Erusia-St.Charlie relations

St.Charlie - Erusia relations was the bilateral relationship between the countries of the Federal Republic of St.Charlie and the Democratic People's Republic of Erusia. Two of the most important and advanced nations in the early MicroWiki era, St.Charlie and Erusia have at many times come in conflict with each other, with prolonged periods of tension. The alleged rivalry for supremacy in the community in 2009 and 2010 has lead some to describe the relations as a "cold war" and draw parallels with the relations between the Soviet Union and the United States.

Country comparison

	Federal Republic of St.Charlie	Democratic People's Republic of Erusia
Population	119	1
Area	119,8852	?
Population Density	~1/km2	?
Capital	Branson, District	Erus City
Largest City	Branson, District – 48 (3 de facto)	Erus City - 1
Government	Federal parliamentary constitutional republic	Single-party socialist republic
de facto languages	English; Italian	English
Real?	Yes	No

GUM Referendum

The GUM's new logo at the time

Relations between the two nations flared once again when, on 26 July 2010, Barbara Ruvolo and Annabelle Pincer officially requested a referendum to be held in St.Charlie concerning the Republic's presence in the GUM. In the press release published on the St.Charlian Observer that day, Pincer made a series of controversial statements on the election process:

"It’s absolutely unacceptable that in a serious election of a widely recognized and esteemed intermicronational institution it is possible to cast votes while hiding behind a shroud of anonymity. Furthermore, it is also unacceptable that the St.Charlian Prime Minister or any other member of the Government was not informed of the second ballot in any way, effectively impeding St.Charlie to take part in the election. It is simply unacceptable."

This request, and in particular Pincer's words, attracted a response from Robert Lethler, who criticized Pincer's stance on the anonymity of voting and insisted that it was the St.Charlian Government's own fault if they were untraceable, as they had not left any means of contact. Mr. Lethler then went on to state that Pincer was questioning his "integrity" and accusing him "of creating false private ballots", even though he has never mentioned in the press release. He concluded by once again reaffirming the concept that Pincer had accused "ME (Lethler) of fraud".

While neither Pincer nor Ruvolo chose not to reply, the comment drew a strong and resolute condemnation by the St.Charlian Government and Parliament in a joint address published by Alexander Reinhardt, Magnus De Armis and Heinrich Schneider; who were attending the District St.Charlie Expo 2010 at the time. The address criticized Lethler's comment and addressed the "misconceptions, falsities and hypocrisies" in Mr. Lethler's response. The address also concluded with a request of apology from Mr. Lethler to Pincer and St.Charlie. Although the referendum ended with a 66% majority in favour of leaving the GUM, on August 6, after Foreign Affairs Minister James Lunam raised concerns about the legality of the referendum, St.Charlian Supreme Judge Nicolò Alvisi ruled it inconstitutional and announced St.Charlie would remain in the GUM till further notice. By this time, however, Erusia collapsed and was shown be a one-man-state. This effectively ended relations between St.Charlie and Erusia.