Saverio Merante
The Right Honourable Saverio Merante | |
|---|---|
 Saverio Merante, 2010 | |
| 19th Prime Minister of Imagua and the Assimas | |
| In office 23 April, 2008 – 23 April, 2012 | |
| President | Agnes Ingram |
| Deputy | Dennis Egnell |
| Preceded by | Agnes Ingram |
| Succeeded by | Edmondo Privitera |
| Member of Parliament for Piacentino-Viselli | |
| In office 23 April, 1992 – 23 April, 2016 | |
| Preceded by | constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Berengario Chimera |
| Member of Parliament for Piacentino | |
| In office 23 April, 1980 – 23 April, 1992 | |
| Preceded by | Stefano Giacomini |
| Succeeded by | constituency abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Saverio Merante 17 October 1949 San Pietro, Imagua and the Assimas |
| Nationality | Imaguan |
| Political party | National (since 1975) |
| Spouse | Adelasia Merante |
| Children | 2 |
Saverio Merante (b. 17 October, 1949) was the nineteenth Prime Minister of Imagua and the Assimas, serving from 23 April, 2008, when he succeeded Agnes Ingram, to 23 April, 2012, when he was defeated by Edmondo Privitera.
Merante was the first Prime Minister to be born after the Solarian War in 1946, and the first Prime Minister to be born after Estmere granted Imagua and the Assimas full independence in 1948. In addition, as of 2016, he is the most recent Prime Minister to come from the National Party of Imagua.
Early life
Saverio Merante was born in San Pietro to Timoteo Merante, a police officer, and housewife Clelia Merante, as the eldest of two children, and the only son. They lived in the Piacentino neighbourhood in San Pietro.
In 1954, he began school at the Piacentino Primary School, where he was described by his teachers as a bright student, albeit not very charismatic. In 1958, he was enrolled at the Isaia D'Adamo Middle School, and in 1960, he took the eleven-plus, where he got a 99.7%.
Due to his high results, he was selected to go to the Piacentino Grammar School, where he first met his future wife, Adelasia Armetta. During his time, he was noted to be a bright student, with many teachers predicting that he'd have a promising career in law. In 1965, he passed O-levels, allowing him to go into sixth form, and passed the A-levels by 1967.
Thus, he gained a scholarship to the Università di San Pietro, where he majored in law, gaining a bachelor's degree in 1970, and a master's degree in 1972. He was called to the bar in 1974, and was a practicing lawyer until 1980.
Political career
Early years
Saverio Merante joined the Conservative Party in 1975, and served dutifully as a member, helping campaign for Stefano Giacomini's re-election for the constituency of Piacentino in the 1976 general elections. Over the next few years, Saverio Merante became an important part of the local constituency association, as despite his work as a lawyer, Merante was "always able to find time" to help the Conservative association.
Thus, in 1979, when Giacomini announced his intention to retire from politics, Giacomini suggested to the party leadership to have Saverio Merante be nominated as his replacement. While there was some unease about this, as Merante had been a "fresh member," and was busy as a lawyer, it was ultimately decided for Merante to run in the 1980 general election.
Thus, when the writ was dropped on 28 January, 1980, Saverio Merante was facing off Democratic Labour candidate Fulberto Circelli, head of the local chapter of the steelworkers trade union. While Circelli had the upper hand at first, as he was perceived to be far more charismatic than Saverio Merante, a scandal in March where it was revealed Circelli took bribes from Ottavio Trevisan, leading to Merante winning the seat with 68.4% of the vote on 24 March, 1980, with Circelli only taking 30.5% of the vote.
Backbencher
Thus, on 23 April, 1980, Saverio Merante was sworn in as member of the Lesser House of Parliament for his first term.
As a backbencher, Merante focused primarily on representing local issues and supporting the Conservative party line, while cultivating a positive reputation among voters in his constituency of Piacentino. As he was not involved in the cabinet of Prime Minister Anthony Brockett, Merante was able to be relatively unscathed by the actions of the Conservatives.
Thus, in the 1984 elections, he defeated Democratic Labour candidate Salomè Savignano 57.6% to 41.3%, allowing Merante to win a second term, albeit now as an opposition backbencher. During his second term, Merante continued to represent his constituency of Piacentino and their interests, while criticizing the DLP government for "harming our economy" and making Imagua "poorer than Vilcasuamanas."
