP won 78.6% of the vote to the DSP's 21.4%, which, while a significant drop in support for the NEP, broke the spirits of many members of the DSP.
By late May, the early burst of activity due to the new Johnston ministry had died down. The Grand Senate became more inactive than had ever been, attempts to reform the civil service failed, and the government failed to abide by transparency requirements. Due to this, a second Great Elysium Council was called but the convention failed due to gridlock between varying regional interests. It was in this context that Grand Emperor Smith delivered a major address to the nation, in which he called for Elysium to change its course of direction. Specifically, he announced his plan to become a non-partisan monarch and, in his final act as Chairman of the NEP, dissolved the party, encouraging the conflicting factions of the party to make their own parties; he also called for recentralizing the nation around its Southern commonwealths, stating that the time and resources being used to attempt to develop northern Commonwealths was too much, and for an extended bill of rights that would protect minority and labor rights, the removal of power from the monarchy and its reallocation to the Chancellor and Grand Senate, the abolishment of the Imperial Council, and the reduction of crucial votes from 2/3 majority to 3/5 majority support in the Grand Senate. The Grand Emperor ended his address by stating that he hoped these reforms would be used to revolutionize Elysium and make her government more effective.
In the aftermath of this address, the NEP spilt into the Progressive Party led by Johnston, the Imperial Conservatives Party led by Johannes Tyurukstein, the Liberal Party led by James Christian, the Evolutionary Party led by Javkase, and the Yedinist Party of Elysium led by Zecherian O'Hair. The Democratic Socialist Party then dissolved, as it felt its mission was complete, with its members spiltting between the new parties. At the same time, the Communist Party of Elysium was organized and led by Sean O'Neill.
The Evolutionary Party was a center-right liberal party which campaigned on an anti-establishment, pro-reform, and anti-corruption. The Yedinist Party of Zecheriah O'Hair followed a center-left ideology created by O'Hair called Yedinism, which was similar to social democracy. The new Progressive government pledged to call a snap election upon the competition of a major constitutional amendment, but this planned amendment soon grew into calls for a new constitution and Robert Smith, on 1 July 2020, voiced support for transitioning Elysium to a republic, as he thought it would make Elysium more attractive to new prospective citizens and politicians. Six days later, on 6 July 2020, the Grand Senate passed a new republican constitution. Following this, the incumbent Grand Emperor, Robert Smith, became the interim Chancellor of the Republic, the new head of state. Similarly, Chancellor Johnston of the Empire became the Prime Minister of the Republic.
Republican era (Smith-Johnston administration)
Despite the Grand Senate passing the new republican constitution by a large margin the people of Elysium, polling conducted by the Unionist showed a vast majority of citizens favored a continued monarchy. In response to this, the government did not have the poll results released to the public until months later, when Leader of the Opposition Elliot Doe requested the information. In the wake of the end of monarchism, the Imperial Conservative Party rebranded into the Democratic Traditionalist Party of Elysium.
In the first republican elections, Robert Smith was elected with 82.8% of the vote, continuing his tenure as head of state. At the same time, citizens voted for a new Grand Senate, which then selected a Prime Minister, in the July 2020 senatorial election, which the Progressives won with 58.6% of the vote. Adam Johnston was selected the next day to be Prime Minister of Elysium, and Javkase of the Evolutionary Party was selected to lead the opposition. In the weeks following the elections, the Grand Senate passed the Political Organizations Act (2020), the Transgender Person Protection Act, Endangered Species Act, Greymont Charter, and the Private Organization Act. Each of these acts represented the new leftist regime which had come into power, with the Political Organizations Act making it illegal for parties to raise funds for non-individuals, the Transgender Person Protections Act recognizing the right for someone to change their name and gender, the Endangered Species Act requiring the government to catalog a list of endangered species located in Elysium, the Greymont Charter reorganizing Greymont into a republic, and the Private Organization Act requiring corporations to be reorganized as worker coopreratives. The new Republic also made a number of alliances and preformed a deal with Misberia in which Elysiumite artists designed seals for Misberia and Misberian artists designed heraldry for Elysium. The Communist Party also merged with the Progressives following the election. The satirical Rhinoceros Party was founded by Moustapha Hotiet sometime after this. The Grand Senate completed its term passing the Judicial Reform Amendment, providing for elected justices; the September Reform Acts, which rewrote a number of older laws in Elysium; and the Education Act, which created a committee to explore the possibility of recreating Johann University.
