A year of perpetual celebration ends with a continued high for some, and stinging disappointment for others. For half the country, the monotony flows on as usual as they get confused looks from their coworkers and friends after asking, apparently naively, why they're so worked up about it. The people of Iroa wake up to milder temperatures and an election map determining whose arguing voices they will hear for the next five years should they tune in to the sandstone walls of the Mojlis.
Soleiman Kobanei took the podium last night to declare victory, his tone markedly humble and cognisant of the honour of being bestowed a third term as Vazirol. His gamble to move the HLDI towards a more populist stance during the 19th Mojlis has yielded fruit, narrowly staving off a JMMI dominated house. During that term, Liberal Democratic politicians were urged to swallow any fears of upsetting their donors and heeded to the decades-persistent suggestions of the Falasheya. Working closely, they greatly expanded the service economy and poured subsidies into agriculture. Any doubts to the latter's necessity were assuaged in 2208, when volunteer trucks laden with Iroan surplus raced across the border of a starving Sahrland in what they affectionately dubbed the 'Olive Run.' A rapidly growing GDP solidifies Iroa's place among the concert of the world's developed economies.
Masoud Rezabadi reassured himself amidst dejected scoffs masked with hope, tapering off the wooden desk in his office. He hadn't won the executive, but his seat in Maslouf was secure and his party firmly in second. He would consider the other numbers on the screen; Hezboud and the Karsodon nostalgists that flipped district 45 would readily caucus with the National Front, and he could win over the more conservative members of Soleiman's party and guarantee national security. If the media wasn't there to extract his remarks for their hungry audience, he would curse the name of Kamran Baratpour whom he was certain to blame for denying JMMI their first electoral victory in 60 years. SLACK had so thoroughly bought the man that when pressed on his acceptance of their endorsement during the much publicised first district debate, doubled down and produced his smartphone to show an audience of thousands a fan edit of SS war footage during the HTI insurgency.
Behnaz Farmani took the stage in a local pub in Iroshahr followed closely inside by excited voters flocking to the growing mob at her heels. The young former governor thanked them for their support in her unsuccessful bid for the first district. She expressed hope in her colleague Zerya Satevi to lead the Falasheya in the next cycle, and welcomed the people of the 38th district to the cause following their upset victory. Pridefully she reassured her cheering supporters that she wasn't going anywhere and would remain committed to bringing the same ideals that made Iroshahr a fair and livable city to the rest of the nation. A product of the protest scene of the 2190s, she did not pull punches and got carried away herself. Perhaps, Iroa was not ready for her remarks about the Strelkan tendency to create apartheid states wherever they got into power. At least, she thought, it was enough to provoke her National Front opponent into a meltdown that revealed the rot in his party. The Liberal Democrats would take the district for now.
The mood in the campaign office in Marea island was bleak. Aside from the island chain and Szohreh, voters were by and large uninterested in the Sabzeh's message. They had begun to take for granted the Greens' policies that made etching out a life in an equatorial desert comfortable, one advisor explained over the shoulder of Darya Szohrehi to a raised hand of disinterest.
In the Great Mosque of Jalalestan, Khyal Shah Tawalmai led his base in a prayer of thanks to God for his continued renewal of the faith in the province. He pledged to fulfil his wish of restoring Iridia to the great days of Eubudic guidance, and to unhesitatingly and unwaveringly call out the immorality of those who dictate policy to the people of the book.
- IroaPolitical2209.png (37.41 KiB) Viewed 54 times
