NationStates Jolt Archive


Zuna set to succeed Chiovitti as PSC leader

Pacitalia
06-02-2008, 20:33
From PBC.pc

http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d197/Pacitalia/chiozuna.jpg
Sources in the centre-left Pacitalian Social Coalition say
former prime minister Fernando Chiovitti (L) has entered
a verbal agreement with his number-two, former senior
deputy prime minister Diego Zuna (R), to relinquish the
reigns of the PSC to Zuna by mid-April.

Chiovitti to step aside for Zuna by April: PSC insiders
Former prime minister wants to avoid bloodbath by resigning of his own volition, say sources


TIMIOCATO

It has been a tumultuous few years in Pacitalian politics, but it appears one final chess move is on the horizon that may cement some semblance of stability in Timiocato.

PBC News has learned from sources within the centre-left Pacitalian Social Coalition – which was routed in parliamentary elections on 30th November – that party leader and former prime minister Fernando Chiovitti is preparing to step down by April to make way for his right-hand man, former senior deputy prime minister Diego Zuna. If he steps down in April, it will have been exactly four years since his assumption of the leader's post in the socially liberal party.

Zuna, widely favoured by both the PSC establishment and its more centrist factions, has been seen as leader-in-waiting ever since November's elections, where a PSC government – albeit a grand coalition with the centre-right Federation of Progressive Democrats – was swiftly booted from office by Pacitalian voters. The damning results reflected the ambivalence of the electorate regarding Chiovitti's year-long "caretaker primacy", widely regarded as one that was inert and inactive.

In Pacitalia's first test of its new mixed-member proportional representation electoral system, the PSC won only 248 of the 1,189 seats (20.9 percent) in an expanded Constazione Ampoliticato, still the second-largest share but a let-down all the same. In the Senatoro the PSC's disappointment was matched with an even worse result: winning only 92 of the 615 seats in the Senatoro and finishing third behind the Greens, who earned 118 places in the upper house of the Pacitalian parliament.

The Federation of Progressive Democrats (FPD) were rewarded with a strong majority government after languishing for 13 months as the minor partner in Chiovitti's bipartisan grand coalition. The FPD won a 19-seat majority in the Constazione – 604 of 1,189 seats. The results reflected the pace of a turnaround for the party's leader, Archetenia Nera, who had struggled to find her place for the first eight months of her leadership, but rebounded during the summer and led her party to its strongest showing since the May 2004 election. Nera is the third woman in Pacitalian history to serve as the republic's head of government.

Officials at Zuna's office in Monterio refused to comment on the "verbal agreement" reportedly reached between the two friends and colleagues last week. Chiovitti also refused comment. The two men were seen together Wednesday morning, entering the Constazione chamber for a scheduled sitting of parliament. Both men appeared relaxed and in pleasant moods, with no indication of any deals between them.

Sources assert Chiovitti, 58, is stepping down in order to avoid any significant internal struggle. "He wants to avoid the bloodbath, because he knows it will divide the party further between the establishment and the modernisers," a source informed PBC.

But political scientists, most notably Liz Cunningham at the University of Mandragora, see the situation in a different light.

"If Mr Chiovitti had wanted to avoid a bloodbath, he would have resigned on election night," Cunningham, a professor emeritus of political science specialising in Pacitalian politics, argued. "The only thing this will do is reduce the harm his delayed resignation will inflict on the party. It is already limping around Timiocato after defeat in November. Zuna's work is cut out for him [re-uniting the party] if he takes over."

Zuna, 53, is a respected humanitarian activist who served as the president of African operations for Amnesty International before leaving the post to join the Pacitalian Social Coalition. He was a significant force in aiding Chiovitti's push to move the PSC to the centre ground of Pacitalian politics, an attempt to make the party more appealing to soft FPD voters that desired change but were wary about voting for the Greens.

There was no indication that the PSC would release a statement on the deal or whether it would be made official at any point.

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