November 2nd, 0070. Zum City, Principality of Zeon. Sasro Zabi POV
Looking back on it he should have realized that the election would be an assured win. He was the second son of Degwin Zabi, a high leader in the new Sovereign Front, and could claim success in helping to organize the party and pass much of the legislation which made the Miracle possible. All he had to do was gain the people's approval, repeat the success of the referendum, and beat a moderately famous lawyer. It was an event that was being handed to him through a silver platter.
While Sasro should have objectively known this, there were still lingering doubts in his mind. Doubts that he could never connect with the common citizen, that the opposition would somehow unite and undermine him, that his opponent would be some sort of political genius, that no one would ever really like him enough to trust him with power. Despite the fact that Rumsfeld was no threat outside of his coffers and that Zabi approval ratings were still as high as ever, Sasro feared. This was why he spent almost every day diving himself into the campaign, doing everything he could to make sure he crossed the finish line and for once have his siblings bask in his glory.
On election night when the numbers started rolling in, his fears were initially confirmed with how tight the votes were getting with only a couple hundred separating the two candidates. As the night went on however, Sasro's vote started to increase greatly with his lead soon leading to the thousands and then tens of thousands. By nine o'clock his victory was assured, with him ending up with 56% of the votewith over 3 million votes cast in his favor. It was by no means the large landslide that he had hoped for, but it was enough and it finally gave Sasro Zabi the victory that he had long desired.
When Sasro gave his victory speech at his final campaign rally, a place where tens of thousands of people all choose to have faith in him to fight for their welfare, to have him stand as the champion of Zum City in the Diet and to shape the laws as he saw fit, it was the happiest moment in his life until now, a place in time where all simply felt right in the world and that it would only get better.
Later that night he had returned home to his family who had offered him their respective congratulations. Kycillia was curtly polite, though considering her Sasro was just lucky he had gotten anything rather than a passing acknowledgement. Dozle had nearly killed him in another one of his infamous death hugs. Gihren gave him a slap on the back, saying "Welcome to the club". Good old Garma was sweet and kind and always. By far the most meaningful interaction was with his father, with Degwin simply smiling and saying how he was proud and had always believed in Sasro. Experiencing such an attitude that had been so rare for Sasro in recent years was something that warmed his heart immensely.
After midnight he was down in the basement sharing a drink with Gihren, who was at his laptop and had the television blaring to report the night's events. As expected the Sovereign Front had won a grand supermajority of 90% of the Diet's seats. The local elections were slightly troubling with the opposition getting dozens of Mayoralties and thousands of miscellaneous mid-level bureaucracies, though it didn't matter too much to Sasro, in the end all roads within Side 3 metaphorically lead to Zum City where direct rule was. So long as the Diet was in their pocket then the Zabis could do as they pleased.
"You know brother, it's not too late to become Vice Minister. Bakharov is willing to conceede at the cost of spoiling his allies and letting him have the budget and control of the Rules Committee, but he will bend if the job transfers to you." Gihren said, closing the computer and taking a sip of the rum-infused coke that he prepared for himself.
"Thanks but no thanks. Being Majority Whip of the Diet is good enough for me, especially since this is only my first term as a legislator. Besides, someone needs to keep the party in-line as one happy family while you work on your projects and Father rules from his throne." Sasro said, slowly drinking his bourbon. "I know I've said it before Gihren, but this whole big tent model for the Sovereign Front isn't the direction we should be heading. I know that you want a smooth transition from the Social Democrats, but surely we could've crafted a single ideology to follow instead of letting others input their influence on the party constitution? A big tent may work for now, but if there's ever a situation where the opposition becomes a credible threat then this coalition will fall apart and we will be at the mercy of mob rule."
Gihren sighed, "I'm not a fan of the concept either, but it's a necessary evil for the Zeon that we are creating. We may be the inheritors of Deikun's will, but our control is not absolute as represented by the Contolists party."
"Fringe opportunists whose creation we engineered to push those who follow Jimba's path out in the open and keep them toothless and under watch. They're not a threat, you said so yourself." Sasro countered.
"That may be so, but the fact that they do exist shows how we do not carry the same weight as Deikun. If you were to lambaste Deikun when he was alive you would be socially lynched and isolated as a pariah. If you are to insult our name you shall suffer a similar level of ostracization, but also find a path to retreat and conspire with others of similar minds, expanding an opposition in the shadows. Until we ever gain a personality cult on Deikun's level, something I highly doubt will ever happen, then we need to keep on a level course and follow as much of Deikun's rule as possible, one of which was the big tent nature of the Social Democrats.
