2023 Entropan Global ACES membership referendum
On 20 September 2023, a petition in Entropan to join the Global ACES program passed the 100,000 signatures required to warrant its contents being held as a national referendum. [1] The referendum is currently ongoing, with voting starting on 23 September 2023, and ending on 30 September 2023. [2] It is the first referendum held nationwide in Entropan on the subject of joining the Global ACES program, and comes following a substantial increase in support for the program, mainly due to shocks such as the Shaoyu Crisis leading many in the public to be in support of dismantling Entropanian neutrality.
The referendum reached the 100,000 signatures quorum in the 2 weeks following the endorsement given by current Foreign Delegate Håkon Martinsen in a surprise press conference held on 2 September 2023.[3] This press conference came following controversy that surrounded the government's inaction in regards to the discovery of the Shaoyu Island Genocide, with widespread views that the action they had taken regarding Zloveshchiy, and Zloveshchiyan ally New Illyricum [4]. Polling indicates that around 60% of Entropanians are in favour of joining Global ACES.
Background
In August 2023, an investigation by the Pavulturilori National Security Service found evidence of a genocide perpetrated on the internationally disputed territory of Shaoyu Island, perpetrated by the government of Zloveshchiy, with estimations of 8 million Shaoyunese people, mainly being made up by dissidents against the Zloveshchiyan government. When news of the genocide was made public and the OU Task Force for Shaoyu was established by the Ostlandet Union, the government of Entropan, headed by the Progressive Socialist Party, issued a statement in support of the Task Force's attempt to invade Shaoyu and end Zloveshchiyan occupation of the island. The statement read:
- The Government of Entropan wholly condemns the actions of the Zloveshchiyan government. The Government offers its full diplomatic support to other democratic countries in doing whatever may be necessary to relinquish Zloveshchiyan control of the island, and will discuss what measures the Democratic Federation of Entropan could take regarding the matter.
This statement garnered widespread approval, with its Twitter post gaining over 100,000 likes within 2 days of it being published.
Within the next week, Foreign Delegate Håkon Martinsen appeared on broadcasters The Sentinel, the National Observer, and The New Independent, giving interviews, specifically regarding key legislation being passed in the National Council at the time. When asked for comment on what the Entropanian government would be doing regarding the Shaoyu crisis, in each of the three interviews Martinsen said:
- We are keeping our options open and will undertake rigorous debate in the National Council on what we will do regarding Shaoyu.
On 29 August 2023, the Conservative Party of Entropan published a campaign video on all their social media. The video featured Martinsen, in the three interviews, being asked questions about the Shaoyu crisis, with the videos syncing up when Martinsen gave his answer, which was the same in all three instances. It was then followed by red bold text stating "No plans for liberating Shaoyu" overlayed onto a black bar covering his head. The post was widely successful. It gained over 100,000 likes on Twitter, 1,000,000 views on various video sites, and managed to increase their polling numbers by nearly 5 percentage points, and was accompanied by most broadcasters, including Progressive Socialist-aligned broadcasters such as The Sentinel, taking a decidedly negative turn towards the policy of the governmnet.
The day later, Angerlannguaq Leite, the leader of the Social Liberal Party, the third largest party behind the Progressive Socialists and Greens, and a decisive part of the ruling Maldekstro coalition, held an impromptu rally, wherein he criticised Martinsen's approach to the Shaoyu crisis, and got from that to criticising Entropanian neutrality in world affairs, citing previous negative comments by Martinsen about the Alliance of Central Ecrosian States, ending with Leite calling for Entropan to "end this embarrassing neutrality, join Global ACES, and start defending democracy and liberty in action". This speech was widely aired, and polling the next day later showed a 10 percentage point increase in popularity for the Social Liberal Party, and, for the first time since ACES formed in 1982, a majority of the Entropanian public had favourable opinions of the alliance, and wanted to join the Global ACES program.
On 1 September 2023,
