Editing Lehvant (section)

=== Founding of the Second Republic and Kamran's rise to power ===
In 1974, public unrest and popular uprisings became mobilized once again over the proposal of a constitutional amendment to form a legislative branch giving France immense oversight and regulatory capabilities as well as the ability to nominate an [[Assembly Chairman]] who would also oversee and approve legislative proceedings . [[Mehdi Kamran]], who would later become [[President of Lehvant]] for nearly four decades and launch the [[Lehvantian Second Republic]], first rose to prominence as a community leader during mass mobilizations at this time.   
[[File:Kamran.png|left|thumb|Mehdi Kamran photographed during his first inaugural address (1975)]]   

Once the protests led to extended periods of government shutdown and calls for general strike paralyzing the economy for weeks at a time, the LNU announced the first open elections in the short history of Lehvant. Almost immediately, local and foreign journalists alike began to profile Kamran, praising him for his pluralistic yet progressive vision for the country. Throughout the next year, Kamran organized communities around the platform of his newly founded political party, [[Union for Collective Progress]] (UCP). Members in highly localized communities, which would later become a part of government structure in the form of labor co-ops and communes, submitted the required 15,000 signatures to get Kamran on the presidential ballot. Although the [[National Election Commission (Lehvant)|National Election Commission]] flagged the submission for further review, the re-establishment of general strike funds in urban regions led to the confirmation of Kamran as a candidate. Due in part to lagging voter turnout in rural areas, Kamran won the presidency in a landslide victory of 61%. At the time, it was envisioned that the outgoing cabinet members would simply nominate their replacements for approval from the executive branch. However, within his first 100 days in office, Kamran rejected almost all proposed nominees in favor of community leaders from outside the foreign-educated elite in order to galvanize his base. The first scandal of his regime came at this time when one of his nominees was threatened to be impeached by Parliament for being a known communist. This led Kamran to dissolve Parliament and form the [[Executive Cabinet (Lehvant)|Executive Cabinet]] with positions for a Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Labor, Economic and Redistributive Policies, Decolonization, as well as Agriculture.   

Although President Kamran had almost immediate plans to form a [[Constitutional Convention (Lehvant)|Constitutional Convention]], partly nominated through local elections and partly appointed by the Cabinet, an assassination attempt during the swearing-in process of his Secretaries led him to announce a State of Emergency and rule by decree for the next year. Knowing the empowered civil society that led to his electoral victory would crumble under such strict, top-down rule, he tasked his secretaries of labor and interior with overseeing the formation of communes and labor co-ops for every district. These associations would make up the [[Constituent Assemblies (Lehvant)|Constituent Assemblies]] that would come to define Kamran's early rule, as they were how he secured popular legitimacy, through frequent town hall meetings on a variety of policy issues as well as the fact that every one of his executive rulings were submitted to these assemblies for a vote of confidence. These votes were largely symbolic, as the country had no other viable political alternative against the charismatic leadership of Kamran and individual assemblies feared repercussions for obstructing government.    

In a landmark address to the nation on December 17, 1977, Kamran introduced his program to transform the nation. The consequent reforms Kamran pursued would come to be known as the "[[Sunshine Reforms]]". Having been influenced by the readings of [[Gramontism]] in his youth, he referred to the governing principles of his program as the "[[Six Sun Rays]]": Secularism, Republicanism, Democratic Socialism, Populism, Self-Determination, and Communitarianism. Next year on the anniversary of his address, this name contributed to the the updated [[flag of Lehvant]], which added the sun alongside the original crescent design. The updated flag design is credited for crystalizing a shift in Lehvantian state identity and making up the symbolic and aesthetic components of the [[single-party period of Lehvant]] and what would come to be known as the "[[Second Republic]]".