POLLS SAY: WOSHKAL AND OLD CLOSE TOGETHER

The last polls before the election on saturday have been published. The public opinion pollsters of the Saidercrayan Institute of Opinion Research (SIOR) predict a majority for a coalition of the PPJ and the SPS. On the other hand, it is still unclear who will become Saidercray's president of the legislative term 2006/2007.

If the election would be today, for which party would you vote?
- PPJ: 27% (2005: 30)
- SPS: 26% (2005: 21)
- VCA: 19% (2005: 22)
- LUSC: 16% (2005: 16)
- GDP: 7% (2005: 5)
- MPI: 5% (2005: 3)
- SWFP: 0% (2005: 1)
- NEO: 0% (2005: 2)

Presumably, the PPJ and the SPS will get enough votes to build a coalition without the help of a third party. But who is to become this coalition's president?

If the election would be today, for which candidate for presidency would you vote?
- Ian Woshkal (PPJ): 43%
- Harry Old (SPS): 42%
- Charles Ellows (VCA): 15%

Due to these results, it seems to be possible that the president will not belong to the strongest party of the parliament. Until now, this has only happened four times in Saidercray's history: in 1930 (president Peter Jansen (VCA), strongest party: PPJ), in 1951 (president Alan Sailing (PPJ), strongest party: SPS), in 1966 (president Gregory Cutton (SPS), strongest party: VCA) and in 1989 (president Mary Flynt (PPJ), strongest party: VCA).
This is possible because the president is directly elected by the people. According to the polls, Old is very popular amongst those who vote for the small parties. This might give him enough votes to outdistance Woshkal in the direct election, when the adherents of the small parties can't vote for a candidate of their favourite parties.

Saidercray Today looks forward to an exciting election. On saturday, we will know it all.

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TWO QUESTIONS PLEASE, MR. ELLOWS

Saidercray Today: Mr. Ellows, your decision to struggle for a coalition with the PPJ has surprised many people and has resulted into sometimes harsh criticism. What do you reply to those who reproach you with opportunism?
Ellows: I reply that good politicians must be able to react on topical situations and that unexpected events may result into unexpected reactions. I regret that a coalition with the LUSC seems to be impossible at the moment, because this was our plan A. But we aren't naive enough not to have a plan B, the coalition with the PPJ. After all, our main aim is still within reach, the SPS's expulsion from our nation's government. What they call opportunism is nothing less than prudence, caution and the prove of our ability to react.
Saidercray Today: Mr. Ellows, four years ago you strongly suuported the idea to change the VCA's name into VCCA, "Virtuous Christian Conservative Alliance" - an idea that has failed within a hair's breadth. Does Christianity still have the same importance for your life?
Ellows: It does. I have absolutely no doubt about the unlimited truth of the Bible and of the Lord, no matter what the zeitgeist thinks and says. Maybe that's typical for a conservative to ignore the zeitgeist and to preserve thruths, I don't know [laughs]. But back to your question: I listen to the divine service every sunday, I read a page of the Bible every evening, and I try as well as I can to take the bearings for my life and my policy from Christianity and the example of Christ.
Saidercray Today: Mr. Ellows, thank you very much.

Thus, our great pre-electoral interview is concluded. A new poll showed the following results (in brackets: change compared to the first poll / change compared to 2005's election):
- PPJ: 28% (+1 / -2)
- SPS: 24% (+0 / +3)
- VCA: 22% (-2 / -1)
- LUSC: 15% (+2 / -1)
- GDP: 7% (+0 / +2)
- MPI: 5% (+1 / +2)
- SWFP: 1% (+1 / +0)
- NEO: 0% (-1 / -2)

If we look at all likely coalitions, we see the following results:
- PPJ + SPS + GDP: 59%
- PPJ + SPS + MPI: 57%
- PPJ + VCA + GDP: 57%
- PPJ + VCA + MPI: 55%
- PPJ + SPS: 52%

Polls for the election of the president gave these results:
- Ian Woshkal: 41%
- Harry Old: 39%
- Charles Ellows: 20%

Last polls will be published on sunday. The parties will terminate their campaigns with great closing declarations on friday, august 4, and the election will be held on saturday, august 5. The new parliament's first meeting after the summer break will be on wednesday, august 16.

