BREAKING: HEM, founder of Europeia, commended
Despite blustering counter-campaign, World Assembly overwhelmingly votes to commend HEM
Written by Pichtonia
(February 7, 2021) – Following a decisive vote in the Security Council, the World Assembly overwhelmingly commended King HEM for his achievements in the regions of Europeia, the South Pacific, and The Land of Kings and Emperors.
With the commendation, Sopo makes good on the final promise of his presidency. After Sopo announced that he would introduce Commend King HEM in his closing address, he introduced a first draft, co-authored by Maowi, to the Security Council forum only two days later. Over the course of two weeks, Sopo had written two more drafts, incorporating much of the feedback he received by the NationStates community, although he noticeably didn't remove the sections pertaining to HEM's service in the South Pacific, a fact the aforementioned region would later continue objecting to.
On January 19, Sopo brought forth another (and eventually final) draft. Having gone for nearly two weeks without objections, Sopo then submitted the draft to the Security Council on January 31.
Barely three hours later, the newly-founded Security Council voting bloc "Partnership for Sovereignty", at the time consisting of 10000 Islands, the South Pacific, and The Rejected Realms, released a statement claiming that examination revealed there was an "insidious political purpose" of heaping praise on the founder of a "raider region" behind Commend King HEM. According to the Partnership for Sovereignty, crediting HEM for Independentism would "validate" a "dangerous propaganda lie", hiding "under an faux ideology of regional interests".
Asked about whether it was in fact his insidious political purpose to heap praise on the founder of a raider region, Sopo said: "Yes. You got me."
The statement was quickly and forcefully attacked by numerous sides, including the North Pacific's MadJack ("shoddy work"), Lone Wolve United's A Bloodred Moon ("quite obviously false"), and Caer Sidi's Lollerland ("making themselves look petty"). Even infamous defender Karputsk took it upon himself to stand up for HEM, explaining that the Navy's resources were in fact neutral and that Europeia raiding far more often than it defended was not solely to blame on Europeia, let alone HEM, but also on the defenders' unwillingness to collaborate.
While the statement was not well received publicly, the Partnership for Sovereignty, via a targeted telegram countercampaign, did seem to have some initial success in deterring World Assembly delegates from approving Commend King HEM. Sopo and a team of allies and friends worked diligently on securing the 58 approvals needed to bring the Security Council resolution to a vote before the World Assembly by reaching out to delegates across NationStates.
Quorum was reached after Monday minor update, which meant the resolution was good to go to a vote on Monday major update. The vote stacked in favour of the commend very early, as the endorsement-heavy delegates of the North Pacific, the East Pacific, the West Pacific, the Pacific, Balder, Osiris, Europe, and of course Europeia all voted in favour within the first few hours. The delegates of the Partnership for Sovereignty expectedly voted against the resolution equally soon, with the exception of the Rejected Realms, who did not vote.
The World Assembly Legislative League, known as WALL, played a major role in helping the resolution move forward. As Sopo described, "WALL members initially provided feedback on the draft, which was helpful - an outside opinion that was still trustworthy. When it came time to submit, I was glad to have WALL members' support obtaining approvals and then voting early when it came to vote."
"Overall, I was really glad to have their help," he added.
By Friday major update, the resolution had been confirmed by a vote of 76.6% in favour and 23.4% against.
Once the result was clear, the main channel on Europeia's discord erupted in celebration, with citizens and foreign visitors cheering on HEM. Sopo, the main author of the resolution, expressed his satisfaction at the results. His friend, the founder of Europeia, had been commended.
