Artús Montecalvo becomes 1st Chancellor of Gran Aligonia
Chancellor Artús Montecalvo's official portrait. 2020/11/08
VILLA ROMERA, Gran Aligonia — Crowds gathered today throughout the archipelago in both protest and jubilation as the last of the election results coming in confirmed that Artús Montecalvo had won Gran Aligonia's first election, replacing Interim Chancellor Leuter Sion and becoming the first democratically elected leader of the turbulent island nation; in the Grand Ministry, Montecalvo's center-right coalition, the League for National Reform, also won a majority, securing a strong legislative mandate for the infant party, and displacing the momentum previously held by Leuter Sion's leftist coalition, the Aligonian Alliance for Free Thought. Sion released his final remarks soon after the victory, speaking from the AAFT campaign offices in Villa Romera, calling the race "hard-fought" while "hoping [he] will stay true to his word and not polarize us".
Even while leftist protesters stood eye-to-eye with Xendarmes only several blocks away, Montecalvo emerged today to deliver a jubilant victory speech, in which he reasserted his vision of an independent and united Aligonia, while skirting questions of whether he would directly support anyone in particular:
"...and now, I promise you that I will do my best to cool every single last tension that has been brought upon this island. We will look into the finances of the Casinos, something the AAFT never did for fear of uncovering something about themselves they didn't want to hear. We will stop, immediately, this brutalization of our foreign friends on our soil. I have told Director-General Segarra to leave his post permanently, and he has obliged; the force of the new Xendarmes will not be so unevenly applied; the GACF will remain vigilant in any way it can, while not assuming it can win without allies. And as for allies, we are willing to reach out again to our neighbors in every direction across the sea - but no forces will ever occupy a smidgen of our archipelago again. We will work together to protect our archipelago from the most egregious of foreign agitators, as equals. We will stand up to those trying to economically bully us; we will have the strongest middle class in our history, we will build skyscrapers, innovate, develop technology, and secure our untapped oil fields for the safe and clean production of plastics. We will ourselves move to explore our options in the offshore wind sector, we will do our best to combat misinformation online, and we will absolve those in the nobility who were punished for doing nothing, and return to them what was stolen and then ludicrously misused by the Sion administration.
Again we shall be the Lion of the Periclean, again we shall return to what once was, in the days of the Most Magnificent government! Together!"
After the speech, which has in the meantime domestically received a generally positive reception, Montecalvo and his entourage, including his wife Delfina and two children, Rafael and Xenia, headed to the nearby Cathedral of St. Brandasma in Villa Romera, where they affirmed the "strong religious history and tradition" of Gran Aligonia before going to Mass. As the day unfolded, Montecalvo's election and empowerment generated a variety of reactions from the Periclean World and greater international community:
Latin Emperor Constantine XX was among the first to phone Chancellor Montecalvo after his victory. The Latin Foreign Bureau likewise released a statement congratulating the Aligonian people: "The Emperor and the Latin people offer their deepest congratulations to Chancellor Montecalvo. Today is the first step towards re-defining the continuing long-standing relationship between the Latin and Aligonian people, in which together we continue towards our goals of prosperity throughout the Periclean Sea."
The Yisraeli Foreign Ministry hailed Montecalvo's election, saying: "The Government and people of Yisrael welcome Artús Montecalvo as the new Chancellor of Gran Aligonia, and we wish him every success and goodwill. It is refreshing to have a sober-minded, mature leader befitting the office of which he just won enter his political post. We very much look forward to partnering with Chancellor Montecalvo to restore peace and calm in the West Periclean." Speaking to reporters from his fourteen-day foreign tour abroad, currently on a state visit to Lihnidos, President Yitzchok Katz weighed in: "I am overjoyed that the Gran Aligonian people elected a man of such good character, even-handed personality, and good political instincts. We consider Mr. Montecalvo a reasonable partner, and I am eager to restore GA-Yisraeli relations and bring a renewed period of friendship between our governments and peoples. We are encouraged by the immediate steps he's taken to end the Sion-era policy of state harassment of foreign nationals, including visiting Yisraeli tourists, and we are excited to cooperate on other bilateral and global issues of shared importance. He has my full and sincere congratulations on his hard-fought victory."
