Olivier Besancenot

Olivier Besancenot is a Kanjoran politician and member of the Parti Pour Paix et Progress. He was elected Président de la Confédération in October 2447 and is currently serving his first term.

Childhood
Olivier was born in Atyr to working class parents in 2415. Growing up around labor unions and workers groups, he was inspired at an early age with ideals for progress for the masses. Even in high school Olivier was involved with student groups who pushed for more democracy in school administration.

Early Political Career
Dropping out of university and abandoning dreams for a political degree, Olivier joined Communist Organizations in Sovalt and promoted revolution against the perceived "repression" of the time. In 2440 Olivier was imprisoned for his participation in a protest that turned violent. It was after this that Olivier met a certain Pierre Etienne and his priorities began to change.

Founding of the PPPP
Olivier has continually refused to reveal anything personal about the mysterious figure that is Pierre Etienne. He will however tell the story of how he received a strange telephone call several days after he was released from prison telling him of a new political movement developing that held real promise for Kanjor. The caller was Pierre Etienne, now leader of the Parti Pour Paix et Progress and Premier Minstre de la Confédération. Olivier claims that he and Pierre have met face to face three times: once with just the two of them after that phone call and twice with a very small group of founding members of the PPPP including François Bayrou, the man who Olivier would succeed as président.

Olivier will continue with story and tell how that first meeting with Pierre was a revelation for him that turned him from ideas of violent revolution towards plans for peaceful social progress. As part of a small group of intellectual leaders numbering fewer than ten, Olivier was a part of the founding of the PPPP in 2443 and led youth programs and other initiatives for the party until he received the party's nomination for président in 2447.