Join the new world

This is a translation of a Dutch article originally published here.

For a better understanding of the current situation in eBelgium some knowledge of eBelgian history might be useful. This series will review the recent history of this country, starting with its last independence of mid-January 2010. Previous events were treated concisely in this article.



First of all, a short introduction to the geo-political situation in eRepublik. One of the most fundamental things every eCitizen should be aware of is the opposition between EDEN and PHOENIX, the two main military alliances which more or less divide the New World in two hostile blocks. In our parts eSpain, ePoland, eCroatia, eSweden, and until a few weeks ago the eUS (which are now leading the Brolliance), are part of EDEN, while eUK, eNetherlands, eFrance, eGermany (these two were wiped off the map by ePoland and eSpain for quite some time), eRussia, eHungary and eSerbia (these three are very influential nations in eRepublik) belong to PHOENIX. The evolutions in eBelgium should be viewed against the background of the global conflict between the two alliances and the raging WW IV at the time when this nation suddenly regained its independence. (As mentionned previously, you'll find more information on this period here).

When eBelgium reappeared on the map mid-January 2010, at first only as Brussels and Flanders, this event attracted a great number of foreign players, who were sent by their governements to ensure the grip of their alliances on the strategically located patch of land in the heart of Europe. This was made possible by the fact that when a country regains its independence, the citizenship of that country is granted automatically after a simple request before the first Congressional elections take place, whereupon only Congressmembers will be able to grant new citizenships to immigrants. The citizenship of a particular country is needed to propose own candidates for Congressional or Presidential elections in that country and to provide them a sufficient number of votes (gaining influence over the governemental decissions and the national treasury), and for that reason the Congressional elections of January 25 attracted a huge concourse of eAmericans, eCroats and ePoles from EDEN side, and eHungarians, eSerbs and eBritish from PHOENIX side. Real Belgians, who sparsely returned from the neighbouring countries, formed a small minority.



On the 25th of January up to 1646 citizens had cast their vote, a number of voters which was never seen before in eBelgium, and which wasn't equalled later either. Although five parties took part in the elections (most of which had "Belgium" or "Belgian" in their name), only two parties were "genuinely" Belgian - the National Democratic Front (later renamed to Res Belgica), which didn't manage to get a representative in Congress without foreign support, and Belgium for Belgians, whose candidates could count on PHOENIX votes (with the exception of a couple of Macedonians, who claimed to act on personal initiative, PHOENIX didn't propose any candidates of its own). The other three parties were American, Croatian and Polish respectively. In the end, this is how the results of the elections and the composition of the Congress looked like:

Belgium for Belgians - 9 chairs in Congress
Movement for Belgium (Poles) - 6 chairs
Free Belgium (only eUS soldiers back then) - 3 chairs
Belgian Neutrality Party (Croats) - 2 chairs
National Democratic Front - 0 chairs

A well-balanced and highly polarized Congress had to lay the foundations of a new democracy and balance on the thin line of national neutrality, under the watchful eyes of both alliances...

But this will be treated in the following lecture.