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Saunders Quits for SCP Presidential Nomination

Sanctus – In a surprising development, only twelve hours after a resolution co-authored by her delegation was passed by the General Assembly, Sanctarian Ambassador to the World Assembly Dr. Katherine Saunders has announced she has tendered her resignation, effective immediately, to run for Presidency of Sanctaria as the Sanctarian Conservative Party candidate.

Saunders, who was appointed by the outgoing SCP government in 2017 prior to the 2018 general election, so has largely served under the current Democratic Left government, today announced that Kate Cruz, leader of the SCP and Leader of the Opposition, approached her in the last few weeks to become the SCP nominee. Saunders confirmed that, though she served as an independent as Ambassador, she has “grounded conservative beliefs” and that she has always voted for the Sanctarian Conservative Party in national elections.

Non-party aligned diplomats have served as Ambassadors to the World Assembly since 2011, replacing politicians with ministerial portfolios. Saunders has served in the diplomatic service all her life, including as Ambassador to the now defunct Council of IDU States, and by convention has not joined any political party nor expressed support for any political party until today. Saunders, however, is the first Sanctarian WA Ambassador who has set with the “national sovereignty” faction of the body; this faction is generally less enthused about legislative overreach of the World Assembly and likes to restrict legislation to specific, narrow purposes.

Saunders, who is the longest service WA Ambassador to date, confirmed she had spoken to Foreign Secretary Brian Young as well as Chancellor Charlene Hendry about her decision and she was advised that if she were to accept the nomination from the SCP, she would be required to resign. Her resignation was originally to be announced last Friday, but both she and the government mutually agreed to wait until the vote on the proposal co-authored by her and her delegation had concluded.

Her resignation takes the shine off of an otherwise successful foreign policy day for Sanctaria, with the conclusion of negotiations for a naval base in Huenya, as well as the passage of the aforementioned resolution to regulate force amongst law enforcement officers. The SCP confirmed that with the selection of Saunders, there will be no party primaries, setting up the April presidential election to be a contest between Dr. Saunders and Cllr. Ethan Ringrose of the DLP.

Secretary Young has confirmed that the government had received Saunders resignation, and had been aware of it for a number of days. He thanks Saunders for her service, wished her well in her “future endeavours” and said the government would announce their nominee for her replacement in the coming days. Their nominee must be confirmed by the Senate, where the DLP is reliant on Green Party support.

JOEY SESSIONS, Political Editor

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