Alejandro de Leon, realizing that his party wasn't doing so well in the Parliament, decided to start his own campaign. He traveled throughout Hispania, giving speeches and donating substantial amounts of his wealth to the poor and the needy.
"People of Hispania!" he said. "It is that time of year again, that time of year when you will be called upon to choose who gets to advise our Emperor on important matters of state. I have complete confidence in your abilities to vote for the best possible candidates, be it Reconquista, Imperial, or otherwise. But you must vote, because as it stands right now, the Parliament does not get anything done."
Some people gasped.
"Yes, that is shocking, but it is the truth, and I must get the truth out. The Parliament is not fulfilling the responsibilities that it was created to serve. This is because many of the politicians that were elected in the previous election--chiefly those running on the Phoenix and Campos tickets--have used their positions of power not to discuss and pass legislature, but to argue, insult, attack, and obstruct their rivals. They have insulted the Empress Dowager herself, called her a tyrant and a madwoman. They have insulted those who opposed them as being interested in maintaining their own power. They have struck down reasonable laws that would have benefited you solely because they were not proposed by one of their comrades. It is clear they are only trying to increase their own power at the expense of others.
"Remember the last time there was an organization called the Phoenix? The first Phoenixes called the Empress Dowager a madwoman and a tyrant. They denounced those in the government at the time as being self-interested and corrupt. They refused to support laws that would have benefited all Hispanians. Worst of all, they took up arms against the Emperor himself to give their leaders, namely the traitorous Montsegur, total control over the Empire. And now a new organization named the Phoenix seeks to do the same thing, only through words and ballots instead of guns and swords. Why should you trust any movement which names itself off a rebel organization? Why should you trust a movement whose leader is a deist and opposes the policies of our holy Church?
"The Phoenix and the Campos seek to take over our great country. They desire control over the government, so that they can have free reign to purge their rivals and impose their idea of government over everybody, even the Emperor. You know the rumors of some Phoenix and Campos politicians supporting an end to the monarchy, though I obviously cannot confirm them. But they want to take over our nation. They want to oppress you as the first Phoenixes tried to do. We cannot let them do that.
"Centuries ago, the Moors invaded Iberia. They conquered many of our ancestors and forced them to speak Arabic and convert to Islam. But many of our brave Christian ancestors refused to accept their fate. They fought back against the Moorish invaders. The Reconquista took centuries, but our ancestors refused to submit to oppression and subjugation. In the end, they won. The Kingdom of Aragon, the precursor of our great empire, finished off the last of the Moors in Iberia, completing the Reconquista and finally taking back all of Iberia from the invaders. Our nation ended the Moorish threat permanently by subjugating the Moors in their homelands as they did to our ancestors, making sure they would never threaten us again.
"Our situation is not unlike that of our ancestors. Hispania is again under threat from those who wish us harm, only the threat is now from within. This threat wants us to abandon our traditions and values. They want us to conform to their ideologies. But we must tell them we will not go gently into the night. Just as our ancestors drove back the Moors and retook their country, we will fight them here and retake our country, and only then will we make Hispania even greater!
"My Reconquista Party has its origins fighting the corruption of the hated Bartomeu regime. When I realized that the government had been compromised by those who wish Hispania harmed, I refused to give in. I rallied thousands of your fellow Hispanian citizens to the banner of the Reconquista, and together we took back the government from Bartomeu. Then came the Phoenix Wars. While many fled the advancing Phoenix armies or formed militias that served only to protect themselves, the Reconquista not only defended the citizens in the cities it had influence in but also took the fight to the enemy. It was Reconquista influence that led to the Imperial victories at Madrid and Granada and led to Montsegur's downfall at Damietta. The Reconquista has always had the interests of the Hispanian people and the Hispanian nation first and foremost.
"A vote for Phoenix or Los Campos is a vote for oppression, slavery, tyranny, and a return to domination by the Moors and the cronies of Montsegur. But a vote for the Reconquista is a vote to take back our country, to breath new life into it, to make it the greatest nation to have ever existed in this world. Long live the Emperor! Long live Hispania! Vote Reconquista! For a better future! For a strong Hispania! For a united Hispanian people!"
