Valruzia

[Aethan]

Valruzia has new President!

KPW leader Karolina Pietrzyk becomes Head of State after beating National Renewal candidate in 2nd round

March 5629

Karolina Pietrzyk (middle) celebrating electoral success and her upcoming investiture as first President of the free Valruzia

---

Valruzia has spoken. After a first round that saw the top two candidates predicted by the latest polls - Communist Party of Valruzia leader Karolina Pietrzyk and center-right National Renewal leader Bernard Lukaszewski -, the results of the second round has been just published and see Mrs. Pietrzyk announced as the upcoming first Head of State of the new democratic Valruzia after gaining 58% of the vote against 42% for the conservative candidate. Participation was up to 71%, down 10% from the first round.

It was not even close. Despite National Salvation deciding in the last minute not to run any candidate in order to avoid any vote split even in first round and announcing their support for Mr. Lukaszewski, some people argue that it was precisely this move what ultimately costed National Renewal the elections. Dragging the support of a party now seen as complicit with the previous coup attempt might have avoided many votes from the first round from other parties to gather around his candidacy, some sources now leak from the inside of his campaign. The result was that Mrs. Pietrzyk won in four of the five Voivodeships, with only Chynberg - the least populated of the five - coming out in support of Mr. Lukaszewski. Big cities poured out in support of the KPW candidate, with only three out of the top 15 most populated cities backing the center-right candidate. Even most of the countryside backed the communists' presidential campaign, whose mostly ceremonial role might have played a key role in not gathering as much anti-vote as they could have got as pointed out by previous pollsters.

In fact, only Sovereign Valruzia came out in support of Mrs. Pietrzyk following the results of the first round. The rest of candidates - namely center-left Dignity and Progress candidate Amelia Korzeniewska and independent CDS Marcel Szumski - abstained from clearly backing any of the top two candidates, instead giving "freedom of choice" to their supporters. 

Despite being considered the top early favorite to become the new Head of State of Valruzia, CDS Marcel Szumski, current leader of the Military Junta and widely seen as one of the key actors to overcome the Morawski dictatorship, failed to reach second round, barely missing it by a 1.2 margin against Lukaszewski (21.4 vs. 22.6). The unexpectedly good result of Mrs. Pietrzyk in the first round (25.7%), together with the still strong performance of Sovereign Valruzia candidate Krystian Malecki (20.2%) - with GiP Kornezieska collecting the 10.1% left - placed the KPW leader as the favorite to win, as many of the SW and GiP voters already stated their preference for the communist candidate over the conservative one. The main doubt was among Szumski voters, which are believed to be among the 10% drop in turnout for the second round. 

"Now we have a COMMUNIST president?"

said Igor Kram, who clarified that he had voted for Szumski in the first round and for Lukaszewski in the second one

"We have fought against a dictatorship to now have another president that for sure will want to install another dictatorship, or what's worse, a FEMALE dictatorship?"

Others, however, are thrilled with this result. 

"It represents that we have finally moved on from the oppresion of the Valruzian Unitary State. To have a leftist woman as the first Head of State of Valruzia following a dictatorship it suuuuuch a powerful statement, don't ya think?"

were the words of Genowefa Mak, who voted for her in both rounds despite having voted for Sovereign Valruzia in the legislative elections.

Now, Karolina Pietrzyk will have to leave her seat in the Sejm to fulfill her duties as duly elected President of Valruzia, among those the most important one: stamp her sign in the upcoming Valruzian Constitution if it is approved in referendum by the Valruzian people. According to internal sources, the Sejm is defining the last strings left and will present it during this year, just in time for the year 5630. Karolina Pietrzyk will stay in the role for 6 years, when she will be able to contest for her reelection.