Phalanx Wins
Socialist Phalanx Party landslide
Electoral poster for Khammo Qasyounan, the new head of state of Barmenia
April 4160 - As expected, the elections this March returned an overwhelming majority for the Pan-Qedarite Socialist Phalanx Party, a far-right organization opposed to both monarchy and Felinism. Riding on a wave of popular discontent with aristocratic rule, high unemployment, and Jelbic immigration from Beiteynu and Pontesi, the Phalangite party has gained an almost constitutional majority in the legislative, and its leader, Khammo Qasyounan, was victorious in the head of state election. Although King Constantine II was initially reluctant to appoint an SPP cabinet, the threat of violence posed by a large organized march on the capital forced the King to enter negotiations with Qasyounan and form a power-sharing agreement. A draft constitution was presented, according to which the King would keep his throne, while Qasyounan would be recognized as the "President" of the "Qedarite Kingdom of Barmenia". Khammo Qasyounan also announced that he would enforce the royal decree banning the Lion's Vanguard and forcing its leaders into exile in Pontesi, a decree with questionable legal validity. The new regime does not however seem to care much about legal formalities and parliamentary norms and procedures, neither does it have any incentive to do so. The wide popular support of the ultra-Kathuran party has presented the court faction with a dilemma: either oppose the Phalanx and risk alienating what little popular support it may have and risk the Nasirs losing their throne, or cooperate with the new party and risk escalating the ethnic and religious conflict. The Nasirs have placed their bets on the latter.
After gaining power the Socialist Phalanx Party announced it would be pursuing closer ties to the controversial regime governing Beiteynu in the north, aiming at an ultimate unification under the banner of Pan-Qedarism, and will be implementing policies aimed at further marginalizing the Jelbophone population of the Kingdom. As the SPP's electoral propaganda emphasized the creation of jobs for Kathurans, Majatrans, and Yeudis, the end of religious persecution, and the de-Jelbization of Barmenia, it is likely that, if the regime fails to deliver on its economic promises, the popular enthusiasm for Pan-Qedarism may be short-lived.
Phalangists march on the capital prior to the power-sharing agreement with the Nasirs