2030-31 Ducist Constitutional Crisis

Participants

The **2030-31 Ducist Constitutional Crisis**, also known as the **October Coup**, occurred between October 1, 2030 and January 10, 2031 following the assassination of President-elect Alpha Cantorsta during the inauguration day transition, which resulted in a military takeover of government by General Idi Amin and the formation of the Transitional Council of Ducist, which effectively handed power back to former President Cyril Ramaphosa, who had lost the 2030 Presidential Election to Cantosta.

During the constitutional crisis, a significant amount of democratic backsliding occurred and effectively led to the Federation of Ducist becoming an one-party state by the time of the 2035 Presidential Election, with President Cyril Ramaphosa governing the nation as his own personal fiefdom in the aftermath of the crisis. Likewise, the closure of the National Assembly of Ducist and its replacement with the Council of the People allowed Ramaphosa to more effectively persecute his political rivals.

In the aftermath, the Federation of Ducist adopted a new constitution and the consolidation of Ramaphosa's personal power allowed him to force the integration of Cameroon into the federation, making Ducist the largest nation on the African continent by a significant margin - the withdrawal of American support for the federation brought Ducist into the Libirachi sphere of influence and it would remain as a crucial ally during the Conquest of Africa.

## History

Following 20 years of single party government under Ascendancy, the 2030 Ducist Presidential Election saw the Socialist Unity party massively grow their vote share by energising voters, helping to secure a record high turnout of voters in the process; as such, incumbent President Cyril Ramaphosa lost the election by a margin of a million votes to Alpha Cantorsta and his running mate Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Threatened with the end of the largely authoritarian one-party rule in Ducist, Ramaphosa and General Idi Amin began putting together a plot to prevent Cantorsta's presidency from ever getting off the ground, enlisting the armed forces and the parliamentary wing of the government to form a unified plan of action.

Beginning on September 10th, 2030, President Cyril Ramaphosa crippled the existing government by dismissing all members of his cabinet, as well as Vice President João Lourenço, and replacing all cabinet level officials with interim officials to prevent them from being included in the presidential line of succession. A similar set of legislation passed by the National Assembly of Ducist prevented the speaker of the assembly from ascending to the presidency, leaving only Ramaphosa at remaining on the line of succession

On October 1, 2030 at the inauguration of president-elect, Alpha Cantosta was assassinated in the middle of taking the presidential oath by an unknown sniper, leaving the presidency vacant; despite the Ducistian constitution mandating that Vice President Ayaan Hirsi Ali should have assumed the presidency after having been sworn into office prior to the ceremony, General Idi Amin proclaimed himself as the 8th President of Ducist from the balcony of the Ministry of Defence and began to use the military to shut down democratic institutions by force, such as the National Assembly of Ducist which was forcefully closed on October 2, 2030. Instead, the Transitional Council of Ducist was established with Amin at the head, and former president Cyril Ramaphosa acting as prime minister. Following 2 months of constitutional crisis, President Idi Amin resigned on January 10, 2031 and Prime Minister Ramaphosa assumed the presidency for a second time, having circumnavigated the loss of the 2030 elections. Subsequently, following the banning of all other political parties under his predecessor, President Ramaphosa was able to win the 2035 Ducist Presidential Election with minimal competition.

## International Reaction

* Canto Haven - Governor Vanessa de Rouge welcomed the return of Cyril Ramaphosa to the presidency
* Fox Dynasty - President Damien Salamander welcomed Ramaphosa's return to power with a state visit
* United Kingdom - Prime Minister Matilda Crow issued a statement denouncing the "military coup in Ducist"
* United States of America - President Alexander Turpin announced a withdrawal of American funding for the Ducistian government

## See Also

* President of Ducist
* Vice President of Ducist
* Transitional Council of Ducist