Committee for United Modani Solidarity
| Committee for United Modani Solidarity | |
|---|---|
| |
| Leader | Kamil Gavrilov & Davit Teimuraz |
| Chairman | Kamil Gavrilov & Davit Teimuraz |
| Founded | 1691 |
| Headquarters | Drakorda |
| Political ideology |
|
| Political position | Center right |
| Colours | Purple |
The Committee for United Modani Solidarity is the result of a coalition between the Solidarity Party and the Modani People's Union in 1691. It is the ruling, and dominant, party in The Fury, the legislature of Drak-Modan.
History
The platform of the Committee is a major compromise between the two constituent parties. The Solidarity Party was a centrist party and the Modani People's Union was a right-wing party that disagreed on the level of foreign intervention required to maintain the fragile Drak-Modani economy and independence among the early years after the Kalirion Fracture. These two parties have always been the two largest parties parties in Drak-Modani politics, although the popularity of a few third-parties always prevented either SP or MPU from securing a majority on their own. The major parties frequently relied on minority parties to have their party leader elected as chancellor. The SP and MPU were always in opposition. However after constitutional reforms in 1685 brought about the new co-chancellor system, the leaders of these rival organizations began to meet in secret. From 1685 to 1690, Drak-Modan was ruled by a very slim-majority coalition between the Solidarity Party and the Bagelcraticans, intended to bring stability after the civil war. However, the razor thin majority proved to be difficult to manage and by 1690, it was on the verge of collapse when the Draconian Supremacy Movement began in earnest.
The two major party leaders had already discussed possible concessions on each side to form a supermajority in the Fury and have themselves elected as co-chancellors. To gain popular support and peel off some single-issue voters from both the Bagelcraticans and xenophobic Benacia for Benacians Party, the new coalition party formally adopted Draconian Supremacy despite the leaders and top party officials not being Draconians or believing in it.
When new elections were finally allowed to resume in 1691, the two parties merged into the Committee for United Modani Solidarity, which used Draconian supremacy to emphasize populism and nativism. The coalition party received a supermajority in the Fury, securing 289 out of the 400 seats.
Candidates
Previous representatives from the last election were not asked to stand for re-election. The regional committee directors conducted a search in each of the nation's 307 competitive constituencies to find candidates that would serve the committee, vote reliably, vote consistently, and remain content with their elected positions. The ideal candidate had three criteria: 1) financial insecurity 2) limited or no post-secondary education and 3) charisma, locally popular, or retired community leader.
The national committee pledged to pay representatives an hourly wage, based on their time on the Fury floor. This forced representatives to stay on the floor at all times and prevented them from caucusing among themselves. It ensured that CUMS had a majority and that their representatives looked busy, voting on and debating legislation all day, every day. These wages were funded by unknown, and likely foreign, contributions. Failure to vote for the party's agenda resulted in forfeiture of all future wages.
Legislative Agenda
To keep their representatives busy, the national directors of the committee provided a steady stream of bills that the most loyal representatives would propose. Each bill was single-issue, to increase the total number of bills debated and passed by CUMS, and to occupy the representatives with procedural votes and debates. This hyper-activity was used to demonstrate to constituents that the Committee for United Modani Solidarity got things done for the people.
Disagreements with the Speakership
The glut of legislation flooding the Fury chamber in early 1691 brought CUMS in direct disagreement with the Speaker of the Fury, Tinker Sprocket, a renowned and world-famous parliamentarian. Speaker Sprocket attempted to curtail the ram-rod legislating style of CUMS by setting time limits and automatically tabling some of the more frivolous bills. Although the Co-Chancellors could appoint a new speaker at anytime, the popularity of Sprocket and his connections to Shireroth and Natopia, made replacing him a delicate international situation.
By VI.1691, however, public opinion had turned against Sprocket, who had been labeled as an obstructionist, elitist, and subjected to slurs against his artificial-intelligence due to the rise of humanism on Micras. No longer willing to serve an ungrateful and unaccepting legislative body, Sprocket resigned on 25.VI.1691 after serving 19 years as the Fury's speaker.
The next day, a committee loyalist was appointed by the Co-Chancellors to serve as Speaker.
Internal Fracturing
In 1698, during the Dissident Movement in Drak-Modan, signs of an internal power struggle between the co-chancellors became apparent. Public opinion had swayed against total Draconian supremacy, which was the one unifying political goal of the coalition. In response to co-chancellor Davit Teimuraz's marriage to Farah Wren, co-chancellor Kamil Gavrilov of the centrist Solidarity Party, announced a moratorium on any joint chancellorial actions.
After the general strike on 1.VII.1698, pressure mounted on the co-chancellors to begin issuing emergency decrees to deal with the increasingly tense situation. Gavrilov refused, and began to meet with Fury representatives formerly affiliated with the Solidarity Party, thus calling in to question the ability of the Committee for United Modani Solidarity to maintain its super-majority in the Fury. Political commentators believed that calling for a new election to replace the chancellors would only throw the country into more chaos. Although no formal votes or roll calls had occurred since the fracturing began, it was believed that the practical arrangement of the Fury would revert to the balance of power of the 1683 Drak-Modani Fury elections, where Solidarity ruled with the Bagelcraticans as a junior partner.
