Frank Wassenberg

**Frank Patrick Wassenberg** (May 2, 1986 -) was a Morranian politician and businessman who served as the second and fourth Speaker of the National Assembly of Morra from September 16, 2036 to November 19, 2036, and again from February 20, 2037 onwards. From October 2025 until November 2039, Wassenberg was a member of the National Assembly, first as an independent, then as a member of the Corporate Union, and finally as a member of the VVD. Alongside this, Wassenberg served as leader of the Corporate Union from May 2029 until May 2036, and as leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) from October 2036 until September 2037.

Born in 1986 as the child of two teachers in Morra, Frank Wassenberg attended the University of the Netherlands between 2004 and 2006, gaining a degree in accounting and business. Between 2007 and 2011, Wassenberg worked as an independent accountant, before becoming the head of a stock trading firm in Amsterdam. In 2019, Wassenberg became a senior director at EuroCorp due to his rapid accumulation of shares in the company, and supported the appointment of Alisher Usmanov as CEO of the company in November of the second year. During the Battle for Dunsteen, Wassenberg renounced his Dunsteenian citizenship and pledged allegiance to the EuroCorp-backed Rebel Alliance group; as part of his role within EuroCorp, Wassenberg served as an advisor to rebel leader Werner Reinheart and served as chief of staff for Reinheart during his first presidency. Following Reinheart's failed re-election bid in January 2023, Frank Wassenberg became an outspoken critic of President Jean Luc Melenchon and actively funded political campaigns against the governing National Alliance. In the aftermath of the August 2024 coup d'état which toppled President Melenchon, Wassenberg once again became a key political advisor to President Reinheart and was a key figure in the writing of the new constitution which transformed the Transitional State of Dunsteen into the Corporate Republic of Dunsteen in September 2024.

During the presidency of Sunil Bakshi, a new legislative branch was formed in conjunction to the largely dominant executive, with Frank Wassenberg becoming one of the first politicians to be co-opted into the National Assembly of Morra in October 2025. Following the ratification of a new constitution and the transition from the C.R. Dunsteen into the Republic of Morra, Wassenberg became the leader of the Corporate Union grouping of independent assembly members and transformed the grouping into a fully fledged political party, though retaining the fiercely pro-government policies that the group had become known for. In both the 2030 and 2035 elections, the Corporate Union secured moderate results and entered into coalition administrations with the dominant People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). In May 2036, the VVD and Corporate Union merged together as part of an expansion of the VVD, with Wassenberg gaining the title of Deputy Leader of the newly merged party. Mere months after becoming deputy party leader, Speaker Peter Illich was removed from his offices after a major political scandal, leading to Wassenberg assuming the speakership of the National Assembly on a temporary basis, whilst Vice President Eris Assecla assumed the leadership of the VVD in the interim before a new leader could be elected; on October 1, 2036, Wassenberg became the permanent leader of the party and formally took office as speaker the same day.

Having assumed office as Speaker of the National Assembly on October 1, 2036, Frank Wassenberg formed a new coalition government between the VVD, Worker's Political Alliance, and the New Party. However, on October 29, 2036, Speaker Wassenberg announced the calling of a snap assembly election and the dissolution of the legislature, marking the first time that a snap election had ever been called in Morra. In the subsequent election, opposition groups succeeded in gaining a majority within the National Assembly and Marianne Thieme was elected as speaker on November 19, 2036, becoming the first opposition leader to hold any senior political office in the Republic of Morra. In response to the VVD-led coalition's loss of power in the National Assembly, President Sunil Bakshi directed his government to act against the administration of Speaker Thieme, engaging in blackmail and assault against senior politicians within the PvdA-led government. In January 2037, President Bakshi disbanded the National Assembly and ordered new elections to be held; during the election campaign, Marianne Thieme was assassinated under the orders of the executive branch, allowing the VVD-led coalition to gain power once more. On February 20, 2037, Frank Wassenberg was sworn into office for a second term in office.

Within days of Wassenberg's re-appointment as speaker, a coalition agreement between the VVD, APA, New Party, and several independent members of the assembly was signed, allowing for the formation of the second Wassenberg administration. The new administration came to be dominated by public outcry over the government's knowing distribution of the Deirgo disease, as various factions within the National Assembly fought intense political conflicts over how to respond to the revelation. Following an intense debate in June 2037, the knowing spread of the disease became a criminal offence and outlawed by the National Assembly, despite the objections of several prominent members of the governing VVD. Due to her role in attempting to create a coalition in favour of maintaining existing Derigo legislation, Vice President Eris Assecla was impeached and removed from office by the National Assembly on July 28, 2037 due to the politically untenable nature of her position following the outlawing of the disease. Speaker Wassenberg also presided over the election of education secretary Kairos Hemlock as vice president in August 2037. However, the debate also laid plain many of the internal differences within the coalition government, with APA leader Attje Kuiken becoming a vocal critic of the approach favoured by Speaker Wassenberg, whilst the VVD itself grew increasingly unstable as different factions vied for ideological dominance, with Wassenberg forced to appoint Lammert van Raan as deputy party leader in the aftermath of the debate. In September 2037, the Worker's Political Alliance withdrew from the Wassenberg administration, sending the government into a minority position. With the APA's withdrawal from government, senior figures within the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy forced Frank Wassenberg to resign as party leader on September 16, 2037, with secretary of state for business Peter Koonz being installed as party leader the following day without competition. Following Frank Wassenberg's resignation as VVD leader and the reduction of the VVD-NP coalition to minority status after the APA's withdrawal, President Sunil Bakshi announced the dismissal of Wassenberg's administration, and granted Koonz the mandate to form a new coalition government as the leader of the largest party in the National Assembly. On November 3, 2037, Peter Koonz was elected as speaker of the National Assembly and his new government was inaugurated.

Following his removal from office, Wassenberg largely stepped back from politics and rarely made interventions in a bid to protect his already tarnished reputation; during the 2039-40 Morranian Political Crisis, Frank Wassenberg was a backbench critic of both Kairos Hemlock, whom he viewed as too liberal, and Peter Koonz, whom he viewed as a political extremist working against government interests.