These criticisms helped him defeat DLP candidate Ponziano Centola 53.5% to 41.3% in 1988, allowing him to serve a third term in the Lesser House. During this period, Saverio Merante started to build up a base of support within the Conservative Party, especially among the moderates from within the party, although Merante endorsed Isaac Egnell's attempt to run for the premiership in 1992.
In 1992, redistricting meant that Piacentino was dissolved, with much of it being merged with the former constituency of Viselli, which was held by Umberto Ambrogi of the DLP. Thus, he faced a divisive election, but Ambrogi was defeated 49.4% to 48.3%, allowing him to win a fourth term in the Lesser House.
Minister for Trade
With the Conservatives only holding a minority, Saverio Merante was approached by Prime Minister Isaac Egnell to serve as a cabinet minister. Merante accepted the offer, and on 23 April, 1992, he was sworn in as Minister for Trade.
As the Minister for Trade, Saverio Merante's main focus was to increase trade between Imagua and the Assimas and Bahia, as it was viewed that investing in Bahia's resources, especially copper, would help benefit Imagua. Thus, over the next three years, he frequently travelled to Bahian states like Rwizikuru to discuss trade and negotiate trade deals between Bahian states and Imagua.
Despite these efforts, the only trade deal he was able to secure during his tenure as Trade Minister was in 1994, when he secured an agreement with Kupakwashe Ngonidzashe to import copper in exchange for one billion shillings in development aid. Thus, by 1995, it was predicted that Merante would be sent back to the backbenches, but these moves were preempted by the 1995 elections.
In the 1995 general elections, Merante ran against Democratic Labour candidate Bruno Nigrelli and National Reform candidate James Savarese. Merante was more concerned about Savarese, as he was concerned that Savarese would siphon enough votes to turn Piacentino-Viselli into a DLP seat.
Thus, he focused his campaign on attacking the DLP and the National Reform Party, with Nigrelli being attacked for his close relationship with drug trafficker and Senator Arturo Davino, and Savarese attacked for "betraying the Etrurian community for short-term gains." As such, when the results came in on 21 April, 1995, he managed to take 41.2% of the vote, compared to Nigrelli's 40.4%, and Savarese's 18.4%, making him the only Conservative MP remaining that represented any part of the Assimas Parish.
Return to the backbenches
As was predicted, Saverio Merante was not included in the shadow cabinet, meaning that when his fifth term started, he returned to the backbenches of the Lesser House.
During this time, his main priority was to build up support within the Conservative Party, with an eye towards returning to cabinet one day. At this point in time, he aligned himself with Agnes Ingram and Erico D'Antonio, with the latter in particular being seen as a mentor figure to Merante.
In 1997, Merante won against Democratic Labour candidate Eliseo Piacente 49.6% to 48.5% after having waged an effective campaign against him, allowing him to win a sixth term in office. While he still remained a backbencher, Merante began to play a role in shaping the Conservative Party, as D'Antonio viewed him as being a "good Prime Minister if only he puts in the effort."
As well, Saverio Merante criticized the DLP government, with Merante saying in 1998 that Viviana Andreoli was "too old to serve as a decent Prime Minister," and called their policies "short-sighted" and "harmful to the Imaguan people."
Thus, by 2001, Merante was able to win a seventh term in office, defeating DLP candidate Sabrina Pioli 55.2% to 42.8%. At this point, Erico D'Antonio offered Saverio Merante a cabinet position.
Minister of Defence
On 23 April, 2001, Saverio Merante was sworn in as Defence Minister under Erico D'Antonio's government. While it was seen as an unusual posting, as Merante lacked experience in the Imaguan Constabulary or any of its predecessors, D'Antonio defended it by saying that Merante's experience as a lawyer made him "more than qualified to oversee the day-to-day operations of the constabulary."
As Defence Minister, Merante's main focus was buying new equipment for the Constabulary to replace the "hodge-podge" of equipment inherited from the Royal Imaguan Constabulary, the Cuanstad Police Department, and the Assimas Police Force, in order to "complete the integration" of the three former police forces into "one efficient and coherent organisation."
As well, Saverio Merante had noticed increasing numbers of illegal immigration to Imagua and the Assimas, particularly from Marirana as they sought a better life. Thus, in 2002, Merante urged that the Imaguan Coast Guard receive more funding to deal with illegal immigration from Marirana, saying that "to not fund the Coast Guard will mean that they will land on our shores, and replace the Imaguan people."