Following the October 2020 senatorial election, the Progressive government was re-elected, although with a significantly smaller percentage of the vote. The opposition Evolutionary Party refrained from running and, as a result, the conserverative vote consolidated around the Democratic Traditionalist, who won 22% of the vote, up from 10.3% in July. The newly formed Rhinoceros Party came in third with 15% of the vote, which many took as a sign of dissatisfaction with the government due to most Rhino voters being protest voters. The Liberal Party fell from two to one seats, although was invited to the Progressive government. Sir Spooky Johnston was re-elected Speaker of the Grand Senate in a 14-1 vote, only facing opposition from Thomas Bainbridge, who had returned to Elysiumite politics and became Foreign Minister. The Grand Senate once more selected Adam Johnston as the Prime Minister.
In the opening days of the new Grand Senate, the Grand Senate passed a new treaty with Misberia and had Elysium enter the Vesspuchi Zone, an alliance between a number of micronations, including the Kingdom of Hrafnarfjall. A few weeks later, the Republic of New Antrim joined the Republic and became a county of Daeltheria. The Grand Senate also passed the Voters Protection Amendment, making it so Commonwealths and the federal government could not abridge voting rights except for on the basis of youth; the November Constitution Reforms, which reorganized the cabinet and creating a new article of the constitution creating an official name, language, and capital; the State Industry Act, which reorganized how nationalized industries were managed; the Election Act (2020), which mandated leadership debates, regular polling by the Unionist, and set out standards for when an emergency election could be called.
More notably to politics during this term was the fight between Elysiumite conservatives led by Elliot Doe and Immanuel Johannes. This occurred when the Democratic Traditionalist merged with the newly founded Libertarian Party of Elysium, led by May Cambridge, to form the Union Democrats. This new party stood for classical liberalism, regionalism, and libertarianism. The Progressives attacked the UDs from the left for including in their ranks Evan Paul, the disgraced former Governor of Jockrosoma, who had pushed for banning communist political parties in Elysium. While these attacks hampered the UDs, they were the least of the troubles for the new party when a faction of Elyrian Democrats, led by Elliot Doe, walked out of the party. Elliot Doe stated that the party, in turning away from Kylite democracy and in particular monarchism, were no longer truly a conservative force in Elysium. As such, Elliot Doe, J.P. Bubbles (former Senate Majority Leader and close ally of Kyle Smith), and John Stark (an Elyrian regional Senator) formed the National Conservatives Party of Elysium, which stood for Kylite democracy and paleoconservativism. In the following days, many of the UD's Grand Senate caucus joined the NatCons and the party ascended above the UDs, although the spilt led to the Rhinoceros Party briefly leading the opposition. The rise of the NatCons over the UDs led to Immanuel Johannes to dissolve the party, although, before doing so, he granted a recently opened list seat the party held to Elliot Doe. Following this, the former UDs, including Immanuel Johannes, joined the National Conservatives. As such, Elliot Doe became the official Leader of the Opposition, replacing Moustapha Hotiet of the Rhinoceros Party. The National Conserveratives reintroduced Kylite democracy and monarchism to the nation, although still remained much smaller than the Progressive Party in the coming months. As such, in the January 2021 senatorial elections, despite high hopes for the NatCons, the party won a mere 20% of the vote. The Progressives won 66% of the vote, their best election yet, and Adam Johnston once more was selected as Prime Minister. Elliot Doe, as leader of the opposition, reintroduced the traditional of having the opposition abstain on the initial vote of confidence if the government has a clear majority. The Rhinoceros Party once again came in third but were reduced to 10% of the vote, in part due to Moustapha Hotiet stepping down as leader. Sir Spooky Johnston was once more re-elected Speaker by a 20-3 margin with Sean O'Neill standing against him.
