Tereza Darvas
Her Excellency Tereza Darvas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 17th Premier of Ardalia | |
| Assumed office 24 March 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Ardor Raszan |
| Deputy Premier of Ardalia | |
| In office 26 August 2015 – 23 March 2020 | |
| Member of the National Assembly | |
| Assumed office 5 January 2010 | |
| Constituency | Hran Zuglo |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 6, 1983 Hran |
| Nationality | Ardalian |
| Political party | Socialist Party |
| Domestic partner | Iszak Barzo |
| Children |
|
| Residence(s) | Hran, Ardalia |
| Alma mater | PhD, University of Hran |
| Profession | Politician, Political Scientist |
Tereza Darvas (born 6 May 1983) is the 17th and current Premier of Ardalia since 24 March 2020. She has been a member of the National Assembly representing the Hran Zuglo constituency since 2012. Darvas previously served as Ardor Raszan's Deputy Premier.
Early Life
Tereza was born on 6 May 1983 in Hran, as an only child to Ervin and Rosza Darvas. Her father was a Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Hran while her mother was a surgeon at a local hospital. They were also both former members of a resistance cell that help bring about the fall of Frenlo Letzek's regime. From birth, they both knew that she was destined for greatness and spared no expense in her education. She would attended Zuglo College and graduate at the top of her class in 2001. At the urging of her parents, she went on to get a doctorate in Political Science from the University of Hran.
As she was got deeper and deeper into her doctorate, her political ideology became clearer. The Moderate Party had been the leading political party in the Assembly as far back as 1994 and under their continued mandates, passed numerous pieces of legislation that chipped away at people's freedoms, relaxed business regulations and lowered taxes on the wealthest, gutted public services in the same of patriotic austerity - all running counter to the very principles outlined in not just the more recent 1983 Constitution but the founding document of the First Republic itself. Additionally, her parents finally divulged their socialist affilation in 2006 when they explained to her their roles in the resistance. Tereza successfully defended her dissertation on how socialist policies were in alignment with Ardalian democracy in 2008.
Political Career
Darvas' dissertation quickly attracted the attention of the leadership of both the Socialist and Moderate parties. Then-Chairman of the Socialist Party (and leader of the opposition), Ardor Raszan, met Tereza for the first time in early 2009 at a nondescript cafe near the National Assembly after he had read her entire 235-page thesis. He told her that everything she had written was true: Ardalia was stuck in a cycle that needed to be broken and the only way to do that was to properly introduce extensive socialist policies that had been implemented in many other countries, most notably the Pontanore under Premier Miria Seranoda and their Premiers prior to the National Emergency. In that meeting, she told her that if she ever decided to run for office at any level, the party would have her back.
She would grapple with the decision to run for over a month and was able to say no when a family emergency unfolded in May 2009: both her mother and father were close to death. Their health had been declining since 2006. Rosza was first to go, followed by Ervin two weeks later. On his deathbed, she said she couldn't run for office and told her that she needed to, he needed her to, the country needed her. In his last minutes, she pledged she would. He smiled and closed his eyes. She was alone and weeped. Her parents had done everything they could to provide their homeland with the best chance to see a bright future. She called Raszan a week later and told him that she was in.
Tereza ran as a Socialist for Hran Zuglo. Hran had always been a left-wing stronghold as far back as the last century, but the Socialists needed to boost their nationwide turnout. The Moderate Party feared her and threw everything at her, but nothing stuck. They made one final attempt during a pair of debates in the final stretch of the campaign but her opponent could not keep control of his tongue and uttered a statement that completely stunned her, the audiance, and the Moderate leadership. His poor choice of words would prove to be a critical blow. The election results delivered not only Darvas with a resounding mandate to take her seat in Assembly but provided the Socialists with 61% of the total seats.
She rose rapidly after being seated and was chosen to serve on three select committees: Foreign Affairs, Defense and Budget. Those assignments made it very clear to the other deputies, and Ardor's first Council of Ministers (including his then-Deputy Premier) that he had a long-term plan for Darvas.