Baeguk

[beifengxiaoxiao]

Yuri Bitnara elected Chairwoman and General Secretary of North Baeguk
Upset ouster of Buyeo Bomsori, former dictator's sister, from General Secretaryship raises fears of party instability and division 
Author: Ima Fayghote
August 2, 5726

In an unprecedented breach of political history and authoritarian compliance, deputy General Secretary of the Workers Party of Dranea, Buyeo Bomsori, stood publicly against acting Chairwoman of the State Affairs Commission Yuri Bitnari in the WPD General Secretary election. This was an extraordinary turn of events, as communist protocol, based on the Leonidist concept of "Democratic Centralism", has always valued secrecy and unanimity among its members. In North Baegukese history, such a vote for such an important role as General Secretary, the de facto Head of Government of the republic, would have been privately deliberated on by the Politburo Standing Committee and then voted for unanimously by party delegates at the WPD Congress.

Instead, the last month has borne witness to a growing civil war within the WPD as Buyeo's communist hardliners have backed the first true opposition campaign in the nation's authoritarian history, depicting Yuri as weak on capitalism and the southern puppet regime. This may represent the breakdown of political norms in the republic following the sudden death of the main line of the Buyeo Dynasty, which has ruled North Baeguk with an iron fist for almost a century since the birth of the republic.

Despite her efforts to muster the political will for communist hardliners to retain control of the party they have dominated for nearly a century, it was ultimately the reformist and concilliary reunification advocate Yuri who won in an upset victory of 62% to 38%, defeating Buyeo handily. Yuri also sinched her formal appointment as Chairwoman of the State Affairs Commission, the de jure head of state and government of the DPRB, through a majority in the National People's Assembly. 

Yuri Bitnari has secured a wide mandate as both head of the DPRB government and, crucially head of the Workers Party, while Buyeo Bomsori has been caught with her political pants down. The race is now on to see if Yuri can crush her political opposition and move along quick enough to implement her agenda, or if Buyeo can manage to stall and mount a dissident faction large enough to stifle the reforms.