While his statement garnered controversy, as many felt that it was too similar to the white replacement conspiracy theory, Merante defended his remarks, saying that "we are a nation of 1.2 million people. To allow them to live and work here would mean that we will become a minority in our own country."
While Merante fared substantially better as Defence Minister than as Trade Minister, when D'Antonio announced his intention to run for the Presidency in 2004, he was nominated to be Deputy Prime Minister on a ticket with Agnes Ingram.
Thus, during the 2004 campaign, he spent much of his campaign travelling across Imagua to campaign for Agnes Ingram and Erico D'Antonio, while neglecting his constituency campaign. This allowed Democratic Labour candidate Vanna Pastori to gain substantial support, but despite this, an electoral upset occurred when Merante squeaked back in for an eighth term in the Lesser House of Parliament 52.4% to 47.3%.
Deputy Prime Minister
On 23 April, 2004, newly-elected Prime Minister Agnes Ingram named her cabinet, with Saverio Merante becoming the Deputy Prime Minister, succeeding Agnes Ingram in that role.
While the position of Deputy Prime Minister was a ceremonial position, as the Deputy Prime Minister is the first-in-line after the Prime Minister, it was expected that should Ingram die in office, he would immediately succeed her to serve as acting Prime Minister until fresh elections were held. As well, the role of Deputy Prime Minister meant that in the absence of the Prime Minister, he would chair cabinet meetings, and serve as acting Prime Minister until the Prime Minister returned.
Despite this, Merante was an active Deputy Prime Minister, helping shape the governing National Party's policies. As well, he continued to build up his base of support within the party, with many moderates wanting him to run for Prime Minister in 2008 after D'Antonio's second term expired.
In the 2007 leadership convention, Agnes Ingram was nominated to be the National's presidential candidate, while Saverio Merante was nominated to be the Prime Ministerial candidate.
Thus, when the writ was dropped on 28 January, 2008, Merante began his campaign, as he ran against Democratic Labour leader Agostina Di Bari. During his campaign, he focused heavily on the national campaign, appearing on all televised debates organised by the Imaguan Television Service, and campaigned on "continuing the hard work of Ingram," but at the same time focused on the local election, where he was running against DLP candidate Vindonio Merola.
On 24 March, 2008, Merante defeated Merola 51.5% to 48.2%, while on the national level, he oversaw the National Party take thirty-eight seats, which while they lost two seats compared to 2004, was still enough to form a majority government.
With this, he spent the next month "curating" his cabinet, before being sworn in on 23 April, 2008.
Prime Minister of Imagua
Following his swearing-in as the nineteenth Prime Minister of Imagua and the Assimas, and the naming of the cabinet, Saverio Merante started to focus on continuing the policies of Agnes Ingram's government.
During his first year in office, Saverio Merante embarked on relaxing immigration legislation, saying that "as a nation of just over a million, it is essential that we get more workers from abroad, that we get them to work and contribute," while acknowledging the need to "integrate them into this bicultural society." To this end, he tabled legislation which would grant automatic permanent residency status for all nationals from Asterian Forum for Development and Cooperation if they moved to Imagua and the Assimas to reside there permanently.
This legislation easily passed both chambers of Parliament, and was signed into law by Agnes Ingram by July 2008. While it was opposed by the Democratic Labour Party, it was supported among many members in the National Party.
With this in effect, Saverio Merante began to move his attention towards diversifying the economy, with Merante saying in early 2009 that "our continued reliance on the financial sector and hospitality will be our downfall if we do not adapt and attract other businesses to these islands." Thus, he focused on attracting businesses towards the island in an effort to diversify the nation's economy, especially information technology.
In 2010, he faced a challenge when opposition leader and former Prime Minister Edmondo Privitera tabled a bill which would ensure that Imaguan citizens would receive "top priority" in hiring any jobs in the country, with migrants to be chosen "if there are no Imaguans who qualify." While this was defeated, that bill helped increase the popularity of the Democratic Labour Party.
In 2011, Saverio Merante's popularity went down when it was alleged by some of his staffers that he was abusive to them. Despite calls from some members of the National Party for Merante to resign, he refused to do so, and called the allegations "unfounded and patently untrue." Later that year, he was nominated at the leadership convention to run for a second term in office as Prime Minister, while Agnes Ingram was again nominated to run for a second term as the President.
Thus, on 30 January, 2012, the writ was dropped. During his campaign, Saverio Merante focused extensively on upholding the party's record, and vowed to "continue the course." In addition, he attacked the DLP for having "two centres of power," which he alleged would "cause disloyalty and tensions."
