Luthori

[Ligbruderkrieg]

Conservative Party Elects Minister-President of Orange, Micheal Rodgers as Party Leader.
March 5630



FORT WILLIAM: Two months after Brakenbrooke's resignation in disgrace, the Conservative Party has elected current Minister-President of Orange, Micheal Rodgers to serve as Party Leader, and ex officio, as Prime Minister of Luthori. Rodgers' election comes as a surprise as the Minister-President isn't related to the outgoing Administration, while far more known names within the Cabinet were expected to take over the mantle left by Matilda Brakenbrooke and become Prime Minister in their own right. Rather than letting the 5302 Committee electing its own leader, the outgoing Prime Minister decided to "leave the Party choose its own destiny", meaning letting party members vote for the future Conservative leader, in opposite to the "closed-down" ballots used to elect the last three Tory PMs.

Rodgers' own election seems to have been unexpected by the main interested party, who seemed to have been quite confused at his selection by his peers to serve as their leader., even though it has been confirmed to him some hours ago, sources within the Party explains. The new Prime Minister is quite the anti-thesis of current Conservative policy, while claiming to be rightist, has been mostly considered to be of a centre-right governance, he, on the other hand, ruled the Principality of Orange, the largest of all five provinces in the Empire with a conservative iron fist, having secured re-election at the head of a "Blue-White-Red" Coalition, composed of Orange's Conservative Alliance (OCA), the People's Party of Orange, while sounding like a leftist party, is actually a liberal centre-right political party and alongside the Orange's Hosian Brotherhood and the moderate United List for Orange. This coalition has been remarked to be the "most conservative government" currently operating in Luthori, with restrictions being imposed on societal levels, with the Minister-President having been re-elected on a "return to sanity" platform.

The Conservative government has issued restrictions on social welfare benefits, notified to the Federal Government its refusal to oblige with the federal abortion law, although this refusal was more honorific that anything as any laws from the Orange Assembly coming against these rights would be immediately struck down by both the Federal Government and the Constitutional Court. Minister-President Rodgers also pursued a policy of fiscal conservatism, toughening the Government's finances by slashing welfare budgets. Minister-President Rodgers announced that his election as Conservative party leader would be the beginning of a "new, better and stable era" for the Empire, as he'll continue to be a "stalwart defender of the Crown and morality in the Realm". Prime Minister Brakenbrooke has extended her congratulations to the new PM, hoping in her congratulatory statement that the "moderate ways of Luthorian politics shall be kept", a hint to the Minister-President's radical conservative agenda in Orange.

But, what about his other post of Minister-President of Orange? Well, according to Luthorian law, no provisions exists in the case that a sitting Minister-President is appointed as a national party leader, and ex officio, becomes either the Prime Minister or Leader of the Opposition. Rodgers already stated during his address to the Orange Assembly that he had "no plans of resigning" as Minister-President during his second term as MP, although already, some, especially within his opposition in Orange have already called for his resignation as Minister-President before Mr. Rodgers is appointed as Prime Minister, stating that a "great risk falls upon Luthori's democracy if we allow one man to control both the national executive and the executive of the largest and most populous province in the Empire.", for now Rodgers haven't answered to critics about an eventual resignation from his local office.

Due also to the fact that Mr. Rodgers isn't a member of either the Chamber of Representatives or the Senate, it is expected that before his likely resignation from the office of Minister-President, that he'll be chosen by the Orange Assembly to represent the Principality of Orange in the Senate, giving him a seat within Parliament's upper house, allowing him to attend debates and PMQs, an other solution would be that the Emperor knights Rodgers and make him a peer within the Senate, also allowing him to sit in Luthori's Second Chamber and attend parliamentary business and debates. While all of this is important for the new Premier, it shouldn't be forgotten that the Conservatives are here running a battle for their survival, up from their 141 seats, they could fall to only 90, allowing Labour to win an absolute majority in the Chamber of Representatives for the first time in decades or even centuries. The new Prime Minister will be expected to call an election soon to salvage his party's chances in lights of worsening polls.