For now with the Principality in its infancy, it's not wise to experiment with the Sovereign Front and bring them onto a single corner of the ideological spectrum. If we favor the Left or the Right the other shall rise into opposition, setting Zeon down a two-party system where we shall never obtain more than half of the electorate at best. While two party systems can be sustainable to democracies, they only work when the nation is united around a set of principles as its foundation, or against a common foe, like with us against the Federation. Once the common foe dies or the public is no longer attached to said set of principles, there is nothing to keep civility in democracy and thus the parties and its participants become rooted in their ideology. Instead of elections being for the good of the nation, they become tribalized affairs where you must win it all in every election with defeat spelling death. When this mindset becomes dominant in a democracy, it'll only be a matter of time until a just election will be interpretated as the end of the world for one half, causing them to break apart and destroy the nation to save their ideals. When that happens, the nation dies." Gihren said with a sad and far away look in his eyes, drinking his glass with feelings of regret and disgust etching their way onto his face, but for what Sasro didn't know.
"Now you're just speaking in hypotheticals and what-about's. Democracies fall when the foundations for the nation, it's economy, military, judicial system, and demographics die. Tribalized politics are merely the symptom, not the cause." Sasro said. Inwardly he tried to wrack his brain for what the hell his brother was playing at. He felt some sort of history lesson coming here but he had no idea just what he could possibly be referring to.
"Perhaps your right, but it could always happen and I just want to make sure that we live in a nation where everyone can have equal say and won't be shunned for their beliefs. Whether it's tyranny of the majority or tyranny of the minority, democracy's greatest danger is the denial of the rights of the losers. If the Sovereign Front can appeal to all sides of the spectrum, then at least here everyone can either be equally happy or frustrated instead of one section basking in victory while everyone else is pissed. There is a greater practical reason for Sovereign Front to be a tent though."
"What's that?" Sasro asked.
"If our family squabbles over legislation are anything to go by, how can we expect the party to follow a single ideology when the Zabi dynasty raises its fists at each other on a daily basis?" Gihren said.
"Well said. Though I would like to point out that you're the one who won't get in line with common sense. Corporate Jesus Freak." Sasro jested.
"Commie Scum." Gihren returned. A low laugh shared between the two brothers over their differences, a division that would most likely cause many heated debates over the next four years.
"You know Sasro, why exactly did you want to campaign to be an MP? You were the one member of the family outside of Kycillia who was driving father hard for the creation of an absolute monarchy. You hate the Federation not because it's a horrible democracy, but because it's a democracy in the first place. You're fickle about the say of the people and there was no need in the first place with myself in Prime Minister. Why the desire to run?" Gihren asked with intense curiosity.
Sasro squirmed in his seat with a great amount of discomfort heavily visible in his body language. He wanted to deflect the question and make up an excuse, but the alcohol had kicked in and let him release the truth.
"It's because I wanted to do something that the rest of you never had." He groaned, hoping that Gihren didn't hear, but unfortuantely he did.
"What win an election? Father and I did so before."
"Father may have done so, but you never won any popular democratic election, only confirmation votes for positions Father put you while Dozle and Kycillia climbed to success in their fields." Sasro started, beginning to rant before any self-control of his put a stop to it. "It's obvious to all that our accomplishments are only due to father's nepotism, yet in every case we have so far managed to succeed beyond expectations and cement our rule over Zeon. Call it luck, father's genes, or our inherent ambition and seniority, but everyone in this family has risen to dominate Zeon, except for me. Up til now I've done nothing but act in the background, and for once I want to share the spotlight instead of being an extra dammit! So I won an election, something none of you did, and now I'm an MP. I'm not just going to spin the family's image, I'm going to contribute and I'll make the laws of the nation and cement my legacy! I'm going to be a Zabi goddamnit!" Sasro shouted out with his fist slamming the bar.
Gihren looked to him in sympathetic understanding, "You know you've always been a valued part of this family and we all care about you. Before Dozle joined the Academy and before Kycillia went into law enforcement, father had you join in on the conspiracy and you helped to cement his control of the party and my rise to office. The people's cult of devotion towards us, the Principality, my premiership, the Sovereign Front, and countless pieces of legislation all had your hand involved. History will look down upon you as the Zabi who helped laid the foundations for Zeon's revolution, just as much as Father and I have done." Gihren said.
"When the hell did you become a good brother." Sasro grumbled, looking away from Gihren to keep his emotions under control.
Gihren let out a sad and soft laugh, "I began my second life and realized what was truly important to me and what matters most. But you do know we all love you right?"
