Athena Alexis

Athena Alexis became the first leader of the Socialist Workers Party in Zardugal in 3326, and is the party's current leader in Congress.

Local career
Athena Alexis was the leading character in the process of registering the party and organising its first meetings, so according to the other party members it seemed natural to choose her as the first party leader.

She won a seat in the Vivanero local assembly in 3327, along with four others from her party. This was the beginning of her career as a legislator. Because of this, she was not allowed to run for a seat in Congress in the national election the same year. Thus she decided to remain a local representative, but she stated she would run for a seat in the next national election.

Government formation dispute
Due to the two main Congressional parties being unable to agree on a government, Alexis herself started negotiations in November 3327 with the New Democratic Party. She promised the NDP that her party would endorse the NDP if the Workers Party would get any seats in Congress. Previously the NDP refused to hold new elections, but when Alexis said her party already polled well above ten per cent nation-wide, and that they would probably be able to remove the NDP from office after the next election if they joined the Conservatives to form a new government. The New Democrats realised that they would probably end up with a long-term majority if they accepted the Workers Party's offer, and finally agreed to hold new elections in December 3327.

However, because the SWP had been highlighted as the main diplomat during the election negotiations, their political stance as a serious left-wing electoral alternative was also noticed. This lead to the SWP ending up at second place, with thirty per cent of the votes, from 0.04 that January. Thus the socialists beat the New Democrats in the Congressional race, yet the socialists were forced to support a NDP government, without joining it themselves. The NDP had lost over half its votes, and ended up with a disappointing twenty per cent of the votes, down from fourty seven.

Following the electoral success
Alexis was praised as the greatest socialist in Zardugal for years, as the leader of the only contesting socialist party in the country. Despite coming second in the election, she stated she wanted to see if the support for the SWP would be permanent, and that the voters would probably abandon the party if their government turned out to be a disappointment. She herself was able to run for a seat in parliament due to the special circumstances, and due to being number one on her party's closed list she won the seat of her own home town's constituency.