"People of Hispania!" he said. "It is that time of year again, that time of year when you will be called upon to choose who gets to advise our Emperor on important matters of state. I have complete confidence in your abilities to vote for the best possible candidates, be it Reconquista, Imperial, or otherwise. But you must vote, because as it stands right now, the Parliament does not get anything done."
Some people gasped.
"Yes, that is shocking, but it is the truth, and I must get the truth out. The Parliament is not fulfilling the responsibilities that it was created to serve. This is because many of the politicians that were elected in the previous election--chiefly those running on the Phoenix and Campos tickets--have used their positions of power not to discuss and pass legislature, but to argue, insult, attack, and obstruct their rivals. They have insulted the Empress Dowager herself, called her a tyrant and a madwoman. They have insulted those who opposed them as being interested in maintaining their own power. They have struck down reasonable laws that would have benefited you solely because they were not proposed by one of their comrades. It is clear they are only trying to increase their own power at the expense of others.
"Remember the last time there was an organization called the Phoenix? The first Phoenixes called the Empress Dowager a madwoman and a tyrant. They denounced those in the government at the time as being self-interested and corrupt. They refused to support laws that would have benefited all Hispanians. Worst of all, they took up arms against the Emperor himself to give their leaders, namely the traitorous Montsegur, total control over the Empire. And now a new organization named the Phoenix seeks to do the same thing, only through words and ballots instead of guns and swords. Why should you trust any movement which names itself off a rebel organization? Why should you trust a movement whose leader is a deist and opposes the policies of our holy Church?
"The Phoenix and the Campos seek to take over our great country. They desire control over the government, so that they can have free reign to purge their rivals and impose their idea of government over everybody, even the Emperor. You know the rumors of some Phoenix and Campos politicians supporting an end to the monarchy, though I obviously cannot confirm them. But they want to take over our nation. They want to oppress you as the first Phoenixes tried to do. We cannot let them do that.
"Centuries ago, the Moors invaded Iberia. They conquered many of our ancestors and forced them to speak Arabic and convert to Islam. But many of our brave Christian ancestors refused to accept their fate. They fought back against the Moorish invaders. The Reconquista took centuries, but our ancestors refused to submit to oppression and subjugation. In the end, they won. The Kingdom of Aragon, the precursor of our great empire, finished off the last of the Moors in Iberia, completing the Reconquista and finally taking back all of Iberia from the invaders. Our nation ended the Moorish threat permanently by subjugating the Moors in their homelands as they did to our ancestors, making sure they would never threaten us again.
"Our situation is not unlike that of our ancestors. Hispania is again under threat from those who wish us harm, only the threat is now from within. This threat wants us to abandon our traditions and values. They want us to conform to their ideologies. But we must tell them we will not go gently into the night. Just as our ancestors drove back the Moors and retook their country, we will fight them here and retake our country, and only then will we make Hispania even greater!
"My Reconquista Party has its origins fighting the corruption of the hated Bartomeu regime. When I realized that the government had been compromised by those who wish Hispania harmed, I refused to give in. I rallied thousands of your fellow Hispanian citizens to the banner of the Reconquista, and together we took back the government from Bartomeu. Then came the Phoenix Wars. While many fled the advancing Phoenix armies or formed militias that served only to protect themselves, the Reconquista not only defended the citizens in the cities it had influence in but also took the fight to the enemy. It was Reconquista influence that led to the Imperial victories at Madrid and Granada and led to Montsegur's downfall at Damietta. The Reconquista has always had the interests of the Hispanian people and the Hispanian nation first and foremost.
"A vote for Phoenix or Los Campos is a vote for oppression, slavery, tyranny, and a return to domination by the Moors and the cronies of Montsegur. But a vote for the Reconquista is a vote to take back our country, to breath new life into it, to make it the greatest nation to have ever existed in this world. Long live the Emperor! Long live Hispania! Vote Reconquista! For a better future! For a strong Hispania! For a united Hispanian people!"
As for the 1788 Election, that shall come later. Just need to work on the numbers.))