The preliminary results of the Provincial Council election are as follows:

Candidate	First Votes	Second Votes	Third Votes	Total Points
@Sir Lüc	3	2	0	13
@Iason Taiwos	1	0	3	6
@Mic'haglh Autófil, O.Be	1	1	0	5
@Istefan Perþonest	1	1	0	5
@e.iwuagwu (Emeka Iwuagwu)	1	0	0	3
@Xherált Ups Cantoûr	1	0	0	3
Pôl dal Cräpscaßada	1	0	0	3
@Francesco Manzella	1	0	0	3
@Iac Marscheir	0	1	0	2
@Erschéveþ da Schir	0	0	1	1

Presuming the results are certified as they stand, Sir Lüc da Schir and Sir Iason Taiwos are re-elected as Provincial Consuls; a coin flip will determine whether the final Consul elected is Mic'haglh Autófil or Sir Istefan Perþonest.

The following citizens claimed a seat in the Provincial Assembly for the term:
@Mic'haglh Autófil, O.Be
@Xherált Ups Cantoûr
@Moses Henry Emefiele
@Francesco Manzella
@e.iwuagwu (Emeka Iwuagwu)
@Iason Taiwos
@Istefan Perþonest
Pôl dal Cräpscaßada
@Sir Lüc da Schir

As an aside, had the "undervotes leave the first vote(s) blank" reform been passed as intended, Consul da Schir (9 pts) and Consul Perþonest (5 pts) would be joined by the winner of a coin flip between Taiwos and Autófil (4 pts each).

The Union of Free Reformists would like to extend our congratulations to all participants in the 63rd Cosă election. We would like to commend our opponents for largely campaigning in a more cordial tone than in the previous election, and if I may, I'd like to add a personal commendation to the Chancery for yet another smoothly-run affair -- those paper ballots were a simple idea, but they add quite a bit of excitement to the whole voting process.

There are, I believe, multiple bright spots for the Union and our supporters in the electoral results:

• A gain of 17 Cosă seats, by far the largest jump for any party.
• The resounding victory of the URL's Eðo Grischün for re-election as Vuode's Senator, when faced with a quality opponent in Tric'hard Lenxheir, himself an experienced former Senator.
• The endorsement of the Democracy Act and Amendment.  Despite an apparent rebellion from some of the more conservative supporters of the Progressive Alliance, this legislation represents the biggest step forward in Talossa's constitutional development since the democratically-endorsed accession of King Txec.
• As a follow-on from the last item, the Democracy Act and Amendment represents three of the nine items (#1, #3, and #4) complete from the Democracy Agenda. With one-third of the agenda enacted without the Union having even been in government, it's hard to argue we're not Talossa's party of Getting Things Done -- and it's also plain to see that our goals resonate with the people! The good news for them, then, is that more of the Democracy Agenda will follow in this and future Cosas.

In the same good spirits in which this election was conducted, and noting the continued parity of the two major parties within the Senäts, we look forward to the formation of a new Government with quite a bit more optimism this time around, and we hope to see continued the attitudes of cooperation which ultimately prevailed in the previous Cosă.

Voastră in Livertà, Democraçù, es Progreçéu
Yours in Liberty, Democracy, and Progress



Mic'haglh Autófil, URL President
On Behalf of the Comità

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on August 30, 2026, 04:25:38 PMI do not think it's appropriate for the Chancery to be the deciding agency on what the future of our message board or website should look like -- they should be consulted, but we're a democracy, and the elected government should set policy

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on August 30, 2026, 08:10:46 PMthat's the sort of major policy decision that belongs in the hands of the elected government.

Quoteit would be just as wrong to try to boss him around with demands.

The first two quotes directly contradict the final one.

But yes, while I have nothing but the utmost trust in the Chancery's decisions, it's not like an Autofil government would do anything but support the Chancery (and the Civil Service as a whole) in the execution of their work. We trust in them; that doesn't mean we abandon them to sink or swim. The two bodies (Government and Civil Service) may not have a supervisor/subordinate relationship, but they are designed to work in tandem, and only when they are in sync do things move as smoothly as possible.

