Badara

[Drax]

ORTOQ IS NEW CHANCELLOR
 
MANARA  ALBRAYD SRIA AL-MUSAMI
(If it’s in the Monsoon, it’s got to be true)
 
Bier Qassem, November 17, 5648:  After the elections, the Majlis met, and it became clear Khalifi al-Qassem was not going to return as Chancellor. The Monsoon asked the new Chancellor who was selected, Justice Minister Bashir ibn Ortoq, whether the Free Radical Supper Club lost influence in the Majlis, and he replied:
 

Not exactly. In fact more people look like they are associated with it than before elections. What happened is in the Majlis there developed a clear desire for a chain of command with respect to security forces.  More and more delegates wanted the police, secret police, General Intelligence Service and military to be overseen by someone and the Chancellor became the obvious choice.
 
Finance Minister Mariamne al-Qassem in fact suggested that if the Chancellor office was strengthened to official oversight of other ministries, the perception of that change could be emphasized by having a new Chancellor.  She assured those of us in the Working Institutional Group that her brother was amenable to such a change and agreeable to serving as Religious Affairs Minister.
 
In fact the Free Radical Supper Club peole were not interested in developing a de facto head of government and were much more intersted in holding key watchdog posts.
 
Our Working Institutional Group (WIG) met and four of us were considered. It was felt that I would be the most likely to secure Free Radical support so we talked to rthem, got their support, and I was elected. Former Chancellor Yasser al-Mirza is replacing me as Justice Minister.

 
Asked by the Monsoon if he he thought political parties were just around the corner, the Chancellor repied:
 

No. Will not say the question will not keep coming up, and things may change. But we are still where the Majlis and the people they represent are deeply suspicious of the central government and its opportunity to abuse power.
 
So any new concentration of power really needs to be seen as actually useful to the Sovereign People.

Chancellor Bashir ibn Ortoq
.