Woodbridge 2011 General Election (1983: Doomsday)

General Election 2011Edit
On the 6th of April Prime Minister Bee officially announced in Parliament that the General Election would take place on 5th May 2011. Given that the Woodbridge constitution provides for fixed term parliaments of five years the Election would always have taken place that day but the PM had to make the announcement in Parliament as a matter of procedure.

The election campaign will last for one month and during that time each party that has representation in parliament is entitled to have four Party Political Broadcasts on WBC1. There are separate rules for any other parties. There is also a limit upon how much any party is allowed to spend on any sort of party political printing such as newspaper advertisements and party leaflets.
 * A party that has no MPs but has candidates in less than 50% of the constituencies is entitled to one PPB.
 * A party that has no MPs but has candidates in 50% or more of the constituencies is entitled to two PPBs.

Week 1 Edit
In his first PPB of the Election, Prime Minister Bee made the point that Woodbridge had in the past few begun to strengthen its economic and political connections with other nations in the former United Kingdom and the rest of Europe. Most notable in this respect was the foundation of the Organisation of British Nations which also served as a counterweight to the influence of the Celtic Alliance. He also hoped that in the next few years Woodbridge's observer status within the Atlantic Defence Community and the League Of Nations would be upgraded to full membership.

For the Labour Party Chris Mole stated that should his party gain power he would attempt to introduce a form of devolution within Woodbridge. The Labour Party felt that too much power was concentrated within Woodbridge itself which meant that the more remote parts of the nation didn't get a fair crack of the whip as far as government spending. He would propose that 3 district councils would be introduced based upon the pre-Doomsday districts of Waveney, Suffolk Coastal and Mid-Suffolk.

Marian Andrews of the Liberal Party said that should her party form the government they would increase spending on health and education which would not just help individual Woodbridgers but the nation as a whole. They would also attempt to come to some arrangement with the governments of Essex and Newolland so Woodbridge citizens who lived in the Condominiums of West Suffolk and West Norfolk could vote in future Woodbridge elections.

Albert Maxwell of the Veterans Party called for increased spending on military spending and more assistance for members of the armed forces who had to leave the military either through injury or retirement.

Week 2 Edit
Prime Minister Bee attacked the Labour Party's PPB of last week saying that their proposal to introduce another level of government within Woodbridge was both politically unnecessary and economically unviable. He said "Mr Mole wants to introduce more politicians. I would ask him where the money would come from to pay them."

In the Labour PPB Chris Mole talked about improving transport links throughout Woodbridge saying that the improvements would be paid for through the profits from the increased trade with the other member states of the OBN and indeed with other states in mainland Europe. Also, in an interview with WBC1 he said, reply to the PM's comments that a fully costed financial breakdown of any of Labour's plan would be put before parliament for approval.

The Liberal Party and the Veteran's Party both concentrated on law and order matters in their PPBs. For the Liberals Marian Andrews stated that people guilty of minor criminal offences should no longer be forced to partake in public works and should instead pay heavy fines. Albert Maxwell of the VP partially agreed with the Liberals but said that instead of paying fines the criminals should instead be forced to serve time in the armed forces depending on the severity of their crimes

Two minor parties also made PPBs this week. The Christian Democrats took the opportunity to put forward their belief that the political, legal and economic systems of Woodbridge should be run along purely Christian lines whereas the Woodbridge Nationalist stated that only people who had been born within the borders of the old county of Suffolk should be allowed to take any part in the public life of Woodbridge.

Week 3 Edit
The war between Ur Alba and the Celtic Alliance meant that foreign affairs dominated the third week of the campaign

Prime Minister Bee said that the existence of rogue states like Ur Alba meant that it necessary for the democracies of the former United Kingdom to work more closely together on the world stage and that Woodbridge's membership of international groupings like the OBN, ADC and LoN was necessary to protect for aggressive nations.

Chris Mole stated that although international co-operation was a good idea in principle he was concerned that Woodbridge's increased presence on the geopolitical stage meant that it would become involved in more wars that had nothing to do with the nation.

The Liberals voiced the hope that Woodbridge's proposed membership of the LoN enable the nation to solve its problems in a non-violent way.

The Veterans hoped that membership of multinational groups would allow Woodbridge to have access to more advanced weaponry for its armed forces.

Week 4 Edit
The fourth week of the campaign was to some degree overshadowed by events taking place in Ipswich but what campaigning there was largely consisted of the parties restating the points they had made in the first three weeks