[1] Though the institutional referendum yielded a decisive majority in favor of the republic, Argyria's republican transition was uneasy: ultraviolet riots surged (and were put down with extreme prejudice) even as Queen Agathe eventually formally accepted the results; a faction of the Conservatives, led by the disgraced Beratidis, refused to recognize the referendum, even touting a letter from General Angelis denouncing the results' supposed threat to Argyrian values and nationhood. As elections to the first Popular Assembly - the one that would draft the Constitution - fast approached, Argyrian democratic society seemed in peril.
The Liberals, in lieu of nominating a veteran leader, settled on Iosif Kafieris. A fourth-generation military man of Kyrenaikan extraction, he was an unusual leader for the party of "urban coppolas", though accepted by party leadership as a low-key, reliable legislator uninvolved in factional infighting, by Agrarians as a business-minded administrator with long-standing ties in Little Sicily, and by the public as a personable politician opposed to royalist terror and liberal excesses.
With an unprecedented majority behind him, Kafieris moved to implement basic provisions of the Liberal program - reforming the justice system, getting rid of electoral restrictions, etc. - while also pursuing parliamentary cooperation and practical compromises. One of Kafieris' most significant achievements was spelling reform, reflecting Argyrian Greek conventions and settling the severely ethnically charged Alphabet Question. This enabled Kafieris to be publicly perceived as an apolitical figurehead - all while actively pursuing his goals of dismantling Matzinite party machinery and absorbing the Agrarians into the Liberal Party. A powerful base of so-called 'Kafierists' soon emerged, composed primarily of party workers from Filippopolis and freshmen deputies from previously deep-blue districts that owed their careers to the Kafieris wave.
The Global War greatly transformed Argyria: though Vesperian economic pressure and development of new lands for farming weakened the Little Sicilian ranchers and their political influence, and the country was affected by the post-war recession as many other countries were, new cities grew in oil-rich valleys and industrial outskirts, as professionals from Rhomania, Leon, moved to reap the benefits of Argyria's economic boom.
While not without its hiccups, Kafieris' tenure seemed long and prosperous, and he left office as a widely respected statesman.
[2] Maxentios Volpato, Kafieris's Minister of Justice, began his political career as a Matzinite machinist and ascended to power by mediating intraparty conflicts and building ties with Kafieris. Charismatic, brazen and persuasive, Maxi was lionized for his prosecution of the Laconian Society and criminal boss Gregor "King" Masterson. By 1929, his status as Kafieris's successor and the future Liberal leader was unassailable.
History would not be so kind. While historians no longer believe that the Clysman Collapse decimated shipping as greatly as has been argued, it did bring bourse trade to a screeching halt. Even so, the President remained popular for some months, by virtue of his rhetorical ability and proposed measures to prevent an economic freefall. Then it became increasingly clear that a lot of the "proposed measures" were byproducts of constant infighting and negotiations between Volpato and his cabinet, and the ones that were properly implemented did not achieve the intended effect: Volpato's attempt to secure the Argyrian dinar hampered exports and led to an employment crisis. Disaffected farm workers soon formed unions, marching upon New Athens and shouting increasingly radical slogans.
Though it could be said that Volpato's deflationary policies and farming programs set the stage for Karenides's public works, Argyria's economic recovery, Volpato's heavy-handed response to Vulgarist protests and sordid relationship with his own ministers have defined the second Republican President's reputation for a long, long time.
[3] In the end, Conservatives were put back into power, promising to secure the Argyrian economy. Frankiskos Karenides, veteran financier and heir to a prominent Pontic banking family, surprised Argyrian media by keeping his party's laten-leven tendencies in check and rejecting any and all insinuations of abolishing spelling reform.
To the relief of impoverished Argyrians, Karenides kept his party's pro-business tendencies in check, expanding and introducing new relief programs. Though Karenides's domestic overtures, collectively known as Dimósia Anárrosi, seemed to parallel those of Stauning's Vesperia, their relationship was tenuous: the President of Argyria had little tolerance for leftism and for Vesperian voluntarism, both of which had a healthy presence in the Vesperian Consul's worldview, and would work to strengthen trade networks in the Far Occident with Argyria being the top dog, as well as negotiating beef and lamb exports with Morocco and France.
