Kalistani Major History

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The Kalistani Free People's Press
Government? What Government?
Turmoil in the National Assembly following the January elctions
by Romoaldo De Vincenzi
Vrassa City, Vrassa
20th June 4056


New KFPM leader James Harrison shakes hands with a foreign delegate during his time as Terra Union President

As people across Kalistan and Ananto turned on their television and radio sets on the morning of the 18th January, the day after the national elections, nobody could possibly have predicted the events that were to follow. Five months later and the previous cabinet still remains in place, with the current proposed government composed entirely of non-Plurality politicians and unlikely to pass through the Assembly. The Socialist Party- by far the oldest party contesting the elections- retained the Presidency and their position as the party with the highest number of seats but with only 276, they were well off the 356 they needed to ensure they could pass normal legislation. The Kalistan Libertarian Party finished second followed closely by the newly renamed Ananto and Kalistan Independence Party and the Kalistani Free People's Movement in a disappointing fourth.

This resulted in an extremely peculiar situation: the KFPM immediately made it clear that they weren't willing to become part of coalition, on the basis that the smallest party shouldn't be involved in the government. The AKIP and KLP were similarly hostile to the Socialists and it soon became apparent a four party cabinet was never going to happen. In response, the new President proposed a coalition of the three non-Communist parties in order to create a cabinet as soon as possible; the KFPM reaffirmed their decision that this was not the democratic will of the Kalistani people. As it stands, the situation is increasingly confusing for all parties.

Meanwhile, all three of the new parties have proposed legislation to liberalise the economy, reform the democratic process and create more accountable governments. Some of this looks likely to pass, whilst some require constitutional change and looks set to be blocked of achieving two-thirds approval by the SPoK. In the midst of this turbulent time for Kalistan, the KFPM has elected its next Leader in James Harrison and he has appointed a new National Executive Committee, containing many of the previous team and a few fresh faces too. We caught up with the new Leader to discuss his party, the current situation in Kalistan and more:

Q(uestioner): The election didn’t go as well as you were hoping for the KFPM, do you think you would have been made leader if it hadn’t been so disappointing?

M(cCafferty): Well firstly, a gain of over 100 seats is good by any standards but I’d be being dishonest if I didn’t admit that I thought we’d be more successful. Would I still be leader if we had done better? I think so, yes. Nobody forced Karen to resign as leader it was a decision she took on her own, she was extremely crucial in helping us make that breakthrough in seats during her time as leader and I thank her for that. Ultimately though, that’s in the past now and I am focused on the future.

Q: Okay, on that note then, why has the KFPM taken the decision not to accept seats in the cabinet?

M: There are a number of reasons and it took a lot of consideration. It’s no secret that we don’t exactly see eye-to-eye with the Socialist Party but there’s also a more fundamental principle behind it too: the party who wins the election should be the party to govern. On top of that, the current constitution states that only the President may propose a cabinet to the Assembly. Obviously we think this is not a fair way of governing, any party should be able to put forward their proposal so part of our objection can be seen as a minor protest against that particular ruling.

Q: You mention the SPoK, recent months have seen a rift develop between the KFPM and the Socialists; what do you put this down to?

M: As you know, elections can often be difficult times for inter-party relations. This wasn’t helped by the Socialist Party’s refusal to support constitutional reform but it comes down to this: when all is said and done the only thing that matters is how each party votes on legislation. Now there are many, many policies of the SPoK which we can never support, but there enormously more that we can support or that we can compromise on. The work we did prior to January proves this. They can dream about the KFPM floating up into the sky and talk about how we’ll never last all they like but it’s just that- talk. We’re here to stay.

Q: What do you make of their claim that the KFPM ‘have no idea what they are talking about’ and that you ‘terrorize voters’?

M: [Laughs]. I believe they accused us of slander in that article too, slightly ironic I suppose. That’s the way that the political game works, we give as good as we get but we’re focused on the issues that face Kalistan. Issues that the SPoK refuses to even accept the existence of.

Q: There have been rumours and mutterings that you were looking to call an early election to increase your seat count in the Assembly, can you comment on this?

M: Something tells me you’re going to make sure I do!

Q: Is that a yes?

M: It’s an option. The way things are at the moment isn’t ideal in terms of seats distribution so the easiest way to fix that is call an early election. At the same time, we don’t want to burden the general public with another vote and even if we were to succeed there's no guarantee we'll end up any better off afterwards. We’ve not made any decision either way yet.

Q: Our last question is about your team. You reshuffled the National Executive Committee almost immediately after becoming leader, can you explain some of the decisions you made?

M: I’ve got a lot of talented, hardworking people around me and I’m confident they can do the job that I brought them in to do.

Q: That's a politicians answer for sure. I'll be specific: what about the choice of Luca Curti- who some have accused of being on the hard left- as Deputy Leader?

M: Luca is a marvelous guy who I have known since my university days.

Q: I sense that is the only answer we're getting. Thank you for your time, Mr Harrison.

M: No problem, I look forward to catching up with you again soon.

Mr Harrison's early time as leader has proven to be a baptism of fire so far and it certainly does show any signs of slowing up just yet.