"I know, it's just hard to have everyone else know who I am when you're the main character and I'm just an extra. You're a household name and the most infamous man of the Universal Century outside of Zeon himself, I barely get any recognition within Side 3 alone outside of the family roll call as the second son. The only time I got reguarly mentioned in the press was when I was on the verge of death. What a hell of a way to be remembered, that one Zabi who got blown to smithereens."
Sasro noticed his brother heavily wince at the last part, though he had no idea why. Maybe it was due to his similar near death experiences earlier.
Sasro wanted to leave to his room before things got too emotional, however before he rose out of his chair he was stopped by Gihren.
"I can't say that I relate too much what you're going through, I know it sucks to have a lack of recognition for your hard work, but I promise you that's going to change next year. One thing I've been beginning to notice throughout my first year in PM is the lack of time that I've been giving myself. I have a hundred items on my agenda that I wish to accomplish to prepare Zeon for the Revolution to come, and with each new opportunity that arises it's another portion of time that I can't dedicate to the Diet. I've been lucky enough to have most of my agenda pass and all of the goals that I have laid down since Deikun's passing are either completed or in the works. However in this new Zeon and this new decade, things will most likely spiral into uncontrollable madness. I can't be a good Prime Minister if I don't dedicate my all to the Diet, yet if I do so then I'll neglect other areas where I'm needed most.
This is why your election is one of the best things that's happened recently brother. You're right in that the Sovereign Front being a big tent can be dangerous, and while we have purged Ral's Deikunists and opposition is unthinkable at the moment, as the years go on new players shall take the stage to stand against us, not to mention the stretching of our own party until it reaches a potential schism. In order for the Principality to be run at its best, I need a man I can trust to keep the legislature under control and make sure that politicians and mob rule don't reverse our gains.
Dozle is only passionate about the military, Kycillia is focused on security, and Garma is apolitical. I don't want Father to fight my battles and as Sovereign he needs to be at his best in order to fight the Federation head on and spread the revolution to the Sides. In order to cement our political hegemony and keep a vigilant watch over the political sphere, I'll need you as my right hand in the Diet. To keep the party in line, to set the agenda, to put down dangerous ideologies, keep the opposition at arm's length, and to keep myself in check from time to time, I'll need you at the helm.
When I become Sovereign, my first act will be to appoint you as Prime Minister. I'm sure that by the time Father steps down, you'll have done more than enough to have earned your position, and cement your rightful place as one of the Founding Fathers of Zeon. So brother, will you join me in the Revolution and build your legacy?" Gihren asked raising his drink up high in offering.
As it had been done to countless people who listened to Gihren's eloquent speeches, Sasro began to tear up at his brother's kind words. He had always been the closest to Gihren out of all of his siblings, his elder brother and simply understood him the best and vice versa, the two were strong friends who from the beginning had a clear understanding of where they would go, with Gihren being the beloved ruler who would lead Zeon to greatness and Sasro his protector who would eliminate his enemies in the shadows and would ensure that nothing would stand in the way of his rule and legacy.
He had no idea why Gihren had changed so much in character in the last few years. At first he had hated it, wishing for a return of his brother's former persona, back to the days of old. Over time though he began to warm to this new Gihren, realizing that he was not only a better man but a better son for the family. Nowhere else was this clear no, with Gihren offering him a partnership so that they could rule Zeon together in the years to come, a strong inverse from their previous relationship.
Sasro didn't know why Gihren was the way he was, and he didn't care. Tomorrow, standing at Gihren's side, they would become the rightful rulers of Zeon, with Sasro cementing his own legacy that would stand just as equal to Gihren's.
Sasro raised his own glass to meet Gihren's. "I will. To our legacies, may humanity thousands of years from now tremble at our names. Sieg Zeon."
"Sieg Zeon!" They both shouted in triumph.
