NationStates Jolt Archive

Sir Jonathon Werson, Dictaor of Seryown for forty-four years, stepped up to the podium defeated for the first time in all of those years.

"My fellow inhabitants of Seryown and of the world,

Yesterday, August 4, I was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. Indications are that I will be completely unable to lead the country in a few years. Furthermore, an identified gene mutation indicates that any of the known treatments could prove fatal. While I am a life-loving man, a man who likes to be incontrol of my own actions, it becomes clear to me that this will not be my fate, that I will have to resign myself very soon to a life of forgetfulness, one in which I will not have the control over my life I had hoped.
Many of you, most of you, cannot remember a time in which I have not ruled your country, and I am afraid that you will have to learn to. While I am still in consultation with my chief advisors over who to turn Seryown over to and how, expect a decision from me very soon, and try to understand that whoever takes control of this grand nation will surely be very capable and that I would not leave your lives in bad hands.

Goodnight."

Sir Werson once again stepped up to the podium, knowing full well that something like five hundred million people from his own nation and more from others would be watching him announce the fate of Seryown.
He held his head up as he had done for much of his rule, and finally spoke.
"It is with a very heavy heart that I will be resigning as the appointed dictator of Seryown. I have no heirs to replace me, and my most trusted comrades have declined the position. As such, I will turn over the government to the government that appointed me to it. Unfortunately, as most of this government no longer exists, I am also establishing a new elected government under my specifications.
"This government will also have a dictator, to take control of the government when asked to by a government vote and only in times of extreme crisis, but the most important branch of this government will be the Electorate Assembly, a group of fifty people elected based on your location. They will elect from themselves a President of the Assembly, who will have the power of veto as well as certain additional powers in terms of military use. You probably know of thousands of other governments around the world that operate on similar principles, but this government, this Serya government, will not contain those political parties that are the enemy of true democracy. I urge you to vote, and to vote your conscience.
"I will remain as dictator until the Assembly has been established and they have chosen a president.
"Good night, my comrades, my friends, my countrymen."
Werson stepped off the podium and left the stage to a stunned silence.