Karenides' tenure, more than anything else, was oriented towards weakening political movements. The chief target of this was the ultraviolet Heritage Party, rebranded by 1930 under the "Everything for Argyria" ticket - while its leader, Duke Ismailidis, was arguably moderate compared to the ultranationalists of 1910s, he still maintained correspondence with former Sons of Rome officials, Osmanist exiles and Cleopatrist moguls in Egypt; the party's apparent organizational support by the Novatorist regime in Russia did much to ensure an inquiry into their activities. Similar cases would soon surround members of far-left organizations, be it the rurally oriented, vocally anti-socialist Vulgarists, many of whom had by that point joined the populist Tiverios Tzakson's Union of Farmers, or urban socialists and anarchists of the Radical Party; the latter, while not banned, found itself worn down by cases against its top leaders and outcompeted by the Union of Farmers.
Ultimately, Karenides' choice to retire without calling an election was mostly a matter of age: Karenides, who was once a staffer in the Beratidis' Ministry of Commerce, hit seventy by the time 1943 rolled over, and his administration intended to shore up its approval ratings amidst an economic downturn and increasing tensions on the foreign front.
[4] Alkiviades Nikolatzis became President in inauspicious circumstances. The Tsingtao Incident put Japan and China - and by extension the rest of the world - on the verge of another worldwide war. Russia, Japan, Ireland - a great many governments were caught up in chauvinist fervor and opposition to the world order established in the wake of the Global War.
The Rhoman Republic was abolished with the inauguration of right-wing general Karaliades, prompting a small wave of immigration to Hellenophone countries and yet another round of suspicion towards the Conservative government.
After securing a term in his own right against staunch Kafierist Linos Vasiliou, primarily on favorable economic growth and the promise of "keeping Argyria out of war", the President found himself backing out on it following an attack by Brasilian soldiers on a radio tower on the border. While immensely bloody and associated with systematic massacres and the deaths of 55 million people, the Second Global War (1945-1948) would prove to be relatively short.
For some time, Nikolatzis was considered Argyria's greatest leader. His handling of the Brasilian Front soon became a hot point among soldiers returning from the Cisplatine and certain left-wing leaders. Housing, too, had become an important issue in the wake of the war, with Nikolatzis and his "economic cardinals"' management of the issue - seeing "blacklisting" of certain neighborhoods - exposing ethnic tension and bringing the issues of Argyria's meschling population, vast and previously rather invisible, to the fore. The independence of the Republic of the Cisplatine, while ultimately favorable for Argyria, was fraught with debacles over potential annexation and terms of trade in ports of the Silver River's northern shore.
Not helping matters was Nikolatzis's personality: an ardent rank-and-file Conservative who placed loyalty above all else, Alkis lacked charisma and was held in great contempt by Liberals. Thus, his failure to get Liberals on board with the Grand Housing Bill of 1949 and negotiations with newly-elected Consul Saldanha contributed greatly to his 1950 defeat.
[5] Avrilianos Dandolos is traditionally overlooked by the public and considered unusual by historians: he was one of the few governors in Argyrian history to make a direct leap to party leadership, and the only one to lead his party to a majority. A shipping entrepreneur who made his name as a foreign and economic policy elder, Dandolos identified with the Liberal right (historically named after 19th century deputy Brant Konali), and, indeed, decided that the public works and healthcare programs introduced by past Presidents did not need any further inprovement or interference, other than "minor streamlining".
