National Democratic Union

Imperial Diet, Kien, Hulstria -- Today Leader of the NDU in the Diet and Opposition Leader Friedrich Keitl spoke to the Imperial Diet regarding the bill proposed earlier this week to end all treaties and agreements with the "Archduchy" of Vorona and worldwide communism.

"The world in these last few years of the century has seen the rise of dozens of communist nations. Currently the count of communist rule around the world is eight. The most recent addition to international communism, our ally Vorona. Earlier this fall, their constitutional monarchy was overthrown and militarily couped by the Red Guards of Vorona. Greater Hulstria must have no deals with communists! We have proposed that our nation withdrawal from our security and trade agreements with Vorona. Unfortunately though, already it seems that some politicians in Greater Hulstria feel that we should keep our deals with the communist republicans. These same politicians are the ones talking about intervention in Luthori to stop a minor republican party that isn't even in the majority. The Socialists seem to have an exception for socialistic republicanism and want to let it go, even though the case of Vorona is what would happen if the Luthori republicans were in power. The Nationals have it right in their statement that 'communism and socialism share common roots'. These current affairs should bring into question the true intentions of the Socialists and whether they support democracy, or communism. There is no reason to remain close to Vorona, our relations with them are over and must remain in that state until the return of their constitutional monarchy. And we must treat every communist nation in this way, no relations, no deals. Freedom must be defended from the threat of communism and any belief originating from Marx!"

Imperial Diet, Kien, Hulstria -- Until the past few months, the Imperial Diet and debate floor has been nearly empty and the Hulstrian political scene quieter than it has been in decades. Over the spring this year, out of three bills, one passed regarding standardized testing localization. Then in late fall of last year, an unpopular tariff bill slipped through the Diet. Earlier this month, all that sat on the floor were platforms from the Socialists and Fascists, with only the National Democrats voicing an opinion on each.

The National Democrats earlier this week put up the proposal to withdrawal from treaties with Communist Vorona, giving Diet Members an awakening from a largely uneventful session. The NDU plans to send out a set of bills later this month as the last acts of the session before next year's elections. The bills will touch on various issues and most likely amount to the most having been on the floor in three years. NDU Opposition Leader Friedrich Keitl expressed hope that the political scene will fire up with the elections coming soon; he also pointed out the increasing foreign policy debate that has lit up over foreign republicanism and communism this month.

Stoltenberg Building, Kien, Hulstria -- The recent elections saw a loss for the National Democratic Union in the Imperial Diet, ending with only forty-nine seats. As promised by Chairman von Schaeffer though, the election has not been deemed a failure and the party is looking at the gains that did occur. In the Crownlands of Budenlar and Hulstria, the NDU had gains and will be holding more seats in those local parliaments. In Hulstria, the NDU placed third, coming in higher than both the Imperial Hulstrian Party and Fascists Authority Party.

The 2794 elections also marked the first election with the NDU endorsing a candidate for the Second Round. As expected, the NDU put its endorsement behind the incumbent Vincenz Weiter of the National Party. Governor-General Weiter went on to win his reelection, overtaking the Socialist candidate, Ambrose Bauer, by almost forty million votes.

Stoltenberg Building, Kien, Hulstria -- Earlier this month the Socialist Party launched their official website, sparking what some analysts are calling a new trend in Greater Hulstrian politics, with other parties following the Socialist move. Not long following the SPGH website going live, the National Democratic followed with a website of their own; making them the third party in Greater Hulstrian history to establish a website. The first party to have done such a thing was the New Komeito Party in the mid to late 2600s. At that time a trend of political party websites did not follow. Now, over a hundred years later, the idea of political websites has returned and this time with the potential of being the new trend of political parties. At the moment its only the SP and NDU, with other parties either in planning or currently having an unknown status on website development.

National Democrat Website: www.ndu.hl

Stoltenberg Building, Kien, Hulstria -- In preparation for what will be the National Democratic Union's second election, party fundraising and grassroot efforts will begin throughout Greater Hulstria. Chairman von Schaeffer, NDU officials, and supporters are all hoping to see further improvements in National Democratic numbers and a hopeful gain in parliamentary seats. The party has stated though, that it will not start official candidate campaigning until around January next year and will focus on fundraising and letting the people do the party promotion for now. "The word of mouth can be the best way to extend a voter base for a party and through grassroot efforts our supporters will rally our current support and draw in those who don't know as much about our party, but hold our ideals," commented NDU Leader in the Diet, Friedrich Keitl.

Chairman von Schaeffer when asked about his predictions on the 2794 elections stated, "I'm not going to make any predictions, I'll leave that to the actual political analysts. I hope our party sees a gain in both voters and seats, but even if by chance we lose seats, I'm not going to call anything a defeat. Calling an election a defeat ignores the voters who did actually vote for you. But like I said, I'm not making any set predictions, I'll just have hopes and will campaign hard."

