SBC International News

Monument to Diana Melo and Jade Severine Planned

Plans have been announced to build a new monument on the First Republic Avenue in Vilvek, near the Swilatian Parliament building. The monument to Iglesian journalists Diana Melo and Jade Severine, who had been captured while reporting in Hippostana and Luziyca, respectively. Both nations are seen by Swilatians as heavily anti-democratic and without freedom of speech. Diana Melo had actually been arrested for reporting on Hippostanian plans to invade countries they considered "communist", which they had meant to keep secret. Jade Severine had only been arrested for using drugs, but it has been suspected that there are other reasons for her arrest.

There have been massive demonstrations in Swilatia for their release, but the plan to build this monument has proven very controversial. All the other monuments in Vilvek's stolica narodowa district have been to Swilatians, or more abstract monuments, to the values of the Swilatian Republic. The First Republic Avenue itself has been traditonally reserved for the most important Swilatians in history, leading many to criticise the plan to construct a monument to two Iglesians with almost no real connection to Swilatia.

The official reason given for building this monument is that Diana Melo's arrest and the resulting worldwide demonstrations for her release have made her into a symbol for freedom of speech, and Jade Severine is also set to become this as she continues to be held in Luziyca. Critics have pointed out that attempts by less free countries to silence foreign journalists is nothing new, and there is no reason to pick an Iglesian over all the Swilatians who had met the same fate, some of which were not released as Diana Melo eventually was, but were instead imprisoned or executed in other countries.

Back in 2009, a whole team of Swilatan journalists had risked their lives to make a documentary about life in Sarleneska, one world's most secretive countries, which only lets in a handful of foreign visitors each year for a guided tour. Some of the journalists working on this documentary had taken this tour, describing it as a propaganda show which tells nothing about the real conditions in Sarleneska. Most others had entered the country illegaly, through neighbouring Zeleneska and Frinistia. One, Miran Farlani, did not return. No monument to him was ever built.

Presidential election to be held in Swilatia

With almost three years having past since the last presidential election in Swilatia, another must be held by the end of May, this year. The current president, Alicja Wenejska will be running for re-election as the Liberal Party candidate. The other parties with seats in Parliament will be required to hold primaries, while parties without seats in Parliament may select their candidates internally.

Primaries will be held on 26 February, with a second round on 4 March if no candidate wins a majority of votes in the first round. The list of candidates is as follows:

United Democratic Party: Mariana Alijewska, Andrzej Janeski, Karen Nadmirski, Vayane Rivana, Sabina Romanska

Liberal Party: No primary will be held (Alicja Wenejska running for re-election)

Central Party: Stefan Kaminski, Marian Walentyna, Kamil Nowienski

Green Party: Malena Dominska, Janusz Koniewksi, Aysel Narsanye

Democratic Socialist Party: Anna Hasanowa, Roman Milanowski, Alexei Sarenski, Julian Stefanowski

Swilatian People's Party: Wiktor Androwicz, Daniel Mirowski, Stefan Pomianski

Artsakhestan win 20th WorldVision Song Contest

The 20th WorldVision Song Contest, held in Corola City, Achalya Santis, was won by Artsakhestan with their entry Yes Gitem, performed by Sofi Shamumyan. They finished with 102 points, recieving the Maximum 12 points from Valcluse, Kingsley Bedford, Euskirribakondara and Valdaranes. In second and third place were Albertasby and Chenkorya, both with 92 points, but with Albertasby finishing one place higher on tie-breaking rules. Costa Fiero finished fourth with 87 points.

For the second year in a row, Swilatia did not participate in the contest, although it remained a popular show in Swilatia, being broadcasted on SBC 3 and SBC 4, and recieving millions of views of both channels. As always, Swilatian flags were flown from balconies on the night of the contest, as if to show support for a Swilatian entry which was not there. As always, a poll was held on the SBC website, which would have determined the votes if Swilatia had participated. The results of this poll showed that most Swilatians did not agree with the results of the contest, with sixth-placed Kingsley Bedford recieving the most votes.

The SBC has announced plans for Swilatia to participate in the 21st contest, with the winner of piosenka dla Swilasji 21 as their entry.

Presidential primaries end, final list of candidates announced

The second round of primaries has just finished, revealing the last two major candidates for the Swilatian presidential elections in May. The only parties holding a second round were the United Democratic Party and the Democratic Socialist party, as no candidate managed to finish with a majority of votes in the first round. The three other parties had already selected their candidates one week ago. The Liberal Party did not hold a primary at all, they were allowed to internally nominate the current president, Alicja Wenejska to run for a second term.

The biggest impact in the first round was made by Aysel Narsanye of the Green Party. The former street performer and activist managed to win her party's primary with a significant majority (66%) of the vote, and is seen inside and outside her party as a strong candidate for the election. The Central Party primary was also won by a wide margin, by Marian Walentyna with 58% of the vote, be he is still mostly unknown outside of his own party.

The UDP and DSP primaries did not see any candidate win a majority of votes in the first round, leading to the second round primaries which were held yesterday. In the case of the United Democratic Party, Karen Nadmirski won the most votes (31%) with Sabina Romanska following behind (26%). He won the second round more comfortably with 61% of the vote. Former president Andrzej Janeski also ran in the first round of the UDP primary, after failing to reach the second round he decided to leave the UDP to run as an independent. This decision was widely criticised and is unlikely to get him many votes in the the election.

There was no clear winner in the Democratic Socialist Pary primary, with Roman Milanowski and Julian Stefanowski passing into the second round after finishing first and second, respectively. Alexei Sarenski finished not far behind, but did not reach the second round, which was narrowly won by Julian Stefanowski. It is unknown how well he will do in the presidential election, as many DSP voters still support the other candidates in the primary, and may choose to vote for Aysel Narsanyw instead.

A second round for the Swilatian People's Party, between Daniel Mirowski and Stefan Pomianski, was also seen as a possibility, but did not happen, as Daniel Mirowski managed to win the first round with 52% of the vote. He is not expected to do well in the election, being infamous even within his own party for his extreme views.

The election will be held on the 6th of May, with a second round of voting on the 13th if necessary.