General Secretary of Los Angeles

1945-1971

This era was marked by the establishment of the Blivenist-Hoevenist Communist Party which was the sole legal political party between 1945 and 1971. Despite heavily repressive policies between 1952 and 1961 and again from 1964 to 1968, reforms made considerable progress, culminating in free elections in 1971.

Political Parties:
  Communist

Portrait		General Secretary (Birth–Death)	Term		Party	Province	Notes
1		Jean de Paul (1881–1952)	12 May 1946	16 April 1952	Communist	Nouvelle Abagail	After the Second Great War, de Paul, a communist hardliner, was installed as governor of Nouvelle Abagail in 1945. Despite not being the first choice of the Inglaterran occupation forces, de Paul was chosen to become leader of the country as a whole after the death of Johannes Endaans. He would rule Los Angeles from his ascendancy in 1946 until his death in 1952.
			5 years and 340 days
2		Johannes Staal (1881–1961)	16 April 1952	5 March 1961	Communist	Noord Groenkust	Following the death of de Paul, Staal originally ruled as a part of a collective body consisting of 11-15 (the number of members grew over time) functionaries and higher leaders of the Communist Party. In 1954, this body was purged and left Staal as absolute dictator of Los Angeles. During his rule repression increased, and persecution of non-Conversilha speakers increased. The Villelibrene and Serran communities were in particular heavily persecuted in what has been called an ethnic and cultural cleansing of Angelean society. Staal would die of a heart attack at age 80 in 1961
			8 years and 323 days
3		Erik van Bries (1889–1964)	5 March 1961	12 October 1964	Communist	Jerrostad	After Staal died in 1961, a temporary commission consisting of van Bries, Hipolito Rodriguez, and Orlando Costa was appointed by the Presidium of Los Angeles to govern the country. Despite many thinking him to be a hardliner, van Bries was reformist and began to reform the country's political system despite opposition from Rodriguez and Costa. Between 1961 and 1964, van Bries began to overshadow Rodriguez and Costa and became undisputed head of the country. On 12 October 1964, van Bries was found dead. Despite the official autopsy saying van Bries died of natural causes, he was 75 and obese, some scholars allege that either Rodriguez, Costa, or both killed van Bries and covered it up.
			2 years and 303 days
4		Orlando Costa (1924–1999)	12 October 1964	29 April 1968	Communist	Nuevo Serro	Taking power in 1964 after the death of his predecessor, van Bries, Costa reflected a general sentiment among the party elite to maintain their control on power and halt the now rapidly growing reform movements. A staunch Blivenist-Hoevenist, Costa began persecution trials of political dissidents, stepped up discriminatory policies against non-Conversilha speakers, and purged party leadership and replaced leadership with those loyal to him. His growing unpopularity was out of touch with the country as a whole led to Bloodless April, when a coup led by Cherk Oketha overthrew the Costa government. Costa would be imprisoned until his death in 1999.
			3 years and 141 days
5		Cherf Oketha (1914–2003)	29 April 1968	3 November 1974	Communist	New Ketha	After taking power in Bloodless April, Oketha served as General Secretary of Los Angeles from 1969 until his inauguration as president in 1971. Oketha was responsible for many democratic reforms, including the expansion of the franchise to all citizens, not just party members, the legalization of opposition parties, and the transfer of power to the Presidium, effectively turning the previously autocratic General Secretary position into an indirectly elected head of government and the previously rubber stamping body into a full fledged legislature. For his acts he has been called the "Father of Los Angeles".
			6 years and 188 days

1971-Present

The current era in Angelean politics has been marked by decentralization of power away from the executive and towards the legislature, the end of official discriminatory practices against minority languages and ethnic groups, democratic and capitalist reforms, and multiparty elections. In addition, under the leadership of Cherf Oketha, the Communist Party reformed into a vaugely social democratic party comparable to most other center-left parties in Nordic democracies.

Political Parties:
  Communist   Democratic   Federal Liberty   Unionist Party

Portrait		General Secretary (Birth–Death)	Term		Party	Province	Notes
5		Cherf Oketha (1914–2003)	29 April 1969	3 November 1974	Communist	New Ketha	After reforming the Angelean political system into a multiparty parliamentary republic, Oketha would serve several more years as General-Secretary, leading his reformist-minded Communist Party to power after the 1971 elections. Oketha embarked on a broadly social democratic and socially liberal campaign, continuing campaigns to stamp out corruption and punish those who abused human rights during the communist regime. Due to health problems, Oketha chose to retire. Incumbent president Maximilian Gomes resigned, and Oketha was elected to the mostly ceremonial office of President of Los Angeles.
			5 years and 188 days
6		Cameron Yardsman (1921–2000)	3 November 1974	May 5 1991	Democratic	Hesperia	The first non-Communist leader of Los Angeles since Johannes Huerta of National Party, who served from 1940 until 1945, when he was overthrown by Yedinburg Pact forces. Yardsman was elected after public dissatisfaction with the Communist Party boiled over. Yardsman was the longest serving Angelean leader in history, serving almost 17 years as General Secretary and leading the country through the Third Great War, the rebuilding which followed, and the first half of the Great Encore.
			16 years and 183 days