Libera Esperan Association of News and Information (LEANI)

[Libera Espero]

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[Libera Espero]

Sendependa Novaĵoj Reto

The man who would be Prime Minister?

PM Hanon, smiling after his unpredicted success in negotiations

Candidate for Conservative Alliance Variko Hanon has become the Prime Minister of Libera Espero, after a last-hour alliance with The Liberals. This ended a long deadlock in terms of coalition formation, breaking Esperan history at 233 days. During this time, President Nadio Sejo had to manage a caretaker government while the talks dragged on. Of particular worry was the rise of New Espera, a party that has been sued multiple times for violating Section 5 of the Charters of Freedom, namely: "No person shall form a political organization that threatens to infringe upon the freedom of another." The two major parties, the Conservative Alliance and the Social Democrats refused to work together, with The Liberals and The Greens acting as kingmakers.

The Social Democrats tried to form a Red-Yellow-Green coalition, but talks failed after the ecological manifesto had to be scrapped. The Liberals opposed a carbon tax by the Greens, fearing it would hurt competition, and tried to talk them down from a 1 galleon tax on each tonne of carbon to a 1 galleon tax on each hundred tonne. This discussion led the Liberals to seek a coalition with the Conservative Alliance instead, despite Variko Hanon's famous rivalry with The Liberals' leader, Lucio Nordastelo. The main demand of The Liberals was to rejoin the Social Liberal Union, having allowed their membership to lapse. The Conservative Alliance, after a long rejection, decided to accept this proposal. Another precondition was to require an equal portion of cabinet seats to each party, which Hanon accepted.

Nadio Sejo, previously a Social Democrat before running for President, congratulated Hanon on his government formation during a banquet, declaring that "It'd been around time!". The room was reported to be in uproarious laughter. Sejo, one of the main drivers to move Libera Espero into the SLU, had also praised The Liberals' success in bringing Espero back into the Social Liberal Union, a sharp breach with typical protocol for a sitting president. 

As a precondition for forming the coalition, the Conservatives were released to make a conscience vote on a return to the SLU. Surprisingly, 41 out of 71 Conservative Alliance deputies voted with all but the New Esperans to rejoin the SLU. This resulted in a 156-44 vote margin, more than enough to overcome the 2/3 supermajority barrier required for ratifying treaties. Previously, the Conservative Alliance had blocked the continuation of SLU membership, by removing the dues from the budget.

After the vote, Hanon was confirmed as Prime Minister, with Lucio as his Minister of Justice instead of his deputy. Although initially perceived to be a snub, Lucio lended her support to Hanon, declaring that "We need--in cases of national crises or emergencies like the H2N2 virus currently spreading through the region--a clear succession plan in place. Him placing me into the Ministry of Justice was not a snub, it was both a promise of continuation and an endorsement of my role in the coalition. Indeed, the Deputy's role is small and served only intermittently, in contrast to the Minister of Justice, where I have to perform my duty daily."

The totals for the elections are shown below. Parties in government are italicized.

Party	Seats
Conservative Alliance	71
The Liberals	33
Social Democrats	54
Ecologist-Greens	28
New Espera	14
Total	200