12-26-2020, 05:08 PM
OOC: Written by Laeral, reposted with there premission
[/hr] Laeral | World | Politics | Investigations | Culture | Opinion
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Felicia Li; December 25, 2020 at 4:16 p.m.
![[Image: IYrTJdr.jpg?1]](https://i.imgur.com/IYrTJdr.jpg?1)
Slokaisian President Joseph Zhang’s re-election bid faces stiff opposition from former president Joseph Chavez’s comeback attempt.
Source: La Sentinelle
New Liverpool- Joseph Zhang, the pro-business president of the Slokais Islands for all but two years since 2010, faces two very familiar challenges ahead of the ethnically-diverse archipelago’s December 30th elections. One of them is a charismatic former president who shares his name. The other is unrest in the island of Kaijan, which has bedevilled generations of Slokaisian statesmen before him. With such challenges ahead, the politician who has been a central figure in Slokaisian politics since the beginning of the decade now may be poised to exit the national stage with the decade’s close.
To begin, President Zhang faces a challenge from former president (and current prime minister) Joseph Chavez, who previously defeated Zhang in elections in 2016. The two politicians share more than a first name-- both attended the University of New Liverpool, Slokais’s flagship university, and both were previously elected to office under the banner of the Centrist Party, Slokais’s long-dominant political force. Under the Zhang presidency, from his initial election in 2010 and re-election in 2014, Chavez had been a rising star, lauded for his role in completing prestigious rail lines as Transportation Minister. In 2016, Chavez mounted a challenge to Zhang for leadership of the Centrist Party, unseating Zhang as party leader and then taking advantage of an unusual constitutional provision allowing for an incumbent president to be ousted mid-term by the legislature.
Chavez won the ensuing election, and once in office adopted left-leaning stances on policy issues which alienated the party’s pro-business wing, including members such as Zhang. Fissures within the party deepened until President Chavez announced his intent to run for re-election in the 2018 federal election under the banner of his new-founded National Alliance, a center-left outfit of breakaway Centrists. Although Zhang defeated Chavez in the race for the presidency, the success of National Alliance candidates in the country’s unicameral Legislature allowed Chavez to be anointed as prime minister, leading the center-left “Grand Coalition”, while Zhang opted to align the Centrists with the parliamentary right, as the “Coalition for Slokais.” The two Josephs will thus lead opposing party alliances into Wednesday’s legislative and presidential elections.
The second challenge faced by President Zhang is a recurring one-- that of Kaijanese separatism. The Muslim-majority island of Kaijan, home to five million inhabitants, is culturally and linguistically distinct from the rest of Slokais, and has long struggled with poverty and underdevelopment. These tensions had previously erupted in a 2007-2010 war which claimed the lives of tens of thousands in battles between New Kaijan Republic (NKR) insurgents and federal forces. Although the defeat of the NKR and the creation of development programs and a new Tribal Council to represent Kaijan’s indigenous peoples calmed tensions, Kaijanese affairs are once more on the mind of Slokaisian voters after a series of headline-grabbing terror attacks in Slokaisian cities, perpetrated by the Kaijan League, an Islamist group designated as a terrorist organization by most foreign governments.
[floatright]![[Image: FVvODue.jpg?1]](https://i.imgur.com/FVvODue.jpg?1)
Slokaisian soldiers on patrol in restive North Kaijan province.[/floatright]
With the terror attack at the forefront of political discourse, President Zhang has been forced to pivot from his favored message for re-election, Slokais’s booming economy, to defending his handling of the Kaijan crisis. Perhaps due to pressure from his conservative allies (which include the far-right New Right party), Zhang has advocated a hardline stance, calling for a robust military response to the Kaijan League insurgency. Chavez, meanwhile, has advocated the measured use of force and has used his slim majority in the legislature to frustrate Zhang’s aims. In a high-profile defeat for Zhang’s government, the legislature adopted a declaration of war against the Kaijan League on Thursday giving the Legislature itself, rather than the presidency, chief decision-making power over the war effort in Kaijan. Federal troops are already on the ground in the rural highlands of North Kaijan province, where Kaijan League forces have apparently taken control of several towns. Voters are likely to judge Zhang harshly should the central government be seen as stumbling in the conflict.
