Valruzia

[Aethan]

"I am more than a simplet puppet; to say otherwise is blatant misogyny"

The newly elected President criticizes that some people have not yet "digested the results" and denounces that in her first months "she has barely had any contact with the government"

October 5641

President Szymona Razem during her oath of office

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She has barely been in office for half a year, but President Szymona Razem, elected as the candidate of the conservative Forward Valruzia coalition, already hints that she will not give the government of Chancellor Szymon Nowik a quiet mandate. Today, we had an exclusive interview with her, to get to know better our second President of the nation, elected to replace Karolina Pietrzyk just in March of this year.

Interviewer: Good morning, Mrs. Razem, it's a pleasure to be with you today. Let me start with a funny question: Apart from the name, is there anything you and Chancellor Nowik share?


Szymona Razem: Well, don't you think I haven't been told that a few times (laughs). I am sure that, apart from our love for Valruzia, we have much more in common than people might think, although unfortunately I have not been able to find out since since I have been in office, the government has hardly had any contact with me beyond what is indispensable for the proper functioning of our institutions, and little else. And it is a pity, because I am sure that with [Karolina] Pietrzyk the situation was not like that.

I: Speaking of President Pietrzyk, what is it like to succeed someone with such popularity, who only did not run in the elections because of her illness, but who was virtually assured of victory by all the pollsters?


S.R.: People have to get over it. The elections have already been held, the people have already voted, and as a result, I am now in this very important position. There are some people who, out of sectarianism, have not yet been able to digest the fact that I won the presidential elections instead of their favorite candidate. I don't know if it is because I am a woman, because I am a conservative, or because of both at the same time. But I am much more than a puppet and of course, to say otherwise is pure misogyny. I have my own criteria, my own ideology and my own ideas, and I will not stop defending them. Moreover, I will tell you one thing: in the first and second elections, I voted for Pietrzyk. And I do not regret it. Few people know that I was one of the lawyers who defended many of the victims' associations in the trials against the Morawski dictatorship, so my commitment to democracy I think is undeniable.

I: And how did you decide to run for office?


S.R.: Well, as I said, I think Mrs. Pietrzyk was doing a good job. If she had run for her third term - and I wish her a speedy recovery from her illness - I certainly would not have taken this step. But there are things to change, and when the Forward Valruzia coalition proposed the idea to me, I accepted. Would I have done the same if PKW had proposed it to me? Well, maybe yes. It is the parties that have to study the candidates they are going to propose, but besides, from the beginning I made clear to the coalition my red lines and what I wanted to do. If they did not agree with it, I would not be the candidate. But they accepted, and we see the results.

I: Are there any specific projects you have in mind?


S.R.: Of course I would like to make an international tour of Seleya: Lodamun, Mordusia, Kanjor, Baltusia, Tukarali, Kalistan, Likatonia... there are so many nations in our continent with which I think it would be good to strengthen ties, although it is true that progress has already been made with some of them. However, it remains to be seen whether the government will allow me to do this, as I think it is evident that they have a radically different vision of international relations and how to attract investment to our country, which in my humble opinion, is wrong.

I: You, who were born in the same year as President Pietrzyk, were also one of the last graduating class of university women before the Morawski dictatorship banned women from higher education. What do you think of the government's recent plan to make university studies free of charge?


S.R.: I think it is counterproductive. It is a populist measure, but when it comes down to it, it does not correspond to reality. Where is the money going to come from to pay for the studies of all of them? Of course, from the taxpayers' pockets. Unfortunately, the concept of “free” does not exist. We are all going to pay for this, and as President, I will present an amendment to this law to try to modify it.

I: Many people think that, since the parties that make up Forward Valruzia (National Coalition, National Salvation and Agrarian Voice) are far from having a sufficient parliamentary majority to oppose the current government, you are their “Trojan horse” to attack the government.


S.R.: I make my own decisions. Nobody tells me what to do, because I made it clear from the beginning that the main thing for me was autonomy. Now, of course I have my own ideology and of course I have my own political agenda, and I, like the government, was also elected to carry it out.

I: One last question: Have you thought about running for a second mandate?

S.R.: [chuckels] We are only barely six months into my first term. Let's make it first until the end of the first mandate and then, we will be able to discuss that. But I'm not closing any doors yet.