Downtown Kien, Hulstria -- The months continue to pass since the 2791 elections and coalition parties continue on as normal with elaborate celebrations and high-profile meetings, but meanwhile millions of NDU supporters feel they're being ignored by the ruling parties. The updated government coalition, created for the recent election and also the return of the Hulstrian Imperial Party, has gone to vote and the Nationale Demokratische Union was kept excluded. Many supporters of the NDU were hopeful some sort of agreement could be met on the coalition, but no such thing happened and questioning by the NDU is still ignored. Chairman von Schaeffer didn't hesitate to refer to the FAP Chairman, Friedrich Ewald, as a "liar and careless elitist".

"Clearly the old days of Hulstrian politics are gone, the new days are here and they are corrupt and lacking of cooperation. There was a time when all parties, all people, all voters, had their representation in the cabinet. Now the unity is gone, but the word 'unity' is still used falsely to simply refer to what the Fascists call the 'sustainable and respectable parties'. Twenty-one million ignored citizens, that's what there is right now. They came out on election day, took time away from their life, to stand in line and voice their opinion and have representation of their beliefs in government. Everyone who voted for us is having their opinion censored and kept from the 'united' cabinet. The good that exist in the whole current situation is the simple fact that we at least have a right to vote in the Diet. We will not let the ruling coalition keep their strangle on Hulstrian tradition and we will fight to restore that tradition and the old cooperative ways of Hulstrian politics!"

Small-scale protests occurred throughout Greater Hulstria, many were NDU voters, all angered by the political situation of their party and many with signs stating, "Where's My Vote!". Von Schaeffer has pushed all supporters to stay peaceful in their protests and to stop any attempts by others to create mayhem. The largest of the protests was in Downtown Kien with around a thousand or so NDU supporters. Many party officials fear that the political situation will not be solved in quite some time and could last through much of the decade.

Central Kien, Hulstria -- Today the Nationale Demokratische Union moved into a new headquarters in central Kien after a generous donation by Marius Stoltenberg. Stoltenberg is most known for his foundation and leadership of the Bündnis Zukunft Hulsterreich. Since returning to Greater Hulstria, Stoltenberg has been in retirement, renting out office space in the former BZH headquarters, the last asset of the disbanded party that he owns. For the past few years Stoltenberg has not held any political affiliation but earlier this year registered with the NDU. Today, Marius Stoltenberg donated the former BZH headquarters to the NDU for use as the headquarters. Before today the NDU's national headquarters has operated out of a small rented building with few luxuries or publicity. Chairman von Schaeffer was extremely grateful to Stoltenberg for his donation and thanked him for helping promote the furthering of the Hulstrian people.

Kien, Hulstria -- The latest elections saw the continuation of Nationale Partei rule and a Socialist majority; and it also saw the entrance of a new party in Hulstrian politics, the Nationale Demokratische Union. The NDU is led by Johann von Schaeffer (pictured above), a Kien businessman. Results for the NDU put them as the smallest represented party but von Schaeffer reacted by saying, "While we may be very far from a majority, we are still a new party and the amount of representation we have won is favorable and it opens Greater Hulstria to a moderate option." The National Democrats 'main ideology', as it could be termed, is liberal conservatism with elements of liberal nationalism and populism. Shortly after the beginning of the new parliamentary session, the NDU put out a set of bills touching on a wide spectrum of issues. The most major of the bills, and most highly promoted by the party, is education reform. They wish to see a private education system implemented, something von Schaeffer calls much more efficient than the "state-run bureaucratic edition". He wants to open up Hulstrian secondary school students to school-choice and the removal of any sort of nationally-required standardized testing. The remainder of the NDU bills touched on property rights, morality, gambling, and tobacco use.

While having only existed a little over a year, and only a month with voting power, the Hulstrian Government and existing parties have taken up a policy of isolating the Nationale Demokratische Union; with the Socialist Party seemingly being the leader in what von Schaeffer has referred to as, "corrupt actions by the ruling parties". For decades Greater Hulstria followed a policy of a united cabinet, one that includes all parties, only excluding terrorists and dangerous radicals. Earlier this week the Fascist Authority Party put a new coalition proposal up to vote, excluding the NDU despite its representation in the Hulstrian Imperial Diet. Many supporters and officials with the NDU have become outraged by this development and hypocrisy of the Hulstrian Government. No parties have reacted to the NDU's mention of the unity cabinet tradition and the only reaction made by another party, the Socialists, regarding the Cabinet totally blew off NDU criticism and praised the proposal.