With a powerful opponent harrying him from the left and ready to point out any slip-ups with regards to Kaijan, Joseph Zhang now faces a difficult fight for re-election to his third full four-year term. A recent poll shows Chavez leading Zhang, 30% to 28%, with first-choice votes, while the right-wing Conservative candidate George Oliver behind at 20%. Former president Sean Khan, a member of the Green party who led Slokais during its previous war against Kaijanese separatists, trails at 10%. Should Chavez turn his polling lead into victory in the presidential race, however, this would not necessarily translate into control of the legislature. Polls indicate a tight race for a majority in Slokais’s 402 single-member constituencies, and while the two opposing alliances have largely fielded only one candidate apiece in the majority of districts, regional parties such as the Muslim Union, an autonomist party competing in many Kaijanese constituencies, make forecasting election results difficult. With the two-party alliances separated by only a slim number of seats in the present legislature, even small fluctuations in the nationwide vote share could easily alter the balance of power. Against the backdrop of violence in Kaijan, it’s clear that Wednesday’s elections will be wholly unpredictable.
[box][floatleft]![[Image: Nw7ED84.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/Nw7ED84.jpg)
[/floatleft]Author: Felicia Li
felicia.li@lasentinelle.net
Setsuzoku: @felicia_li
Felicia Li is a Chief International Correspondent for La Sentinelle, and the former Bureau Chief of La Sentinelle's North Hespia office in Noskv, Kvask. Li has worked for La Sentinelle for over 20 years; in her free time, she enjoys ice skating and engaging with history. She grew up in Sendrasi before receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Therese and a master's degree in International Business from the University of Laeralsford.[/box]
La Sentinelle
[/hr] Laeral | World | Politics | Investigations | Culture | Opinion
Trending: Jinyu Peace Talks | Kaijan Unrest | Midterm Elections 2020
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Kaijan Insurgency Looms Over Slokais's General Election
Felicia Li; December 25, 2020 at 4:16 p.m.
Slokaisian President Joseph Zhang’s re-election bid faces stiff opposition from former president Joseph Chavez’s comeback attempt.
Source: La Sentinelle
New Liverpool- Joseph Zhang, the pro-business president of the Slokais Islands for all but two years since 2010, faces two very familiar challenges ahead of the ethnically-diverse archipelago’s December 30th elections. One of them is a charismatic former president who shares his name. The other is unrest in the island of Kaijan, which has bedevilled generations of Slokaisian statesmen before him. With such challenges ahead, the politician who has been a central figure in Slokaisian politics since the beginning of the decade now may be poised to exit the national stage with the decade’s close.
To begin, President Zhang faces a challenge from former president (and current prime minister) Joseph Chavez, who previously defeated Zhang in elections in 2016. The two politicians share more than a first name-- both attended the University of New Liverpool, Slokais’s flagship university, and both were previously elected to office under the banner of the Centrist Party, Slokais’s long-dominant political force. Under the Zhang presidency, from his initial election in 2010 and re-election in 2014, Chavez had been a rising star, lauded for his role in completing prestigious rail lines as Transportation Minister. In 2016, Chavez mounted a challenge to Zhang for leadership of the Centrist Party, unseating Zhang as party leader and then taking advantage of an unusual constitutional provision allowing for an incumbent president to be ousted mid-term by the legislature.
