07-06-2026, 05:55 PM
![[Image: alitheia-kalopia-newspaper-png-smaller.png]](https://i.ibb.co/hJjNHNrf/alitheia-kalopia-newspaper-png-smaller.png)
Phalanx splits with President Lakaridis
![[Image: 5732-expelled.png]](https://i.ibb.co/Y7dKLXss/5732-expelled.png)
Chairman of the Phalanx, Nestoras Panatos, at the members' assembly.
9 January 5732, Helios, Kalopian Republic
After the recent revelations about the private opinions of Antonios Lakaridis the support for the President has been brought into question by several sitting representatives as well as local councillors, with the national board being petitioned to hold a members' assembly on the pressing issue. Founder and chairman Nestoras Panatos eventually relented, after previously denying to comment on the situation. During the assembly, which was mostly held in private during voting sessions, the party members discussed the ongoing situation and mr. Lakaridis place within the Phalanx. A bloc of party members eventually submitted a no confidence motion in the vice-chairman, a role Lakaridis had been given to give him an official position within the party structure. According to insiders this proposal was accepted almost unanimously. One of the more progressive representatives, Mihail Zorbilis, was then pushed forward to replace him. This voting session took longer, but he was eventually voted in as the new vice-chair of the party, giving the more moderate wing of the party a voice within the national board.
At first high profile party officials, like First Minister Thanopoulos, remained rather quiet. But the usually restrained and stoic bureaucrat at one point requested to address the assembly. In an emotional speech the head of government, who several years ago was already critical on appointing Lakaridis as the presidential candidate, lambasted the careless nature of the President, his horrid views on Kalopia's minorities, and the anti-democratic way of working he applies within the Presidential Manor. The speech was ended with a carefully chosen sentence that openly doubted whether Lakaridis was a good match within the party, or that he perhaps should be elsewhere. The moderate and progressive blocs did not wait long to enter an official motion to expel the President from the party. During the closed voting session, that took up to an hour, it was eventually decided that Antonios Lakaridis would have his Phalanx membership revoked. One painful detail is that Phalanx already signed off on running Lakaridis as presidential candidate again in early October 5731, shortly before the now infamous audio file was recorded. It will be up to Lakaridis himself to decide whether he will actually run. The office of the President and his personal spokesperson refused to comment on the current situation and developments.
After the recent revelations about the private opinions of Antonios Lakaridis the support for the President has been brought into question by several sitting representatives as well as local councillors, with the national board being petitioned to hold a members' assembly on the pressing issue. Founder and chairman Nestoras Panatos eventually relented, after previously denying to comment on the situation. During the assembly, which was mostly held in private during voting sessions, the party members discussed the ongoing situation and mr. Lakaridis place within the Phalanx. A bloc of party members eventually submitted a no confidence motion in the vice-chairman, a role Lakaridis had been given to give him an official position within the party structure. According to insiders this proposal was accepted almost unanimously. One of the more progressive representatives, Mihail Zorbilis, was then pushed forward to replace him. This voting session took longer, but he was eventually voted in as the new vice-chair of the party, giving the more moderate wing of the party a voice within the national board.
At first high profile party officials, like First Minister Thanopoulos, remained rather quiet. But the usually restrained and stoic bureaucrat at one point requested to address the assembly. In an emotional speech the head of government, who several years ago was already critical on appointing Lakaridis as the presidential candidate, lambasted the careless nature of the President, his horrid views on Kalopia's minorities, and the anti-democratic way of working he applies within the Presidential Manor. The speech was ended with a carefully chosen sentence that openly doubted whether Lakaridis was a good match within the party, or that he perhaps should be elsewhere. The moderate and progressive blocs did not wait long to enter an official motion to expel the President from the party. During the closed voting session, that took up to an hour, it was eventually decided that Antonios Lakaridis would have his Phalanx membership revoked. One painful detail is that Phalanx already signed off on running Lakaridis as presidential candidate again in early October 5731, shortly before the now infamous audio file was recorded. It will be up to Lakaridis himself to decide whether he will actually run. The office of the President and his personal spokesperson refused to comment on the current situation and developments.
Αλήθεια (Alítheia), or Verity in Luthorian, is a Kalopian middle-market tabloid owned by Dimos Kappakis, a media tycoon aligned with the Phalanx party.