"When looking at the first eight years of the Principality of Zeon, it is quiet easy for most students of history to ignore the domestic politics and elections and instead focus on the grandiose projects of the Zabi family. To an outsider, the Zabi's authoritarianism was little different than that of Deikun's the only difference is that the Zabi's rule was recognized as hereditary and total while Deikun still gave himself the image of a humble democrat despite his personality cult and accumulation of mass wealth. While the Zeon opposition was far lesser in influence than the Deikun era, and it would be several years before they would create hard influence to counter the Zabi machine as equals, it was still well alive and present. Out of the 1.2 billion votes that were cast on the election night, 237 million votes would go to the Contolist Party in the national elections while 109 million votes would go towards the Independent Coalition. While these votes combined only made up a quarter of the total vote, it was a stark reminder that not all of Zeon had fallen into the sweet kool-aid of the Zabi's, a reality that was defied by the oppositions meager gains of 49 seats for the Contolists and 27 seats for the Independent Coalition, only 76 total seats of the 780 seats up for the National Diet. While the opposition's meager presence in the Diet would leave little room for hard policy influence outside of the Sovereign Front's occasional legislative civil war (most of which were instigated by Gihren in support or opposition to policies), for the Contolists and Independents they did not need to be big players in the Diet to succeed, as they had gone into the elections knowing fully that the best case scenario of a hung Diet was fantastical at best. What both parties decided to do after the birth of the Sovereign Front and the reality of the Zabi machine's hegemony was to work small at the local level and build their way up to national control. While it cannot be denied that the first generation of Zabis were master politicians, they were not perfect and the system they constructed had major weaknesses to exploit. While Gihren's leadership ensured that the Sovereign Front became the natural party of government, his focus was far too wide and expansive, desiring for dynamic change at the national level that would give birth to the prophesied Spacenoid Revolution to overthrow the Federation. Despite Gihren's later conversion to Federalism and Colony Right's for government, he could not tend to the needs of every individual colony or be aware of the particular social climates that were present in each cylinder. Gihren may have visited every single Zeon colony at least once during his rule, but he was always a Zum City man first and thus could never be completely aware or attending of the individual colony, a trait that both Degwin and Sasro Zabi shared. While it can be said that any national leader would share the same traits, the lack of Federalism in the Sovereign Front's chapter until 0078 and the highly centralized nature of the early Principality allowed the Contolists and Independents to come in and play local politics while the Sovereign Populists only concerned themselves with the machinations within Zum City. Contolist and Independent campaigns would go door to door and focus not on the national picture, but on local needs such as neighborhood crime, school district politics, cultural and artistic events, community sports, and more. The Sovereign Populists may have had their share of politicians who tended to the same concerns, but such men and women were vastly outnumbered by the Contolists and Independents, especially the Independents who were being filled with Nationalist Caucuses to help take part in the Homeland Cultural Revival that was spouted by Gihren Zabi. While the Sovereign Populists would earn their claim to be the Natural Party of Government on election night, the Contolists and Independents would earn the hearts of millions and go on to win 46 and 57 Mayoralities respectively out of 260. Colonial Councils would be further won with a total of 91 opposition majorities or coalitions. These grand achievements do not even count the millions of offices in bureaucracy that were filled by Contolists and Independents. The Sovereign Front may have had their day, and they would continue to have it for many years to come, but the Contolists and Independents had laid their foundation and set the course for true Zeon democracy." "In many ways the 0070 General Election was both an affirmation of the standard politics of the Federation while at the same time being a revolutionary event that would be one of the many nails in the coffin that created the Twilight Seventies. While the election itself may not be as visibly eventful or full of change as something like the 1933 Weimar Election, the 1860 American Presidential Election, or the 1998 Brazilian Presidential Election; an argument can be made for the 0070 election having many of the same qualities. The obvious winners of the election was the reigning and hegemonic Federalist party, winning a comfortable majority of 1265 seats. However, such a majority came at a steep price at the net loss of 122 seats, strengthening the opposition while opening up the Federalists to a potential collapse in the next election cycle. The Federalist campaigned on a strong solar economy which saw increase in employment and wages across the Earth sphere, the greatly decreased planetary crime rates on Earth through Marcena's war on crime, expansion and modernization of the Federal Forces, expansion of Belt operations, education reform, and explosion of the Martian agro-state. The main detraction by the opposition against the Federalists, and the reason for their overall loss of seats was due to Marcenas' handling of the Sides and the increase of Spacenoid Nationalism with the founding of the Principality to Zeon. Opposition candidates claimed that Marcenas had his hand in the sand and was appeasing Zeon Nationalism instead of taking firm action such as during the Nehru administration against Zeon Deikun. Despite the rise in Earth-Space tensions, a majority of viewers felt that the status quo was fine and that an isolation and defeat of the Zabi's was natural, therefore giving the Federalists a mandate for five more years. In second place was the traditional opposition the Labor party. Labor