In the opening weeks of the eleventh Grand Senate, the house passed an amendment which made it so that the Deputy Chancellor would run on an official ticket with the Chancellor. This replaced the current system in which the Chancellor would just appoint a Deputy Chancellor upon the start of his term. Despite this, the incumbent Deputy Chancellor, Jayden Attlee, remained in office, although he announced his intent to retire following the end of his term to focus on other political ambitions he held. Elliot Doe called for a snap election to the office of Chancellor, stating that the office had terms of two years and, due to the lack of a true opposition during the start of the republic, a snap election was needed. While Progressive Grand Senators were against the resolution, Chancellor Smith welcomed it and called for Progressive Grand Senators to pass the resolution, which they did. Ironically, despite supporting his ascendancy to the office of Grand Emperor, Elliot Doe stood against Robert Smith in the subsequent election. The Nationalist Conservatives nominated Doe, and Elliot Doe ran without a running mate, stating he would appoint Smith should he win. Robert Smith nominated Sean O'Neill, a fellow Progressive and former leader of the Communist Party of Elysium, to be his running mate, which O'Neill accepted. The election campaign was light due to the friendship between Smith and Doe. Meanwhile, in the simultaneous Grand Senate election, Adam Johnston decided to once more seek the office of Prime Minister; he was unopposed for this bid within the Progressive Party. Despite already being the Nationalist Democratic candidate for Chancellor, Elliot Doe announced he attended to serve as the party's Grand Senate leader should he fail to win the Chancellery.
This election also saw the rise of the Christian Democratic Party, or the CDP. Due to the NC's, a party which traditionally supported the separtion of church and state while also advocating for family values, backing off of social conservatism, the CDP rose up to compete for the votes of both traditional Christians and theologically liberal Christians. The growth of the CDP was primarily fueled by former politicians from Caudonia joining Elysium en masse; as such, the principal founders of the party are generally recognized as Archie Sinclair and Iacof ap Antoni. Iacof ap Antoni represented the Christian socialist faction of the party, but despite his ideological differences with the liberal conservative Archie Sincliar, he stood down and allowed him to become leader. The new CDP faced a number of challenges, most notably Chancellor Smith and Prime Minister Johnston campaiging fiercely against the party, which led to allegations that the political establishment of Elysium wanted to suppress newcomers to politics, even if it meant ignoring fellow establishment Elyrians who they shared a number of disagreements with. These allegations would help to create the Elyrian Dynasty conspiracy that Elyrian politicians were planted by Robert Smith to ensure his own power, a conspiracy which would eventually cause a spilt in the Progressive movement and bring down the party. Meanwhile, among the Nationalist Conservatives, a new manifesto was released which moved the party program more toward the centre of politics; notably, a number of their policies would be adopted despite the party losing the election, such as citizens' initiatives, reducing Chancellor terms from two years to six months, giving the Chancellor the power to nominate a Prime Minister, the use of exhaustive ballots for Speaker elections, implementing a recall system, revoking the right of regions to hold independence referendums, and increased isolationism. Adam Johnston was re-elected with 55% of the vote in the April 2021 senatorial elections, a decrease of 11%. Robert Smith was re-elected beating Elliot Doe 60-30, in what was considered one of the closer Chancellor elections.
