Kairos Hemlock

**Kairos Elias Hemlock** (October 28, 2012 -) was a Morranian politician who served as the fifth President of Morra across two non-consecutive terms, first from February 20, 2039 until August 21, 2039, and then again from January 20, 2040 onwards. Prior to serving as president, Hemlock previously held office as the sixth Vice President of Morra from August 7, 2037 until her ascension to the presidency on February 20, 2039, and was briefly secretary of state for education and information between February and August 2037. Hemlock was the first female president of Morra, and the first to come to office through a constitutional presidential succession.

Hemlock was born in Brussles, Dunsteen, as part of a locally influential political family. Following the independence of the region of Morra in 2022, Hemlock's father served as a senior politician in the new government, before being detained during the 2024 coup d'état. In January 2035, Hemlock was elected to the National Assembly of Morra as a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and became a mentee to Vice President Eris Assecla and senior backbencher Fachnan Opus. In 2037, Hemlock was elected as vice president after negotiating a settlement to pass the Public Health Regulations Act of 2037, and inadvertently causing the impeachment of her mentor Eris Assecla, the then-vice president. Following the assassination of President Bakshi in February 2039, Hemlock ascended to the presidency.

Hemlock's first term in office was characterised by internal political turmoil, as the emergence of widespread popular protests threatened to topple the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy from power. Against this backdrop, Hemlock and National Assembly speaker Peter Koonz engaged in a power struggle for control over the government, with both seeking to reform the VVD regime in vastly different ways. Hemlock resigned her membership of the VVD following the massacre of innocent protesters in Brussels in May 2039, and instead held office as an independent; without the backing of the dominant political party, Hemlock was easily impeached by Speaker Koonz in August 2039, who in turn assumed office. Hemlock and her ally Fachnan Opus formed the Democratic Party of the People in September 2039 as a platform to win back the presidency, and secured the defection of a large part of the VVD's moderate wing. After securing the nomination of the united opposition bloc, Hemlock and Opus contested the 2040 general elections as the figureheads of opposition to the government.

After defeating acting president Peter Koonz in the 2040 presidential election, Hemlock was sworn in for a second term on January 20, 2040. During her second term, Kairos presided over the renationalisation of large parts of the economy, as well as the expansion of democratic rights for much of the population, and the strengthening of several democratic institutions. During the first months of her second administration, the government passed the National Reform Act of 2040 and enacted a platform of wide-reaching constitutional and governmental reforms, including the privatisation of EuroCorp. However, following the De Croo administration's attempts to pass constitutional reforms limiting the powers of the presidency in 2042, Hemlock conducted a self coup and installed a new government loyal to herself after elections widely described as rigged.

During Hemlocks presidencies, the Republic of Morra became increasingly divided along partisan lines and the emergence of an insurgency campaign threatened the stability of the state; in response, Hemlock presided over a significant period of democratic backsliding and consolidation of power, having initially been elected to office as a democrat. International commentators have identified long time political ally and vice president Fachnan Opus as being a driving force behind Hemlock's sudden shift towards increasing authoritarianism in the early 2040s. Despite internal divisions, under Hemlock's tenure the Republic of Morra strengthened its economic and international political positions, whilst life expectancy, GDP, and household income all grew steadily under her presidency. Hemlock remains a divisive figure within Morranian politics, but is generally ranked highly by political scholars for her campaigns to improve living standards and the international position of the state.

## History

 **President of Morra**Koonz • De Croo • de Ruiter I, II**First Term (2039)**Assassination of Sunil Bakshi • 2039-40 Morranian Political Crisis • 2039 Morranian Vice Presidential Election • Brussels Massacre • Impeachment of Kairos Hemlock • People's Party for Freedom and Democracy**Second Term (2040 -)**National Reform Act of 2040 • 2042 Constitutional Referendum • 2042 Morranian Government Crisis • Brussels Proclamation • Democratic Party of the People

 **Political Career**
Derigo Disease Debate • Assassination of Sunil Bakshi • People's Party for Freedom and Democracy

 **Electoral History**2035 National Assembly Election • 2036 National Assemblu Election • 2037 National Assembly Election • 2037 Vice Presidential Election • 2040 Presidential Election

Born in 2012 as the eldest of three children in Brussels, Kairos Hemlock grew up alongside her family in Berlin at the official residence of her father, Geordo Hemlock, a prominent Morranian independence campaigner and a member of the Dunsteenian legislature for the constituency of Brussels North. In 2022, when Hemlock was 10, the region of Morra declared itself independent in a military struggle, resulting in the proclamation of the Transitional State of Dunsteen; subsequently, the Hemlock family were expelled from the Republic of Dunsteen and relocated to Amsterdam. During the presidency of Jean Luc Melenchon, Geordo Hemlock served as interior secretary, but was forcefully removed from office during the 2024 coup d'état and sentenced to 20 years in prison by the new military regime for his involvement in the Melenchon administration.

