The Leftist Assembly

The Leftist Assembly is a pan-leftist region in NationStates. It was founded on 14 January 2016, and is currently one of the largest User Created Regions. It is a member of the NSLeft, the largest alliance of left-wing regions in NationStates.

History
There have been several history projects written by members of the region. This has included the Regional History Project (Episodes 1, 2, and 3) by Cedoria, which is a series of perspectives on the origins of The Leftist Assembly, and A Comprehensive History of The Leftist Assembly by Llorens, which is a short book detailing the entire period from the founding of The Communist Region to The Leftist Assembly's fourth anniversary.

Origins
The Communist Region was founded by CSSR on 3 November 2012. This first iteration of the region expanded to over 300 nations by January 2013, before collapsing in May and entering a period of stagnation. The region was refounded on 13 November of that same year under the founder’s fresh alias called New CSSR; while it peaked at above 200 nations in February 2014, it would actively continue until January 2016. Socathei was elected in April 2014, serving the longest uninterrupted term of any leader in the active era of the region.



After public pressure on the Delegate and founder, a new election for the Delegacy was called in September. Atealia ran against the incumbent with a reformist platform and, with the tally effectively neck-and-neck on the final day of voting, Socathei convinced New CSSR to banject Atealia on the false grounds of being a spy and having destroyed the founder’s former region. With the election suspended, a number of Atealia’s supporters followed him to The Communist Bloc, later founding the Democratic Socialist Union with Cedoria on 20 September. Another major breakaway occurred when Lipno, the leader of The Communist Region's military, entered into a feud with the founder over elections, leading the majority of his forces to form The Leftist Union, which rapidly emerged as a major leftist military, but quickly collapsed in January 2015 after Lipno's deletion for violating game rules.

Following a period of renewal under Delegate USSRs, Socathei returned to power in April 2015, but they ceased-to-exist after a brief period on 31 May, creating a power vacuum. A rushed election saw The Final Horseman ascend to the Delegacy on 8 June, with a Democratic Socialist Union military alliance being the highlight of their term. However, in what at the time appeared to be a power grab, the new Delegate suddenly suspended the Constitution and banjected a number of their opponents from the region; led by Cedoria, the military of the Democratic Socialist Union supported Kitchenia to take back the Delegacy from The Final Horseman on 10 July. The Final Horseman later claimed that his motives were more complicated, seeking to protect the progress he made in bringing both regions together by making himself out as a common enemy.

Founding and development
The Final Horseman's auto-coup was the trigger for improving relations between both regions, leading to talks of a merger under a series of different leaders on both sides. The Leftist Assembly was officially founded on 14 January 2016 by Leftist Assembly Founder, an account held jointly by four nations - British Accia and LAN from The Communist Region, and Atealia and Cedoria from the Democratic Socialist Union. The Constitution, primarily authored by New Prague Workers Republic, was ratified on 19 February, instituting a party-based political system, a popularly-elected Secretary, and various appointed and elected Ministers.



In the first ever regional election, Atealia from the Solidarity Party defeated British Accia from the Worker's Army Party by one vote to become the first Secretary of the region. During the 1st General Assembly, the Code of Laws was ratified as a counterpart to the Constitution, and the region became a member of both Antifa and the NSLeft. Its population grew to over 150 nations by the end of May and a tradition of lengthy RMB discussions began, with the debate over gun ownership becoming notorious. The Red Star, the regional newspaper, was also founded, going on to publish 38 issues until it closed in September 2018. Despite this activity, the planned June 2016 election failed due to a lack of candidates, with the incumbent Secretary announcing a new provisional government to govern as the 2nd General Assembly for the next term from 17 July.

The party system collapsed after it was revealed on 21 August that two separate mergers would soon reduce the total number of parties from four to two. A poll ending on 31 August decided to move to an independent General Assembly model consisting of the Secretary, Prime Minister, and all the Ministers and Justices. This was first used in the September 2016 general election, which saw Cedoria elected as the new Secretary. In government, the 3rd General Assembly passed critical legislation instituting the legislative process and referendums, while the Diplomatic Corps was formed and embassies were discontinued with USSD following their invasion of the Social Liberal Union. In the community, the 2016 Olympic Games roleplay was held across October and November. Cedoria was re-elected as Secretary in the December 2016 general election, with the 4th General Assembly passing laws on term limits and emergency banjections.

