Lammert van Raan

**Lammert van Raan** (February 3, 1980 -) was a Morranian politician and academic who held numerous offices from 2024 until 2040, most notably as acting vice president of Morra from September 2039 until January 2040, and as deputy leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy from 2037 until 2040. During his political career, van Raan held office as Finance Secretary from 2022-23, Interior Secretary from 2024-30, Defence Secretary from 2030-36, and again from 2036-40.

Born in 1980 as the child of local businesspeople in Amsterdam, Lammert van Raan grew up in the region of Brussels and graduated from Berlin University in 2001 with a degree in Libirachi history. In 2003, van Raan taught Libirachi history at Amsterdam University and was granted honorary citizenship of the nation in 2014 by President Nathan Jackson for his role in uncovering massacres committed during the 1980s. During the 2010s, Lammert van Raan became a leading figure in calls for Morranian independence and was a key ideologue within the National Alliance led by Jean Luc Melenchon, publishing several famous essays in support of the party and cause. In 2021, van Raan met with EuroCorp executive and Morranian independence campaigner Werner Reinheart for the first time, and quit the National Alliance several weeks later. In 2022, Reinheart led the Rebel Alliance to victory against the Republic of Dunsteen and proclaimed the Morranian region to be an independent state under the name Transitional State of Dunsteen, with himself as its' first president; within Reinheart's administration, van Raan was appointed as secretary of state for finance and started attempting to put together the first budget for the new transitional state. However, following a failed attempt by President Reinheart to pass through a new constitution, the government was replaced by a new National Alliance-led administration headed by Jean Luc Melenchon in January 2023 and van Raan was removed from office. During the Melenchon administration, van Raan returned to Amsterdam to teach political sciences.

In September 2024, following the deposition of President Jean Luc Melenchon in a coup which restored Werner Reinheart to power, Lammert van Raan was appointed as secretary of state for internal affairs. During his tenure as interior secretary, Lammert van Raan presided over a restructuring of police forces and imposed a harsh set of boarder restrictions in November 2024, which effectively closed the Morranian boarder. Following the election of Sunil Bakshi as president in January 2025, van Raan remained as interior secretary and became tasked with implementing a limited set of democratic reforms to introduce a legislative branch to the government. Beginning on August 14, 2025, regions from across Morra were invited to select delegates to represent them in a National Assembly, whilst 50% of the seats were reserved for corporations and representatives of different sectors of the economy. On September 4, 2025 the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) was founded from the EuroCorp affiliated independent caucus to become the majority government political party, with President Bakshi as its leader. On October 1, 2025 the National Assembly began it's first parliamentary session, replacing the presidential council as the main legislature of the nation; as the first act of the National Assembly, the session passed an amendment codifying the existence of the National Assembly into the constitution. On March 15, 2026, President Bakshi and Vice President Werner Reinheart formally launched the EuroCorp private security firm Bestrafer as the formal police force of the nation at a ceremony in The Hague alongside EuroCorp CEO Alisher Usmanov - the move blindsided van Raan, who had not been informed of the decision prior to its announcement. Following President Sunil Bakshi's announcement of a transition to a democratic Republic of Morra, Lammert van Raan resigned as interior minister in protest on August 17, 2028, but was persuaded to stay in post on a temporary basis, before being formally reinstated on November 11, 2028. In September 2028, van Raan and the influential VVD backbencher Fachnan Opus were caught on camera having a bitter argument in the National Assembly chambers over the constitutional reforms. With the reforms to the constitution coming into effect on February 20, 2029, van Raan remained in cabinet as interior secretary after Peter Illich became head of government as the speaker of the National Assembly of Morra, effectively a *de-facto* prime minister.