Under the new Corporate Republic of Dunsteen, the Hemlock family suffered greatly and were forcefully relocated to social housing by the government in 2025. In 2029, the Republic of Morra was established following the transition from the Corporate Republic, and Geordo Hemlock was released from prison after President Sunil Bakshi pardoned all political prisoners held by his regime. Kairos attended the University of Brussels and studied politics and international relations under Christine Lagarde, whom she would later appoint as a presidential advisor. However, during the Derigo disease epidemic in 2032, both Geordo and Melissa Hemlock contracted Derigo and died, leaving Kairos Hemlock as an orphan at the age of 20; as the new legal guardian of her two younger sisters, Hemlock dropped out of university to become a carer. Hemlock would later discover that her mother's death had been at the hands of the regime, rather than from Derigo disease after beginning her political career in 2035.

## Political Career

In January 2035, Kairos Hemlock was elected as a representative of the National Assembly of Morra as a list member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). In August 2035, Hemlock became the parliamentary secretary for Vice President Eris Assecla, with the two working together on passing resolutions through the National Assembly. During the VVD political crisis of 2036, Assecla appointed Hemlock to a mid-level party position during her brief tenure as acting VVD leader, and Hemlock was retained by Frank Wassenberg following an internal leadership election. Despite the loss of a governing majority after the 2036 National Assembly election, Kairos Hemlock remained as a member of the legislative branch, and was re-elected in 2037 as well.

Following the formation of the Second Wassenberg Ministry, Kairos Hemlock was appointed as secretary of state for education and information within the cabinet at the recommendation of the influential backbencher Fachnan Opus, who had also been a friend of her father Geordo Hemlock. During the Derigo Disease Debate of June 2037, Kairos Hemlock played a key role in attempting to unite members of the National Assembly behind plans to ban the Derigo disease and prosecute those responsible for it, publicly breaking with her mentor Eris Assecla over the issue. Ultimately, Hemlock's coalition forming attempts were successful and on June 17, 2037, the Public Health Regulations Act of 2037 passed through the legislative branch with the aim of banning the further distribution of the disease; however, the internal fracturing of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy remained following the debate, resulting in the July 2037 impeachment of Vice President Eris Assecla. Kairos Hemlock stood in the August 2037 vice presidential election with the backing of finance secretary Fachnan Opus, and ultimately managed to secure the vice presidency thanks to Opus' cross-congressional negotiations, winning after three rounds with 171 votes out of 300.

## Vice Presidency

 President

Having won the first executive level election to be held by the National Assembly of Morra, Kairos Hemlock was sworn in as vice president of the Republic of Morra on August 7, 2037 by Speaker Frank Wassenberg. Hemlock was given the role of presidential advisor for the implementation of the Public Health Regulations Act, which she had championed months earlier during the Derigo disease debate; through this role, Hemlock presided over the launching of a prosecution campaign against several former ministers, aides, and scientists all involved in the creation and distribution of the disease, a figure which totalled 156 individuals with sentences of 20 years or more by the time the commission wound down in October 2039.

During her tenure, Hemlock acted as a political negotiator between political parties in the National Assembly of Morra to help the Koonz administration make up for its minority status in the legislative chamber, making use of her credentials from the Derigo disease debate; Hemlock was especially crucial in securing the passing of the snap budget in December 2037 and the passing of new voting laws in February 2038. Additionally, Kairos Hemlock continued the tradition of vice presidents acting as a *de-facto* foreign minister for the government, travelling across the world to strengthen economic and political ties with other states; in August 2038, Hemlock controversially travelled to Beijing to meet with Libirachi president Karyn Voor and foreign secretary Angelica Rivera in a bid to strengthen the economic ties between the two states and to align the Republic of Morra closer to the Libirachi dominated Shanghai Pact. In September 2038, Hemlock took part in a tour of Europe and the United States of America, meeting with US president Alexandria Raines, British prime minister Angela Rayner, Spanish president Elena Garcia, and Avalonian prime minister Nina Auber with the aim of signing a multiparty trade agreement, which was formally signed in Washington D.C. in November 2038.

