Miria Seranoda
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Dr. Miria Seranoda | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Pantolara of the Fostana | |
| Assumed office 10 September 2020 | |
| 3rd Premier of the Caropsyne Pontanore | |
| In office 2 August 2000 – 14 November 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Haldric Maldian |
| Succeeded by | Alza Permentanna |
| Administrator-General of Euvodora | |
| In office 21 April 1997 – 30 July 2000 | |
| Foreign Minister | |
| In office 5 April 1993 – 14 May 1996 | |
| Preceded by | Fostana Rule |
| Succeeded by | Garel Thormond |
| Member of the Pontiana | |
| In office 5 April 1993 – 14 May 1996 | |
| Constituency | Fornænda Sulis |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 24, 1952 Fornænda |
| Nationality | Caropsyne |
| Political party | New Left Independent (Former) Moderate (Former) |
| Spouse | Larmas |
| Children | 1 daughter |
| Residence(s) | Polmona, Euvodora |
| Education | PhD International Relations |
| Alma mater | Imperial University Fornænda |
| Profession | Politician, Diplomat, Political Scientist |
Miria Seranoda (born: 24 February 1952) was the 3rd Premier (Pontissiana) of the Caropsyne Pontanore, the first woman to ever hold the office, and the first independent candidate to have won a Pontanore Election in over a century. Prior to being Premier, she served as Foreign Minister and Administrator-General of Euvodora. Today, Seranoda a member (Pantolara) of the Fostana. She is well-regarded internationally and is considered one of the most important politicians in modern Caropsyne history.
Early Years and Personal Life
Miria Seranoda was born on 24 February 1952 into a middle class Fornænda family. She was the daughter of an acclaimed psychiatrist, Dr. Jalmand Seranoda. Miria excelled in school, receiving a first honors from her local Fostitio. Seranoda would go onto attend the Imperial University of Fornænda (now known as the University of the Pontanore) to obtain a doctorate in international relations and obtained her degree in 1976. Among the lecturers Miria had as a student was the well-regarded Economics Professor Gethman Tormian who was impressed with her abilities that he encouraged her to enter politics.
Taking Tormian's advice, she quickly dived into the political arena and made herself known as a staunch critic of the Fostana's austere, autocratic, and reactionary policies. Seranoda would make speeches throughout the country and participate in numerous pro-democracy protests during the late seventies. She would be responsible for leading the 1979 Fornænda Protest where she would meet her future husband Larmas for the first time. Her anti-Fostana opinions would cause her to receive many threats from the Fostana itself and Seranoda was certain that the Damosca was observing her actions from afar. In 1981, Miria and Larmas would marry and gained a daughter a year later.
At the start of 1990, Fostana rule began to collapse due to a number of controveries involving improper member conduct and damaaging and reactionary social policies they had placed upon the country. The Communist Party, led by Chairman Meltham Hermalas, unleashed a nationwide uprising in 1991 to overthrow the upper chamber and introduce a marxist state in its place. Seranoda and her husband participated in the 200,000 person gathering in the center of Fornænda and were able to avoid arrest - or worse - when the Damosca was deployed to bring an end to the uprising.
Pro-democracy protests broke out in Ariatra in 1992 in which she too participated in and even address the hundreds of thousands who crowded the city center. The Fostana commanded the military to break up the crowds but refused to carry out their orders and instead joined the protest. Seranoda would become well known for climbing ontop of one of the tanks and thanking the military commanders for standing up for justice and freedom. With no alternatives, the Fostana led by Chair Roth, gave into the demands of the crowd. He declared that the Pontiana would be reopened and elections would be held in April 1993.
Seranoda registered as a member of Phodric Dormond's new Moderate Party and was a Pontiana candidate for Fornænda's Sulis district. Due to her immense name recogition and the reputation her family had in the district, she easily swept aside her competitors and took her seat in the chamber on 5 April 1993.
Political Career
Dormond's Foreign Minister
Seranoda was appointed Foreign Minister by Premier Dormond. Miria and Phodric started off with a good working relationship marked by the historic signing of the 1994 Treaty of Taerisz which normalized relations between the Pontanore and Ardalia who had fought each other eleven years earlier. Seranoda was instrumental in delivering that achievement for the Government. She made it a priority to improve relations with various nations around the world including Corsimenia, Zorrazo, Curiastan, Loslakia and her allies, Leonstein, and Trodenheim. Despite her efforts abroad, her efforts were being actively being fought against at home.