The April Crisis
Llorens, Losinia, and Auven all nominated for Secretary in the March 2017 general election, with the first two reigniting a rivalry that began with Llorens being elected as Chief Justice by one vote six months earlier. Following significant debate over policy divisions such as the regional military and the Diplomatic Corps, Losinia beat Llorens by a single vote after the distribution of preferences. A month of turmoil and political tension ensued, beginning on 7 April with the announcement of the new Leftist Defence Force to replace the United Armed Forces as the regional military. This was criticised as a non-solution to the military's problems of inactivity and led to Minister of Defence New Tuva SSR revealing that they weren’t aware of the plans in advance, unsuccessfully attempting to overturn the move.



The administration was again thrown into drama when it was announced that the General Assembly had voted to remove First Justice Celera due to inactivity, just one day before thee passage of new legislation to enshrine public votes for removing members of the General Assembly. Following widespread criticism, Losinia unexpectedly dismissed New Tuva SSR on 18 April as part of a broader push to improve discipline and efficiency amongst their Ministers. It was during this period on 22 April that the regional Discord server was born as a collaborative effort of Llorens and The Final Horseman, since becoming the major communication platform of the region.

The crisis eventually boiled over when Cedoria, who had endorsed Losinia in the previous election, motioned the only vote of no confidence against a sitting Secretary in history for Losinia's “plain simple incompetence,” prompting the Secretary to label his critics, particularly Atealia and Llorens, as “shadow plotters turned public firebrands” that had planned to remove him from power ever since he was elected. Losinia's decision to commence a three-day referendum on renaming the military to apparently delay the vote of no confidence worsened the situation, followed by the declaration of an illegal ten-day state of emergency on 28 April saw the founder temporarily strip the Secretary of his Regional Officer abilities. They went radio silent until 31 April, where they departed the region without announcement, using their remaining influence to eject British Accia and New Tuva SSR. Consequently, Atealia assumed the position of interim Secretary until the official vote of no confidence passed unanimously on 3 May, seeing the Prime Minister formally take on the top job for a second time.

Recovery and reform
The remainder of the 5th General Assembly saw significant progress as a result of the resignations of several inactive Ministers and the spearheading of a raft of new legislation by Second Justice Llorens, with a focus on amending the issues exposed during the April Crisis. He was the only candidate to nominate for Secretary in the June 2017 general election, being overwhelmingly confirmed in a confidence vote to become the first ‘Assemblian native’ elected to the position. The 6th General Assembly saw Llorens once again lead an overhaul of legislation, removing the Secretary’s voting advantage, expanding the banjection code, and amending the Constitution to apply a new numbered format. The following term, after another strong show of support in the September 2017 general election, he passed bills abolishing the Leftist Defence Force, as well as separating the legislative and judicial branches.



The Secretary also organised the first quarterly census in October, as well as the 1st Culture Competitions, which became a biannual event to design, propose, and vote on new features of the region. In foreign affairs, the region became tied up in a dispute over the proposed NSLeft membership of the Social Liberal Union. While most NSLeft regions had voted in favour of their membership by 23 November, scepticism led by some vocal figures concerning the acceptance of a ‘liberal’ region into the alliance and perceived antagonism from members of the Social Liberal Union towards authoritarian leftists prompted regions to reconsider their stance. The Leftist Assembly reaffirmed its vote in favour but would be the only region to do so as all others abstained or voted against, seeing the bid fail on 30 November.

The term would also be remembered for a failed invasion by Mycra on 29 August, which was later labelled as the 'August Farce'. The nation illegally spammed the region with World Assembly puppets to endorse themselves in a slow bid to take the Delegacy, but their efforts were stifled after all their nations were ejected and site moderators banned them from the World Assembly. Another notable nation that emerged in this period was AnPrimus, which was founded on 25 November. They became notable for coining such names as ‘Red and Gold the Tricksy’ for Llorens, ‘Cedoria the Strong’ and ‘Horse the Hugger’ for The Final Horseman, as well as the tendency to throw virtual poo across the RMB. It is widely believed that the account belonged to Morvan, though others have been suspected, and they have since become a regional folk legend, inspiring several short-lived spinoffs.