Chavez won the ensuing election, and once in office adopted left-leaning stances on policy issues which alienated the party’s pro-business wing, including members such as Zhang. Fissures within the party deepened until President Chavez announced his intent to run for re-election in the 2018 federal election under the banner of his new-founded National Alliance, a center-left outfit of breakaway Centrists. Although Zhang defeated Chavez in the race for the presidency, the success of National Alliance candidates in the country’s unicameral Legislature allowed Chavez to be anointed as prime minister, leading the center-left “Grand Coalition”, while Zhang opted to align the Centrists with the parliamentary right, as the “Coalition for Slokais.” The two Josephs will thus lead opposing party alliances into Wednesday’s legislative and presidential elections.
The second challenge faced by President Zhang is a recurring one-- that of Kaijanese separatism. The Muslim-majority island of Kaijan, home to five million inhabitants, is culturally and linguistically distinct from the rest of Slokais, and has long struggled with poverty and underdevelopment. These tensions had previously erupted in a 2007-2010 war which claimed the lives of tens of thousands in battles between New Kaijan Republic (NKR) insurgents and federal forces. Although the defeat of the NKR and the creation of development programs and a new Tribal Council to represent Kaijan’s indigenous peoples calmed tensions, Kaijanese affairs are once more on the mind of Slokaisian voters after a series of headline-grabbing terror attacks in Slokaisian cities, perpetrated by the Kaijan League, an Islamist group designated as a terrorist organization by most foreign governments.
[floatright]
Slokaisian soldiers on patrol in restive North Kaijan province.[/floatright]
With the terror attack at the forefront of political discourse, President Zhang has been forced to pivot from his favored message for re-election, Slokais’s booming economy, to defending his handling of the Kaijan crisis. Perhaps due to pressure from his conservative allies (which include the far-right New Right party), Zhang has advocated a hardline stance, calling for a robust military response to the Kaijan League insurgency. Chavez, meanwhile, has advocated the measured use of force and has used his slim majority in the legislature to frustrate Zhang’s aims. In a high-profile defeat for Zhang’s government, the legislature adopted a declaration of war against the Kaijan League on Thursday giving the Legislature itself, rather than the presidency, chief decision-making power over the war effort in Kaijan. Federal troops are already on the ground in the rural highlands of North Kaijan province, where Kaijan League forces have apparently taken control of several towns. Voters are likely to judge Zhang harshly should the central government be seen as stumbling in the conflict.
With a powerful opponent harrying him from the left and ready to point out any slip-ups with regards to Kaijan, Joseph Zhang now faces a difficult fight for re-election to his third full four-year term. A recent poll shows Chavez leading Zhang, 30% to 28%, with first-choice votes, while the right-wing Conservative candidate George Oliver behind at 20%. Former president Sean Khan, a member of the Green party who led Slokais during its previous war against Kaijanese separatists, trails at 10%. Should Chavez turn his polling lead into victory in the presidential race, however, this would not necessarily translate into control of the legislature. Polls indicate a tight race for a majority in Slokais’s 402 single-member constituencies, and while the two opposing alliances have largely fielded only one candidate apiece in the majority of districts, regional parties such as the Muslim Union, an autonomist party competing in many Kaijanese constituencies, make forecasting election results difficult. With the two-party alliances separated by only a slim number of seats in the present legislature, even small fluctuations in the nationwide vote share could easily alter the balance of power. Against the backdrop of violence in Kaijan, it’s clear that Wednesday’s elections will be wholly unpredictable.
[box][floatleft]
[/floatleft]Author: Felicia Lifelicia.li@lasentinelle.net
Setsuzoku: @felicia_li
Felicia Li is a Chief International Correspondent for La Sentinelle, and the former Bureau Chief of La Sentinelle's North Hespia office in Noskv, Kvask. Li has worked for La Sentinelle for over 20 years; in her free time, she enjoys ice skating and engaging with history. She grew up in Sendrasi before receiving a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the University of Therese and a master's degree in International Business from the University of Laeralsford.[/box]
<t>The Federation of Slokais Islands- fighting for freedom and democracy</t>