Dandolos' approach was understandable from the perspective of the time: the mild economic growth of the late Forties had neatly transitioned into a vast economic boom, with the metro areas of New Athens, Iasaropolis and Agios Expeditos benefitting from reconstruction and swelling with dozens of thousands of people. Though no longer the undeniable breadbasket of Brasil that it once was, Argyria saw its economy diversify with state-of-the-art machinery, grand refineries in the west and the beginnings of tourism. Argyrian magazines, music and wine increasingly pervaded the Far Occident, favored even by staunch Muslims in Tukandal and by staunch Helvetianists in Vesperia. Argyrian teams' dominance at the 1952 Olympiad and the Occidental Cup were the face of the Dandolomania that had, even for a brief moment, swept the country. Detrimental effects were present, of course: even despite changes made to housing programs, problems with disinvestment and attacks on households persisted; the growing demands of tourism made cooptment of existing resorts and resort companies by shipping conglomerates, with all the illegal employment and fraud viable; the interests of labor unions and environmental concerns became visible, often running counter to each other and to Liberal interests. Though Dandolos and his administration did much to investigate and settle conflicts in the Argyrian shipping industry, the President was ambivalent about how wide the scope should be, and notably told Minister of Justice Papaioannou that it was for the provincial governments to deal with.
Thus, when shipping magnate and hotel proprietor Petros Gebran was arrested for laundering millions of talers and smuggling, accusations of corruption were soon levied against Dandolos, who worked in Gebran's company and with Gebran as Governor of Agios Expeditos. Though the courts ultimately found Dandolos to be innocent, several Liberal functionaries, starting with Mayor of Agios Expeditos Viko Zefereti, were charged with accepting bribes and facilitating a money-laundering ring; the "stench of corruption" soon spilled over onto the Ministry of Development. Louis Mendes, a freshman Liberal deputy and Brasilian Front veteran of half-Andalusian Jewish mischling descent, led the charge in demanding an inquiry; by forcing him out of the party, Dandolos and his men hastened their administration's demise.
(4) Alkiviades Nikolatzis won a second (non-consecutive) term in inauspicious circumstances. The former war leader, ruthless and deeply involved, campaigned heavily on cleaning up corruption and standing up against criminals and unsavory state actors - namely Qulania, whose war on the Koellanisch Bevrijdingsfront was increasingly spilling over into Argyria. Even so, the Conservatives failed to attain a majority, with many maintaining goodwill towards Dandolos for economic prosperity and most disgruntled voters, particularly urban ones, choosing to vote for the dynamic Louis Mendes and his New Force. Much noise was made over the traditionally shipping-friendly Conservatives decrying Dandolos's corrupt connections in the shipping industry.
In any case, a minority government was not the preferred outcome. Occassionally depending on right-wing independents and the rotting corpse of the Tzakson political machine to pass bills, Nikolatzis ultimately came to avoid publicity as he focused on introducing increasingly severe anti-corruption and police reform bills, trudging through ever-stiffer opposition from Liberals and New Force deputies, and trying to get the Qulanian government to achieve a negotiated settlement. Ultimately, after a failed budgetary vote, Nikolatzis pushed to hold snap elections; his Minister of Development and party secretary Panikos Pierri convinced him to let "fresh blood" into the leadership race.
[6] At 47 years old, Panikos Pierri was the first President born in the 20th century. Having first joined the Conservatives as a paperboy, Pierri was noted by Karenides for his campaign to induct Italo-Argyrians into the party and soon grew prominence as the manager of the party's campaign wing. An effective administrator and personable fellow who was well-attuned to urban issues, Pierri was favored by Conservative leadership as a potential leader.
Facing off against Ivasopolis MP and labor leader Iannis Sampson in the 1957 elections, Panikos Pierri was successful in attaining a majority; as the Liberals dipped into infighting and the Qulanian government finally came to an agreement with the Bevrijdingsfront, holding free and fair elections with AEO supervision, this proved to be easier than thought. Much of Pierri's tenure was devoted to working out a comprehensive housing bill - firmly criminalizing blacklisting practices, among other things - and, increasingly, representing Argyria in world affairs, making the first call for a "standstill agreement" on atmospheric atomic testing, and working out new inter-Hesilian trade agreements.
The Vaudreuil Agreement of 1960 is to this day considered a crowning achievement in combatting smuggling. It also produced controversy for the President, as the terms of the agreement - and Pierri's subsequent policies - were deemed a bit too favorable to tobacco and wine companies based in Argyria, bringing about a very public spat between the Conservatives and Primo Joubert, the third Consul of the Cisplatine and a staunchly conservative Christian Democrat.