The new generation
The rival tickets of South Miruva/Atealia and VegemiteIsGross/Libertasnia emerged in the December 2017 general election, with each campaign emphasising different foreign policy visions. The former was narrowly elected on a campaign seeking to continue "unity-oriented foreign policy," as opposed to their opponents' plan to ban embassies with regions tagged as Liberal and move the region closer to The Internationale. Under the new Secretary, the 8th General Assembly featured two particularly contentious bills, with Cedoria narrowly passing a bill prohibiting Justices from dually serving as Ministers, promoting Senators as Ministers "where possible," and allowing all Ministers to view internal General Assembly communications, while a subsequent bill by Llorens to repeal most of the new provisions failed by one vote in a referendum. The first population boom of the region also occurred during this time under Minister of Recruitment Kavagrad, with the regional population more than doubling to over 250 nations by the term's conclusion.

South Miruva was the first incumbent Secretary not to opt for a second term in the March 2018 general election. The Cedoria/Kavagrad ticket emerged as the favourite to replace them, with a short-lived bid from the Talao/Talaoia ticket falling apart after a ‘joke’ about Nazism on 5 March attracted strong criticism. Secretary Cedoria was easily returned to office with their new deputy in their confidence vote, though this was instantly overshadowed on 14 March by the announcement that long-time member Atealia was departing from the region due to increasing dissatisfaction with the direction of the community. In their place, Llorens was selected as the new co-founder of the region, being joined by The Final Horseman just under one month after on 15 April following British Accia's disappearance. Tensions again flared with the NSLeft after Cedoria's decision to close embassies with The Federation of Anarchist Communes and North Korea for failing to satisfy embassy requirements; though the matter was quickly resolved by new legislation to keep the embassies, the incident exposed widespread concerns about the controlling nature of some vocal members in the alliance.



In the June 2018 general election, Kavagrad ran unopposed for Secretary with Halfblakistan as their running mate, being strongly confirmed in their confidence vote. The term was marked by the introduction of various new Minister positions, while the 10th General Assembly passed various amendments, including court trial reforms that were quickly put to the test in the first-ever Supreme Court case, Tobostan v. Llorens (2018). Minister of Foreign Affairs Llorens established the ambassador program on 26 June and the region joined the Interregional Legislative Coalition on 5 September. The 2018 IAFF World Cup, an interregional sports roleplay, was also held, with the Secretary organising a regional qualification stage that saw four nations enter the main draw; Woflines and Kavagrad eventually made it to the semifinals, while Llorens finished as runner-up.

In the September 2018 general election, Kavagrad ran again with New Arkados as their new running mate, while Morvan launched a counter-ticket with Hecknamistan. While there were no strong policy divisions, the challengers argued that there was lacking community involvement that needed to be remedied, though the debate period came to be dominated by a comment made by Hecknamistan equating hostility to religion with homophobia, which sparked some criticism. On 8 September, their ticket withdrew from the race due to real-life difficulties for Hecknamistan, allowing the Kavagrad to unanimously secure a second term in office. The new term was marked by a reduction in the number of Ministers and a simplified rewriting of the Constitution and Code of Laws by Llorens.

The great expansion
New Arkados was the sole nominee for Secretary in the December 2018 general election, being sweepingly confirmed in a confidence vote with Nottinhaps as their running mate. The 12th General Assembly passed important legislation on citizen-initiated votes of no confidence and Military Voting citizens, but the term's most notable legacy would come from the second, more sustained population boom under Minister of Recruitment The Final Horseman, more than doubling the regional population once again by the end of 2019. Separately, a heated feud that arguably dipped into personal attacks saw the collapse of The Red Star as the regional newspaper after months of stagnation, while the Comrade Index, a ranking of all nations in the region based on 'left-wing' statistics, and later a Young Comrade Index for nations under 200 million, was begun by Llorens on 9 February, being eventually taken over and automated by Nottinhaps.