Following the April elections, activity in Elysium continued to decrease. While legislation was periodically passed by the Senate during the twilight era of the Republic, it was rarely enforced due to low number of civil servants. The increased failures of the executive government were criticized by Senators from both the government and the opposition. Despite this, the popularity of Prime Minister Adam Johnston and Chancellor Smith remained high. Also during this era, the Progressives once more started to divide into internal factions, reflecting the disunity in the party before the Democratic Traditionalist swept them in the September 2019 elections. One faction, led by Robert Smith, raged against what they considered inactive and incompetent Senators who merely voted with the party whip. This faction of pro-centralization were nicknamed the Blainites, after U.S. statesmen James Blaine, who opposed the spoils system. Another faction believed that the executive government was at fault for the failings of Elysium and that Robert Smith, in particular, had overstepped his power, due to actions such as blocking the enactment of a new constitution in Daeltheria, as he saw the government there as incompetent. This faction, primarily led by Daeltherian progressives, became known as Plattites after U.S. statesmen Thomas Platt, a notable Stalwart.
Tensions reached their boiling point when Jack McLaron, a Senator that proposed no legislation and rarely debated, defected from the Progressive Party, triggering a by-election in Daeltheria. Although McLaron's career as a Senator had been lackluster, he was a member of the Plattite faction, which opposed a stronger executive, and as such received endorsements from many notable Progressive Senators. Despite this, the Progressive Party choose to nominate Esty Carpentieri to run against McLaron, and Robert Smith in particular delivered a number of speeches blasting McLaron and his allies as do-nothing Progressives. Other Progressives, such as Smith's own Deputy Chancellor, Sean O'Neill (a close friend of McLaron), blasted their opponents as being out-of-touch with Daeltheria and even publicly mused about challenging Smith for the Progressive nomination in the next election. No other parties ran candidates, but the Nationalist Democrats endorsed Carpentieri and stated they opposed do-nothing Progressives like O'Neill, who represented the far-left faction of the party. Carpentieri defeated McLaron in the by-elections; however, the effects of the by-election not end in that individual seat, as the campaigning had severed the cabinet and the Progressive Party and made the chance of civil war increasingly likely. During this time, many credit Prime Minister Johnston, founder of the party and bridge between executive and legislative interest, for keeping the party together. These factors of national inactivity and progressive disunity, coupled with increased political participation from conservative Catholics, Protestants, and monarchists, led to increased support for the Nationalist Democrats.
In July 2021, the Progressives narrowly lost their majority and had to go into government with a monarchist party. In October 2021, Progressives fell below 40% for the first time in years, marking a 10% decrease in support for the party. The Nationalist Democrats rose to a new high of 34.5%. An even larger concern to the Progressives was the foundation of a new major party on the left, the Social Democratic Party of Elysium, which was formed of the third-place Liberal Party of Elysium and fourth-place Social Democratic & Monarchist Party from last election. In October, the first election the new SDP participated in, the party won over 16% of the vote, marking the highest third party performance in Elysium. Simultaneously, during the general election, a second referendum on monarchism, called due to a petition called by the NDs, was held. The NDs organized the petition after polling shifted in favor of their movement and, a day later, reached the required number of signatures. Due to the ongoing general election campaign, cracks in party unity, and the Progressives simply believing republicans would win easily, the party did not focus much of its campaign on the referendum. This calculation cost them dearly after 62% of the public voted in favorite of monarchial restoration, and as monarchist candidates won a majority of the Senate seats, the Progressives lost a great deal of their voting power.
In response to the referendum, some Progressives mused about ignoring the results, but this was seen as undemocratic and called out of the question. Chancellor Smith was tasked with writing an amendment which would restore the monarchy. Once this amendment was proposed to the Senate, Progressives refused to support, stating that it gave too much power to the Emperor, which Smith stood to be restored as. Progressives also stated that there was a number of loopholes and grammar issues in the constitution, but, despite questioning from monarchists in the Senate, the only issue pointed out was that 3/5 was written as 6/10. Following this, an informal committee was formed by both groups, one of semi-constituional monarchist was composed of Chancellor Smith, Opposition Leader Elliot Doe, Foreign Minister Thomas Bainbridge, and former Chancellor Kyle Smith. The committee also recruited former Chancellor and well respected legislator Tau Barclay to review the amendment. Another committee formed of ceremonialist and included Prime Minister Adam Johnston, Speaker Spooky Johnston, Deputy Prime Minister James Christian, and Deputy Chancellor Sean O'Neill. This second committee insisted on writing a completely new amendment, but conversations from the group were released, which made them appear to merely be socializing. These actions, compared to those of the semi-constitutionalists, who rapidly completed their reforms to the amendment, fixing loopholes and removing only one major power of the monarchy, the ability to block Ministerial appointments.