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on August 30, 2026, 04:25:38 PM(Although I will say that I do not think it's appropriate for the Chancery to be the deciding agency on what the future of our message board or website should look like -- they should be consulted, but we're a democracy, and the elected government should set policy).

Even if the Royal Civil Service were subordinated to the Government in the way the Seneschal prefers, the Secretary of State reports to the presiding officers of the houses of the Ziu, not the Government.

Speaking of the Ziu, our legislature has granted oversight of Wittenberg to the Secretary of State by law. Ziu sessions since then have not seen fit to revoke this oversight. There is of course nothing wrong with the Secretary of State consulting with the Government or the presiding officers, especially when considering an undertaking the size of Wittenberg overhaul. I have no doubt that the current Secretary of State will continue to do his duties in a thoughtful and deliberate manner. But both on the principle of maintaining the Civil Service's independence, and trusting in the judgment and integrity of its officers, the Chancery must have the final call.

QuoteBy the way, I told Mic'haglh this but he may not have seen my message: the video he shared in your last mailer was marked private, so I don't think anyone can watch it.

I did see your message; while the video in question did already have multiple views (suggesting that the link was working), I have moved it to Unlisted to be safe.

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on August 30, 2026, 09:24:06 AMI think you might be conflating two things. There's a difference between criticizing policies or ideas, and attacking people personally. We see some of that in this election, too, because the main criticism that I've seen of the Progs is noting how dominant I am when it comes to government activity.

It may be difficult to tell the difference between valid criticism of your government's record and personal attack when the line between individual and Government has been allowed to blur so much, but I can assure you, this is the former.

When you are in government and are running for re-election, one thing you must address, in addition to things like ideology and future plans, is past performance. Some governments likely find this quite easy; this government will have a harder time of it:

- Formation reliant on a politically extreme party, producing a narrow and often-unstable majority;
- Intentional exclusion of skilled and cooperative administrators on the basis of personal spite;
- Employment of individuals rightly condemned for sexual harrassment;
- Failure to deliver on multiple self-imposed goals related to immigration, culture, etc. (see point #2 for a major cause);
- Abuse and improper politicization of non-partisan institutions, including the CRL process and claiming Government credit for work of the Royal Civil Service;
- We can now add to the list "overzealous attempts to prosecute someone who does not actually exist".

I do not envy the Sisyphean task before you.

QuoteBut that's different than saying that it would be a bad idea to establish physical embassies, or that it's unrealistic, or that people would hate it. That would be focusing on our policies and challenging them.

On the contrary, we've said very explicitly that the few and modest objectives your party is offering are generally acceptable, but that if one wants something a bit more forward-thinking, the URL is the correct choice. If we're offering any big criticism of these objectives, what we're noting is that the shift in tone between your previous platform of promising the world and this platform is the implicit recognition that last time, you bit off more than you could chew, and failed to deliver.

As the nation enters the last week of the election, we are to a point where it becomes prudent to start considering the aftermath.

Make no mistake, we continue to campaign not just with the goal of leading the next government, but with the goal of earning the majority's support for our platform of democratic reform and a return to responsible, accountable, transparent administration. However, in the more likely case that we emerge as the largest party, but not with a majority, cooperation will become necessary, in line with our own platform of Government By A Team.

In the previous Cosă, while our initial offer of cooperation was rebuffed by the now-outgoing Government, we were eventually able to reach an agreement. Mutually beneficial, it ensured the stability of the Davinescu Government, while also guaranteeing that several landmark pieces of the URL's Democracy Agenda would pass the Ziu. It was a good compromise, the kind that can lead to more good work down the road.

We see no reason why some agreement in that same spirit cannot be reached again.

To be sure, enacting the Democracy Agenda will be central to such an agreement. Working with us means helping us to achieve the goals that our supporters base their very support on. We will not neglect their trust.

