Patria votes - April 17, 2010

Campaign 2010 - the race for the 49th Congress


STAND UP FOR THE FLAG OF PATRIA!
THESE COLORS DON'T RUN!

Welcome to the Inner Realm of Patria's blog site for Campaign 2010 - the election of Patria's 49th Congress. This site will serve as a forum for all the parties contesting seats in the 49th Congress of Patria (known in Patrienish as Congressus Patriaë or by the cipher XLIX Con. Pat.) Election day is the third Saturday in April. Inauguration day is June 30, 2010. Patria's Inaguruation ceremony, every fourth year on June 30, is loosely based on the US Presidential inaugural, with a lot of Hindu ritual thrown in.

For those new to Patria, the following is some background information:

All executive and legislative powers are vested in the Congressus Patriaë, a 333-seat legislature elected to a four-year term. On April 15, 2006 elections were held for the 48th Congressus Patriaë (XLVIII Con. Pat.), inaugurated on June 30, 2006 for a term ending June 30, 2010. The party holding a plurality of seats is a the Amrita Party, a party devoted to the worship and teachings of the "hugging saint" Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma). During the 47th Congress the Amrita Party merged with the former Spiritual Regeneration Movement (SRM)*, a Hindu nationalist/revivalist party similar to India's Bharatiya Janata Party. Other parties include the Chakra Party, a New Age party, which is a sometimes uneasy ally of the SRM and Amrita but more often than not its chief rival, using the slogans "Transformation, not Transcendence!" and "no Gurus, just right!", National Union a rightist, law-and-order party that once billed itself as "The Man's Party! Forged in the fire! Tungsten Tough! Testosterone in your balls=NU on your ballot!", Lilith Party "The Grrrrrls party!", Libertarian Party "Less government, more freedom!", Social Democrats and Progressive Labour (leftist/pinko-sympathizing), Green Party (the usual motley crew of left-wing tree-huggers), Rationalist Party (promotes atheism and the philosophy of Objectivism, based on the writings of Ayn Rand), Party for Personal Responsibility (a one-trick pony: pay down the deficit, cut social spending, plus a dose of personal responsibility), Jungle Party (a smack-talking personality cult for fans of Jim Rome), Family Values Party ("Healthy, happy, heterosexual!") and about 20 others. Unlike Canada, Australia, the U.S. and U.K., but like most of the democratic world, election is by proportional representation, so virtually any fringe party is guaranteed one or two seats in Congress.

* In one of the worst-kept secrets, the SRM will at some time before the Third Session of the 48th Congress recesses for the summer announce its separation from the Amrita Party and re-constitute itself as an official party for the election of 2010.

With the impending demise of Geocities, the web site of Patria is seeking a new host, preferably on a free site such as Tripod. Unless Yahoo reconsiders its decision to axe Geocities, this page may also serve as a temporary home page in the months to come.