Margaret Harrison in December 2018

Stockholm (KTN) — Margaret Harrison returned to Executive Valkyria for the first time since her attempted assassination on 14 November, resuming her responsibilities as the Chancellor of the Valkyrian Republic. Concurrently, the National Police arrested 674 people who they suspect to be members of various cultist groups designated as such by the agency's Office of Cultist Movement Investigations. In a press conference, Chief David Lawson said that 43 of the arrests were made in connection to the attempted assassination of the chancellor. The other arrests were made in connection to other ongoing investigations into cultist activities around the country. The police chief said that a detailed report on Tuesday's arrests will be released within three months.

At Executive Valkyria, Harrison was greeted by First Vice Chancellor Taeler Shaw, who had been serving as acting chancellor for the past month, with a flower bouquet and a hug. In the chancellor's office, the acting chancellor ceremoniously returned the powers of the office to the chancellor. Speaking before the press, Harrison made an ominous statement, "We cannot afford complacency before the enemies of peace, freedom, and democracy—from within and without. We have a cultist threat at home and there are ideological powers outside who are staging for total war in Reizen. We will be vigilant and we will be strong, but we must not forget that we strive for peace. We will fight when we must and we will destroy what we must. Sometimes, a war must be fought for the greater good and greater peace."

Stella Kaufman in December 2018

Stockholm (KTN) — Looking towards the July 2019 general election, the Conservative Party has elected Stella Kaufman as its leader, abandoning former Qvaitican president Jonathan Victor. The leadership election was triggered after Kaufman earned majority support from the party's Members of Parliament to hold one. By a vote of 35 to 27, Kaufman defeated Victor, the incumbent leader. After winning the leadership, Kaufman announced that, if necessary, she would look to build a coalition with Opposition Leader Nicole Chancellor, the parliamentary leader of The New Right, in the aftermath of the July 2019 general election. The new Conservative parliamentary leader said, "A clash of personalities—not ideologies—is the reason why a new United Conservative Party cannot be formed. I am here to change that."

Since June 2017, Kaufman served as the Shadow Secretary of Intelligence for the Conservative Party. After being appointed to the position by Victor, she voiced persistent criticism of Intelligence Secretary Jonathan Wade for what she alleged to be "weak leadership of the intelligence services". In the aftermath of the attempted assassination of Chancellor Margaret Harrison, a sniper attack that killed four people, Kaufman introduced the Expansion of Security Powers Act in an effort to give the Intelligence Directorates the ability to collect data from computers and other devices without the need of a warrant.

Immediately after Kaufman's election, the Leader of the Opposition congratulated her on becoming the Leader of the Conservative Party and expressed a desire to cooperate with her, "Together, we can build a stronger, sovereign, and conservative Valkyria." Centrist Democratic parliamentary leader Victor Cutter expressed hope for a conservative coalition after the July 2019 general election, but he also expressed disappointment in Victor's defeat, "Jonathan Victor has been a close friend of mine for years and it is difficult to watch his party betray him after everything he has done for the conservative movement in our country."