Talk:A Dawn of a New Era (Map Game)/@comment-33928881-20190608174414

French Republic

 * Government: Unitary semi‑presidential republic
 * President:
 * Emmanuel Macron (REM) [before May 14th]
 * Marion Maréchal (RN) [from May 14th]
 * Prime Minister:
 * Édouard Philippe (MoDem) [before June 20th]
 * Jean Pierre Polnareff (LR) [from June 20th]
 * 2022 elections: The presidential elections were held in two rounds between 23th April and May 7th, while the parliamentary elections were also held in two rounds between June 11th and 18th.
 * Primaries: Primaries for the presidential elections were held a couple months prior to the election, with the EELV's and RN's contests attracting the most attention nationwide. Although Marine Le Pen was widely expected to secure National Rally's presidential candidacy easily, this changed when she became involved in a corruption scandal where she supposedly received russian funds for her campaign in return for giving russian companies contracts when she became president. As a result of this, her niece Marion Maréchal announced her intention to challenge her aunt in the primary election. With RN losing points in polls due to the scandal, electors decided to favor Maréchal instead, allowing her to win the RN's candidacy with 59% of the votes to Le Pen's 41%. The EELV (France's green party which had experienced a steady growth) also faced a competitive internal contest with many new politicians entering the race and an open system where any registered voter being allowed to vote ik the primary. The EELV nominated a young entrepeneur and writer, Félix Argyle. The other major parties held mostly uncontested primaries, with REM nominating incumbent president Emmanuel Macron and LR nominating war veteran and experienced politician Jean Pierre Polnareff. The left-wing parties held a joint primary in an attempt to capture more voters, with longtime presidential candidate Jean-Lúc Mélenchon coming out at top.
 * First round (presidential): Following the end of primary elections, each of the presidential candidates began to campaign through the entire country. President Macron managed to build a large coalition of partied that had been loyal to him during his presidency, such as MoDem, Agir and the MPR, as well as his own party, La Repúblique Franceroundone.png Marche! (REM).  The alliance was named Renaissance. Leftist candidate Jean-Lúc Mélenchon also ran with a wide alliance of left-wing parties, known as Gauche unitaire (United left). Polls fluctuated constantly as weeks passed, but the overall trend became clear after the first debate. Maréchal was expected to come first with around 30% of the votes, with Polnareff from the conservative Les Repúblicans party considered to have a high possibility of finishing second as he scored over 20% and mantained a steady growth in all polls as president Macron sunk in voting intention. Melénchon, who had polled well during the first weeks of the campaign and was seen as a possible contender in the second round, was now expected to fall below EELV's Félix Argyle after a poor perfomance in the debates. The campaigns for the first round generated a high amount of interest throught the entire electoral period, resulting in a final turnout of almost 80%. The results would be announced on the night of April 7th, with a few surprises. The most notable one was Emmanuel Macron coming in second by a mere margin of 0.2%. A huge controversy ensued as Polnareff announced he wouldn't recognize the results until there was a full recount - which the electoral authority would later deny, raising suspicions even further. Some would go on to claim that the EU had intervened in the election to favor president Macron, although this would never be proved. The other surprise was the strong performance of the EELV candidate and the total collapse of Mélenchon's support as he scored even lower than what the worst polls had predicted.
 * Results:
 * Marion Maréchal (RN) - 10,389,397 (28.4%)
 * Emmanuel Macron (Renaissance alliance) - 8,121,289 (22.2%)
 * Jean Pierre Polnareff (LR) - 8,048,124 (22.0%)
 * Félix Argyle (EELV) - 5,670,269 (15.5%)
 * Nicholas Dupont-Aignan (DLF) - 1,938,866 (5.3%)
 * Jean-Lúc Mélenchon (United left alliance) - 1,536,460 (4.2%)
 * Others - 877,977 (2.4%)
 * Turnout: 79.3%
 * Second round (presidential): Following the controversy from the first round, Jean Pierre Polnareff refused to endorse either of the candidates despite a massive pressure to do so in order to "stop fascism". Polnareff said Macron's government had been a disaster and that he was sure he used the government to intervene in the first round, although he did not endorse Maréchal explicitally. Félix Argyle and Jean-Lúc Mélenchon endorsed Macron but conditioned their support, demanding him to promote social and environmental wellbeing policies if he were to triumph. They announced their support in a massive rally gathering forces from the left to center-right in support of Macron's candidacy. This would allow Macron to hold a small lead in second round polls for the first days. Franceroundtwo.pnghile, Maréchal received the support of Debout La France and their presidential candidate Nicholas Dupont-Aignan. A few days prior to the elections Polnareff and Maréchal were caught in a restaurant together, raising speculations of a possible endorsement, although this didn't end up happening. Following the sole presidential debate held right before the election, polls showed a technical tie between the two candidates, making the results uncertain. Maréchal would go on to win the second round with a 6.4% margin, scoring an historical victory for her movement. Analysts atributed her victory to dissapproval of Macron's government and to the fact she was more popular than Marine Le Pen, as she held more moderate views. She would take charge as president on May 14th.
