Valruzia

[Aethan]

Sovereign Valruzia's grassroots unexpectedly dethrone Marzel Zagórski as leader and elevate radical candidate Dariusz Mech, who calls for the party to become "the State Party"

A close vote within the party reorients the political strategy to be followed from now on

June 5711

Dariusz Mech following his victory in the party primaries

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The political foundations of Valruzia have shifted. What began as a contentious internal primary within Sovereign Valruzia has concluded with a political decapitation that few saw coming. Marzel Zagórski, the steady hand of the moderate establishment that came to power following the decision of the Communist Party of Valruzia and the Socialdemocratic–Agrarian Party not to back former Chancellor Krystian Barela, has been ousted. In his wake stands Dariusz Mech, a charismatic firebrand whose victory has sent shockwaves through the entire nation.

Despite general elections still four years away, Mech has already stated that he is going to start working "from tomorrow on" following his surprise victory by a 0.5% margin.His published manifesto, a sprawling 400-page document titled "The Diamond State", outlines a future where Valruzia is no longer a collection of competing interests but a singular, unbreakable monolith.

The most controversial pillar of Mech’s platform is his calling for an eventual dissolution of traditional partisan politics. He argues that the "multi-party experiment" has left Valruzia vulnerable to foreign influence and internal decay. If Sovereign Valruzia wins the next elections, Mech intends to initiate a "National Integration Period", under which the party would transition into its goal to become indivisible with the State, becoming the "Party of the State" for the perception of the majority of Valruzians. By becoming the sole provider of housing, security and social progression, Mech aims to make opposition not illegal, but according to his own words, "irrelevant". 

Among his many proposals for his "Diamond Valruzia", Mech’s militarism is one of the top spots, with his "Fortress Valruzia" initiative being described as "the most ambitious engineering project in the nation’s history". The plan calls for the mandatory "bunkerization" of all border counties, including the construction of deep-mountain hangars for the air force and "hidden cities" capable of housing 30% of the civilian population indefinitely in the event of a total blockade, readapting the Agro–So initiative to fit within this project.

Apart from that, every bridge, tunnel and highway constructed under a prospective Mech administration would be "dual-use", featuring pre-installed demolition chambers and hidden gun emplacements. "Our roads should be veins for commerce in the morning and traps for invaders by night" Mech stated in a very recent town hall. A proposed 50-kilometer "Iron Belt" along the frontier, saturated with automated sensors, drone hives and reinforced bunkers, designed to make any ground invasion a mathematical impossibility, would also be implemented under his prospective administration, to "deter" any invader. But in a less militaristic sense, he has also called for a stark decrease in immigration to Valruzia, establishing cuotas for all and any nationality across Terra that wishes to "move and live in Valruzia", and placing a preference in skilled workers, but also designing a system to detect in where the nation has a lack of workers and open international calling when those positions cannot be filled with Valruzian workers. 

But militarism at the front is not the only point of Merch's platform to win over Valruzian hearts. He will launch a "hostile takeover" for the KPW and SPR voters in a move designed to outflank the traditional Left. He views social conservatism as an unnecessary friction that divides the Valruzian populace, as proven "once and again, election after election", where Valruzian voters have "continuously rejected the formation of any form of conservative government in Valruzia". Among his main ideas, he will end his perceived "religious tolerance", by implementing a heavier grip over "all and any form of religion in Valruzia", as he considers them a "burden to any national project in Valruzia, due to the huge numbers of irreligious citizens". His words have sounded the alarm among various religious associations in Valruzia, as despite latest national studies placing Irreligious levels at 62%, the nation has the highest amount of Yeudi diaspora in the whole Terra, with 13% of its population declaring themselves followers of such religion, and further 23% declaring themselves Hosians. "We will have to wait and see, but we will of course be ready to act" said Jakub Maron, leader of the Valruzian Foundation for Yeudi Rights. at the same time that he has criticized that the dissolution of the Yeudi-rights party Our Homeland has come "at the worst possible time".

But that's just one of the points. Mech also wants the State to recognize "all forms of family and identity, provided they are committed to the Valruzian national project". According to him, the "Kampanian model" passed by its Marshall Szczepan Kozak is a "good start", after the region recognized non-binarism as a valid gender identity in all valid documents. However, "surrogacy is strictly off the table".

In conversations with economic leaders, including the CEO of Valruzian telecommunications company ValTel, he has brought to the table the "Open Mind" initiative, which proposes state-subsidized high-speed universal internet at low costs, framing connectivity as a tool for national cohesion and not a luxury that some citizens may not be able to afford. "In the current era, it is important for everyone to remain in connection with not just its close area, but the world as a whole. We need to understand that in today's era, the Internet should not be a privilege but almost an inherent right". 

