From left to right, in chronological order, the thirteen General Secretaries of In Marea-Civis SinistramHas the left still a chance in Selucia? An article by Pietrus VaroneFollowing the last Selucian elections, where the historical left-wing party In Marea-Civis Sinistram got its second lowest amount of votes since it was founded in 4098, almost 3 centuries ago, some of its high-ranked members have started wondering if there is still a place for the left in a nation that seems to be turning to the right year after year.
The history of In Marea-Civis Sinistram is the recent history of Selucia. It has been the party that has influenced most of the national politics for the last centuries, whether in government or in the opposition. Its beginnings go back to the last government of the Factio Conservativa, after a group of political students decided to call for manifestations all around the nation to express the dissatisfaction of society with the only political party that existed at that time, and that was leading the reppresive politics against minorities in the nation. From this protests, the political party In Marea was created, headed by Ethan Megalos and Athena Scudo, two university students, and their professor Kyrian Aetius Flavius. The party decided to contest two years later to the elections, in 4100, and defeated the Factio Conservativa by getting all the seats from them, proving the joy of the Selucian population with the new party. This election led to the dissolution of the Factio Conservativa, and the stablishment of In Marea as the only party in the nation, with professor Flavius leading the Government and former student Scudo as Minister of Defence.
However, due to old age, Aetius Flavius resigned as Caesar de Senatum of Selucia, and he was replaced in the position of General Secretary of the party by Percy Lacoonte, labelled as the worst Secretary of the party. His political positions, near to the center-right, led to voters starting to disagree the politics of the party. Percy Lacoonte lasted 6 years as head of the party and Head of the Government of Selucia. The results of the 4115 elections - the worst of the party's history - made him signing his resignation. The party, previewing the disaster, started soon to look for alternatives that would place the party where it initially belonged: the left. Athena Scudo, the former student and Minister of Defence, was elected by the militants as 3rd Secretary of the party, starting its new reformation. The party recovered in the next elections, and she became twice head of Government of Selucia.
After her resignation in 4135, she was replaced by the best General Secretary of the party, according to all opinion polls. Aelius Celer arrived to the position. During his leadership, the party was the most voted one only once, in 4135, but thanks to his political skills, Mr. Celer managed to stay as Head of Government since 4136 to 4163, 27 years, the longest time a Caesar has ever been in that position.
After his retirement due to old age, the golden age for the party continued under the leaderships of former Minister of Defence Icarion Dadhelus and Artemisia Ventor, both Caesares of the nation for more than 10 years each.
However, with the start of the 4200's, the popularity of the party started to decline, due to the creation of new parties in the nation, most of them center-right and right wing, that managed to move the conservative voters. Xena Sicula and Apollo Volturcius, neither of them managed to lead the nation during their leaderships of the party, although they managed to reach government coalitions to put some ministers from the left-wing party in the government. The final act was the terrorist attack that killed the actress, leader of the party and former Consul of Selucia, Arria Ivmarus. The party decided not to contest to the second 4261 elections, taking time to recover from the wounds and to reestructurate the party.
This movement was successful, and after the election of Jerzyr Laskaris as new Secretary of the party and the next elections, the party was converted in the 1st force of the Selucian Senate for 25 years in a row, including 16 years of absolute majority. During this time, the left seemed to have found its place in the Selucian politics and in the likes of the Selucian voters. The party, during that time, faced the second threat for Selucian democracy, as they saw it: the election of an Imperator as Selucian Head of State, making the position hereditary. They managed to restore the figure of the Consul, after years of political battle.
A small defeat in 4290, by a few difference of votes, and the recovery in the following elections, with Orion Sideris at charge of the party at the time, continued to keep the idea of the second golden era for the party.
However, the start of the 4300's brought the first shock for them: with the party still being the most voted force in the Senate, a coalition of new right-wing parties kept the head of Government away from them, and it was not until 4318, with Cynthia Spirou, and after more than 20 years away from the institutions, than they recovered their place.
That was just an illusion, as for the next 20 years, the party fell to the second and third position in the Senate, and the figure of the Imperator was restored. The right-wing also started a prosecution against the Yeudish and LGBT minorities, that led to massive protests by In Marea-Civis Sinistram, in the end reaching their goal: defeating the imperator, restoring the Republic and stablishing the new democracy in Selucia.
Odysseus Scalas gave the party its first place in the Senate again, in 4342, but the dissolution of all the right-wing parties in 4350 gave In Marea-Civis Sinistram all the power of the nation. And they paid it with the return of Partis Imperialis, the conservative party that has formed coalitions with IMCS many times, and this time, the progressist party reached its second lowest amount of votes, only above those received by Percy Lacoonte at the beginnings of the party's history.
However, this time is not because of its leader, former General of the Navy and former Caesar of Selucia, Argos Loukas, a convinced republican and progressist, has scared the left-wing voters.
So why has the party reached this low? The party has dealt and defeated right-wing dictatorships three times, has contributed to the international peace and stability (Deltarian Civil War, Baltusian Conflict), has helped with international humanitarian crisis (Juliana Mede, Wolfsheim Disease), has known how to remain calm with other nations (Jelbania verbal attacks)... While some members agree that this is a temporary thing caused by the excitation of being able to choose another party again, and that in the next elections In Marea-Civis Sinistram will go up again, others think that the left died a while ago in Selucia. With most of the youth abstaining from voting and only the oldest population that remember the historical battle of the progressist party still voting for them, while the vast majority of the Selucian population has turned into convinced conservatives that refuse to hear anything from the outside.
There are two more years until the next elections take place, and there, the nation will decide if the left is dead in Selucia or it still has a chance of continuing to contribute to the Selucian history.