Difference between revisions of "Minerva Karamanlis"

Latest revision as of 10:15, 25 October 2007

The Right Honorable Minerva Irene Bakirdzis Karamanlis, Viscountess Kairis (born 21 November 1957) is a former President of the Commonwealth Commission (and its sucessor, the Confederal Commission) and a former Prime Minister of the Resurgent Dream. She was one of the earliest members of Democratic Concordance. She also led the Liberal Party between its formation in the wake of the Shattering and its merger with other left of center parties to form the Progressive Democratic Party. Prior to that, she had been a Modernist Member of Parliament for Bilbtoria since 1998.

As Prime Minister, Karamanlis led a coalition Government comprising her own Liberal Party as well as the Labor Party and the Patriot Party. This coalition was very broad and had a correspondingly narrow platform of legislative unity. As a result, the outcome of many bills in Parliament was uncertain until the actual vote while only a few basic measures could count on the united vote of the governing parties. Karamanlis was able to build such a broad coalition on the basis of opposition to the Nationalist Party, then under the leadership of the demagogic Thomas Baxter, whose plurality in Parliament all the other party leaders considered a threat to Danaan liberal democratic principles. When the Nationalists came under the more moderate leadership of Henri Calvin, the Patriot Party broke from the National Unity Coalition to form the Patriotic Coalition with the Nationalists and several minor parties. The governing coalition became the Progressive Coalition in turn and the groundwork was laid for the formation of the Progressive and Conservative Democratic Parties.

Karamanlis was known for her liberal foreign policy, supporting such measures as the reconstruction and reform of Marlund, a formerly totalitarian state totally defeated by Danaan forces, after Marlund sponsored terrorists attacked the Resurgent Dream in the largest strike ever on Danaan soil, killing 37,000 thousand people in a massive bombing of Armonvale Harbor via natural gas tanker. Marlund has since been admitted to the Confederated Peoples as a Member. She was also the architect of the sixteen point plan pushed by Danaan diplomats at the North Atlantic Conference, one providing for comprehensive multilateral integration in the region. The plan was only partially accepted.

Karamanlis is the first woman without a noble title to hold the office of Prime Minister of the Danaan High Kingdom. Her immediate predescessor, Vincenzo Lacau, was the first person without a title of either sex to hold the office, though he has since been created a baron as a reward for his service in office. His predecessor, Lady Juliet ni Gwydion, was the first woman.

Early life and education

Karamanlis was born in the small town of Chios, Bilbtoria. She is the only daughter and youngest child of General Aigeas and Lady Adonia Bakirdzis. Her grandfather was the Baron Marsyrul and the current baron is her cousin, Makarios.

Karamanlis attended the University of Civic Virtue where she majored in history. It was at the university that she developed a deep antipathy for the largely feudal system that still governed the Danaan High Kingdom at that time and a correspondingly supportive attitude towards the program of democratic, liberal, social and racial reform put forth by Modernist Prime Minister Vincenzo Lacau and High Queen Agwene. When fascist elements in the armed forces attempted to overthrow the Lacau Government and the High Queen in the Danaan Civil War, Karamanlis volunteered to serve as a nurse for the loyalist, democratic forces. It was in this capacity that she first met and fell in love with Colonel Kostas Karamanlis. They were married in the Danaan Orthodox Church and received only a weekend of leave to consummate their relationship before both had to return to their wartime duties.

Career

In 1998, Karamanlis was elected to the Danaan Parliament on the Modernist ticket. She consistently supported the program of the Lacau Government until the disruption of the party system in the wake of the Shattering. After the Shattering, Karamanlis and other Modernist politicians and activists formed the Liberal Party in order to carry on the Modernist program of reform. As leader of the Liberals, Karamanlis formed a coalition government consisting of her party as well as the Labor and Patriot Parties. After Nationalist Leader Thomas Baxter was replaced with the more moderate Henri Calvin, the Patriots left the coalition to form the Patriotic Coalition with the Nationalists. The Liberals and Labor then formed the Progressive Coalition under the leadership of Labor Leader Adair Scott. Karamanlis resigned as Prime Minister to make way for Scott. After her resignation, she was created Viscountess Kairis. She continued to serve as the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Scott Government. She resigned from this post and accepted the position of Minister for Human Services when the Progressive Coalition became the Progressive Democratic Party under the leadership of Sarah Sacker. After the formation of the Commonwealth of Peoples, Karamanlis resigned from the Danaan Parliament to accept the presidency of the Commonwealth Commission. With the formation of the Confederated Peoples, this became the Confederal Commission. After making a controversial report calling for democratic reforms, Karamanlis was dismissed from her post in early 2007 and has mostly kept to herself since that time. She has, however, left the Progressive Democratic Party for the newly formed Democratic Concordance and it is becoming increasingly evident that the first Confederal Assembly, created in a program of reform similar to that Karamanlis advocated, will make her Confederal President and Confederal Councilor for Foreign Affairs.