Reactions from the broader Western Monarchies were generally positive: Fahrani Prince Faisal of the Eidrusids, Queen Melisende III of Sydalon, and Prime Minister Adiuni Kloarec of Gelonia all congratulated Montecalvo on his victory. While a spokesperson for the Abellán family congratulated Montecalvo on his victory, the increasingly-controversial statement made by former Prince Veremundo's second child, Catalia, went viral on the internet, with many in the Western Monarchies calling it tenacious; Catalia demanded that "the first Abellán willing to be empowered" should be given "that which was unrightly taken; until then, I will not recognize the legitimacy of Artús Montecalvo or any of his counterparts' administrations under the current constitution." Some pundits have speculated as to whether Catalia's statements could have an effect on the South Ottonian reaction to the election, as of yet nonexistent; Catalia is married to Arnulf of the House of Sproek-Kristhulm, 12th in line to the South Ottonian throne.
Other reactions in the Periclean were more controversial. Most notably, Messidorian President Yolande-Minerve Saverne declined to release any comment on the election. In Vardana, reactions were also mixed, despite the Directory of Vardana collectively offering congratulations to the Aligonian people on their historic election. Director and First Secretary Anastas Barkhudar was noted for his support of Chancellor Sion leading up to the election; however, he personally congratulated Chancellor-elect Montecalvo during a brief phone call. Meanwhile, Director Nebez Gewirk and former Director and now candidate Arman Boghossian issued a joint statement, urging the Aligonian people to continue their fight against would-be imperialists and undue foreign influence. "In Vardana, Aligonia will always have a friend when it comes to those goals." Similarly, Mohammed Sabbagh, of the Fahrani National Salvation Council congratulated "the triumph of the will of the Aligonian people", but did not directly congratulate Montecalvo on his win. In Stromheim, the Blumentürme also declined to release a public comment, though some have reported a phone call was made from the northern nation to Montecalvo's office.
Montecalvo has called the flurry of reactions "surprising and encouraging"; as he was the first chosen, he has been immediately inaugurated as Chancellor, though his government will take a while longer to organize its cabinet. The most major change to the current roster of the core Aligonian government, aside from the departure of all AAFT ministers, is the firing of Director-General Segarra of the Xendarmeria. Long considered a neutral mediator between the two sides of Aligonia's cultural environment, Segarra spent decades as the personal chief of security for the House of Abellán and was reportedly close with Verucio Abellán. Most recently, Segarra's command of the Xendarmeria caught flak with the controversial creation of FIGA, Aligonian intelligence, and the much-maligned stop-and-frisk policy directed towards foreign nationals. Whether other major replacements are yet to be made by the Montecalvo administration remains to be seen.
Montecalvo represents an even newer phenomenon than the decades-old leftist protest, which some have been calling a "third way" between the two extremes of Aligonian hardline monarchism, increasingly called Villarism after Duke Alexandre Del Villar, who is currently in asylum in Latium, and the leftist antimonarchism of the AAFT, which has been itself drifting increasingly to the extreme. Many have considered the election the end of the AAFT, and, due to Montecalvo's more traditionalist character, it has also appeased those who felt betrayed by the seemingly-sudden turn of Archbishop Hugo Marin of Sidora into a left-wing terrorist and agitator earlier this year; the warrant for Villar's arrest has been dropped, but Marin's has not, and he is believed to remain at large in Scipian Messidor; Montecalvo has not yet commented recently on his administration's status towards Marin, nor towards any larger international incidents such as the Enyaman or Fahrani Civil Wars.
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