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Hello everybody,

What with a new congress term starting, we thought it would be a good time to briefly look at what happened in congress last month. To make it slightly easier, I have grouped similar proposals together.

To start with though, let me congratulate all who were elected to represent us for the coming term.

Congress Breakdown

Yesterdays election saw several partnerships formed with new era supporting the WRP, GoUK and PCP, TUP supporting the new party IA (as well as UKRP) and ourselves (ESO) supporting GBDP. Below is a breakdown of the new congress along party lines with the percentage of the vote.

TUP - 190 votes (58.8% of the parties represented voted), 30% of the overall vote and 12 seats. UKRP did well in the partnership gaining 3 seats but unfortunately the IA didn't get their first congress member this month. TUP gained 2 congress members this month with 30 votes more.

New Era - 172 votes (61.6% of the parties represented voted), 27% of the overall vote and 11 seats with 1 for the GoUK, 2 for PCP with the WRP just missing out on getting a seat. New Era and the represented parties gained 1 seat from last month with 8 more votes.

UKPP - 125 votes (47.5% of the parties represented voted), 20% of the overall vote and 8 seats. UKPP lost 1 seat in this election compared to the last but gained 26 votes.

ESO - 77 votes (59.6% of the parties represented voted), 12% of the overall vote and 5 seats. We lost 1 seat in this election and unfortunately the GBDP didn't manage to get a seat. There were 33 less votes cast this month.

OV - 62 votes (57.9% of the parties represented voted), 9.9% of the overall vote and 4 seats. OV lost 1 seat in this election. There were 17 less votes cast for OV this time round.

So without further ado, let me introduce the sucessful candidates from ESO. Remember these guys were elected to represent you and are always just a message away.



1. Lightning43 - That's me, I'm ESOs Councilor this month and it's my job to organise and educate our guys in congress. I make sure that they get all the information they need to make an informed decision but without telling them what to do.

2. Franz Samsa and 3. Ando Calrissian- Their first congress term and both are extremely happy to be elected. Both are highly active and are set to be great MPs

4. Mr Extra - Joining us for his second term in congress, Mr Extra is excited once again to be making a difference and shaping the way the eUK develops.

5. Mark Augersburgh - Our current spokesman (and the guy who'll publish this so I should probably be nice). Mark is always willing to help out a new guy and is in my opinion, one of the eUKs rising stars. Some of you may remember him from his supplying during an important battle, despite it only being his first day playing.



MPPs

MPPs (or mutual protection pact) are our alliances. A country that we have a pact with can fight in our main battles and us in theirs without having to travel around. They are also important tools in diplomacy, giving us a way of cementing relations with a country. If a country allied to us attacks another country we have as an MPP, then the aggressor would lose our pact. To get or renew a MPP costs both countries 10k and are one of the biggest costs for most governments.

The MPPs passed last term were...

Estonia - 34 For, 3 Against then again 23 For, 4 Against - Passed (both times)

Brazil - 38 For, 1 Against - Passed

Latvia - 31 For, 3 Against - Passed

Chile - 32 For, 2 Against - Passed

Indonesia - 32 For, 0 Against - Passed

Indonesia and Chile were both MPPs that we lost when they attacked Austrailia (a privately funded MPP we signed in January)

Venezuela - 26 For, 3 Against - Passed

Bulgaria - 34 For, 0 Against - Passed

Poland - 33 For, 0 Against - Passed

Hungary - 32 For, 2 Against - Passed

Spain - 35 For, 0 Against - Passed

Serbia - 30 For, 1 Against - Passed



Natural Enemy

A natural enemy proposal is the cheapest way for us to go to war and also gives us a 10% damage bonus against that country. The country that gets the proposal in first also gets the iniatitive and choses where and when to attack first (the winner of the first campaign will then take the iniatitive. It's important to weigh up all the possible consequences though before proposing one as other countries can be quick to take advantage.

Vs. Ireland - 3 For, 32 Against - Rejected

Vs. Norway - 4 For, 25 Against - Rejected

Vs. Netherlands - 12 For, 25 Against - Rejected



Income tax

Income tax is the money that the government takes from everybody who works that day. The higher it is the more money the government gets and the lower, the more the player recieves as his or her wage. A reduced income tax has been a policy supported by a few parties, most notably OV.

Income tax lowered from 5% to 3% - 11 For, 26 Against - Rejected



VAT and Import taxes (Food and Weapons)

VAT is the money that the government gets from every item sold. The higher it is, the more money they recieve but the less that the seller recieves. A VAT of 8% means that of the price the item goes on sale, the buyer pays 100%, the government recieves 8% and the seller recieves 92%. Import tax governs the amount of tax people importing items to our market have to pay. They also have to pay VAT on any item that they sell. We are able to set seperate rates for food and weapons.

Food (in order they were proposed)

Import tax 60% to 75% - 22 For, 13 Against - Passed

Import tax 75% to 99% - 10 For, 19 Against - Rejected

VAT 8% to 7% - 16 For, 12 Against - Passed

Weapons

Import tax 60% to 75% - 13 For, 19 Against - Rejected

Import tax 60% to 99% - 5 For, 25 Against - Rejected



Minimum Wage

The minimum wage of a country is the lowest wage allowed to be set. A higher minimum wage means more money in the pocket of the citizen working but also makes communes or MUs that supply with weapons more expensive and less viable, meaning they might have to cut supplies.

Minimum wage raise from 0.5 GBP to 0.7 GBP - 4 For, 25 Against - Rejected


So there you have it, a very quick run down of the laws proposed last term. Heres hoping for another good and active term this month

Thanks for reading
Lightning43
ESO Councilor