Elisabeth Hollande

Elisabeth Hollande (born 17 July 1935 in Lyndenhall, Victoria) is the current Federal Chancellor of Solrosland. First elected in 1989, she is the longest-serving Chancellor in Solroslandic history.

Early Life and Education

Hollande was born Elisabeth Marie Matteau in Lyndenhall to Hilde Rogers and Jean Robert Matteau. She spent her childhood on the family's vineyard in the Lyndenhall Valley. Hollande attended St. John's River College, from which she graduated at the top of her class. She went on to attend the prestigious Royal Academy of the University of Stangeland, becoming the first woman to graduate as a Master of Laws.

Early Career

Hollande began her professional career as an associate barrister at the firm of Bailey, Koehler and Green in 1966. In 1972, the firm was chosen to represent the Wilmington Valley Airports Corporation in its bid to buy out large tracts of a residential neighbourhood on the perimeter of Stangeland's Iain Langford International Airport for an expansion project. Rather than join the legal team representing the corporation against a class-action suit filed by 120 home owners.

After touring the nighbourhood and visiting with several homeowners on a personal fact-finding trip, she chose to drop out of the firm and represent the residents pro bono. While legally speaking the odds were stacked in favour of the Airports Corporation, she would later state in an interview with The Times that she believed the residents deserved the same quality of legal council as their high-power opponent.

Political Career

While this sudden move gained her the admiration of many, she fell out of favour with the upper-tier law firms of Stangeland for what was seen as her unreliability as a loyal councillor. Her popularity however was undeniable and her volunteer activities with the Conservative Party of Solrosland gained her both the visibility and the grass-roots connections to run for office. She won the 1973 by-election for the safe Labour seat of Wilmington following the death of the previous MP.

Conservative Party Falling Out and the NSHDC Scandal

In 1976, Hollande was appointed to the Parliamentary Public Housing and Social Welfare Committee (at the time dominated by other Tory MPs). In 1978 she quickly earned the ire of her fellow committee members for her refusal to support a no-bid privatisation scheme for the North Shore Housing Development Corporation. Together with one other Conservative (Ren Hanau) and one Labour MP (Rian Green), she formed a secret and non-partisan investigatory group to get to the bottom of NSHDC contract that would later leak the improper handling of this business deal and the previously unknown involvement of PM Schumann to The Times, leading to controversy and the unseating of the Public Housing and Social Welfare Committee's membership.

Already on the rocks within the party leadership following a falling-out with the government of Graham Schumann, she found herself becoming the nucleus of a new political faction. This faction would later become the core of the AFP in the late 80s.

September Faction and AFP MP for Wilmington

In spite of the historically Labour orientation of her Wilmington, Stangeland constituency, she managed to repeatedly gain re-election, riding a continuing wave of goodwill from her constituents following both her council on the Airports Corporation case and her willingness to split with her party's leadership on the issues of social welfare and education.

While her disloyalty to the main ideological faction of the Conservative Party was not looked upon kindly by the Party leadership, the faction that she formed with Green and Remai created significant leverage. On more than one occasion, the entire Hollande faction signed a joint statement threatening to cross the aisle. These threats were usually levelled against what the faction and the other parties of Parliament considered to be a steamrolling by an increasingly authoritarian Conservative Party looking to hammer through an uncompromising agenda.

Crossing the Aisle

Impending Retirement

Hollande has announced her intention to step down from the premiership at the end of 2006. Thusfar, she has shown interest in two possible successors. From 2000 up to the present, the general perception was that she had been favouring Home Affairs Minister Tsubaki Shindo (who if elected would be the fourth Asian and the third woman to be elected to the nation's leadership). It is also generally seen as a favourable political move for the oldest retiring chief executive to appoint the youngest ever to achieve that position in Solrosland (age 30).

The alternative is Green Party politician and Finance Minister Charles Costello, who is generally regarded as a safe choice to succeed Hollande, maintain the Green-AFP alliance (and thus the majority in Parliament), and continue the policies of the Hollande government without significant deviation. Choosing Costello would also reward the Green Party for their loyalty to the parliamentary coalition, whereas a decision to support Tsubaki Shindo would run the risk of alienating the Green Party's leadership.