Erik Menjreng

The Most Righteous Erik Menjreng
President of Vyvland
In office 25 June 1996 – 30 April 1998
Preceded by	Enrig Dalder
Succeeded by	Lurs Anterbiden
Utilities Minister of Vyvland
In office 4 November 1994 – 25 June 1996
Preceded by	Morten Wengkloin
Succeeded by	Helwald Sgrum-Jessen
Member of Parliament for Fulemaaf, PG
In office 10 June 1984 – 25 June 1996
Preceded by	Position created
Succeeded by	Jonas d'Ois-Jyp
Personal details
Born	500px (1942-11-02) November 2, 1942 Osden, Pegerm
Died	500px
Resting place	500px
Nationality	Vyvlander
Political party	Christian Democratic Party (before 1985) Conservative (after 1985)
Spouse	Jorjena Vesger-Menjreng
Parent	500px
Occupation	Butcher

Erik Menjreng (pronounced /e̞ɾik 'me̞ː.ɲe̞ŋ/ or /'me̞n.ʑe̞ŋ/) was the third President of Vyvland, holding office from 1996 to 1998. Menjreng was a member of the Christian Democratic and Conservative Party and, prior to his appointment as President, a wetaan for Fulemaaf and the Utilities Minister. He is known for being the only President to not have been elected, instead holding office for the final two years of Enrig Dalder's third term. He is also known for his disorganised time in office, which was used by many politicians at the time as an excuse for their poor performance.

Early life

Menjreng was born in the small town of Osden in Pegerm province, then in South Vyvland, which had a large Swedish Vyvlander community until their expulsion by Amiral Jueves early in Erik's life. Menjreng has told of how he lost many of his early friends in the expulsion; he knew many through playing the trombone in Osden's fropbaand. After attending school, Erik trained as a butcher. Although originally supporting the right-wing regime of Erman Sanker during his early adulthood, he grew more weary as Sanker became widely suspected of rigging elections, and Menjreng began becoming involved in small-scale resistance and opposition movements, often on a local level. These included gangs which hid grain from grain requisitioning squads, and local political groups aimed at undermining Nationalist Movement authority in his local area.

Career

Menjreng had led a small resistance effort in his local town of Fulemaaf in the years immediately leading to reunification. This stood him in good stead for election as the local MP in the first unified Vyvlander election in 1984, which he won for the Conservatives and Christian Democrats (KDC).

Menjreng was appointed to the position of Deputy President in 1990 under the then-President Enrig Dalder, with whom he had a close relationship. He was chosen for his lack of partisanship and allegiance; he had previously only held the relatively minor Utilities Minister position. He was also chosen due to his position as a high-ranking conservative politician from the former South Vyvland, which helped to balance Dalder's Northern disposition.

Menjreng's time as President was marred by difficulties in passing laws due to the competition between the centre-left government and stubborn conservative Menjreng. As such, Menjreng's term was the least productive in Vyvlander legislative history, with an average of one bill passed every forty days. For four months in 1997, no bills were passed, and large parts of the education system shut down, while no budget could be passed during the term. The newspaper Tiy Baners, with only weeks left until the election, printed a story about Menjreng deliberately running over a cat, which resulted in a 7% approval rating the next week. These events eventually brought the downfall of both the President and government, with KDC winning a landslide general election in 1998 and Menjreng being officially deselected as the KDC 1998 presidential candidate, losing the position to Lurs Anterbiden, who went on to win with support from Prime Ministerial candidate Rikard Fegaad.

Legacy

Immediately after leaving office, major structural reforms to the president's power were implemented, restoring superiority to Parliament and limiting the veto power of the President; after the reforms, Vyvland's president became more of a figurehead than a politician. However, this has yet to be put into practice as since the reforms, only eight months have passed when the President and Prime Minister were from different parties or coalitions (2005-06).

Menjreng's dysfunctional term in government also has left a mark on Vyvlander politics, and wider life in general; Menjreng is often referred to or used as an example of excessive partisanism.