After the formation of the Second Illich Ministry on February 17, 2030, Lammert van Raan was moved from the Ministry of the Interior to become secretary of state for defence and head of the armed forces. On September 20, 2030, van Raan and Speaker Peter Illich held a joint press conference at the Brussels Institute of Government to announce a total structural overhaul of the military in order to return full command to the Ministry of Defence - as part of this, the government passed the *Military Structure, Command, and Financing Act 2031* to allow van Raan to implement his military restructuring. On May 1, 2031, formal command of the armed forces was vested in the Morranian presidency at a formal ceremony in Brussels; as a result of this change, the secretary of state for defence would gain operational command as the designated military representative of the president, though the president would retain full powers over the military. Between August 2031 and September 2032, the Ministry of Defence was restructured to allow for the establishment of a military joint chiefs comprised of the leading officers of the various armed branches - this new entity would be led by the Chief of the Defence Staff, the nation's most senior figure who would serve a 4 year term and would be seventh in line to the presidency. After negotiations with President Sunil Bakshi and EuroCorp CEO Werner Reinheart, defence secretary Lammert van Raan oversaw the passing of the *Security Regulations (Bestrafer) Act 2032*, which reduced the legal decree of control EuroCorp possessed over it's Bestrafer private security forces, but instead upgraded it to be an independent and semi-autonomous branch of the Morranian armed forces with joint Ministry of Defence and EuroCorp oversight.

Following the Amsterdam Agreement signed by President Sunil Bakshi between the Republic of Morra and the Republic of Dunsteen in November 2032, the Morranian government committed to downgrading its armed forces into a national security force with only defensive capabilities; Lammert van Raan was one of several ministers not informed of the security aspect of the agreement, and staunchly opposed the move within cabinet. Despite this, van Raan oversaw the passage of the *Morranian Defence Force Creation Act* in March 2033 which legally limited the size of the Morranian armed forces to be no more than 60% of the Dunsteenian armed forces in personnel. On October 4, 2035, defence secretary van Raan and President Sunil Bakshi held a joint press conference to announce the beginning of a modernisation programme for the armed forces in order to maximise the use of new and emerging technologies, with EuroCorp and Security Coalition as major contractors. After the resignation of Speaker Peter Illich amid a scandal, Lammert van Raan backed foreign secretary Peter Koonz for the VVD leadership, though Frank Wassenberg was ultimately selected; with Wassenberg struggling to assert his authority, a snap general election was held in November 2036 which saw the VVD loose control over the National Assembly, resulting in an opposition-led coalition taking office. After the intervention of President Bakshi, a new election was held mere months later, allowing Wassenberg to lead the VVD back into government, albeit with his authority severely diminished; after three months of opposition to the Thieme Ministry, Lammert van Raan was once again given the office of secretary of state for defence in the Second Wassenberg Ministry.

During the Derigo disease debate in June 2037, Lammert van Raan was the leading figure of the VVD's undeclared faction, and was appointed as deputy leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy on June 17, 2037 after being persuaded by education secretary Kairos Hemlock to back the passing of the *Public Health Regulations Act*. Within weeks of the debate, speaker Wassenberg's government collapsed after the withdrawal of the Worker's Political Alliance, and van Raan was once again a key supporter of business secretary Peter Koonz's bid for the leadership, which was ultimately successful - under Koonz's new ministry, Lammert van Raan remained as deputy leader of the VVD and as defence secretary. Following the assassination of President Sunil Bakshi in February 2039, van Raan supported speaker Peter Koonz's power struggle against President Kairos Hemlock and authorised the use of the armed forces against protesters during the 2039-40 Morranian Political Crisis, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of protesters at the Brussels Massacre and other similar events. After the impeachment of President Hemlock on August 21, 2039, speaker Koonz became acting president and appointed van Raan as acting vice president on September 20, 2039. Despite their attempts to rig the 2040 presidential election, the Koonz-van Raan ticket was defeated by Kairos Hemlock and Fachnan Opus, whilst the VVD lost 44 seats in the National Assembly and dropped down to third place, allowing for a new opposition led coalition to form; after objecting to the certification of presidential election results, Koonz was removed from all offices by a vote of the National Assembly on January 11, 2040, with van Raan loosing his position as acting vice president at the same time. Between January 11th and January 20th, Lammert van Raan took part in a campaign to place himself as the leader of the VVD but the movement failed to gain traction and Peter Koonz dismissed him as deputy party leader in the morning of January 20, 2040; within hours, newly inaugurated president Kairos Hemlock used her executive power to arrest and imprison Koonz and van Raan on charges of treason for their role in the 2039-40 political crisis.