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TWO QUESTIONS PLEASE, MR. OLD

Saidercray Today: Mr. Old, in the first part of our interview, you talked about a "very novel tax system". Could you explain this system to us?
Old: Our tax system schedules for a tax rate of 100% or, to be more precise, of 75% + 25%. This means that 75% of the money you deserve go to the state like ordinary taxes do. The remaining 25% are collected at a kind of an account of the people. Then, every inhabitant gets the same portion of the collected money. For example, if the public account contains 1,000 Thalers and there are 100 inhabitants, everyone gets 10 Thalers. By this means, we don't punish those who work hard because by their hard work, they make the public account grow. Hence, everyone, including themselves, gets more money. If we succeed, the upper and the lower class will vanish and there will only be one class at all.
ST: Mr. Old, if you become president, you will be the first black president of our country. The MPI has already called upon their adherents to vote for the MPI as a party and for you as a candidate for presidency. In how far does your origin play a role for you.
Old: Of course I know where my roots are, I know the old traditions of my family's culture, I'm proud of my origin and I try to combine living in this great land Saidercray with keeping my own culture alive. For example, my wife and me always visit the annual intercultural celebration at Amshlay, and at home, we've got a collection of black music and literature. Anyhow, I'm a Saidercrayan, I love this land where I live since the third year of my life. I don't walk around with a sign "Look at me, I'm different". I want to be seen as a man amongst thousand men, not as a black man who differs from the thousand men around him. Hence, the MPI's action is rather unpleasant to me, because if we really want to overcome discrimination against people with another complexion, we have to stop to see one's complexion as a distinctive mark.
ST: Mr. Old, thank you for your answers.

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TWO QUESTIONS PLEASE, MR. WOSHKAL

Saidercray Today: In the second part of our interview, we would like to ask every single candidate two questions - one about policy, one about themselves as persons. I think, we retrain the hitherto existing succession, and therefore we begin with you, Mr. Woshkal.
Woshkal: Allright.
ST: Mr. Woshkal, you claimed that your party stands for social liberalism. Nevertheless, a PPJ-lead government has for example banned smoking in public areas. How do you reconcile this?
Woshkal: This is a good question, it deserves a long answer. You surely know the distribution of the seats in parliament and that there is no absolute PPJ majority. Therefore, it is necessary to search for compromises. That is what we have done, and that is why the government's policy isn't as socially liberal as we would like it to be. Yet, I don't conceal that also the PPJ wanted the law against public smoking, even though our version would have been less extensive - for example, you could still smoke in public areas that aren't roofed. This decision for a law resulted out of lenghty observations of the development of public smoking without laws - and this development wasn't positive enough. We have always trusted in the people and its ability to find good decisions, and we are going to trust in them. Pitably, it is sometimes necessary to engage in this process of deciding and to pass a law. We regret that and we are willing to repeal laws if they aren't necessary any more. Besides, the people always has the ability to repeal laws by a plebiscite. Therefore, we wouldn't pass such a law if we would think that the majority of the people will repeal it immediately. We always try to carry out the will of the people.
ST: Mr. Woshkal, you have already announced that you will completely retire from policy at the end of the next legislative period in summer 2007. At this point of time, you will be 54 years old. Do you already know what you want to do after the end of your political carreer.
Woshkal: Yes, I do. I don't know if you know it, but my heart is set on the children of the third world - brave young guys who have to suffer from great distress just because they've been born at the "wrong" place of the earth. I have good contacts to some relief organizations and I want to use the free time I will have to support them as well as I can.
ST: Mr. Woshkal, thank you for having answered our questions.

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FIRST PART OF ST'S GREAT INTERVIEW

Two and a half weeks before the national election, Saidercray Today has invited the three remaining candidates for presidency, Ian Woshkal (Party for Peace and Justice), Harry Old (Socialist Party of Saidercray) and Charles Ellows (Virtuous Conservative Alliance).