New Arkados decided not to run for a second term, leaving the door open to a ticket bid from The Final Horseman and two-term Senator Argentigrad, who were the only pair to nominate for the leadership posts in the March 2019 general election. They were convincingly confirmed, with the new Secretary delivering the first State of the Assembly address in response to an idea by Senator Greylyn during the previous election, commencing a tradition that continues to date. Dawtania emerged as an increasingly vocal member of the 13th General Assembly, with their proposal to separate the elections of the Secretary and Prime Minister sparking criticisms from various members on its threat to a unified executive branch, resulting in it narrowly failing in a referendum.

The leadership pair was reconfirmed in the June 2019 general election with an agenda emphasising a continuation of their first term. However, the term began with a major disruption, with the decision of Minister of Foreign Affairs Hecknamistan to close embassies with The Versutian Federation resulting in a demand by Senator Kavagrad on 18 June that the Minister immediately reverse the move given a previously-vocalised lack of support from the General Assembly, which culminated in Hecknamistan's unexpected resignation. Two major bills defined the legislative term, with Greylyn, Llorens, and Uan aa Boa's 'Separate Cabinet' legislative package being broadly supported, instituting an independent Cabinet and a Speaker to lead the General Assembly, while a controversial proposal by Dawtania to separate civil and criminal court cases, which was criticised by some for a lack of clarity, narrowly passed the required supermajority in a referendum. Within the Discord community, Nottinhaps introduced a long-awaited custom bot for the server named Unity Machine on 8 August, which could perform commands like collecting nation and region data, playing music, and giving predictions through the 8-ball, having since become an integral part of entertaining and informing citizens.

Contemporary history
Argentigrad and Dawtania faced off in the September 2019 general election to succeed The Final Horseman as Secretary. The election centred on experience and personalities, with Argentigrad going on to defeat his opponent by a small margin and, in doing so, became the first Secretary to lead an independent Cabinet. The 1st Argentigrad Cabinet was relatively uneventful, though the 15th General Assembly under the first-ever Speaker, Kavagrad, legislated on the removal of nation category restrictions, an endorsement cap, and a legally-mandated Minister of Information. The idea of an executive civil service from MGA Greylyn was the only rejected legislation in this term, failing narrowly in the General Assembly. In the community this term, the region joined the Canopy faction for N-Day, finishing in a record second place on 27 September, which was followed by another record as the region finished in 17th place for most survivors with no infected remaining on 1 November for Z-Day. The founding of Unity Statistics on 28 October, a polling organisation by Llorens and Nottinhaps, also initiated a string of competitor pollsters.



Argentigrad did not run for a second term, leaving open the December 2019 general election to two new candidates - former Secretary Llorens and incumbent Vice Secretary Greylyn. Both candidates promised to expand the Cabinet, but were strongly divided over the idea of introducing a civil service, as Greylyn had failed to be passed in the previous General Assembly term. Llorens ultimately won the election in a landslide, returning to the office of Secretary for the first time in two years. The 1st Llorens Cabinet was marked by the introduction of a flurry of new Ministers, a new regional roleplay, and the introduction of the Revolutionary Support Exchange (RoSE) program, which encouraged nations to join the World Assembly and exchange endorsements. The 16th General Assembly, led by Nottinhaps as Speaker until they were replaced by Kavagrad, passed laws on dual citizenship and public feedback on embassy changes.

Greylyn sought to challenge the incumbent for a second time in the March 2020 general election, again staking their campaign on the civil service idea, but ultimately falling short by just one vote as Llorens secured an unprecedented fourth term as Secretary. The 2nd Llorens Cabinet has since largely been a continuation of the Secretary's first term in office, with co-Ministers appointed to a portfolio for the first time, and a new regional roleplay having commenced. In the 17th General Assembly under Speaker Podria, legislation extending dual citizenship and abolishing the nomination poll in general elections in favour of RMB nominations have been passed. On 25 April, a drama in relation to Llorens contacting the final MGA yet to vote on the nomination poll legislation was revealed by the Secretary himself in response to a private conversation with Speaker Podria, which divided some commentators over whether it was questionable conduct, with most supporting the Secretary. The Final Horseman decided to step down as a founder after more than two years in the role, with Kavagrad being nominated and unanimously approved by citizens as their replacement on 31 May.