 * Results:
 * Marion Maréchal (RN) - 18,557,227 (53.2%)
 * Emmanuel Macron (Renaissance alliance) - 16,324,779 (46.8%)
 * Turnout: 76.4%
 * Parliamentary: With the National Rally expected to benefit from the victory in the presidential election, president-elect Marion Maréchal and former presidential candidate Jean Pierre Polnareff made an announcement that would shake up the political system even further; National Rally and The Republicans would from a government coalition and run together in the parliamentary elections. Later on Nicholas Dupont-Aignan announced that Debout La France would join the coalition. Finally, the Republican People's Union (a small, pro-Frexit party) agreed to also join this alliance after talks with Maréchal. The alliance was named Together we will make history (Ensemble, nous ferons l'historie) and it was commonly shortened to Ensemble!. Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance alliance fell apart following the failure in the presidential elections. As acussations of Macron tampering with the election began to become widespread and evidence of anomalies in the counts appeared, MoDem and the remaining REM allies announced they would leave the coalition, effectively ending this alliance. Despite the disaster in the presidential election, the United Left front managed to stay firm for the parliamentary elections. The elections were finally held in two rounds during June. The Ensemble coalition scored an outstanding victory, earning more than 45% of the votes in the first round and winning a commanding supermajority in the congress - the coalition won 401 out of 577 seats, with the two main parties (RN and LR) earning almost the same number of seats. REM suffered massive loses and was almost completely wiped out, winning an humillating 21 seats compared to 308 in 2017. The other winner of the night was the ecologist green party EELV, which became the third biggest party overall and the main opposition party, solidifying its national presence. United Left also saw its vote share increased significally in comparision to the presidential elections - most likely at the expense of REM. Nevertheless, the coalition still lost seats compared to the 2017 parliamentary elections as a result of the further collapse of the Socialist Party (which used to be one of the two main parties). Other parties won a marginal share of seats. Jean Pierre Polnareff from The Republicans became Prime Minister on June 20th.
 * Results:
 * Ensemble, nous ferons l'histoire: 401(+280)
 * RN: 171 (+163)
 * LR: 169 (+57)
 * DLF: 52 (+51)
 * UPR: 9 (+9)
 * EELV: 87 (+86)
 * Gauche unitaire: 42 (-18)
 * PCF: 18 (+8)
 * FI: 12 (-5)
 * Generation.S: 7 (new)
 * PS: 2 (-28)
 * PRG: 2 (-1)
 * PP: 1 (new)
 * REM: 21 (-287)
 * MoDem: 11 (-33)
 * Others: 15
 * Laws: With the new government, tougher laws on immigration are enacted. Refugees from muslim-majority in war such as Yemen and Lebanon will no longer be accepted. Military funding is also increased and every French citizen is now to follow 1 year of mandatory military service. These laws, according to president Maréchal, have the goal of protecting the motherland in an increasingly violent and changing world. Additionally, article 50 is invoked in order to leave the European Union.
 * Economy: Although the markets were initially worried about a possible National Rally victory, their worries were eased after Maréchal announced a coalition government with The Republicans, as this would mean she'd have to moderate her more extreme positions. The fact that the government holds a supermajority in the parliament also grants stability and less uncertainty for the markets. Despite nationalist rhetoric, pro-market reforms created during Macron era remain for the most part in order to maintain economical stability. With this, the GDP closes with a growth of 1.1%.
 * Military:
 * French Army:
 * 205,000 active personnel
 * 183,635 reserve personnel
 * 406 tanks
 * 6,300 armored fighting vehicles
 * 109 self-propelled artillery
 * 152 towed artillery
 * 12 rocket projectors
 * French Navy:
 * 4 aircraft carriers
 * 11 frigates
 * 12 destroyers
 * 0 corvettes
 * 10 submarines
 * 23 patrol vessels
 * 17 mine countermeasure vessels
 * French Air Force:
 * 273 fighters
 * 273 combat aircraft
 * 128 transport aircraft
 * 56 attack helicopters
 * Events:
 * Frexit: A referendum regarding France's membership in the EU is held on August 10th, as it was one of President Maréchal's main campaign promises. The referendum has a record-high turnout of 84% and the result is in favor of leaving the union, with 54% voting to leave and 46% voting to remain. Article 50 is therefore invoked and by the end of 2022 France is out of the EU with a deal, emulating Greece's course of action.
 * Venezuelan civil war: We recall our forces from Venezuela as there are more issues near home, and we prefer to stay outside of problems in other continents. Nevertheless, venezuelan refugees are still received in French Guyana.
 * Spanish civil war: Shortly after being sworn in as president, president Maréchal announces Operation Abascal; a military intervention in Spain to defend the freedom of the people of Catalonia, Basque and Galicia. 35,000 troops are mobilized to invade Spaing along with dozens of armored vehicles and tanks, as well as support of the French Air Force. The border port of San Sebastián is taken quickly and our troops advance all the way to Pamplona and attempt to occupy it. Advancement beyond this point is not planned as the military intervention is mostly to put pressure on Spain. Humanitarian help is sent to the separatists forces on the frontlines.
 * Wallonian regionalism: We start funding wallonian regionalists in Belgium and promote organizations in favor of integration with France. Propaganda on social media is one of the means used to attempt to sway the public opinion so it favors unity with France.
 * Diplomacy: Italics is suppossed to be "secret" (this also applies to the Wallonian section)
 * European Union: After the end of our membership, we make it clear to the union that we still wish to maintain friendly relationships with all the people of Europe, as well as to maintain trade. We do say that we disagree with their political ideology and especially closer relationships with nations like Turkey.
 * Spain: Despite the current state of war, we send a proposal to Spain; Given the current situation with Morocco, it is clear that the expansion of Islam is a real threat to Europe and its people. Therefore, we offer to aid you in your war against Morocco if you agree to two conditions: 1. Allow us to establish a port in the coast of Morocco in the event that we end up capturing land on its shore. 2. Recognize the independence of Catalonia, Galicia and Basque in order to end your civil war.
 * Netherlands: We increase relations. We also suggest them to fund regionalist groups from Flanders so we can jointly contribute to the dissolution of the Belgian state and split it between us.
 * Ukraine: We increase trade and agree to invest in the country.