By the end of 1994, she grew incresingly uneasy with policy decisions being made by Phodric Dormond and supported by his second-in-command, Haldric Maldian. They urged the Pontiana to triple the amount of funding allocated to the military and the police forces, far beyond what the Fostana had invested at the height of their rule. Maldian argued that such a build-up was critical to the defense of the Pontanore and to properly project its strength on the world stage. In cabinet meetings leading up to the vote in the Pontiana, Seranoda called out that such actions would completely destroy the work she had done to improve global relations. The proposed investments were overwhelmingly approved, but this would not the end as Dormond and Maldian would begin implementing aggressive and antgonistic policies against countries whose own policies disagreed with those of the Pontanore's. The Foreign Minister, the Premier, and the Defense Minister would have many arguments as she felt it was undermining her position. One nation particularly targeted was Curiastan whom Maldian and Dormond believed was a direct threat to the Pontanore's long-term influence in developing countries worldwide.
Throughout 1995, there were several bombings, assassinations, and poisonings that took place around the world, all of which were suspected to be carried out by the Caropsyne intelligence service, the Damosca, on the orders of the Premier. Each of these instances were denied. The last time Seranoda and Dormond would truly collaborate would be the successful agreement among Thearean nations of a basic framework which would lead to the creation of the Thearean Community in 1997. The events over 1995 began to show Miria that the dramatic shift in foreign policy being carried out by the Premier and the Defense Minister were not entirely their own but heavily influenced by the Damosca. Believing that there was a degree of truth, she quietly assembled resources to confirm her suspicions. It would not take long to verify.
The entire Pontanore was brought to a complete standstill in March 1996 due to the Great Oil Crisis. The Damosca was well aware of Seranoda's attempts at finding out who was responsible for the events of 1995. Friends close to her urged her to flee before the intelligence service could take her away. Heeding their advice, she and her family fled across the border to Ardalia and put herself in self-imposed political exile and took whatever evidence she had obtained with her. From the Ardalian capital of Hran, she broadcasted a fiercely critical television speech in which she claimed the Premier was responsible for manipulating the oil crisis that befallen Carops and made the accusation that Dormond was pursuing a violent and bloody foreign policy at the urging of the Damosca.
As the speech was being made, her allies in the Pontiana secretly delivered a dossier to the chamber's Executive Committee listing notable terrorist acts and the evidence supporting her claims. Dormond resigned shortly afterwards saying that he had lost the confidence of the Caropsyne people. His closest political ally, Haldric Maldian succeeded him after a snap election was held. Maldian took no time in formally dismissing Seranoda from her position as Foreign Minister and appointed Garel Thormond in her place.
Political Exile
No longer a member of the Pontiana and a known target for retailation by the Damosca, Miria chose to remain political isolation in Ardalia over the next year even though the country would break out into civil war. Relations between the Pontanore and Curiastan had declined sigificantly in the last months of Dormond's premiership but only worsened by February 1997 with the rise of Curian dictator Andart Sadner. Maldian would respond by increasing Caropsyne aggression towards the Republic and its allies which would only further the cold war between them. Sensing an opportunity to damage Maldian's political reputation, Sadner personally instructed Curian Intelligence to undertake an operation to kidnap Seranoda from Ardalia.
Reasoning for bringing her back to Curiastan was due to her possessing information that could possibly implicate Curian involvement in the 1996 Oil Crisis and for what she may have been privy to concerning Operation Greensloth. General Pholomir Zarmal who had managed to become the effective leader of the Damosca learned of the kidnapping operation from agents he had out in the field. Suspecting that she could reveal damning evidence against him and the Damosca, he informed the Premier. Maldian hated the former Foreign Minister but Zarmal was able to convince the Premier that it was imperative that they got to her first to both head off a potential propaganda victory by Sadner but to prevent them from using the information she possessed against the state. Haldric eventually related and permitted the extraction operation.