On February 20, 2039, vice president Kairos Hemlock took part in a celebratory gala at the Morranian Presidential Palace to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the formation of the Republic of Morra. During the ball, President Sunil Bakshi was assassinated by members of the terrorist organisation Venenum with the intention of toppling the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy regime in Morra. As a result, Hemlock ascended to the presidency, beginning an internal power struggle with Speaker Peter Koonz for control over the government.

## First Presidency

 Vice President

Following the assassination of President Sunil Bakshi in the evening of February 20, 2039, Kairos Hemlock was sworn into office by chief justice Dineke de Groot, becoming the fifth president of Morra and the first female holder of the office, as well as the youngest. President Hemlock held a televised address to the nation at 10am on February 21st, 2039, in which she announced the death of her predecessor and that she had assumed office as per the parameters of the constitution. In assuming office, the vice presidency became vacant for the second time in as many years.

### Political Crisis

 Main articles: 2039-40 Morranian Political Crisis and Brussels Massacre
In response to the death of President Bakshi, thousands took to the streets across the country to celebrate, with many celebrations escalating into protests against Speaker Peter Koonz and the VVD-led government. Amidst the ongoing protests, the mysterious terrorist organisation Venenum claimed responsibility for the assassination on February 22nd and called for a revolution against the Koonz led administration, resulting in the government tightening it's security legislation. Protests against the government continued throughout the spring of 2039, backed by pro-democracy campaigners and opposition parties - a large protest camp had developed in the Vondelpark national gardens in Amsterdam by the start of March, whilst other groups claimed control over public parks in other major cities. As the anti-government protests began to spread across the country, tensions within the government also increased as the relationship between President Kairos Hemlock and Speaker Peter Koonz increasingly deteriorated; following Hemlock's assumption of the presidency in February, Speaker Koonz had been making moves to attempt to consolidate power within the regime and transfer executive roles to his office. Whilst Hemlock preferred a conciliatory approach towards the protesters, Koonz actively sought to provoke the protesters into confrontation and passed several draconian pieces of security legislation without informing President Hemlock, effectively forcing her to sign them into law under pressure from the governing People's Party for Freedom and Democracy. On March 13, 2039, the National Assembly of Morra initiated a vice presidential election in order to fill the vacant position, with Kairos Hemlock seeking to elect her ally Fachnan Opus; however, Speaker Peter Koonz actively sought to disrupt and lengthen proceedings to undermine the executive branch, and implemented new rules which made it easier for more candidates to take part. Following the first ballot, Koonz refused to hold more than one ballot per month, effectively forcing the position to remain vacant indefinitely.

On May 17, 2039, Speaker Peter Koonz ordered government security forces to clear protesters from the government Warandepark in Brussels; on the day of the clearing, President Kairos Hemlock was in The Hague meeting with opposition leaders and thereby unaware of the actions being taken by her own government - Hemlock reportedly only found out about the ongoing clearing from Koonz's televised address. By the time the president returned to Brussels in a bid to stop the violence, the majority of violence against the protestors had already occurred, with a death toll in the hundreds. Despite privately threatening to dissolve the National Assembly to unseat Speaker Peter Koonz from office, President Kairos Hemlock instead scheduled a televised address to the nation for 2pm on Wednesday May 18, 2039. During her speech, Hemlock announced her resignation from the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) caucus of politicians and publicly proclaimed her support for the anti-government protesters, calling upon opposition parties in the National Assembly of Morra to vote to remove Speaker Koonz from office.

As a direct result of President Kairos Hemlock's defection from the governing People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), political tensions between the president and Speaker Peter Koonz were further exacerbated, and the pair began to take part in open political warfare. Speaker Koonz began to actively obstruct the ongoing vice presidential election in a bid to prevent President Hemlock from installing her close ally Fachnan Opus as vice president, having previously set out to prologue the election for as long as possible to undermine the president. Amid the growing protest movement, Speaker Peter Koonz attempted to pass the Public Security Defence Bill in June 2039, ultimately succeeding on a vote of 148-108 after the Worker's Political Alliance abstained from the vote. However, President Kairos Hemlock refused to sign the legislation into law, effectively vetoing it - between June and August 2039, President Hemlock vetoed 68 pieces of government legislation with the backing of opposition parties and protesters; during the political crisis, Hemlock's personal popularity soared, with her and Wilhelm De Croo being increasingly seen as the leaders of the anti-government movement.