Mech also believes in what he calls a "Secular Modernism" style for new constructions and buildings, which he defines as a push for the creation and definition of a new Valruzian aesthetic, brutalist but green. This "Valruzian Brutalism" would be characterized by the use of raw, unyielding concrete softened by an aggressive integration of vertical forests and hydroponic terraces. In this new architectural paradigm, "old class symbols", such as ornate facades or private luxury gardens, would be strictly replaced by a uniform, modern citizen identity, as buildings would be designed with ensuring that the CEO of a company and one of his factory workers inhabit structures of identical aesthetic – and construction – quality. This new city model would become the physical manifestation of Mech's vision: interconnected and self-sufficient.

Rendering of one of Nowogard's new neighbourhoods (left) and new Valruzian building (right) following the proposals of the new "Valruzian brutalism" style

To fuel all this transformation, Mech’s economic policy is one of total intervention, ending decades of "mixed economy" ideology from Sovereign Valruzia that has left the KPW as the more radical wing in this field. Now, Mech argues that the market has failed to provide the two most basic human needs: economic security and housing shelter. For this reason, Mech’s most popular (and feared) proposal from his "Diamond Valruzia" proposal is the Universal Housing Decree, where he has unveiled plans to seize all corporate-owned residential real estate and place it under one "National Hearth trust", which will allow every Valruzian citizen to be guaranteed a high-quality apartment "as a birthright", removing the "parasitic burden of rent" from the working class. The choice of words, typically heard coming from the Communist Party of Valruzia, has raised alarm among some sectors of the populace, that precisely found refuge in Sovereign Valruzia's former platform of "mixed economy support" as a counterweight against the more radical policies of the communists, and that now find themselves void of this comfortable political alternative and in the need to search for a new one. 

But that's not the only economic proposal that has radically changed within Sovereign Valruzia. Merch has also stated that he believes labor to be "an inherent right as well", planning his labor laws to become "among the most protective in the world", including a mandatory 30-hour workweek across the main sectors – proving that the own work allows for it – but including a mandatory 5-hours per week training for all citizens to choose from military training, civic contribution or simply "sports performance". And as stated before, Merch's idea is to prioritize Valruzian workers and limit the arrival of new migrants from across Terra, by only allowing them in times of shortage and creating a specific website where citizens all around Terra would be able to check in real time the status and the job openings. 

Still, there is a red line that Merch has not crossed as of yet, and that is the quicksands of "Nationalization of key sectors". 

With all these proposals under his wing, Sovereign Valruzia has indeed transformed itself from its current – and now former – path during the last decades. For some in Valruzia, some of these proposals might be reminiscent of the Valruzian Unitary State, the Morawski dictatorship that ruled in Valruzia less than a century ago, but party officials have been quick to dismiss these criticism by drawing the "evident differences": "The primary distinction" according to the manifesto "is that this is not a State of coercion, but a State of absolute efficiency. While traditional dictatorships rely on the suppression of the individual, Mech’s "Diamond State" claims to empower the citizen through total social liberty and economic autonomy, arguing that a populace that is housed, protected and free in its private life will choose to support them not out of fear, but out of a rational realization that no better alternative exists"

However, despite these "evident differences" the political vacuum left by Zagórski's moderate wing is already being felt. Business leaders who once saw Sovereign Valruzia as a safe haven from the KPW's radicalism are now facing a leader who speaks of "seizing corporate assets" and "labor supremacy". Forward Valruzia, the leaders of the opposition and the main conservative party of Valruzia, has been fast to criticize Mech's proposals as "authoritarian" and "dictatorial", but internally, some senior figures recognize that this might benefit them in the long run, as citizens turn to the "moderate and sensible alternative". 

How this will affect the current government's composition is not yet known. Judyta Kram, the current Chancellor and leader of the Communist Party of Valruzia, has congratulated Dariusz Mech on his election, saying that she "looks forward to work with him for the betterment of Valruzia", but has rejected claims that the KPW is in any kind of danger. The now former leader of Sovereign Valruzia, Marzel Zagórski, is still the Deputy Chancellor of Valruzia, but it is not known whether Mech will ask for his resignation to replace him in government or will pull Sovereign Valruzia out of the government altogether. Whatever the decision, it is not expected in a long time, and Mech has assured that the current government majority, "would not face its downfall just because of him". 

On the streets, the election of Dariusz Mech has been proven controversial, with some fearing a new downward spiral towards another totalitarian regime less than a century after the old one and others sharing the emotion and illusion of a "radical change" that they felt was needed in Valruzia, coming from the party that "saved the nation from the fangs of a fascist dictatorship". Still, there are four years before the next elections, and many things can happen in that time.