Pierri's successes were thereafter undermined by foreign blunders - failing to negotiate the building of a proposed AEO rocket launch site with Vesperia, for starters - and by protests against police brutality, starting in New Athens' Miaoulika neighborhood (primarily inhabited by Afro- and Romani Argyrians) and spreading to the rest of the city over the next months. Considered 'middling' by the end of his term, Pierri unexpectedly chose to resign as Conservative leader, citing continued family issues and mental exhaustion - though he did ultimately play a leading role in "directing" his successor's campaign.
[7] By 1962, the outgoing President was still personally popular, the Liberal nominee was publicly perceived as nebulous, and New Force lost much of its reputation among working-class voters for its support of the Miaoulika riots. All of that was just enough for Emilios Rouslanopoulos, Pierri's Foreign Minister, to just barely come short of a majority. Actually shoring up Conservative approval ratings was, in the President's own opinion, his "most daunting task".
Lacking the parliamentary acumen of Nikolatzis or the dynamism of Pierri, Emilios instead banked on his credentials as a "tough taskmaster", making light of his past as a military officer and war correspondent, his involvement in Aricoupa Accords and, above all, his preference for Law and Order. The problem was that, for all his genuine intelligence, Emil came off as authoritarian and had difficulty dealing with the media or knowing when to stop: this made him an unpalatable figure to urban youth and many voters who fled the Karaliades regime, and - after the publication of borderline derogatory comments in regards to the Miaoulika protests and related trials - perceived as a flappable buffoon. Ultimately, the most significant accomplishment of the Rouslanopoulos administration is believed to be local government reform, establishing a capital district and establishing several new provinces on the basis of the overgrown New Athens metro area - though its positive effects would only be felt after a few years.
[8] Affectionally known by supporters as "Grand Pat" or "Grandpappy Pat" (depending on whether they were of Italian or British extraction), Patrikios Chasan Berri is considered one of the modern Liberals' defining political figures. Born in 1897 to a Syrian Arab shoemaker and an Ulsterite seamstress on the shores of Olbia, Berri was Argyria's first British-Argyrian President, as well as the only one in Argyrian history to be a Protestant.
Raised in Olbia on the western shores of Argyria, Pat Berri began his political career as a labor union activist; historically affiliated with the Radical Party, Berri became a Liberal following a conflict with fellow union members and service in the Second Global War, though he stated repeatedly that his involvement in socialist organizations "left quite the lasting effect on [his] outlook". Berri's jocular, larger-than-life personality and ever-expanding union and party contacts made him a fairly notable assemblyman; even so, his victory in the 1962 leadership election was unexpected, particularly so because of Pat Berri's age.
The 1964 election saw Berri propel his party to a vast majority, benefitting from Rouslanopoulos' unpopularity and the New Force central committee's decision to join the Liberals. Berri's first term was marked by substantial societal change such as renationalization of the steel industry and railroads, decriminalization of homophilic relationships and new legislation to address racial and ethnic discrimination; further successes that the Berri administration championed included the minimalization of external debt and unemployment, expansion of evening schools, and an "Argyrocentric", Vespero-skeptical foreign policy. A lot of these achievements often came despite the President, whose left-populist aspirations often defied the traditional Liberal platform; Berri's laidback attitude and prudence in legislation belied a domineering personality. Intraparty conflicts were thus unavoidable, as was a party schism by former Minister of Development Savvas Zaropoulos, who openly accused Berri of trying to subvert Argyrian liberalism. Nevertheless, Berri had little difficulty triumphing over his opponents.
Berri's second term was compounded by economic difficulties, primarily pertaining to oil production decline and competition in the petrochemical sphere with countries such as Tukanhola, Vesperia and the newly-democratic government of Zanzibar. Berri's renegotiation of oil exports with the AEO was marred by the President's sour relations not just with his counterparts and oil companies, but with his own cabinet - in an affair referred by De Courant as "The Neouenken War". Much light of the economic decline, Berri's increasing conflicts with the Assembly, and Berri's advanced age was made by Theofilia Ferante, the Conservatives' bright new leader.