When the Senate was presented with the newly reformed amendment and motions to vote were made, Speaker Spooky Johnston overrode the motion. Following this, Prime Minister Adam Johnston made a motion for an eight-day special session on previously undiscussed legislative issues, such as the Environmental Security Act. Opposition Leader Doe spoke out against the session in the Senate, noting it had occurred without any other Senators even seconding it, but was dismissed from the chamber for the day. In response, the National Tribune, a paper owned by Elliot Doe, blasted the Progressive leadership and called for their party members to remove them from office through the ballot box. Public opinion rapidly shifted away from Prime Minister Johnston and Speaker Spooky Johnston, two of the most beloved public officials, and nationwide polling showed that 60% of the public blamed them from holding up the amendment. Also, for the first time, the Nationalist Democrats, with 41% of the vote, overtook the Progressive Party, with 35%. The same poll also showed that 65% of the public considered themselves staunch monarchist, and a slight majority favored term limiting Adam Johnston. In response to the polling and condemnations from the Chancellor, Spooky Johnston resigned as Speaker; a few days later, Adam Johnston announced he would not seek another term and endorsed party chairman Jayden Attlee to succeed him. Spooky Johnston's Deputy Speaker, Thomas Bainbridge, was sworn in and later elected as Speaker. Thomas Bainbridge then ended the special session and put amendment 13 up to a vote, which easily passed the Senate and restored the monarchy of Elysium.
Restored Empire
Outgoing Johnston ministry
Following the restoration of the monarchy, a number of changes were made to the political system of Elysium, including Chancellor Smith reclaiming the title of Emperor once more; the office of Prime Minister was once more replaced with the office of Chancellor, which Adam Johnston maintained through the transition. On 5 December, the Council of Imperial Delegates was sworn in once more and NDs composed a majority on the council.
On 12 December, each regional government elections occurred; the elections were won by the Nationalist Democrats. In total, 48% of voters cast votes for Nationalist Democratic candidates, whereas 37% cast votes for Progressive candidates and other affiliated candidates. Only 15% of citizens voted for third-party candidates in the regional elections. As the governing Progressive-SDP parties had lost the midterms, Grand Emperor Robert II issued the first Imperial Edict of the restored Empire, dissolving the Grand Senate for a snap election, stating he did not feel as if there was a mandate to govern anymore.
At the same time, the Progressive Party and Nationalist Democrats held their party primaries. Elliot Doe was unopposed for the Nationalist Democratic nomination and was unanimously approved by the party. With the retirement of Adam Johnston, resignation of Spooky Johnston, and Jayden Attlee choosing to decline to run, there was a power vacuum within the party. Former Deputy Chancellor Sean O'Neill, representing the far left faction of the party, and although he had renounced republicanism due to the referendum, he was still seen as many as a representative of the ideology. He was opposed by centre-left politicians and monarchist Speaker Thomas Bainbridge and Imperial High Court Justice William Denton. While the three did not publicly attack one another often, the latter two had expressed they had deep ideological differences with the former. Due to a spilt in the moderate vote, Sean O'Neill won the nomination with 42.8% and was declared the new leader. Almost immediately, Nationalist Democrats began to attack O'Neill over his career as First Minister of Daeltheria and as a Grand Senator, a role he served for over a year in without passing any legislation. The previous two moderates and party chairman Jayden Attlee, fearing that O'Neill could not win an election and fearing him having power if he did, formed an alliance to defeat him. William Denton withdrew from the leadership contest and endorsed Thomas Bainbridge, who then requested for a second round of voting to determine who would win the nomination. Chairman Attlee then accepted his request and called for a second round of voting. O'Neill, feeling as if the party was working against him ,resigned from his position in the party, and then left the Progressives altogether, threatening to form his power political party. In response, William Denton again entered the race but was defeated by Thomas Bainbridge.
