First de Ruiter Ministry

Date Dissolved
 President
 Member Parties
 Election(s)
 Legislature Term(s)

The **First de Ruiter Ministry** was formed on May 24, 2042 after the resignation of Speaker Wilhelm De Croo amid a government crisis, and lasted until November 17, 2042 with the formation of a coalition between parties allied with the Democratic Party of the People following the 2042 National Assembly election. The cabinet was the second shortest lived in Morranian history, only behind the Thieme Ministry of 2036-37.

In the aftermath of the 2042 Morranian Constitutional Referendum, Speaker Wilhelm De Croo was forced to resign after refusing to accept the referendum results and alleging that they had been falsified - whilst the referendum results had indeed been meddled with, this was not public knowledge at the time and opposition within the National Assembly of Morra became so concentrated that De Croo was forced from office. In his place, former defence secretary Ophelia de Ruiter was nominated as the governing coalition's choice for Speaker of the National Assembly of Morra and was duly elected to the position on May 24, 2042. With the unity of the coalition fragile in the aftermath of the referendum, Speaker de Ruiter opted to largely retain the same cabinet composition as her predecessor, with the only change being the appointment of Michel Barnier as defence secretary.

On June 17, 2042, President Kairos Hemlock and Speaker Ophelia 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. Additionally, greater restrictions were placed on voting abilities, with voters requiring identification cards in order to be eligible to take part in elections and referendums, and the National Reform Act of 2040 was amended so that government initiated referendums are a de-facto vote of confidence in the government. On July 28, 2042, justice secretary Pierre Moscovici was elected as leader of the Party of the Labourers (PvdA) and began publicly voicing concern about the increasing transfer of powers to the presidency and the erosion of democratic safeguards; on August 14th, Moscovici revived the dormant United Opposition of Morra election group and was duly elected leader of the group, though the PvdA did not withdraw from government. 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.

After a week of negotiations following the National Assembly elections, Speaker Ophelia de Ruiter successfully managed to form a new coalition between the DPV, BVDM, and LPM, and was elected to a second term in office as speaker of the National Assembly of Morra on November 17, 2042. Both the Party of the Labourers and Progressive Party, formerly members of the First de Ruiter cabinet, became leading opposition parties within the National Assembly as a result of the new government formation.

## History

After coming to power in the 2040 National Assembly election, a coalition of the Party of the Labourers (PvdA), Democratic Party of the People (DPV), Progressive Party (PPM), and Liberal Party (LPM) formed a government under the leadership of Speaker Wilhelm De Croo of the PvdA and President Kairos Hemlock of the DPV. During the course of the government, the National Assembly passed several major reform bills, including the National Reform Act of 2040. Having realised that President Hemlock would never consent to the removal of presidential executive powers, Speaker De Croo collaborated with several opposition parties to force the state to hold a constitutional referendum on the issue. Following extensive meddling in the subsequent constitutional referendum in 2042 by the office of President Hemlock, the reform package was rejected by a large degree in official figures - in the aftermath, De Croo correctly accused Hemlock and the DPV of meddling in the election, though these claims were not widely believed and instead contributed to De Croo being forced from office in May 2042. In his place, former defence secretary Ophelia de Ruiter was nominated as the governing coalition's choice for Speaker of the National Assembly of Morra and was duly elected to the position on May 24, 2042. With the unity of the coalition fragile in the aftermath of the referendum, Speaker de Ruiter opted to largely retain the same cabinet composition as her predecessor, with the only change being the appointment of Michel Barnier as defence secretary.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.

With the replacement of Wilhelm De Croo as speaker, President Kairos Hemlock became the only remaining party leader of the coalition to retain a position of executive power within government, effectively making her the undisputed leader of the government. 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. Additionally, greater restrictions were placed on voting abilities, with voters requiring identification cards in order to be eligible to take part in elections and referendums, and the National Reform Act of 2040 was amended so that government initiated referendums are a de-facto vote of confidence in the government. On July 28, 2042, justice secretary Pierre Moscovici was elected as leader of the Party of the Labourers (PvdA) and began publicly voicing concern about the increasing transfer of powers to the presidency and the erosion of democratic safeguards; on August 14th, Moscovici revived the dormant United Opposition of Morra election group and was duly elected leader of the group, though the PvdA did not withdraw from government. 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.

 During the election campaign, Pierre Moscovici revitalised the United Opposition of Morra opposition alliance after the group had been dormant since 2040, though only the PvdA and PPM retained their membership of the organisation, with the LPM opting to campaign in favour of a continued alliance with the DPV. Alongside the intra-party splits forming over cooperation with the DPV, the PPM membership became increasingly divided over the question through 2042; on September 12th, a group of discontented PPM members led by Hubertus Heil left the party to found the Movement for Democracy in Morra (BVDM) in order to continue cooperation with the DPV. Divisions between the parties opposed to the DPV meant that no opposition grouping managed to gain significant levels of public support and many commentators described the United Opposition as being more united against the formerly dictatorial People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) than the DPV. In addition, President Kairos Hemlock personally wielded significant influence over the Electoral Commission and used this power to influence the results in her party's favour.

## Ministers

 **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

## See Also

* Speaker of the National Assembly of Morra