Damosca agents, led personally by Zarmal, snuck into civil war-stricken Ardalia and removed her just in advance of the arrival of the Curian operatives. She was taken by helicopter to a waiting boat off the island of Adento. As she and Zarmal approach the waiting vessel, the general told her that the Premier was willing to 'forgive' her previous statements and offer her the position of Administrator-General of Euvodora. In exchange, she would cease any further public criticism of him or his Government's policies. Recognizing the amount of political power and resources that would be at her disposal as the leader of the Pontanore's fastest-growing and most liberal state, she accepted. Maldian and her would be on the same time in public, but privately, she would be biding her time to strike back at the Premier and the Damosca.
Administrator-General of Euvodora
Miria took up her position as Administrator-General of Euvodora on 21 April 1997, three days after her extraction from Ardalia. In her capacity as the head of Euvodora's legislature, the Poliana, she laid out her aggressive agenda of social reform and public works. A day later she convened her senior leadership including her second-in-command Secretary Ludomir Zepaldo to begin carrying out her vision for the state. According to an entry she wrote in her diary (and has since been published in her autobiography), she knew that although Maldian and her had an understanding, he was most certainly observing her actions from afar and would not hesitate get rid of her if given the chance and would be more than happy to use the Damosca to do so.
The Pontanore's General Economic Program (GEP) was created during Fostana Rule by their Economics Advisor and Professor Gethman Tormian. They had decreed that none of the states except for Carops could devivate from its structure in order to ensure stability nationwide. However it soon became apparent that Euvodora's fertile land, abundant natural resources, growing economy, and buregoning population during the late 1980's showed Tormian that the territory deserved to be granted considerable leeway from his very own program. The Fostana were convinced and not only granted considerable leeway from the program but designated the capital of Polmona and its surrounding environs as a 'special economic area,' the first of its kind. By 1992, dozens upon dozens of manufacturing plants and multinational corporations and financial institutions established themselves in the state. Euvodora's economic prosperity had only continued to grow as Seranoda arrived and decided to use a portion of the generated taxation allocated to the state to help finance her agenda.
Given the economic boom Euvodora had been experiencing over the past decade, the state's population had equally grown. Polmona itself had seen its population exceed the total population of the Chenterno Pontanoresca by 1996. In June 1997, Seranoda in partnership with the city's mayor would undertake Polmona's Fifth Urbanization. It centered around the construction of 250,000 affordable housing units. Many of these planned units were built on untouched land outside the center of the city or along the outer edges. To support the developments, an array of public safety and health facilities, schools, community centers, and commercial arcades were built in what became completely new neighborhoods. The city's existing metro network consisting of two lines built in the late eighties by the Fostana were already over capacity and plans were drawn up for the construction of three more. After lengthy discussions between herself and Premier Maldian's government, a financing arrangement was signed in 1999. She would not be able to see the completion of the first line until 2004 during her first Premiership.
Similar urbanization efforts were undertaken in Euvodora's three other major cities: Zaramela, Fantonaré, and Urdino. A further 150,000 state-owned housing units would be built in each. An existing rail line connected the three to Polmona but Seranoda envisioned a high-speed network between them. She ordered the Transport Directorate to accelerate plans and in March 2000, she would attend the groundbreaking ceremony. Another ten rail lines were either newly constructed or enhanced to improve connectivity to the state's smaller cities and towns. The Transport Directorate would allocate more resources into expanding intercity bus services. In terms of energy generation, she proclaimed that her state would be the first to be completely powered by solar and other renewable energy by 2020. By the time would become Premier in 2000, millions of solar panels and over two thousand windmills had been installed.
Miria was a proponent of agricultural collectivization and believed that it had to occur everywhere: even in Carops and the island of Casona where many farms were owned by the dying aristocracy and the weakened Church (i.e. members of the Fostana). Since Pontanore states had been given devolved powers to handle agricultural affairs, she proceeded to create the first state-owned collective farms. Since the state's land was so fertile, it was regarded as the breadbasket for the entire Pontanore. To capitalize on this, her Agricultural Directorate invested heavily in technologies that would boost harvest yields and improve worker productivity. Since Pontanore law dictated that any food produced on held land could not be sold abroad without an established contract between countries, she therefore had her directorate concentrate on securing as much of the established quotas as possible and duly compensated those state-owned farms (and their employees) due compensation. Euvodora saw its greatest harvest of grain in two decades in 1998 in the same year in which the State of Carops' own harvest had been impacted due to an early frost. Seranoda jumped on the event and sent a considerable amount of the state's grain surplus back to the home state, earning her the respect of numerous members of the Pontiana while sending a message to the Fostana.