The 1974 election was ultimately won by Berri, then nearing 77 years old, but the Liberal Party failed to secure a majority. Though publicly stating that he "intended to serve until at least 1980" and implying that he would call a snap election, Berri ultimately resigned in the spring of 1976.
[9] Tomas Konali, Liberal party secretary, ascended to the position in the late Berri years as a compromise choice; while a good friend and ally of Grand Pat, Konali was in many ways the opposite of his superior – a member of the Liberal right and the son of a long-time deputy from Iasaropolis (though ironically unrelated to the assemblyman for whom his political tendency was named), Konali was very much a background player, and the kind of politician Berri lambasted in his early campaigns.
With Berri's resignation, Konali pursued substantial party-wide reform - the main consequence of it being that Presidents no longer have to lead the party apparatus - and backtracked on a number of Berri's more "stalwart" initiatives, deregulating the television industry, re-repealing certain sections of the Protesters' Conduct Bill and downsizing the National Industrial Board while making it more efficient with greater introduction of technology.
President Konali, busy largely with management of foreign affairs and stabilization of parliamentary proceedings, was greatly derided for his administration's supposed lack of transparency and continued lackluster economic growth; the fact that Konali led the Liberals into the election stemmed more from a lack of non-scandalized leadership material than anything else.
[10] Iakovos Vasiliadis, a winemaker and Conservative deputy from Papalardou, achieved notability primarily on the basis of his victory over Theofania Ferante, that seemingly unassailable rising star of the Conservative Party, in the 1978 leadership election – in part by using her own celebrity status, and skewed priorities as a leader, against her. Coming to power after more than a decade of Liberal government, Vasiliadis positioned himself as a political outsider who would bring good government and a flourishing economy to replace Pat and Tom's socialist malaise.
While Vasiliadis as President would prove to be milder - and more than a little bit patronage-friendly - than his populist campaign suggested, he did make good on reducing the political strength of trade unions and "revitalizing" Argyria's shipping industry and small businesses, even if it took considerable cuts to existing relief programs. Vasiliadis's popularity waned due to an economic recession and conflicts in his administration between "Jake's cronies" and technocrats affiliated with past Conservative administrations. As 1983 began with reports of economic growth - and polls showing high Conservative approval ratings - Iakovos took the opportunity to call for a new election.
[11] Ethelbert Romero's victory came as a shock to many pundits, who did not expect the former Antofagasta city councillor and deputy to defeat the more-or-less still popular President. Born in a small town on the border of Qulania and Argyria, Ethelbert grew up in a military family, with roots in England as well as Argyria's own Little Sicily, and briefly worked in the police as a detective during the so-called "hash years" before becoming a politician. All of this, to a degree, influenced Romero's political thinking and broad image: deeply professional, a tad conservative and hardline on matters of crime (especially drugs), Romero was intensely proactive and felt that Argyria should be the same way, and - perhaps the first President in decades - named his meschling heritage as a point of pride.
Ethelbert's tenure is primarily remembered for its attempts to bring investors to deindustrializing districts, Argyria's increased involvement in the AES (including the creation of the Secretariat on Environmental Affairs and the General Assembly), the prioritization of environmental issues in general and mental health. More than anything else, it was deeply affected by anemic economic growth in 1986, Romero's attempts to stamp out the drug trade, and Argyria's involvement in the War in Dahomey - all of which strained Romero's relationship with the Assembly and led to a surge of anti-Vesperian sentiment across the country.
[12] Regino Kapaki, heir to a wealthy banking family and long-time Conservative deputy, only emerged as a party leader recently - a self-described laten-leven conservative, he was successful in harnessing Romero's misconduct in the War in Dahomey, his Anti-Drug Bills, and the administration's supposed failure to fix the economy to prevail above his Liberal opponent, Themistoklis Theodoropoulos. Agreeable and charismatic, Kapaki was deeply involved with his party's campaigning apparatus, and was favorable with most of the Conservatives' internal factions - up to and including the remnants of the deeply right-wing Vasiliadis group.