Saidercray Today: Mr. Woshkal, Mr. Old, Mr. Ellows, welcome and thank you for participating in this interview. Let us begin with a general question to everyone of you. What are your and your parties' plans in case you win the election?
Woshkal: Our plan is as simple as it is good. We will continue - and intensify - the successful policy of the last four years. This means a pacifist foreign policy, this means social liberalism, this means a strongly controlled economy, this means focusses that lie on social welfare and on education.
Old: A socialist government will see it as its main task to create social equality. For the purpose of this, we will lift up the tax rates, we will nationalize the whole economy and we will translate the idea of a very novel tax system into action - but maybe I can explain this in detail later.
ST: You certainly can. Mr. Ellows, what are the plans of the VCA?
Ellows: I can guarantee the people two things. The first one: We won't inactively observe the continuing decay of traditional virtues such as marriage and the classical family with an employed father and a loving mother caring for the children, such as the role of Saidercray's historical religion, Christianity. The second one: We will stop the etatist exploitation of the people and re-vitalize the bourgeoisie which has always been the creator and the keeper of culture.

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CONSERVATIVES STRUGGLE FOR COALITION WITH THE PPJ

The Virtuous Conservative Alliance has committed itself to the Party for Peace and Justice as the only possible partner for a coalition and has created the first great suprise of this year's election campaign. The decision is commonly interpreted as a reaction to recent polls according to which the VCA and its expected partner, the LUSC, would only gain 37% of the votes in an election.
Charles Ellows, the conservative candidate for presidency and leader of the VCA, emphasized that the programs of his party and of the PPJ include enough communities for a successful co-operation. His "main aim is to expel the SPS from the government, its levelling and its total ignorance of virtues".
Amongst the three other great parties, the VCA's decision wasn't welcomed. In a common reaction of PPJ and SPS, it was said that "the attacks of the VCA are like the last rearing of a dying horse. We feel confirmed about our decision to rule the country together and without the VCA." The LUSC reproached the VCA with opportunism and wantonness of might. Sandra Oxglad gave up her candidature.
The VCA's decision guarantees that the PPJ will be part of a government, as a conservative-socialist coalition is absolutely unimaginable. The VCA's only chance would be that the PPJ and the SPS won't get more than 50 % and that neither the GDP nor the MPI will like to join such a coalition as a third member. The PPJ's main task will be to make its adherents votes although they already know that their party will be in the government. The LUSC named itself as "the party for all those who neither want levelling nor opportunism to play a role in our future".

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CAMPAIGNS BEGIN - CANDIDATES NOMINATED

With great events in different cities all over the country, Saidercray's parties have inaugurated their campaigns for the election on August 4. The PPJ, the SPS, the VCA and the LUSC have also nominated their candidates for presidency.
As it had been expected, Ian Woshkal has been nominated by the Party for Peace and Justice and will try to become President for a third - and last - time. He confirmed the PPJ's intention to pursue the co-operation with the SPS in a coalition with or without a third party. The PPJ could imagine the Green Democratic Party and also the Multinational Party for Immigrants as a third partner, but prefers a mere PPJ-SPS-coalition. A coalition with the VCA was excluded.
The Socialist Party of Saidercray has not nominated Angela Fintosthane, its topical chairwoman, but Harry Old, the Minister of Defense. If the SPS wins the election as the strongest party, Old will become Saidercray's first black President. The SPS committed itself to the PPJ and the GDP as the only possible partners.
The Virtuous Conservative Alliance has nominated its leader, Charles Ellows. Ellows showed up open for coalition with the PPJ aswell as with the LUSC. As the SPS and the small parties don't come into question for the role of a third member of a VCA-lead coalition, the VCA and its partner would have to gain more than 50% of the votes. The VCA wants to present a definite partner for a likely coalition within the next days. Experts assume that the Liberal Union of Saidercrayan Capitalists is to become this partner.
This assumption is supported by the announcement of the LUSC's candidate, Sandra Oxglad. She named the VCA as her party's favourite partner, whereas co-operation with the PPJ or the SPS can be seen as impossible. If a LUSC-VCA-coalition wouldn't achieve the aim of 50% or more, a co-operation with the MPI could also be taken into consideration.
Amongst the smaller parties, the GDP and the MPI declared that they could imagine any government without VCA and LUSC together. The Saidercrayan Women's Feminist Party and the National Electoral Offensive prepare for another year in opposition.