Guided by Miria, the Poliana would pass sweeping social policies that would earn Euvodora the title as the stronghold of Caropsyne Liberalism. The state would become the first to recognize and allow same-sex marriages in the Pontanore and the only to legalize the use of cannabis. Legislation was enacted that instituted pay equity between men and women. Worker rights and state-controlled welfare programs were expanded. Euvodora would pass a strict campaign finance law that prohibited foreign and big business entities from contributing to anyone running for office either in the Pontiana or the state Poliana. A series of anti-discrimination laws were also passed. Serious environmental regulations and protections were implemented to curtail pollution from factories and manufacturing facilities. These actions set the tone for what could be expected under a potential Seranoda Premiership.
Her tenure as Administrator-General was peaceful except during the October 1997 Jaj Revolution which occurred in the neighboring state of Chonoré (informally known as Jajiland). It was institgated by the Jaj Independence Front (JIF) in an effort to not get retribution for the events that had unfolded the previous year during the Oil Crisis but to completely remove Caropsyne control from their land. Premier Maldian reacted with overwhelming military force (with some influence by General Zarmal of the Damosca) to crush the independence movement before it could spread across the continent. Seranoda declared a state of emergency across Euvodora and assisted in the Government in evacuating hundreds of thousands of Caropsynes from the conflict area, many of whom decided to permanently remain in Euvodora afterwards.
Since her arrival in Euvodora in late April 1997, she maintained her 'agreement' with Premier Maldian and held a cooperative posturing with his Government in public but in private she continued her efforts to expose the link between the Damosca and the Government. Despite having no legal authority over the Casmara, she had established good working relationships with high-ranking officers and agents of the service who were willing to covertly assist her in collecting evidence. Over the course of her tenure, Miria would form a close friendship with Health Minister Alza Permentanna and she would help to facilitate a political alliance with Defense Minister Goriath Moscana. The three of them would lead the effort to dissolve Maldian's government.
The Premier visited Euvodora in January 2000 to recognize Seranoda's work as Administrator-General and see the progress that was being made between the state and the central government. It would be the last time the two would have a 'friendly' encounter. The media praised her following the visit saying that she had made Euvodora "the Second Carops."
End of the Maldian Government
Administrator-General Seranoda, Minister Permentanna, and Minister Moscana met secretly with Fostana Chair Rolmand Roth in early April 2000 to discuss the chaos that Premier Maldian had unleashed and the damning evidence unearthed by Miria's loyal Casmara officers and own informants. As suspected, the compiled dossier confirmed that the Damosca, led by General Zarmal, had gained so much influence within the military and the Cabinet that the intelligence service was essentially controlling the Government. It also verified that the general and his subordinates directed the nefarious actions in Jajiland, Curiastan, and elsewhere. The four agreed that something had to happen before the entire Pontanore and its relationship around the world were destroyed. United in removing Maldian, they spent the remainder of the spring and early summer to quietly build up their support from both legislative chambers and increase their criticism of the Government.
Once they felt confident, they struck. On the afternoon of 3 July 2000, the Fostana abandoned their proceedings mid-session and marched upon the Pontiana Palace, effectively invading the lower chamber. In the process they had taken the working scroll of the Articles of State of the Caropsyne Pontanore from their chamber which by law prevented them from functioning and the Pontiana being unable to be seated. It was unprecedented and sparked Caropsyne Constitutional Crisis. For five days, the Pontanore was at a standstill and the international community watched in horror at what could happen.