We also will not abandon the cordon sanitaire. We remain committed to forming a government that neither includes nor relies on the support of unanimously-condemned sexual harasser Breneir Tzaracomprada. It may be that one day he will offer a genuine apology and his victim will accept it, at which point the nation can finally begin the healing process. Until then, however, the cordon sanitaire will hold.

The event did take place in the sense that I was available to answer questions, but no other citizens arrived to ask them, so after a while I took the opportunity to do a little stumping, maybe offer a bit of clarity to people who haven't voted yet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK6vpW_BACI

My mic was weirdly quiet on the YT upload, it sounded fine when recording, so you may need to turn up your volume

Azul cüncitixhiens!

The Union of Free Reformists is pleased to announce that tomorrow afternoon, URL President and Seneschal candidate Mic'haglh Autófil will be hosting a Town Hall meeting to take questions regarding our electoral platform and our plans to return a little positivity, transparency, and accountability to the next Government.

We anticipate the event lasting between 30-45 minutes, depending on attendance. A recording will be taken for those who miss it!

What: URL Town Hall meeting

When: Sunday, 23 August, 3:00 p.m. TDT

Where: "Unofficial Official Talossa" Discord server

Production on the next batch will be during the next Cosa term.

As part of our commitment to helping voters make informed choices, we'd like to address some of the dubious claims made in recent days as part of the campaign:

• In their referenda recommendations, the Progressive Alliance claims credit for 62RZ26. We rate this claim mostly false; on June 1st, the Baron explicitly named both URL President Mic'haglh Autófil and URL Secretary Miestră Schivă as having direct input.
• In their recent campaign mailer, the outgoing Progressive Alliance Government has also claimed credit for the work of the Royal Civil Service, despite the fact that the latter is independent from the Government in the first place, making this claim false.
• In his introduction post, "Independent Progressive" Breneir Tzaracomprada claims to be "a founder of Talossan Progressivism". Unless S:reu Tzaracomprada is Danihel Laurier come back to us, we rate this claim false.

We anticipate further false claims to dispel as the campaign continues.

I just wanted to say that the ballot and pienamaintch both look fantastic, they add a good air of professionalism to the whole thing. Well done!

The Union of Free Reformists endorses the following candidates in the upcoming Senatorial elections in Belacostă, Maritiimi-Maxhestic, and Vuode:

	In Belacostă, the Union endorses @Mic'haglh Autófil, O.Be . Senator Iason Taiwos has represented his province very well, but has indicated a desire not to run again; as the Union's Seneschal candidate, this seems an ideal time for Autófil to continue carrying on a proud legacy of forward-thinking Belacostan Senators.
	In Maritiimi-Maxhestic, the Union is proud to endorse Sir @Marcel Eðo Pairescu Tafial, UrGP . Sir Marcel is the honest and pragmatic candidate in this race, and several of his valuable contributions to our Democracy Agenda have already been passed into law in this last term. He will give the good people of Maritiimi-Maxhestic the fair representation they have been missing out on.
	In Vuode, the Union is proud to endorse incumbent Senator @Eðo Grischun for re-election. Senator Grischun has served the people of Vuode well on multiple occasions, and can be trusted to do so again.

The Directorate of STUFF is aware of a recent partisan campaign mailer in which the work of the Directorate was improperly credited to the Government as a political accomplishment. As the Directorate is in fact an office of the Royal Civil Service, a branch of the Talossan state independent from the elected Government and strictly apolitical in nature, it would seem critical to protect that independence and impartiality from such an unprecedented breach of convention.

To illustrate the point, the offices of the Royal Civil Service also include the Chancery and the Burgermeister of Inland Revenue, respectively charged with overseeing Talossan elections (among a host of other duties) and safekeeping the national finances. One should be able to easily understand why such offices must be kept separate from politics in order to ensure continued public trust in our national institutions.

In order to defend the Royal Civil Service's mission to keep Talossa's administrative functions running smoothly, regardless of the partisan makeup of the Government of the day, officers of political parties are hereby firmly reminded that it is exceedingly inappropriate to drag the work of the Royal Civil Service into the political arena.

