In a terse statement issued by the office of President Matōchmizalo, it was announced that Neina Arana has been fired from her position as Minister of Decolonization and Depatriarchalization of Milintica. She was also expelled from the Milintican Peoples’ Party, the ruling party, after repeated censures for denigrating the President and other party officials.
The Central Committee of the MPP, the party’s top leadership, voted by a margin of 27-3 to remove Arana from the party in a hastily called conference this morning done via videoconference. The speed and secrecy of the vote, as well as its result, sparked immediate outrage among Arana’s far-left supporters within the MPP. An attempt to call a vote of no-confidence in party leadership by the far-left wing was voted down by the Central Committee by a vote of 28-2.
It would not take long for Arana to rally, however. A few hours after her dismissal, it was announced that Arana had agreed to become the Premier of the Milintican Communist Party (MCP). The MCP has been virtually defunct for decades, after it was surpassed by the MPP in the 1920s and 1930s. The MCP currently holds only a few local and district seats, and no seats in the Representative Assembly or positions in the government.
It was unclear how taking the reins of a virtually dead party would help Arana’s career, but she was quick to seize on her new role. “The MCP has retained the spirit of the revolution, which the MPP has sadly lost. President Matōchmizalo and his puppet, Prime Minister Tapihana, have destroyed the MPP with their liberal agenda and flirtation with capitalism. Under the banner of the MCP, we will restore the revolution and take our government and country back,” Arana said at the announcement of her new role.
It is likely that Arana will be hoping on defections from the MPP to renew the MCP and make it a truly viable opposition party. Ten MPP representatives in the Assembly, in the wake of Arana’s firing, have already announced their intent to switch parties to the MCP.
Huenyan proposal to eliminate ethnic regions defeated
In a surprise defeat for Vice-Speaker Tiacihitli, the Chamber of Deputies of the Huenyan legislature has voted down a proposal that would have consolidated Huenya’s ethnic regions into three provinces and a capital district.
The government had hoped to pass the measure before Huenyan Independence Day last month, but the proposal had gotten bogged down in the face of bitter opposition from multiple parties. After multiple attempts to revise the proposal enough to gain approval over the past few weeks, the proposal has been dropped after a compromise could not be reached.
A separate bill to create a Federal Capital District, without changing the current structure of Huenya’s regions, did pass with near unanimous support.
The partial success nevertheless represents the biggest legislative defeat yet for Vice-Speaker Tiacihitli, and some observers fear he may have spent much of his political capital championing the measure.
