Republican history of Lourenne

Lourenne has had a history divided between republican and monarchist government. Republican government is generally divided into two distinct periods.

2375-2407: First period
The elections of 2375 ushered in the short-lived Second Republic. As no formal political parties existed, the people chose from their local leaders, and seats in the newly established parliament were distributed along strictly proportional lines. Voter fraud was rampant, however, and lists of 'banned persons' ensured that over 90% of the seats would go to long-standing supporters of the rebel movement, most of whom were Orinco. Though this led to frequent accusations of illegitimacy, the new regime vowed to move forward. Situated in an old colonial palace on the northern coast of Kreshar, two large voting blocs emerged: the militant federalists of the New Revolution Alliance and the leftist nationalists of the Unity Coalition. The New Revolution Alliance held a slim majority, though under the rules of the new constitution, this was all that was needed to impose nearly absolute rule. Soon after party loyalties cemented, Balthazar de Kundir, a well-regarded leader of the rebel movement, was chosen to replace the provisional prime minister.

The New Revolution Alliance's goal was to dismantle the remaining vestiges of the colonial order. This involved an ambitious program of reform, focused primarily on empowering provincial governments, a measure they hoped would give locals more power over the cultivation and sale of their natural resources. In one of the few lasting changes the New Revolution Alliance instituted, Kreshar was divided in two to prevent the wealthier industrial north from dominating the agrarian south. The boldest reform, however, was a series of 'labor reparation' initiatives, a wealth redistribution program they hoped would finally put an end to Lourenne's class system. Resistance among Lourenne's merchant class was fierce, however, and despite Prime Minister de Kundir's imposing presence, there was too little civil cooperation to bring this program to fruition.

In 2380, new elections were held. Aided by a stagnant economy and widespread perception that the new government unfairly favored rural laborers, the Unity Coalition greatly expanded its share of parliament. Where the New Revolution Alliance's majority had been slim, the Unity Coalition came to hold 65% of the seats, an outcome that most saw as a mandate to repeal many of the first parliament's more drastic reforms. However, the Unity Coalition soon ran into controversy itself. It re-privatized numerous industries, returning them to the wealthy industrialists and traders who had briefly fled the country during the chaos of 2374. In 2383, radical militants stormed several factories in New Kreshar and commandeered them 'for the nation', and initially, the government remained quiet. Both sides' moves proved a miscalculation, as large segments of the population were dually outraged that militants would betray the Second Republic and that the government would let this occur. Bowing to pressure, Saul Gachet, an Orinco academic who had risen to the office of prime minister, declared martial law in the eastern provinces, publicly declaring that parliament had to decisively legitimize itself through force. Though many supported this measure, the New Revolution Alliance and its allies angrily insisted that Gachet was overreaching. When the Republican Army, which had been greatly expanded in the first two years of the Unity Coalition's rule, seized a militia fortress in Kreshar, Balthazar de Kundir led his party out of parliament, threatening civil war if Prime Minister Gachet did not restrain himself. An emboldened Gachet, however, would not back down, and direct conflict between Republican forces and federalist militias soon flared. This time, however, the rebels found large portions of the Orinco population unwilling to support them. They were able to maintain their resistance, but they lacked the popular influence needed to mount retaliatory offensives.

In 2385, Prime Minister Gachet canceled the elections, and vowing to unify the country once and for all, he dissolved the Second Republic, rewriting the constitution to give himself authoritarian power. The move was unpopular, but Gachet had been careful to secure the support of both the merchant class and the military, using money from the former to bribe and modernize the latter. By this time, the Republican Army was, truly, a pan-Lourennian force, which diminished the effectiveness of the militias' usual tactic of provoking ethnic tension. By 2391, the militias were largely subdued, and Gachet, now calling himself President of the Third Republic, declared victory. Shortly after, however, he was assassinated by an unaffiliated anarchist, leaving behind no obvious successor. The government, hesitant to hold elections out of fear that it would only embolden federalist rebels and hinder the reconciliation process, voted amongst themselves to select Emmanuel Saint-Jean, a charismatic trade magnate, as president. Saint-Jean had largely purchased his support, though he was known in the nationalist political sphere for his populist public image. Saint-Jean maintained martial law for several more years while he consolidated power among his allies in industry, all the while promising elections at the end of his self-imposed six-year tenure. The elections never came, and when Saint-Jean stepped down, the presidency was assumed by a loyal bureaucrat determined to maintain this new order.