While it's well and good to run on the Democracy Agenda, it's not the only thing we intend to bring to the 63rd Cosă. We'll encourage activity and creativity, resume Talossa's process of making new connections in the micronational world, and pursue upgrades to Talossan institutions and infrastructure.

• Encouraging Creativity: We've seen some talk of things like new national maps. Thankfully, this is another area URL candidates have already been working ahead of the game, but we also think "just" creating new maps is a bit of a narrow view of the possibilities. We think it makes more sense to have a place citizens can put all their creative projects: road signs, license plates, sports jerseys, you name it. A "worldbuilding bureau" of sorts to give Talossa a bit more panache. This can (and should) be tied into an updated set of clearer criteria for promotion in the Royal Zouaves in order to encourage creativity and award participation in Talossan society in many ways beyond the political arena.
  
  
• New Micronational Connections: We believe Talossa ought to resume the process it's been pursuing on-and-off of wider relations with the rest of the micronational world. We've seen some half-hearted attempts at "information gathering" in this past term, and while that's all well and good, information gathering is only a productive use of your time if you intend to actually do something with the information you gather. The micronational community is one of those things that can be of good use to Talossa, especially when we consider that some members of the community think to themselves "micronationalism is fun, but it's a lot of work to do myself". Wouldn't it make more sense to try and get some of those people to see the value in working as part of a larger group in Talossa? It's another good example of what our campaign has said this whole time: we're stronger as a group. Ja pevar din 'n Uniun. Don't we owe it to Talossans to let them show off a bit in the various competitions and tournaments out there? We ought to let our best chess players and wargamers and whatever else represent us to the community as a way of showing others what Talossa is supposed to be all about.
  
  
• Upgraded Institutions: The first of these that comes to mind is the CRL. The committee that reviews legislative proposals for linguistic errors and the like has been a good idea in principle, but this term showed some of its key weaknesses and places where the process can be abused. The URL supports reforming legislative procedures to encourage more thorough review of legislation before it's Clarked; including either a greater role for the Tuischac'h and Mençei, or a shift to Civil Service legal review positions as has been previously suggested.
  
  
• Upgraded Infrastructure: While we're not quite in agreement with some parties about downplaying the role of Wittenberg in favor of places like Discord -- and we believe the Chancery ought to be consulted on the matter, which we've not seen anyone else mention -- it is worth acknowledging that the Secretary of State has advocated for a move to a new version of Witt with an improved set of features compared to the current platform. In recognition of the Civil Service's independence from the Government, a URL government will support the Chancery's professional judgement on the future of Wittenberg.

Union of Free Reformists Statements on Referenda:

• 62RZ07: Vote PER. This is a sensible, democratic reform which puts restrictions on the Seneschal's ability to rule by decree.
• 62RZ14: Vote PER. This is a sensible, democratic reform which prevents new, unelected citizens overwhelming elected representatives in the Cosa.
• 62RZ26: Vote PER. This major democratic reform strengthens requirements for parties' electoral lists, making sure voters know who they are choosing to represent them in the Cosa. The URL supports measures like this one to increase the legislature's accountability to voters instead of party bosses.
• 62RZ27: Vote PER. This piece of housekeeping recognizes King Txec, a head of state who was approved by the people in a democratic process.

(no recommendation given on 62RZ15)

I'm not sure exactly where this Reformation (forgive the pun) is at in terms of planning and decisions, but is there any particular denomination this is leaning towards? From first glance I would presume some sort of "non-denominational 'national' church", but if there is one ecclesiastical heraldic tradition or another we can or should borrow from more heavily that could be useful information.

Unrelated to my previous question, if you'll forgive a little public brainstorming, I note that archbishops' arms in several denominations utilize a pallium or pall as a heraldic device. In this case, if done properly it could be doubly symbolic for the merging of the Milwaukee River with either of its downtown tributaries before emptying into la Mar Talossan. Food for thought!

Foxmouth

The URL's registration fee is submitted, if the good Burgermeister Sir @xpb would confirm when it is received.