In response to the actions in his party, which those support Sean O'Neill referred to as a coup, Adam Johnston resigned early as Chancellor but maintained his party membership. Later that day, the Grand Emperor announced that, after he had spoken to many remaining members of the cabinet, he had selected Johann Kümmel to serve as Chancellor until the next election.
Interim Kümmel ministry
Soon after Kümmel was appointed, James Christian, leader of the SDP and Deputy Chancellor, resigned from the government, feeling insulted that he was not made Chancellor. Moustapha Hoteit, a Nationalist Democratic Grand Senator, was appointed as the new Deputy Chancellor and SDP Grand Senator Warren Wright was elected leader of the party.
As Kümmel merely served an interim Chancellor for a few weeks, not much of note occurred during his Ministry, although he is noted as the only third party and Pirate politician to be Chancellor. During this time, the Nationalist Democrats and Progressives did not campaign against on another due to Elliot Doe courting Thomas Bainbridge to serve as his Foreign Minister should he become Chancellor. The snap election occurred on December 30, 2021 and was easily won by the Nationalist Democrats with 49.4% of the vote; Progressives followed in second place with 28.2% of the vote.
Doe ministry
Elliot Doe became Chancellor on 1 January 2022; the day before, in a New Years' address, the recently restored Emperor Robert Smith II stated that he had felt the nation faced stagnation over the past year. Upon being sworn in as Chancellor, Doe delivered the longest throne speech in Elysiumite history, addressing the Senate on a number of issues. After delivering the speech, a snap poll from the Unionist showed that 70% of respondents approved of the speech; a number of politicians from both Elliot Doe's Nationalist Democratic Party and from opposition parties stated they felt more confident about the direction of the Empire afterwards. The same day, Elliot Doe released his cabinet picks, which included the popular Moustapha Hoteit as Deputy Chancellor, and a number of officials from both the Progressive and Social Democratic Parties, as well as Johann Kümmel of the Pirate Party. A second snap poll from the Unionist showed that 90% of respondents approved with the appointments.
As Chancellor, Elliot Doe has enforced higher standards on Chancellors with agendas being regularly published, alongside monthly progress reports. Elliot Doe also authored the Government Transparency Act alongside Emperor Robert II, and helped to guide the Term Limits Act to a majority in the Senate. These actions, alongside promotion of non-partisanship, have gained Doe great popularly due to a sense from the public that the government has been cleaned up. Another source of popularity for Doe has been his legislation; so far in his term, he has proposed more legislation than any other Chancellor. Some major acts which he has authored, alongside the Emperor typically, include the Nobility Reform Act (2022), the Commonwealth Enabling Act, the Political Organization and Elections Act (2022), the Legislative Reset Act, the Marriage & Civil Unions Act, the Satirist Relief Amendment, the Intellectual Property Act, and the aforementioned Term Limits Act and Government Transparency Act.
Another source of popularity for the Doe administration has been greater success of the executive government; in particular, many of his supporters cite his works to redesign the nation's national newspaper, the Elysiumite Gazette, and success in recruiting citizens. The Foreign Ministry has also been a great source of popularity under the continued leadership of Thomas Bainbridge, with Elysium signing a number of new Conventions and Treaties, helping to end the age of isolation.
References
- ↑ IAMC Public Document 001 - Elysium Operation OP-VOX, IAMC. Retrieved 27 October 2020.