### Impeachment

 Main article: Impeachment of Kairos Hemlock
    In the morning of August 10, 2039, Speaker Peter Koonz announced in a press release that the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy would be initiating impeachment proceedings against Kairos Hemlock in a bid to remove her from office. Commentators noted that Koonz would assume the presidency as a result of such a move, not least because of his obstruction of the 2039 vice presidential election; Koonz became the subject of significant international and domestic criticism during the impeachment process. On August 13, 2039, interior secretary Markus Quade announced before the National Assembly that the government would be seeking to proceed to trial under the charges of "*gross negligence*" and "*moral corruption*", which would require votes of 165 and 180 members respectively to apply. Between August 13 and August 21, 2039, representatives of the National Assembly debated the proceedings and listened to arguments from the government regarding the two articles of impeachment. Following an alleged bomb threat on August 21, 2039, Speaker Peter Illich deployed the armed forces into the assembly chamber during the final voting process, in a move widely seen as a threat towards lawmakers to vote in favour of impeachment. Although opposition politicians voted against the motion regardless, the Worker's Political Alliance joined with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, DENK, the Liberal Party, and the New Party to vote for impeachment, resulting in the motions passing 192-108. Following the vote, Speaker Peter Koonz automatically became acting president in accordance with constitutional succession protocols and combined his legislative power with executive power.

## Re-election

On September 18, 2039, two weeks after Hemlock's impeachment as president, former government minister Fachnan Opus filed the formation of the Democratic Party of the People (DPV) with the independent Morranian Electoral Commission, allowing the party to run in all national elections in January 2040; though she was not legally registered as the party's leader, former president Kairos Hemlock acted as the de-facto head of the new party and party leadership even openly admitted that the party was a vehicle to return Hemlock and her ideology back to power. As the nation's most popular politician, Hemlock and the DPV lobbied the United Opposition caucus to be placed on the presidential ticket, and on September 26, 2039, Kairos Hemlock and Fachnan Opus were jointly nominated by the DPV, PvdA, PPM, and LPM for the presidency and vice presidency respectively - in return, the DPV promised to nominate Wilhelm De Croo for the office of speaker of the National Assembly. Alongside the DPV's successful bid for the united opposition nomination, 36 parliamentary members of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy defected to the DPV during September 2039, with Fachnan Opus becoming the parliamentary leader of the group as well as *de-jure* party head. The United Opposition of Morra ticket of Hemlock and Opus won 19 out of 26 states in a landslide victory despite the institutional bias of the electoral system in favour of the VVD. After the inauguration of the new National Assembly, Speaker Peter Koonz refused to certify the results of the presidential election, obstructing all efforts to do so. Subsequently, PvdA leader Wilhelm De Croo motioned for an early vote on the speakership to be held on January 11, 2040, which resulted in De Croo being elected as speaker of the National Assembly at the head of a PvdA-DPV-PPM-LPM coalition government. At the same time as taking up the speakership, De Croo became acting president and signed off the required presidential decree to begin the transition between governments. On January 12, 2040, Speaker De Croo presided over the certification of presidential results, and formally confirmed them to be genuine the same evening

## Second Presidency

At 12 noon on Friday January 20, 2040, Kairos Hemlock was inaugurated to a second term in office as president of the Republic of Morra by chief justice Dineke de Groot, followed by the inauguration of her close political ally Fachnan Opus as vice president. Due to the fact that neither of her predecessors Peter Koonz or Wilhelm De Croo had held office as constitutional president, having only been acting presidents, Hemlock was officially designated as the fifth president of Morra for her second term, continuing the numbering from her first period in office. At 13:03pm, President Kairos Hemlock met with Speaker Wilhelm De Croo to confirm the De Croo ministry's role in the Hemlock presidency, before giving a nationally broadcast inaugural address from the Presidential Palace at 19:00pm. Kairos Hemlock's second presidency is historically regarded as the more significant of her two terms in office, and saw both the strengthening and disintegration of Morranian democracy as Hemlock sought to preserve her own position in the face of opposition from former allies. Many of the pieces of security legislation implemented towards the end of the second Hemlock administration were significantly more authoritarian and draconian than legislation passed under the dictatorships of Sunil Bakshi and Werner Reinheart.