Seranoda and Minister Permentanna let the upper chamber into the Palace upon their arrival. Miria joined Chair Roth and his fellow officers and walked into the Premier's office where the group would engage in a heated argument with Maldian. By nightfall, the Fostana announced its demands to the public that Maldian resign and that elections be called by the Pontiana Executive Committee with all due haste. The Executive Committee convened the following morning to hear Seranoda's evidence showing the enormous links between the Dormondist political group and the military, and furthermore the Damosca's (particularly General Zarmal) influence over government policy. Four days of debate would occur on how to proceed until they passed a resolution on the morning of 7 July to present to the whole Pontiana that would remove Maldian from the Premiership and initiate a snap election that would occur 3 weeks later. Unbeknownst to everyone, Pholomir Zarmal was aware of the proceedings in the committee and upon learning of the resolution's passage, took matters into his own hands to keep the Premier in power.
Personally led by Zarmal, several dozen highly skilled Damosca agents stormed the Pontiana from the sewers and basement and attacked members of both legislative chambers. He ordered a team to find and kill Seranoda. Although she was discovered, Miria was saved by the timely arrival of Chair Roth and managed to escape with minor injuries. After three hours, the Damosca determined that their effort to prevent Maldian's ouster had failed and began fleeing the scene. Though Zarmal and some operatives evaded the Casmara, many were either arrested or killed. Premier Maldian was found to have committed suicide.
The Snap Election of 2000
Seranoda and the others bravery prevented the Damosca (and by affilation the military) to take over the country. Caropsyne democracy had survived. The resolution that had passed the Pontiana's Executive Committee initiated elections. A civil administration made up of the officers of the Executive Committee and the Fostana was established to govern the Pontanore until the vote could occur. 30 July 2000 was selected to be the polling day. News of the election spread like wildfire and by nightfall, candidates including Seranoda announced their intention to succeed the deceased Maldian.
Though most candidates would run as members of an established political party, Miria decided to run as an independent. Such a move had not been attempted in over a century. The main themes of her campign where anti-corruption and anti-Dormondism. While on the trail, she vowed to voters that she would restore liberalism and civil society throughout the Pontanore. She also committed to abolish the Damosca and declare it a terrorist organization on her first day.
Due to her successful tenure as Euvodorian Administrator-General, she had secured sigificant support from left-wing intellectual elites and the majority of those who identified themselves as working class. Alza Permentanna and Goriath Moscana who had worked with her to bring an end to Maldian's Government declared that they not only supported her bid for the Premiership but also renounced their Moderate Party memberships and would join Seranoda's movement which would in due time be labeled "the New Left." Many Moderates, trusting them, followed them in their support of Miria.
Olimand Kossroth succeeded Maldian as leader of the Moderate Party upon knowledge that the former had committed suicide. Kossroth had served as Culture Minister under Dormond and Education Minister in Maldian's Government. His platform continued the same Dormondist policies that had surrounding the previous two Governments. At campaign stops, he criticized Seranoda as being hypocritical for supporting the former governments before only to completely undermine both of them to seize power for herself. The Moderate Party still had supporters who favored its civic nationalist policies but the devastating and bloody event that had only just recently unfolded inside the Pontiana would sigificantly lower their odds of winning. Olimand's lack of knowledge in foreign policy or executive administration was noticable in their three-hour long debate during the final week of the campaign.
Seranoda overwhelmingly beat Kossroth at the polls on 30 July which gave her the Premiership. She and her allies had won a clear majority to govern without the need to form a coalition. The Moderates claimed the second-highest number of seats and became the official opposition. Political experts consider the July 2000 snap election as the event which totally realigned Caropsyne politics forever.
Miria Seranoda officially took over from the civil administration on 2 August 2000.
Premiership
Miria's first act as Premier would be to undertake the dismantlement of the Damosca and declare the entity a terrorist organization. Working with her Defense and Interior Minister Goriath Moscana, both domestic and international arrest warrants were issued for high-ranking officers of the former intelligence service including the former Bureau Chief (de facto leader) Pholomir Zarmal who had managed to evade capture in the aftermath of the failed coup earlier in the summer. As the process of the agency's dismantlement was carried out, it became very clear just how powerful the organization had gotten and steps would be undertaken to prevent such a concentration of power from forming again. The Casmara and Sadriana each were given some of the service's old responsibilities. To the public, Seranoda and Minister Moscana were praised for their efforts but very few were aware that many lower-ranking officers and agents did not have to go through the rehabilitation process that had been laid out at all and were allowed join the ranks of their successor branches because it would be a major loss to the Pontanore if it lost individuals with such 'talent.'