Kapaki's strength as a broadly popular candidate also was his greatest weakness: as President, Kapaki's most singular focus was "restoring the Argyrian economy", going further than Romero in slashing taxes and certain "wasteful" welfare programs, going abroad to meet with creditors, and proposing a 'hard' Brasilian Currency Unit. On social issues, however, Kapaki was considered mildly liberal, and came closer than any President before him in reforming abortion laws - angering many in his party who expected that Kapaki would uphold his campaign promises. Kapaki's mixed economic legacy and record of constantly backtracking on his promises weakened his popularity by 1995, ensuring a victory for Theodoropoulos.
[13] A third-generation barrister from New Athens, Themistoklis Theodoropoulos became visible as a rising star fairly early on - as far back as 1983, when he was only elected to the Assembly, the 37-year-old deputy and future Minister of Commerce was deemed a potential future leader by The News. Unlike most such "rising stars", however, he was successful in achieving control of party leadership - mainly by promoting himself as a "compromise candidate" between Romero, Konalites and the "new left" of the party - and defeating the beleaguered Regino Kapaki.
Though Theodoropoulos would later fill back Kapaki's tax cuts and oversee an increase in public spending, he was, for the most part, content to continue the economic consensus established in Argyria under his past three predecessors and the rest of the Occident. Successfully negotiating Kana II and seeing a surplus emerge by the end of 1997, Theodoropoulos basked in popularity. His biggest problem was his tendency to get blinded by success; bolstered by opinion polls, the President overturned Argyria's rigid abortion law. This, in addition to troubled trade negotiations with the WEEC, overturning of some of Romero's anti-crime provisions, the failure to bail out the deindustrializing, predominantly British-descent province of Rosalia, would result in attacks on Theodoropoulos by right-wing news media - already strong even in the latter eighties - and the signing of the so-called "Christian Charter" by a number of (mainly British-Argyrian) deputies.
[14] A "fun fact" that commonly crops up in crossword magazines is that Petros Timuridis is the most recent President to have been born outside Argyria - specifically in Alexandria, Egypt. Regardless, Petros is one of the the Republic's longest-serving Presidents, and - despite falling approval ratings in the 2010s - continues to be held in high esteem as one of the "grand old men" of Argyrian politics.
A veteran diplomat and "dull technocrat" to some, Timuridis benefitted from Theodoropoulos's falling public image, promising "moderate politics" and, as the Liberal President's negotations with Ireland and Scotland on technology collapsed, "Argyrian concerns first". Timuridis's tenure was marked by relative economic prosperity, the institution of homophilic unions, increased digitalization of both federal and local government, and greater involvement of Argyria in Hellenophone organizations - to the point where Timuridis jokingly called himself "the first Rhoman President" in 2005. With Liberal leadership divided - Theodoropoulos having fought Romeroite candidates for the nomination in 2000 and propped up his old ally Lambrou in 2005 - Timuridis remained largely popular with the population for his clean, professional attitude, occassional successes in geopolitical disputes with Vesperia, and overall economic growth - austerity, wars in Central Asia and private defense contractor and Rhoman business lobbying scandals notwithstanding.
This extended even to 2010, when the Indian stock market bubble burst led to an economic recession; though at that point the President's age began showing all the same.
[15] The newly-elected Liberal President, Ignasio Mendes, has captivated public imagination in the same way that Dandolos, Berri and Romero once did - at 42, he is the youngest President in the history of the Argyrian Republic, as well as its first Jewish President. Closely related to 20th century political pioneer Louis Mendes, Iggy defeated a number of established candidates (including Theodoropoulos's former Minister of Development Iasar Versatse) and fought his way through to the nomination; he remains broadly popular with youth voters, having promised change to Argyria's economic consensus and greater "power to the people". Unashamedly left-wing, Iggy marked his first 100 days by revitalizing the National Industrial Board and instituting reforms that gave greater flexibility to local government. Whether his tremendous popularity will extend past the "honeymoon period" remains to be seen, though the continued - even if waning - presence of the Christian conservative Chartist Bloc, and the emergence of Neouenken governor Alexandros Chasan's populist vanity project on the political arena indicate that opposition to Liberals will continue to remain fairly fractious.