### Reforms of 2040

Having assumed office on January 20, 2040, President Kairos Hemlock gave a televised address to the nation to set out her priorities for the Republic of Morra; among the policies listed included the initiation of a lustration campaign against members of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and a near total economic restructuring within the nation. In the evening of January 20, 2040, Hemlock signed executive decrees ordering the arrests of VVD leader Peter Koonz and the senior congressman Lammert van Raan, as well as removing their eligibility to lead the VVD. Whilst deeply popular with the Morranian population, the move sparked concern from international observers who criticised the extra-judicial nature of the arrests. In early February 2040, President Hemlock signed similar decrees against former VVD leader Frank Wassenberg, former Worker's Political Alliance (APA) leader Attje Kuiken, and New Party (NP) leader Didier Reynders for their respective roles in the VVD-led dictatorship under President Sunil Bakshi. Despite continued moves against the VVD, the party was allowed to remain intact and elected Ernst van Darmin as party leader in March 2040. In early 2040, Hemlock appointed her former university teacher Christine Lagarde as her primary foreign affairs advisor. On June 19, 2040, Speaker Wilhelm De Croo gave formal permission for President Hemlock to address the National Assembly of Morra. During her speech, Hemlock announced that her government would lay a large reform package titled the *National Reform Act* before the legislative branch, which would contain provisions for the nationalisation of EuroCorp and its subsidies, for the restructuring of the armed forces, and for the repeal of "draconian legislation" passed by previous governments, as well as including constitutional reforms to allow referenda to legally be held and redistributing power within government. Whilst broadly popular within the governing coalition, the policies were criticised by the VVD, APA, DENK, and NP as being highly partisan and detrimental to internal stability, particularly in the wake of the previous year's political crisis, with the VVD and DENK in particular opposing the nationalisation of EuroCorp. On June 22, 2040, EuroCorp CEO Werner Reinheart met with President Hemlock and Speaker De Croo at the Presidential Palace, before announcing his support for the legislation the following day. On June 29th, interior secretary Hubertus Heil formally introduced the *National Reform Bill* to the National Assembly and began the legislative process behind the passing of the bill; following three stages of review, the National Reform Bill passed the National Assembly in September and was formally signed into law by President Hemlock on September 17, 2040 as the National Reform Act of 2040.

With the new powers granted to her by the National Reform Act, President Hemlock established the Ministry for Environmental Protection on September 19, 2040 with Nathalie Elimas of the DPV as secretary of state, whilst the Ministry for Housing and Communities was established on September 25, 2040 with Gabriel Serville of the PPM as secretary of state. Additionally, Hemlock began to establish cabinet committees comprised of smaller groups of ministers to speed up cabinet decision making processes, whilst granting presidential advisors voting rights within cabinet meetings. Despite internal resistance from coalition partners, President Kairos Hemlock allowed Werner Reinheart to remain as CEO of EuroCorp following its nationalisation on September 20, 2040, but instead packed the board of directors with government and party loyalists, whilst business secretary Wouter Beke became chairman of the company. Reforms to the armed forces were broadly welcomed by the military command and defence secretary Ophelia de Ruiter introduced several pieces of secondary legislation through the autumn of 2040 to further streamline the command structure and reintegrate EuroCorp private security firms; the *Defence Integration Act of 2040* provided for the transfer of all private security equipment to the Ministry of Defence, whilst also allowing the government to bypass employment law and terminate all personal contracts with the security firms, with the government instead offering recruitment into the state military. The passing of the Defence Integration Act led to unrest at several of the EuroCorp owned barracks in November 2040, but further negotiations between the two groups led to a general wage rise for all soldiers of the Morranian armed forces being implemented in December 2040.

