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Dispatch → Bulletin → News
The URA Tribune - Issue 1 January 2021
AN EVERLASTING UNION
Taking off from the trail blazed by the URA Harbinger, the Tribune is the official publication of the United Regions Alliance.
Heralding Truthful News, Unifying Views
January 2021 will be featuring the biannual election cycle of the URA, with the field already showing potential for hotly contested races. The presidential election already has four announced candidates, the most since the alliance was founded. Member nations are highly encouraged to vote. World Assembly membership is required to be eligible. To recall, the last election in July 2020 almost doubled the previous voter turnout.
This as the Constitutional Convention, assembled in November 2020, continues to deliberate on amendments to the alliance charter. The convention and its outcome is seen to loom large in the upcoming campaign, as some of the candidates' pledges cross into the prevailing issues.
One of the presidentiables, URA Armed Forces Marshal 
Allangoria, has declared, "The URA has grown way to(o) fast as far as government structure. We have seen the creation of so many councils, committees, and so many unattended projects. The URA does not have a true identity." The incumbent President, 
Suvmia, stressed how the alliance needs to set its long-term goals straight "to create a better future for the URA." Meanwhile, presidentiable The pir has promised greater economic output and boosting the defense budget.
With 20 affirmative and no negative votes, the World Assembly Voting Reform Act was passed by the Civic Council on January 1, 2021. Authored by Alliance President Suvmia and Alliance Founder 
Ellenburg, the act aimed to keep a conscientious balance between the voting powers of the larger and the smaller member regions of the URA.
The new system apportioned votes to regions directly based upon Delegate Endorsements and number of WA Members in each region. It is seen as an innovative step towards sustaining the alliance as a solid World Assembly voting bloc.
The URA was established by Ellenburg as a World Assembly alliance to bring together like-minded regions as a powerful voting bloc in the NationStates world. Initially, there were few members, but the alliance has seen significant growth in the past year. The URA is comprised of over 30 regions, representing more than 1,000 World Assembly members at the time of its anniversary. To celebrate the URA’s full year of existence, the alliance’s administration decided to organise a festival. The week-long festivities, named the ‘URA Anniversary Festival’, ran from November 9, 2020 (the URA’s founding day) to November 15, 2020.
In describing how the URA has grown in the past year, Alliance President Suvmia has this to say, "We are building a strong foundation to stand on for many years to come; a foundation of democracy, and unity. A foundation of free and fair elections; one of strong community, and camaraderie."
The Chess Tournament, meanwhile, held centre stage for the entire week. URA members have a reputation for enjoying chess, so it naturally featured heavily in the alliance’s celebrations. The tournament consisted of seven matches. The final was between URA Representative Scalizagasti and The Labyrinth player Moneygoodland. The latter resigned to the former and Scalizagasti won with a score of 127/-102. The Bronze Match went to Suvmia when Ellenburg forfeited the game.
The Anterian Civil Service is a means for citizens who are not necessarily involved in the Directorate directly to become involved in the day-to-day operations of Anteria, filling in the gaps where the founder and directors cannot always perform their duties, or would prefer to help share the ability to participate in their Directorates.
Until recently, the Anterian Civil Service was relatively underdeveloped and disjointed between departments. However, under a new initiative started by the region's Founder 
Emiline every Directorate in Anteria will now have a structure for joining.
The expansion now centralizes the application process for joining the Civil Service to one dispatch, and expands the service in several departments. For example, the Directorate of Recruitment has now absorbed the greeters, a group of citizens who greet new members as soon as they join the Discord server.
A landmark commendation proposal backed no less by the World Assembly Secretary General 
Kuriko focused on one of the longstanding WA Delegates of the alliance, Ariusgrad of the Philippines. Although eventually failing the vote, this was regarded as the first ever commend of any current delegate of the URA. Ariusgrad is currently the longest serving WA Delegate and President of the Philippines, being first elected in 2012.
A known defender in international circles, Ariusgrad emphasized that the Philippines is more than a founderless region which had long resisted invasion attempts, "More than our military portfolio, we have also committed ourselves to other noble pursuits such as sustainable and innovative development, upholding rights and freedoms, diplomatic missions, and of course, creating a loving, caring, and sharing community for all. What we have is a shared world, a shared economy, a shared dream. Our collective energies can do so much more when we all work together in one spirit."
Despite the losing proposal, the alliance was empowered to raise its profile from a WA voting bloc into a WA drafting bloc as well. This led to the creation of a Resolution Writing Committee which has since attracted talent across member regions. It is actively recruiting willing members who would be interested to participate.
Feel free to telegram or Discord message the following if you have any questions or comments!
Founder Contact Info:
Ellenburg/
Free Azell, @Ellenburg#8639President Contact Info:
Suvmia, @Suvmia#1607Vice President Contact Info: Honeydewistania, @Whatermelons#1111
Authored by Lanaograd and the Public Affairs Council. Banner design by
Maricoen. All rights reserved.