The Damosca was not the only place Seranoda was targeting. She and her Government undertook an extensive purge to eliminate Dormondist influences and supporters from across all governmental, law enforcement, and military affairs. It is estimated that over 5,000 people were removed from their positions over the next two years. The Government would proceed with passing an aggressive civil service examination system to remove the possibility of individuals obtaining positions of power and influence by name, wealth, or influence. Secretary Limia Cattanna was one of the high-ranking officials to resist the Government's actions but eventually relented when public reaction against her increased.
Seranoda, secure with an overwhelming majority in the Pontiana and a public approval rating of over 75% due to her anti-corruption and anti-Damosca efforts, proceeded to enact an array of liberal policies during her first tenure including:
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Her government would also implement a 750 billion Creditas program of investment in education, energy, healthcare, and transportation infrastructure. An even higher amount, worth close to 900 billion Creditas, would be allocated during her second Premiership.
2001 would see the creaion of an entirely new legislative body called the Cadriana. It was established by Seranoda to act as a chamber representing each of the 23 Pontanore states. Its elected members would debate and pass Pontanore-wide legislation, be able to petition the Pontiana on substantive policy changes, and consider policies on social issues dealing with the development and allocation of funding nationwide for commericial and public services, and the ability to veto laws passed by the Pontiana that affected specific minorities or ethnic groups which could only hold uphold if the Fostana (in its capacity as the highest court) concurred. Seranoda's intentions for the chamber would be to bring each of the states closer together and move the Pontanore towards a federated structure. At its first meeting, the chamber consisted of 520 members.
Though conditions at home were calm, things were not well abroad. Relations between the Pontanore and the Curian Bloc had only continued to worsen. Miria made many attempts to defuse tensions with Curiastan's dictator Andart Sadner but they would constantly get into proxy fights via their respective allies or engage philosophical battles with one another directly. By March 2003, Seranoda had been given evidence from the Casmara that Sadner was committing unspeakable horrors upon his own people including a potential genocide in Eastern Curiastan. Refusing to standby, the Premier called for a declaration of war which was swiftly approved. Caropsyne, Curian, and their respective allied forces would be engaged in a bloody three-year conflict which would result in victory for Pontanore forces, the defeat and overthrow of Dictator Sadner's regime, and a subsequent ten-year occupation by Caropsyne forces. Seranoda's Government would assist the Curian Transitional Council in maintaining security for the country and providing advice on structuring a new political system.
Elections for the Premiership were held in September 2005 in the final weeks of the Caropsyne-Curian War. Her main competitor amongst the parties on the ballot Moderate Party leader Olimand Kossroth. The Moderates would prove to have no chance at defeating her due to her high popularity, successful policies, and with Pontanore forces close to victory in the war they were engaged in, took the sails out of Kossroth's entire message. The New Left would win by even greater margins at the polls and take several major bastions support, including Ariatra, in Carops away from the center-right Moderates. By securing a second mandate, Seranoda proceeded to continue with accomplishing her domestic and foreign agenda.
Relations between the Caropsyne Pontanore and the Latagonian Republic had been tense as far back as the late 1970's and had become cold as former Premiers Dormond and Maldian carried out their Damosca-influenced foreign policy. When she was Foreign Minister, Miria had attempted to engage in diplomatic discussions with Latagon but every offer was rebuffed, however, an opportunity presented itself with the election of a new Latagonian President Helic Muaroa in January 2007. The Premier tuned into his inauguration speech and it was the first time that a leader emphasized the need to talk first and use force second. Seranoda issued an invitation to meet in Fornænda which was accepted and occurred the following month. The culmination of the week-long summit result in a historic framework that would guide diplomatic efforts between the two countries in the years to come and a joint program to improve living conditions for all in Polythia.
Unfortunately for Miria, she and her Government would soon be thrusted into two highly controversal actions institgated by the Civil Directorate's Secretary, Cattanna.
- Political battles with Secretary Cattanna -> over Pontanore Airways, and wage battle with the Amalgamated Unions of Public Service Workers over proposed limits to pay increases within pharmacies.