In the lead-up to the last election, the now-Seneschal described his party's promises as "ludicrous". Unfortunately, a word defined as "laughable, ridiculous" has ended up being a more accurate assessment than the Baron would probably prefer.

Immigration: As we've touched on before, the Baron and his party chose to make immigration the big issue of the last election, but it's not an issue they've succeeded with. The outgoing Government has not managed to grow the country. They have welcomed fewer immigrants than the previous Government, and while there have been more applicants, this means the percent of successful applications has been cut in half. The government's assumption that "more applicants = more citizens" has been proven false. The big reason for this is that they are focused only on "making the number go up" -- and they've not succeeded. We have previously commented on the limitations of the outgoing Seneschal's fixation on "management by statistics". We are now seeing those limitations demonstrated in real time. The URL, on the other hand, knows that recruiting the right citizens is more important in the long run than how many we can get in one term. Trying to target the kinds of people who are already interested in the sorts of things Talossa can provide will result in people sticking around and being active instead of immigrating and lapsing out as quickly as possible. Immigration shouldn't have to be about recuperating our losses. It should be about actually growing the country. The URL will prioritize recruiting citizens with an interest in political simulators, among other still-ignored sources.

Transparency in Government: Another big issue in the last election was the Public Process Act. After the URL pointed out that the bill as originally written had no enforcement mechanism, we were able to get one added when the new Cosă was seated. The PPA 2.0 passed in January. It is now August. Seven months on, the Baron's government has not yet begun to follow their own flagship piece of legislation. The Leader of the Opposition is now legally required to have a view to immigration applications. The Leader of the Opposition does not have that view. So much for transparency. A URL government can be trusted to actually follow the Kingdom's laws.

Improving Talossan Infrastructure: Exactly zero of the proposals in this thread have come to fruition.

"Cutting Red Tape": Their solution to this was to propose reducing the number of individuals in the Government that are accountable to the Ziu. We made sure that oversight stayed in place. The country deserves a government that is held accountable for their actions.

Regardless of the merits of their proposals or how they may try to spin the situation, the outgoing Government has failed to deliver on their promised agenda in this last term. Their "one-man band" problem has only worsened since then. As time goes on, the reason becomes more painfully obvious to the rest of the country: this Government has largely been one individual, clearly overworked, trying to drag his Cabinet forward. The Baron's situation is unenviable at best, but it goes back to what we've said before: government should be a team, not one person. A team of people have a much better time achieving their goals, instead of spinning their wheels and having to inflate accomplishments.

Name: Union of Free Reformists (L'Uniun dels Reformistaes Livereschti; URL)

Leaders: Mic'haglh Autófil, Miestră Schivă

50-Word Statement: The Union of Free Reformists has a Democracy Agenda to make Talossa's government more accountable, responsible, and transparent. We want a new immigration policy to attract politics enthusiasts, and a government that includes the best cross-party talents but excludes antisocial behavior. There is power in a Union!

Cosă List:
Mic'haglh Autófil
Miestră Schivă
more to come

I thank the Secretary of State for his notification.

In terms of relevant election law, the Belacostan Constitution permits citizens to submit ballots of fewer than three candidates; undervoting does not spoil one's ballot.

While most of provincial election statute would appear to be more relevant to the compilation and announcement of the results -- a task traditionally performed by a Provincial Consul -- I believe BUS.E.3 may provide a small adjustment to the ballot compared to those issued by the Chancery in previous elections:

Quote3. Citizens who claim a seat in the Provincial Assembly for the term may do so via any option made available for such purpose on a General Election Ballot as issued by the national Chancery; however, it is the request of the Assembly that such option note that citizens will need to be active on Wittenberg in order to make use of their seat.

Otherwise, in my view the Chancery has done a fantastic job facilitating this Province's elections in the past, and so no other alterations to the process are necessary. For my part, I formally request the Chancery continue to administer Belacostan elections. I invite my fellow Consuls @Sir Lüc and @Iason Taiwos to provide their perspectives.