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Ο 'Ηλιόσιος Αγγελιαφόρος

Mavridis Nears Impeachment; New Elections Expected

The runners and riders for the next presidential election

15 April 5739 – President Vasos Mavridis is set to become the second Kalopian president in succession to be impeached by the legislature, with 228 of 300 deputies voting for his removal from office. All governing parties, as well as the Kalopian Democratic Party (KDP), are voting for his impeachment - the same parties that supported the impeachment of his predecessor, Markos Kastrinos.

Without a deputy of his own to succeed him, Mavridis' removal would lead to a fresh presidential election which is expected to host a very wide array of candidates. The Heliosian Messanger seeks to dive into the profiles of the announced candidates and, in doing so, paint a picture of the current divisions in Kalopian politics.

The KDP is fielding a ticket of Georgios Karassos, the party chairman and former Trade Minister, and Nikodemos Krateros, the party's general secretary and former Finance Minister. Both members of the ticket have cabinet experience, and with their party polling at 11.4% they are a credible option for centre-right voters looking for stability. The KDP finished fifth in the last presidential election and subsequently endorsed Markos Kastrinos, but later expressed regret for this and voted for his impeachment.

Hektor Nikandros is the candidate of Dýnamis and the party's Director-General. He has not announced a running mate thus far. The party ran in the last election with Arben Berisha, who received 3.1% of the vote after dying in a car crash during the election. The party has slumped to 7.1% in the polls, around half its support in the last election, amid a storm of scandals engulfing the party. It also endorsed Markos Kastrinos in the second round in 5738 and voted against his impeachment. They have announced they would support Kastrinos again in the second round if he progressed there.

Maya Theodora Straka is the candidate of the Liberty party, of which she is the founder. A shipping magnate and daughter of LGBT activists, her right-liberal politics are directly opposed to the left-conservative positions of the incumbent coalition. She was the party's candidate during the 5738 presidential election as well, receiving 4.2% of the vote and endorsing Kastrinos in the second round. At just 27, she would be the youngest president in modern Kalopian history. Her party is polling at just 1.1% - but as proven in the last elections, engaging candidates can far out-perform their party's brand. They would also endorse Kastrinos again in the second round if he were to advance thereto.

Markos Kastrinos's run is perhaps the major story of the election. He was removed from office just a few months into his term by the governing coalition on charges of corruption, dividing the nation. While his party languishes in legislative polling, Kastrinos himself remains a much larger brand. Having defied the odds to win the 5738 presidential election from behind, his campaign this time around seems certain to be a referendum on the impeachment process against him. He has the pledged support of the opposition bloc if he reaches the second round, quite possibly against another government-aligned candidate, which would set up an extremely divisive runoff. He is again joined on the ticket by Vasos Mavridis, who is currently in the final stages of his own impeachment. Were Kastrinos and Mavridis to run again, the government would be faced with a stark dilemma. Either they would have to accept his mandate, shrinking from their previous impeachment proceedings and being publicly defeated on the matter, or impeach him again and risk a constitutional crisis and accusations of anti-democratic behaviour. All the while, Justice Minister Paris Ballelis of Kalopian Spring is currently commencing corruption probes into both members of the ticket, which even further complicates the possibility of Kastrinos returning to the presidential address. A Kastrinos victory, whatever the margin, would almost certainly be the 'chaos option' for Kalopia, but those opposed to the government would also see it as a way to deal a cutting blow to the ACA alliance.

Stavros Vidalelis was the Citizens' Movement's candidate in the last election. He seemed assured of victory after storming to a 17-point lead in the first round, and picking up the endorsement of all three parties in government. His bitter and narrow loss to Markos Kastrinos set off a highly contested and contentious period of Kalopian politics leading to a raft of executive orders, corruption probes, two impeachments, multiple attempts to change the constitution and finally this presidential election. Vidalelis is a diamond mining magnate who performs exceptionally among Siphinan voters thanks to his high profile in the region, where diamond mining is an exceptionally important industry. He is now joined on the ticket by the sole Siphinan member of any announced ticket, Dragon Xhanari - the Minister of Science, Technology and Development. Xhanari is the party's rising star and co-deputy leader. At just 31, he is viewed as a potential future head of the party and may run for the presidency on his own terms in the future. Polls suggest that 66.5% of ethnic Siphinans would vote for the Citizens' Movement in an election held today, and Vidalelis won the region by nearly 70 points over Kastrinos last year. So far, the Citizens' Movement's overwhelming and increasing domination of the Siphinan demographic has powered them to first place in legislative polls, but was not enough to win them the 5738 presidential election. A Vidalelis victory would be the simplest and most contenting result for the governing coalition, though it would be a source of rage for opposition supporters who view the Citizens' Movement as having orchestrated the removal of two democratically elected presidents in order to re-roll the dice for their own leader.

Dionissia Galanaki is the candidate of the Kalopian Winter party, supported by Lydia Melliadi on the first all-women ticket of the election. Kalopian Winter backed Markos Kastrinos in the 5738 presidential election runoff and plan to do so again if he reaches the second round this time. The party polls at 7.6% in current polling averages, only slightly down from what it received in the last legislative election. The party previously ran Louiza Moustakopoulou in the 5738 presidential election, but she finished last with just 1.2% of the vote.

Minoas Zorbakis is Kalopian Spring's candidate and a new face for the party. Kalopian Spring endorsed Stavros Vidalelis over Markos Kastrinos in the 5738 election and are likely to do so again, given that KA and the Citizen's Movement are in government together. The party's last presidential candidate was Theseus Moraitou, who received 14.8% of the vote and narrowly missed the runoff. The party polls at 12.3% today, roughly the same as when the last elections were held.

The United Kalopia Party's Alexandros Nikolaidis and Bakr Erbaken form the only entirely non-Kalopian ticket in play in this election - the first presidential contest in which they have participated since their party's formation. The party has made a strong impression in the polls, currently at 11.6% but without any legislative or cabinet experience in their roster. In 5738, the party endorsed Markos Kastrinos and voted against his removal from office, aligning them with the opposition bloc.

Phalanx, the largest party in the legislature, is fielding Panteleimon Sarropoulos as its candidate. He is a former career officer and cabinet minister who served as Minister of National Defence for seven years. He is supported by Babis Thanopoulos, who was First Minister of Kalopia and Phalanx party leader together for seven years - having previously been a civil servant. Phalanx's former president, Antonios Lakaridis, was unexpectedly eliminated in the first round of voting in the 5738 presidential election after two terms of office. Pundits predict that Phalanx will be one of the key contenders in the election, with the most experienced candidates in the field. Sarropoulos may also appeal to voters focused on national defence. Phalanx supported Vidalelis in the 5738 runoff, and the Citizens' Movement and Phalanx have publicly stated that they would endorse each other if one advanced the second round while the other did not. Phalanx polls at 23% currently, down 9% from its 5737 legislative election result but still nearly double that of the third placed party and only narrowly behind the Citizens' Movement.

Update: The Liberty party has since announced Maariya el-Shaikh as Straka's running mate. She is an ethnic Majatran and the party's Secretary of Regional Representation, and makes this the second all-female ticket.

Update: Kalopian Spring has announced that Justice Minister Paris Ballelis will be Zorbakis's running mate. Ballelis is a cabinet member and rising star in the party, and has gained a public profile for issuing a corruption investigation against Presidents Kastrinos and Mavridis.

Ο 'Ηλιόσιος Αγγελιαφόρος ("The Heliosian Visitor") is a daily broadsheet printed in Helias, Kalopia.