However, on the televised debates organized by the ITS, Merante performed poorly to both Privitera and to Douglas Egnell, which would have led to the end of National rule over Imagua.
Despite a last-ditch effort by Merante to swing the tide in favour of the National Party, on 23 March, 2012, the Nationals lost four seats, falling to thirty-four seats, making the DLP form government, although the Nationals maintained control of the presidency.
Final term in the Lesser House
In the immediate aftermath of his defeat in March 2012, Saverio Merante tendered his resignation as parliamentary leader of the National Party. While on 23 April, 2012, he was sworn in for his eleventh term in the Lesser House of Parliament, he served as leader of the opposition, in June 2012, that role went to Dennis Egnell.
With this, he left the shadow cabinet, thereby becoming a backbencher for the first time since 2001. During this time, Saverio Merante played a minimal role in the affairs of the National Party, and did not publicly criticise incumbent Prime Minister Edmondo Privitera "out of respect for his success," instead focusing on representing the interests of his constituency of Piacentino-Viselli.
However, at the 2015 leadership convention, Saverio Merante was nominated by the National Party to run for the presidency, as Agnes Ingram was nearing the end of her second term and cannot run for a third term as per the Imaguan constitution. After some hesitation, Merante accepted the offer.
Thus, the local constituency association nominated Berengario Chimera to succeed Merante in the 2016 general election for his constituency, with the idea that in the event that Merante lost the election and wanted to return to the Lesser House, he may do so.
2016 presidential election
On 25 January, 2016, Agnes Ingram dropped the writ for the 2016 presidential election. Thus, Saverio Merante entered the campaign in an optimistic manner, saying that "the Nationals can easily take down Privitera."
However, from the start of the campaign, it was clear that the National Party would not fare as well as the Democratic Labour Party, due to the anti-incumbency factor, and the handling of the refugee crisis by Agnes Ingram and the National Party.
Despite this, Saverio Merante sought to focus on the success of the National Party, stating that since 2001, the national economy has expanded, and that the economy was substantially more diverse than in 2001, and attacked the DLP's plans to restrict immigration, saying that the move would be "short-sighted" and "undermine social harmony between the communities" on Imagua.
At the Presidential debates, Privitera performed extraordinarily well against Saverio Merante, with Privitera's performance in the debates helping boost his popularity among voters, as Privitera was perceived to have more experience, and was more willing to address the problems facing Imagua and the Assimas. Merante's poor performance at the debate, combined with the low popularity of the National Party meant that it became unlikely that the National Party would maintain control of the presidency, let alone take back control of the Lesser House.
By March 25, 2016, Edmondo Privitera was elected with 62.7% of the vote, compared to Merante's 31.9%. The remainder mostly went to other candidates, most notably the Greens, who made a breakthrough when Mystelle Stone won a seat in the Lesser House, although the DLP were able to control thirty-seven seats, thereby maintaining their majority government.
That night, Merante conceded defeat to Privitera, and announced his retirement from politics, saying that "it's time for new leaders and new ideas."
Retirement
Following his retirement from politics in 2016, Saverio Merante has remained a card-carrying member of the National Party, but has otherwise been silent in terms of politics, especially relating to the National Party, so as to avoid overshadowing his successors.
Despite his retirement, he remains involved in the affairs of Piacentino, and is involved in a number of community associations "to maintain ties to my childhood neighbourhood," and to "provide me with something to do besides reading."
Personal life
Saverio Merante met Adelasia Merante at the Piacentino Grammar School in 1961, and married after a period of "on-and-off" dating in 1975. They have two children, Liberto Merante, who was born in 1976, and is an insurance salesman, and Rosmunda Valenza, who was born in 1979, and is a historian.
He speaks Etrurian as a native language, and is fluent in Estmerish, Gaullican, and Imaguan Creole.
Saverio Merante was baptized a Solarian Catholic, and while he still attends Sunday mass, he is otherwise a lapsed Catholic, with Merante saying in 2017 that "I only do the bare minimum" in being a Catholic.
Political views
Merante describes himself as a neoliberal conservative, saying that "I am a supporter of traditional values, but I am also a supporter of a thriving economy whose benefits will trickle down to the poor."
Socially, he is an opponent of same-sex marriage, although supportive of civil unions and LGBT rights, and is a supporter of the status quo with regard to abortion.
He is a supporter of increased immigration to the islands, saying that "immigration would, in the long term, do more good than harm for our country."