1685 Aldurian coup d'état

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The 1685 Aldurian coup d'état began on 13.VII.1685 AN, when the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff César Puig led a broad political coalition that included members of all political parties to remove President Gerhardt Eugen Seydlitz and Prime Minister Kylian Mbappé from power and suspended the Constitution of Alduria. The move came after the political upheaval brought by the assasination of Prime Minister Marco Zimmer and the continued inability of all levels of government to react or even move quickly to reassure the country and maintain order. The assassination led to weeks to widespread national protests and memorial vigils, with protesters calling for the military to remove the government and guide the country to a new democratic national settlement.

The military arrested Seydlitz, Mbappé, and several other political leaders and declared former President Alejandro Campos as the interim president of Alduria. The announcement was followed by demonstrations and clashes between supporters and opponents of the coup throughout the country.

Background

During the year 1680 AN, the internal security situation in Alduria began to rapidly degrade as a series of terrorist attacks by Zurvanite extremists on Nazarene churches led to serious civil unrest. The attacks towards the Prosperity for All Megachurch of Plenty were particularly deadly, motivated by the extreme rhetoric from the Euran Destiny Party and leaders of Zurvanite congregations throughout the country. These attacks soon spread to other places in Alduria. To the surprise of most Aldurians, the government of President Gerhardt Eugen Seydlitz and Prime Minister Alfonso Velez never mobilized security forces nor led any efforts to stabilize the country and restore order. The terror campaign continued with the government remaining silent to the carnage.

The silence and inaction from both Seydlitz and Velez led to mass protests across the country, further destabilizing Alduria. The rallies and protests soon began to take up causes beyond ending terrorism, taking up the ongoing public service failures that led to a nationwide education and health care crisis. The Aldurian ambassador to Constancia, Felipe Garfield, resigned from his post in protest to the government's inaction. He was later joined by several officials and diplomats across the Aldurian government. The protests escalated into calls for Velez and Seydlitz both to resign. Counterprotests from Alduria's Babhki community soon sprang up, ripping up pictures of Seylitz and Velez and burning them in effigy. Whenever these dueling protests met, violence often ensued that resulted in even more death, motivating more attacks from emboldened Zurvanite extremists upon Nazarene congregations.

Realizing that public support was rapidly eroding, the Velez government started to mobilize resources to improve security across Alduria by mid-1681 AN, months after the violence began. The government was sustained by a coalition with the leftist Democratic Socialist Party, led by Marco Zimmer. Tensions inside the coalition between a decidedly anti-gun, pro-public services Zimmer and a pro-gun and anti-public services Velez led to Zimmer withdrawing from the coalition in late 1681 AN, paving the way for early parliamentary elections in 1682 AN.

The contentious early election resulted in a narrow victory for the Democratic Socialist Party and Marco Zimmer became Prime Minister, opting to govern in a minority government. The move was widely panned by many Aldurians who believed the minority government would further exacerbate the nation's instability.