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Yesterday's elections in the United Netherlands were of particular interest due to the uncertain future the country is facing these days. Flanders and Brussels remain under the care of the United Kingdom and it is still being hotly discussed whether to merge with the UK or to remain independent with no definite solution being in sight yet. The Guilder's value is a bit weak at the moment, and compared to Canada, much more intense fighting between the political parties took place before the elections.

Results

Iron and Wine: 14 seats = 35%
Belgian Party: 10 seats = 25%
Libertarian Social Democrats: 8 seats = 20%
Green Liberal Democrats: 6 seats = 15%
Libertarian Party: 2 seats = 5%


Flanders and Brussels, Merger of the UNL and the UK

The population of the United Netherlands still has not been able to come to a final decision of whether or not to become part of the United Kingdom. The most common doubts from those opposing this act are primarily the minuscule influence of the Dutch and Belgian people in the new union and the loss of this feeling of comfortable and homely integrity which currently deeply connects most of the UNL's citizens.

Few parties made a definite statement to this before the elections. Only the Libertarian party made it clear that they would be strictly against the union, most others remained neutral or wished to hear the will of the people first; no binding referendum has been held yet however, aside from a few private ones with low turnout.
The Belgian Party, now the second strongest in the new congress, announced however that the reunification of Belgium is of highest priority for them, be it within the UNL, the UK, or as an independent state. The LSD also stressed this matter and demanded that even if the merger with the UK still takes a while to be discussed, Flanders and Brussels should in the meantime still be reunited with the UNL.


Economy

The currency on the UNL, albeit stabilising now, is not doing this well these days with 1 NLG currently costing 0.015 gold. State-run companies will most likely still see a lot of support this term as both the strongest (I&W) and the third strongest (LSD) parties keep backing this concept. Both also emphasise on relatively low taxes to fuel export as an important source of income for the UNL.
Neither the generally open and internationally orientated GLD promoting a more active export-orientated economy nor the LP taking the opposite position and propagating protectionism won a relevant amount of seat in the congress this month.