NationStates Jolt Archive

http://kfox.gamehorizons.net/Constantino_Sorantanali.jpg
Constantino Sorantanali, the current premerati
of Sambuca province, announced Tuesday morning
he will run for the leadership of the Federation of
Progressive Democrats, Pacitalia's largest political party.


"Heir to the throne" announces candidacy for FPD top job

TIMIOCATO (PNN) -- After weeks of speculation, the province of Sambuca's hugely popular premerati has announced he will run for the leadership of the Federation of Progressive Democrats. Speaking at a press conference Tuesday morning, Constantino Sorantanali officially announced his candidacy and said that his leadership of the FPD would mean "true capitalism, balance, integrity and accountability".

"The past two FPD governments under Francesco Santo Ragazzo and Timothy Ell showed us how Pacitalia can max its full potential and get itself recognised in the world," Sorantanali said. "I want to continue that legacy but increase the importance we place on helping other countries."

He added that a government under his watch would write the cheques and balance the books just as well as past governments, if not better. Sambuca has enjoyed record surpluses and the fastest economic growth of the Super Seven (the seven most economically powerful provinces in the country) since Sorantanali became premerati in the mid-1990s. Sorantanali even introduced two rebate programmes in which residents of Sambuca received D220 per person in the 1998 rebate and D208 in the 2002 version. He had promised to share the wealth with the poorer northeastern region but it looks like any promise of that will be left up to his successor.

Sorantanali joins Ciocanto premerati Mariana Cosima Vincenza, Potenza's mayor Castel Devante and MPP Frederico Poragunale (FPD, Ziuranali-North) in the increasingly hot leadership race. Two other candidates are reportedly considering announcing a leadership attempt which, if made final, would make the first six-candidate leadership race in a Pacitalian political party's history. The FPD has only confirmed that one of those candidates is current Fentomeria Progressive Democrats president Alberto Quinistate; the party will not say who the second unconfirmed candidate is.

The leadership convention will take place on 3rd January and it is widely expected the race will come down to a battle between Sorantanali and Vincenza. The winner will lead the FPD campaign through to the federal election on 30th January where incumbent prime minister Timothy Ell (FPD) will say his goodbyes after nine and a half years in the top job.

Sorantanali, 46, is married to Geria with two children, Pieri and Ursulina. He was born in a small village in Liguria province in 1958. A historian and international relations advisor, he graduated from the University of Sambuca with first-class honours in April 1982 with an M.A. of History. He worked as a senior strategist for a federal FPD MPP, was a provincial legislative member in Sambuca, and later the official opposition leader in Sambuca before becoming premerati in the 1995 election. He will celebrate his 47th birthday Wednesday.

Le bump

Bump?

Speculation centers on Ell's successor
Sarzo declines to comment on election
by Carlee Baker
Woodstock Daily Mail

TIMIOCATO (15 December 2005) -- The expected announcement of Sambuca province's Premerati Constantino Sorantanali that he would seek the nomination of the majority party, the Federation of Progressive Democrats, to succeed Timothy Ell as Prime Minister of Pacitalia has fueled rampant speculation among Sarzonian expatriates here about what effect a Sorantanali administration would have on Paci-Sarzonian relations.

"His opinions on national and international issues aren't as well known as we'd like," said Jean Baptiste-Ferrati, an accountant formerly with the Portland Iron Works. "Having said that, it seems as though he's going to be another guy in the Ell mold."

Baptiste-Ferrati said he was concerned over the "aftereffects" of the diplomatic and economic row between Pacitalia and Sarzonia that "looked like it was headed to hell." But Baptiste-Ferrati said he was comforted that Sorantanali "stayed out of it," when Ell and President Mike Sarzo were in the midst of their row.

"Sorantanali hasn't committed one way or the other," said Brad Laguna, an assistant coach with the Woodstock Wild who was in Timiocato scouting the Pacitalian league for footballers. "It's hard to tell if he's going to be hard line on Paci-Sarzonian relations or if he's going to accelerate the repair of relations. We'll find out if Dr. Samothera becomes the Agustinate of Foreign Relations again."

Samothera made several statements that angered Sarzo and several Sarzonians during the Sarz-Panteran War and in its aftermath, and many scholars argue that her presence in the Pacitalian government "greased the wheels" of the skid in relations.

A Gray House spokesman declined to comment, saying Sarzo "doesn't want to drag himself into politics in a foreign country without just cause." Thus far, Sarzo only endorsed one candidate from a foreign political party: Ell.

"As a general policy, Sarzo doesn't like political endorsements and he especially doesn't like making endorsement speeches of foreign leaders," Helena State College political science professor Leonard Argus said. "The fact he did so for Ell was more a reflection of the close friendship the two men had at the time than it was anything political."

Ell is expected to attend a conference in Praeton with new Praetonian Prime Minister Tiberius Polax presiding over the negotiations between Ell and Sarzo toward the formal restoration of relations between the countries, although Argus said, "they're mending a little bit on their own. The conference is beginning to look like a formality." However, "anything can still happen. There's still some residual issues that need to be resolved."