First polls foresee the following result (in brackets: change compared to 2005's election):
- PPJ: 27 (-3)
- VCA: 24 (+2)
- SPS: 24 (+3)
- LUSC: 13 (-3)
- GDP: 7 (+2)
- MPI: 4 (+1)
- SWFP: 0 (-1)
- NEO: 1 (-1)
Thus, the idea of a conservative-capitalist coalition can be burried and PPJ and SPS would have 51% like they had a year ago, but the dominance of the PPJ would be much slighter. A move towards socialism would be the logical consequence, also because the capitalists would have lost votes whereas the socialists could celebrate three percent more than in 2005. It is questionable whether the GDP which has grown stronger would once more join a coalition of two parties who have already more than 50 percent of the seats in parliament. If so, the government would be stronger after this election than it is now. if not, the government is a very weak one with only one percent more than 50 - unless the MPI would participate in a government for the first time, which had then 55 percent of the seats.
Saidercray Today will invite the four candidates for presidency and interview them. The interview will be published within this week.

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YAMAGUCHI GLAD OF THE BIRTH OF HIS THIRD CHILD

Mr. Takeru Yamaguchi, Minister of Education and Families, and his wife Ayumi have become parents for the second time. Yesterday at 2:58 o'clock in the morning, Ayumi gave birth to a girl named Tsubaki at the National Hospital in Amshlay. Like he had done after his first two children, the twins Nagako and Masato, were borne, Yamaguchi retires from his office for a week and will leave the official duties to his deputy, Mrs. Charlotte Kilph.
The 37 year-old Yamaguchi who is used to becalled the "far eastern prodigy" by many members of his party, the PPJ, is reputed to be a man who will become one of Saidercray's most important politicians in a future that doesn't have to be that far away from now. He was elected into the provinicial parliament of Amshlay at the age of 25 and into the national parliament at the age of 30 - both are the earliest possible points of time in a politician's life to enter these parliaments. In 2004, when he was 35 years old, he became Saidercray's youngest minister ever. The son of a policeman and an actress who immigrated to Saidercray in 1967 has the image of a meticulous, ambitious worker, but also of a very authoritarian man who expects his subordinates and colleagues to act with the same outstanding carefulness and effort he is well known for.
Politically, Yamaguchi stands in the middle between his PPJ and the SPS and could become a very influential connecting link between the parties if the PPJ and the SPS will rule the country after the elections in August. Like many PPJ members, the vegan Yamaguchi is a strict anti-consumerist and attached to non-violence. Like many SPS members, Yamaguchi supports the idea of an average tax rate "between 80 and 90 percent" and is an atheist who wants to widen the principle of separation of church and state.

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"LORD, SHOW US THE FATHER"

The 2nd Oecumenical Church Congress of Saidercrayan Christians has been inaugurated at Dawsingham. In the coming five days, protestant and catholic organizations offer a huge variety of events going with the motto "Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us" (John, 14.8).
The congress began with the opening divine service in the cathedral of Dawsingham, held by bishop Ronald A. Averil. In his sermon, the bishop called upon the believers in the church, in front of one of five huge screens in the city and in front of the TV to adhere to their faith and not to neglect it for the sake of worldly allurements. "As Christians, we know: Whatever short pleasure this world may give us, it is nothing compared to the eternal pleasure we find in God and his holy son. Next to God's grace, all worldly pleasures become a puddle next to an oasis, a stone next to a diamond. Let us seek God's grace, let us see the father, and that will be enough for us."
The Oecumenical Church Congress takes place every three years since 2003 and is the biggest religious assembly in Saidercray. The next OCC will be held in Jallsborough in June 2009.
The organizers reckon with about 120,000 Christians from Saidercray and our neighbouring countries, most of them laymen between 20 and 30 years. Many of them come to discuss about God and Christianity, others are simply attracted by the opportunity to meet such a lot of people of about the same age.

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