Interview with Prime Minister-elect

[Election Central] October 14

The Drama Llama Herald spoke with Prime Minister-elect, The Serres Republic (Serres), about his plans for the incoming Cabinet and his own personal aspirations. The following are excerpts of that conversation, transcribed by the Herald. They have been lightly edited for readability.

DLH: Congratulations on your election, Prime Minister-elect.

SERRES: Thank you! Im really excited to move into the next term. I really think we are posed to succeed as a region right now and I'm super grateful that voters have given me the opportunity to lead them!

DLH: In your campaign, you argued for a consistent and reliable position in the gameplay community. Given that the Coalition has, in the past, made blunders in this area, with Cabinet Ministers contradicting the official policy, how might you handle a similar situation? Will you be barring, as has been proposed in the previous incidents, government officials from speaking in gameplay - so as to not risk contradiction?

SERRES: This has always been a hard issue for us, with our Cabinet never really having a solution to the issue due to the independence of each Minister. I do not wish to restrict that independence either because the right to manage their ministries is a huge deal for me, something I will always aim to protect. This however has the devil's advocate argument of 'Well Minister's with too much independence put us at risk of repeat our past mistakes.'

I truly believe I have found a solution to this issue and that is respectful cabinet unity and a clear, defined process. I will be pushing for intensive private discussion to be conducted before any public posts are released. This will ensure that we can all be on the same page and not contradict each other unintentionally when posting in public areas.

Furthermore I will not allow disrespect between cabinet members. We can disagree without flaming each other and it is my primary goal during inter cabinet discussions to enforce this mindset with a heavy hand. It is my intention to build respect between cabinet members by forcing them to respect each other's voices and opinions. No such thing as stupid questions. No such thing as an incorrect approach. We will hear everyone out and then settle on a policy we can all agree on before moving into the realm of the public forum.

DLH: Former Prime Minister, Mr. Roavin, controversially proposed a Motion of No Confidence in himself and the Cabinet. Should you find yourself unable to effectively lead with what may be an uncooperative Cabinet, do you envision taking a similar route as the former Prime Minister took.

SERRES: A Motion of No Confidence is a necessary tool to ensure that the region can be protect by toxic, non productive, or dangerous leadership. It should be treated as a necessary last resort which I personally to this day believe was prematurely used in that case by Roavin as a PM. Not only was the Cabinet term closing out, allowing for potential new leadership, but after officially investigating the incident I can confidently say that the issues were a matter of respect between Cabinet Members. Something that could have been overcome with proper approach and policy. However to answer your question, as a last resort I would definitely use that tool to protect the region as TSP is my top priority.

DLH: Transparency and communication has been a major issue of the current administration. How do you intend on improving in these areas?

SERRES: I agree! Which is why the first step is just posting updates the top priority for me will be official statements immediately after policy has been decided via the previously described method. This alone will do a huge part in beating that issue.

DLH: You have raised the issue of under-staffing as one of the most important problems facing the Coalition. Could you expound on what you mean by this?

SERRES: To give a few examples of the problem. 1: Roavin who is a General and a Forum Administrator running for Minister of Military Affairs. 2: Glenn who is a member of the Council on Regional Security, Associate Justice of the High Court, and a Forum Administrator, running for Minister of Foreign Affairs 3: Vietnam holding both General and LegComm. 4: Us [The South Pacific] only having one Legislator Committee member (when we should have 3).

I can keep going, the fact is that we don't have enough hands to run the region efficiently. I plan to change that by actively scouting out and including members that have established themselves and are on the cusp of being ready for leadership. A few examples would be IoU, Yourself [Amerion], and Prarie. I then, with the help of the cabinet, push right forward with getting these types of people into the different ministries and directly assisting the Ministers while being educated on how to hold the positions and run them.

Additionally I will be continuing and strengthening our recruitment telegrams to bring in more new faces to train for this purpose as well.

DLH: What is your opinion of the Southern World Assembly Initiative?

SERRES: I plan on continuing to work on SWAI in the coming term. I am really excited to see where this Initiative goes!

DLH: The South Pacific recently saw the involuntary exit of two of its most prominent members, Tim and Escade. What do you make of those events?

SERRES: I have been in TSP for 4 years almost now (The entirety of my NS career) I am close friends with a ridiculous amount of people in the region and that event really struck home. Not only do Tim and Escade no longer consider me a friend for choosing to stay with TSP. It was an emotional and difficult event for me and it was compounded by Resentine my closest friend on NS leaving as well. However; in his and their honor, regardless of what has happened or will happen, I am moving forward with the goal of repairing my home. It is my hope that one day TSP will be even better than it was before. That is going to take work and proper leadership however and that is why I am here. I’m standing because my friends cannot and I see it as my duty to lead in their absence.

DLH: Is there anything you would like to say to your opponent in the election, Mr. Islands of Unity?

SERRES: I want him to know that with the proper training and adjustment of mindset he could really be fit to lead TSP. He is on my shortlist of candidates to train for that after all. He seems to approach this in a way that is too much like RL politics. We are building a community, not a country, we need to get along and respect each other in order to do that, fighting with longstanding members is not the way to build an active and close knit community! In the coming term I'm inviting him to join me in helping find great new members to train while also teaching him about all of the stuff he doesn't know himself. Like who our important allies our, what our regional history entails, and the way our community functions on the minute and massive!

DLH: Thank you very much Prime Minister-elect for taking the time to talk with us.