On his third attempt in running for Secretary, Greylyn was finally elected in the June 2020 general election with no competitors, being overwhelmingly confirmed to the post with a campaign staked primarily on his Civil Service Initiative again.

Cabinet


The Cabinet is the executive of the region. It consists of the Secretary, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Information, Minister of Recruitment, and any other appointed deputies and/or Ministers.

The Secretary is responsible for serving as the head of the Cabinet, with final decision-making power concerning its delegated responsibilities, and representing the region as its Delegate to the World Assembly. The Cabinet is responsible for advising the Secretary as relevant to each member's designated portfolio, assisting the Secretary in their responsibilities, and enforcing the laws enacted by the General Assembly.

The current members of the 1st Greylyn Cabinet are:
 * Secretary - Greylyn
 * Vice Secretary - Podria
 * Minister of Community Affairs - Libertasnia
 * Minister of Foreign Affairs - Cedoria
 * Minister of Information - Nottinhaps
 * Minister of Recruitment - Sincadenas
 * Minister of Roleplay - Burninati0n
 * Curator - Wascoitan

The Secretary's term commenced on 14 June 2020 and is expected to conclude on 14 September 2020. No other Cabinet positions have fixed terms.

General Assembly


The General Assembly is the legislature of the region. It consists of seven Members of the General Assembly (MGAs), one of which is internally elected as Speaker.

The Speaker is responsible for organising the activities of the General Assembly, maintaining an order of legislation to be considered by the General Assembly, communicating information of bills, amendments, and voting records to the public, and representing the General Assembly to the Cabinet in matters requiring urgent and direct communication. The General Assembly is responsible for proposing and voting on new laws and amendments to existing laws.

The current members of the 18th General Assembly are: Their term commenced on 14 June 2020 and is expected to conclude on 14 September 2020.
 * Antinios
 * Argentigrad
 * Dyl
 * Kavagrad (serving dually as Speaker)
 * New Samon
 * Nottinhaps
 * Sincadenas

Supreme Court


The Supreme Court is the judiciary of the region. It consists of three Justices appointed by the Secretary and approved by the region.

The Supreme Court is responsible for handling legal disputes between citizens, hosting court cases to settle criminal charges and lawsuits to deliberate on civil cases, voting on charges upon the conclusion of a fair and public hearing, and being the highest authority on the interpretation of all regional law.

The current members of the 18th Supreme Court are:
 * Nangka
 * New Arkados
 * South Miruva

Their term commenced on 20 June 2020 and is expected to conclude with the confirmation of the next Justices in September 2020.

Demographics
As of the time of the May 2020 census, the region has 558 nations, 305 of which are World Assembly members. The region is in the top 30 regions by total population and the top 15 regions by World Assembly population.

The region has a very young population, with 47.0% of the region aged 19 years old or younger, and another 29.4% aged between 20 and 24 years old.

Ideological affiliations are broad across the spectrum of left-wing politics in the region, with 49.5% identifying with democratic socialism, followed by social democracy with 34.7%, communalism with 28.7%, anarchism with 24.8%, and Marxism-Leninism with 23.8%.

Most citizens reside in predominantly English-speaking countries, with 54.0% in the United States, followed by 10.0% in the United Kingdom, and 3.0% in both Australia and Canada. The major non-English-speaking countries represented are 4.0% in Brazil, and 3.0% in both Germany and Poland, while the remaining 20.0% reside elsewhere.

The main non-English languages spoken by citizens are Spanish with 21.6%, French with 13.4%, German with 12.4%, and Mandarin with 6.2%.

More than two-thirds (71.2%) of the region identify as male, while 12.5% identify as female and 16.3% identify as non-binary or genderfluid. The significant LGBT+ community in the region is also evident in data on sexual orientation, with 52.4% of the region identifying as either homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, questioning/queer, or asexual, while the remaining 47.6% identify as heterosexual.

Complete data and trends for all censuses since October 2017 can be found here.