### Further policy actions

    On February 15, 2041, Speaker Wilhelm De Croo permitted President Kairos Hemlock to give her second major address to the National Assembly of Morra; during her speech, titled "*On the State of the Nation*", Hemlock praised the successes of the National Reform Act and announced that her government would seek to renegotiate the Amsterdam Agreement to bring the Republic of Morra to equal status as Dunsteen and to allow Morra to have offensive military capacity rather than the purely defensive capability that the agreement had imposed. Additionally, Hemlock announced her intention to prioritise relations with Avalonia, Dunsteen, and the Fox Dynasty over other regional powers with the aim to establish a new European trade route to benefit all states. President Hemlock's address to the National Assembly was followed on February 19, 2041 with an address from finance secretary Federico Pinedo who announced that Morra would open a "technology subsidy system" to incentivise tech companies to invest in the Morranian economy. Amid the 2041 United States Constitutional Crisis, Kairos Hemlock met with acting president Robert Menendez of the United States during Menendez's tour of Europe in February 2041. After having secured a joint cabinet position, Kairos Hemlock travelled to Stockholm on June 18, 2041 with foreign secretary Markus Quade, defence secretary Ophelia de Ruiter, finance secretary Federico Pinedo, and presidential advisor Christine Lagarde to meet with Avalonian väldeminister Ada Nilsen and prime minister Nina Auber, and Dunsteenian leader Olaf Scholz in order to begin negotiations on a revised Amsterdam Agreement. After a day of negotiations, Hemlock returned to Morra alongside defence secretary de Ruiter and finance secretary Pinedo, whilst foreign secretary Quade and Christine Lagarde remained in Avalonia for talks with their Dunsteenian counterparts. In September 2041, Hemlock denounced a coup d'état which overthrew US President Robert Menendez, and called for the Fox Dynasty to provide increased global security functions after the "abdication" of American leadership. In October, Kairos Hemlock made a week long tour of the Fox Dynasty to coincide with the inauguration of Angelica Rivera as Libirachi president; during Hemlock's first presidency in 2039, Rivera was the first foreign figure to meet with her as the then Libirachi foreign secretary, reportedly leading to close ties between the two leaders. At a bilateral press conference with President Rivera on October 10, 2041, Hemlock announced the two states had agreed to a new trade deal which would see Morra become home to several branches of prominent Libirachi tech firms under a new scheme.

### 2042 political crisis

 Main articles: 2042 Morranian Government Crisis, 2042 Morranian Constitutional Referendum and Brussels Proclamation

In the afternoon of March 16, 2042, Speaker Wilhelm De Croo and the leaders of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, Worker's Political Alliance, and the Progressive Party held a joint press conference to announce their proposal for a constitutional reform package which would see the presidency stripped of all executive functions and reduced to a ceremonial head of state. Whilst initially silent on the issue, President Kairos Hemlock held a joint press conference with Vice President Fachnan Opus on March 18, 2042 to to decry the proposals as "a blatant attack on our democracy and government" - though Hemlock had been reported to be angry with the announcement of the policy without first being consulted, it is considered that Opus was the driving force behind Hemlock's aggressive tone towards De Croo's proposals. On May 15, 2042, a constitutional referendum was held on the proposed presidential reforms and election results showed a 63% rejection of Speaker De Croo's proposals; however, there was also evidence of electoral fraud and voting manipulation by the Electoral Commission in favour of rejecting the proposals, leading Wilhelm De Croo to refuse growing demands for his resignation and instead call for the removal of the leaders of the non-partisan Electoral Commission, who resigned on May 21, 2042. Following the tabling of a motion of no confidence in his Party of the Labourers leadership the previous day, De Croo tendered his resignation as speaker to the National Assembly in the morning of May 24th and as leader of the PvdA the same evening. At the instruction of Kairos Hemlock, the governing coalition passed through a motion to hold a snap speakership election, which saw defence secretary and DPV leader Ophelia de Ruiter being elected as the seventh speaker of the National Assembly at the head of a near identical cabinet coalition. Whilst contemporary accounts largely overlooked the effect of the crisis on the state of democracy in Morra, it is generally regarded that Hemlock and the DPV did indeed manipulate the referendum results to inflict damage on Speaker De Croo, before twisting his correct allegations of fraud to make De Croo appear to reject public will and thus effectively end his political career. On June 17, 2042, Hemlock and Speaker de Ruiter announced the introduction of new electoral legislation in a joint press conference in Brussels, which passed into law on July 29th as the Electoral Reform Act of 2042; as part of the new legislation, the president gained the power to appoint representatives on the Electoral Commission's executive committee, as well as the power to remove members with the backing of the National Assembly. After Pierre Moscovici was elected as leader of the Party of the Labourers (PvdA), the party began to voice concern with Hemlock's electoral reforms, and her consolidation of power. Following a cabinet meeting on August 28, 2042, President Kairos Hemlock announced that she would exercise her executive power to dissolve the National Assembly and call snap elections after Moscovici had made clear his intentions to withdraw from government in protest against the consolidation of powers. On September 2, 2042, the National Assembly of Morra was formally dissolved and elections scheduled for November 6th.