would gain 64 seats to move from their devastating loss in 0065 to 555 seats in the Assembly. Labor would primarily campaign on what they viewed as Marcenas' failed welfare reform with the only concrete victories being University accessibility and pharmaceutical subsidies. Labor claimed that the economic growth of the overall Zeon Miracle was spread disproportionately and only a select few on Earth and Space reaped the benefits while the common worker got a bare bump in salary. Labor's gains would primarily be in Earth's urban core while they lost seats in third world member-states. While it was a technical victory, Labor failed in their mission to force the Federalists to coalition or get to the much hyped third seat ownership, a sign of their overall decline from the Schrodinger era. The clearest losers of the night would be the Ecoist Party. The Ecoists were on a downward spiral since their heyday under Edward Skye, their only true victories since then being their role as supply in the second Nehru administration. The 0070 election would see the Ecoist seat plummet from 232 to a bare 46. The reason for the Ecoist collapse are long and heavily detailed, from Ecoist Leader Dalton's impeachment over sex abuse, the revelation of the embezzlement ring in 0066, an inability to connect to new generations of voters, and the worldwide collapse of the Green vote with only 11 national governments being governed by a Green party in 0070. No matter the spread of corruption within the party or failures on the National scale, the main failure of the Ecoists was the apathy of Earth towards environmentalism. The effects of deporting a supermajority of humanity to space was beginning to show economically and with the near elimination of fossil fuel usage in the Universal Century and conversion to total digital with the Zeon Miracle, the electorate was no longer passionate about the environment, indeed the only people who seemed to care about Earth's physical well-being was the much despised Zeon, with even the Zabi dynasty slowly dropping Contolism. Ecoism, the ideology which had shaped the Universal Century through Skye's Side Settlement Plan, was nearing its death. From here the Ecoist party would never again reach power within the Federation. Last, but most certainly not least, were the clear victors of the night, Terra Firma. The radical Terran-centric party, which had gained a small victory through Gihren Zabi's adoption of Terran instead of Earthnoid to term citizens of Earth, had nearly quadrupled in size with a gain of 233 from 71 to 304 seats. TF's rise into a mainstream party was thanks to Zeon Nationalism and the meteoric rise of the Principality of Zeon. In the Deikun era Zeon was merely a lonely chihuahua, barking at the Earth among an apathetic collection of Sides. The Zabi-led Principality on the other hand was a hungry wolf, one that was gathering a pack of like-minded Spacenoids. Zeon's incredible economic success, their technological and cultural revolution, and increasing leadership among the Sides served as a wakeup call to Earth. With every Zabi success, Terra Firma shouted on how space was eclipsing mother Earth and how the homeworld was now being eclipsed by colonies full of Nationalists that sought to leave Earth to rot and whither. Zeon Zum Deikun may have been a boogeyman to Terra Firma, but he was a demon that preached a dream that could never possibly come true. Under the Zabi's it seemed that Earth may actually be left behind. Terra Firma's membership soared on every continent, its ranks being filled by tens of millions who did not want their jobs to go to space or to be forced to leave their ancestral lands behind just so some trees could grow. The ruling Federalists may have been the party of the Federation, but they were the party that oversaw a majority of humanity be exported to space based on flimsy environmental alarmism. With the opposing Ecoist and Labor parties being just as involved, it seemed that Terra Firma was the only party to keep Earth relevant. To the political establishment, Terra Firma's rise was an unpleasant one, though nothing to be too alarmed at as they were only 13% of the Assembly. What the establishment in all of the traditional parties didn't know however was that the number was far greater, as in their party primaries there had arisen a number of candidates who had similar positions of either geocentricism or Terran supremacy, it's just that they were too ideologically rooted in the traditional spectrum to leave their respective parties. If one was to take into account the respective positions of each MP for the Earth space divide, about 40% of the Assembly was either geocentric or Terran supremacist. Terra Firma's victory was not the cause of Earth-based radicalism, it was a symptom. This silent minority, while not solely responsible for the Twilight Seventies and Fourth World War, would be a major factor in their creations through their actions and influence in the Marcenas and South administrations."
-History of the First Earth Federation Volume 4: 0068-0079 by Mei Hartfield UC 0180
A/N: Hello everyone Kaiser Chris here. In this chapter of Gihren's Glory, we wrap up the Zeon national elections and Sasro's personal arc of rising as his own man and standing as an equal to his siblings. Since the possibility of a Sovereign Front victory was never in doubt, I wanted to focus more on this chapter on how Sasro handles his victory and where he intends to move forward, with plenty of more potential for his character in the chapters to follow as a strong player in Zeon on the same footing as Kaiser Gihren and the other Zabis. With that section done, I also wanted to focus on how the opposition is doing and how despite losing nationally, they had various victories on election night with the potential to rise up and take power in the future. Lastly we have the outcome of the Federal Elections, with the ruling Federalists continuing their control of the Earth Federation with another term for Marcenas, while Terran supremacy begins to infect the Federation proper with large hints of escalation in the future. Future chapters will begin to have a greater focus on the rising conflict between Earth and space, how the butterflies have changed humanity for the better or worse, and how the Earth sphere will never be the same. Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!