Arslan Wins Presidency
November 4327
People’s Action Party leader Ahmet Arslan has been elected President of Jakania in a landslide victory. The 53 year old businessman is a prominent disciple of the prominent Ahmadi scholar Imam Yavuz founded the party with the Imam’s blessing a few months back. Yavuzism the eponymous Ahmadist school is popular in Jakania as one of the mainstream and moderate strands of Ahmadism. It supports democracy, protection of religious minority rights and is a fundamentally communitarian based thought. It was with the Imam’s blessing that the People’s Action Party was founded several months ago although he has taken care not to appear too involved with the party.
President-elect Ahmet Arslan
In his presidential campaign, Arslan focused on creating a big tent conservative movement whose Ahmadist influence is played down in the public. In his campaign, Arslan focused almost entirely on bread and butter issues and offered conventional solutions to the problems facing the south Majatran nation. He denied any intentions to install a Ahmadist government and kept the campaign messages focused on three things – infrastructure, tax cuts and anti-corruption . This ardent attempt at portraying himself and his movement as moderate appears to have convinced the electorate that they could trust him and so the first Ahmadist influenced government in six decades has been sworn in.
Stock Market Fires Up
The Jakanian stock market has responded to the Arslan election with record gains. The DSE (Dokuz Stock Exchange) registered a 14% gain on the first trading day following the election and has continued to grow strongly in the weeks that have followed. The phenomenal performance is thought to be influenced by several factors which all bode well for the middle economic power’s stability and economic prospects over the next five years. The first and most important is Arslan’s intent to strengthen the office of the President over that of the Prime Minister. This, according to Arslan and his party, is necessary in order to respond effectively and assertively in a region dominated by strong executives. Another key factor is the 10 billion Lira tax cuts which Arslan has promised along with a large scale privatization program, all music to the markets. Jakania has been under a number of unstable and weak governments over the past few years and most, while wary of Ahmadism, are very relieved to see some leadership restored at the top.