Marlène Backès

The Honorable Marlène Backès
Official portrait, 2035
6th President of the Castillian Federation
Incumbent
Assumed office July 15, 2035
Vice President	Maïté Bacque
Preceded by	Harvey Hershey
Federal Senator from the Province of Finistère
In office September 15, 2029 – July 14, 2035
Preceded by	Silvain Bruguière
Succeeded by	Noël Brasseur
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Development
In office May 6, 2027 – June 19, 2029
Preceded by	Géraldine Baillairgé
Succeeded by	Fanny Chopin
Personal details
Born	February 13th 1989 (age 47) Rocamadour, Finistère
Political party	Partirévolutionnaire-Institutionnel (Institutional Revolutionary Party) (2035-present)
Other political affiliations	Labour Party (2015-2035) Socialistenat ouvriers la Castillia (National Socialist Castillian Workers Party) (2005-2014)
Spouse(s)	Jean-Marc Backès (m. August 1, 2011)
Children	Émilien Vannier Backès (b. 2013)
Residence	Manoir du Montbatten
Education	Université-nationale Preslaff
Awards	Hero of the Castillian Federation

Marlène Élisabeth Backès (née Bittencourt; born February 13th, 1989) is a Castillian attorney and politician who is the current President of the Castillian Federation since 2035, the first woman to hold this position. The founder and current leader of the Partirévolutionnaire-Institutionnel (PRI), she previously served as a member of the Federal Senate before assuming the presidency, and prior to her career in the legislature as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Development under former Presidents John Henry Adams and Jacques Perier. Marianne ranked Backès as the most powerful woman in the Castillian Federation and as the fourth most powerful woman in Greater Dienstad in 2035.

The daughter of a stockbroker and a film actress, Backès came to prominence in 2014 when serving as an attorney and prosecutor for the Socialistenat's secret police, the Encapuchonné-Cagoulés, where she was accused of sedition after ordering the arrest of John Paul Nee, a senior Socialistenat official, architect of the Épreuves, and member of Chancellor John Oswald Vaughn's inner circle for crimes against humanity after discovering the scope of the Plan d'Extermination. She was stripped of her party position, awards, and sent to Travailcamp No. 42 Vérany, where she was freed with other prisoners by Mokan military forces on October 17, 2015 during the Second Castillian-Mokan War. After being vetted by coalition leadership, she served as a prosecutor for the International Coalition Tribunal for Prosecution of Castillian War Criminals and later entered private law practice until appointed to serve in the State Secretariat, overseeing the Secretariat's foreign aid and development programs. Elected to the Federal Senate in 2028, she entered the legislature in 2029 as a relatively conservative member of the Labour Party, splitting with party leadership during the 2034 economic downturn and mounting her own presidential campaign that same year, beating Harvey Hershey in a heavily contested election that resulted in the May '35 Crisis and the failed self-coup led by Hershey. She was sworn into office on July 15, 2035.

Backès is a Castulingian Cerisian and subscribes to socially moderate and fiscally libertarian views. Under her administration, the Castillian Federation has underwent numerous major reforms to include the passing of a new constitution which established a bicameral legislature, the deregulation of the economy, mandating the Central Bank of the Castillian Federation recognize foreign and private currencies as legal tender and using the datary as a standard reserve currency in a shift modelled off that of the Golden Throne's monetary policies, the withdrawal of all Castillian troops from Asadabad, forcing the People's Unified Federation to withdraw from military bases on Castillian soil, and détente with the Großordenstaat. She maintains neoliberal global views and is a staunch supporter of the Greater Dienstadi Regional Council and the Global Aerospace Trade Association, though maintains that the Castillian Federation should maintain "realistic" positions regarding its domestic and external security.

Early Life

Backès was born Marlène Élisabeth Bittencourt on February 13, 1989 in Rocamadour, Finistère. The youngest of seven children, her father Philibert was a stockbroker on the Preslaffbourse and her mother Lorie was a film actress, having starred in over forty box-office films by the time she gave birth to Marlène, and would later go on to play Katharina Mallatte in the mystery-horror drama Pics-Jumeaux from 2000-2002, to critical acclaim. Marlène would have cameos in the series as the elementary-aged sister of Germaine Deniau, the best friend of Laurie Pierrat, whose murder sets course the events of the show.