President Rach Resigns Amid Controversy
Vice President Malashaan assumes office
Written by Airbus
(Europeia - February 12, 2018) - Public attention to presidential inactivity had been caught with the publication of an anonymous submission to the E-News Network on February 7th, titled "Are Things Actually Happening?" The article accused the Executive at large of inactivity and lack of work toward the goals delineated in victorious President Rach's campaign. The article particularly called on the President for serious work, claiming that numerous Republic Square and Spam Zone appearances compared to posts in other forums were not reassuring the People that the content of the platform they had voted for in the January Presidential Elections was on its way to completion at midterm. Despite ambivalent reactions amongst citizens, it triggered no response from Goldenblock.
Four days later, on February 11th, President Rach posted a challenge in the form of a crossword in the Republic Square, a forum known for informality, and which had seen great activity from the President. There, Supreme Chancellor Lethen voiced the accusation that the President was "spending more time making [Republic Square] threads and being on Discord than actually responding to the citizenry about concerns raised", defined as lack of direction of Ministers. Despite the growing anxiety of an inactive Presidency, still no explanation had been posted by President Rach or Vice President Malashaan. President Rach quickly responded by attacking the Supreme Chancellor and Administrator on their behaviour when a petition for his removal had been launched, as well as for oversights in verifying the identity of XIV/Ninja Kittens, who had been determined to be the same person after an investigation that led to the placement of an administrative ban on these citizens. The response was considered by many as inappropriate, yet no apology was issued.
The mudslinging continued in the Europeian Discord server with both President Rach and Supreme Chancellor Lethen exchanging barbs. Rach announced that she would not be apologizing for any of her remarks and proceeded to accuse Lethen of "leaking from Tomlinson", the private government sub-forum for the Executive branch. Both accused each other of incompetence and inappropriate behavior repeatedly before the exchange eventually died down.
Senate candidate United Vietussia posted in the Grand Hall urging for a petition to trigger a No Confidence Referendum, on the grounds that she would have neglected the office of the Presidency, harshly attacked Supreme Chancellor and forum Administrator Lethen, shown more interest in Discord and the Republic Square than the Presidency, and failed to provide guidance to her Ministers. Most signatories included a rationale with their signatures, claiming that, although they would have given a chance to the President for the inactivity, the behaviour she has shown towards Lethen, as well as loss of confidence by her own Cabinet, as the signatures of Minister of Radio Sopo and Minister of Foreign Affairs and soon-to-be Venerable Calvin Coolidge suggest, broke the camel's back.
Soon after, signatories received direct messages on Discord strangely thanking them for their signature. It is unclear whether the message was sarcastic or genuine in thanking members for helping her out of the Presidency.
Vice President Malashaan reacted by posting a speech titled "We Can Do Better", where the achievements of Cabinet Ministers were applauded, and claiming that the administration could still work to a successful term.
Later, Senate Speaker GraVandius opened a discussion on a Senate impeachment of the President, but the idea was promptly tabled as consensus suggested the Senate should let the People decide of their confidence towards the Presidency instead.
As 14 signatories had signed the No-Confidence petition out of 17 needed signatures to trigger the referendum, the effort was cut short as President Rach resigned in a speech named "Tears Come from the Heart". Explaining that the recent events the region has crossed had left her marked, she denounced a game that made citizens including her "increasingly stressed and paranoid.". She went on to reveal she had been considering resignation and taking a break long before the Crossword Events, claiming that "These past few weeks have been one of limbo and withdrawal for me, where I have debated whether I should take a break from the game/quit.".
Something was happening in the administration, as both Malashaan and Rach have highlighted their speeches were supposed to have been published earlier. The Crossword Events seem to have simply accelerated the downfall of the once popular administration.
Vice President Malashaan immediately became President of Europeia upon Rach's resignation, and has already published a speech dubbed "Here We Are Again", where he declares "We need to take a long hard look at what we collectively want Europeia to be, as how we can best implement that". The new president has yet to nominate a new vice president to help lead the administration in its second half. Despite a shaken region, President Malashaan can count on an active Cabinet whose work he has complimented both in his speech as vice president and in his speech as president of Europeia.
