Gindyr Founrath

Gindyr Alexander Pelham Founrath-Balmora (born 28 May 1983) is a Bigician statesmen and fifth duke of Balmora serving as the first Prime Minister of Bigicia and Leader of the Reform Party since 2021. In close relations with the monarch, Founrath has served as member of the High Council from 2012 to 2020, when the institution has been disestablished by the king's decree at his advice. Duke Gindyr led his party in the first democratic elections held in April 2021, emerging as the second biggest party in the realm. He leads a centre-right conservative-liberal party focused on modernizing the political stage of the kingdom, but also attracting capital and foreign businesses to the realm.

Born to Waylar Francis Founrath-Balmora, 4th Duke of Balmora, and his wife Jocasta Anne Mary, Lady of the Tides. He was educated at Eton Nir College, one of the most prestigious institutions in Northwestern Bigicia, and then attended the Triune University in Balmora. Upon the death of his father in 2011, he inherited the late Duke of Balmora's peerages and the position of Earl Marshal.

Childhood
Gindyr Alexander Pelham Founrath-Balmora was born on 28 May 1983 at 11:20, to 23-year-old Duke Waylar II of Balmora and 22-year-old Lady Jocasta Luposa, an artist from a family of liberal intellectuals. Gindyr's parents had married in 1980. He was delivered by Caesarean section at his maternal grandfather's Balmoran house: 17 Morland Fields, Marble Passage. Hhe was baptised by the High Priestess of Meridia, Phelaks, in the private altar of Balmora Palace on 30 June and named Gindyr after the legendary hero Gindyr the Bold, who stood his ground against the Aimullian invaders centuries before.

Gindyr's only sibling, Lady Matilda Founrath-Balmora, was born in 1987. The two were educated at home under the supervision of their mother and their governess, Mary Falorn until they reached the age of 5. Lessons concentrated on history, language, literature, and music.

Eton Nir and the Triune University
Unlike his sister, who continued to be educated at home, Gindyr gained a King's Scholarship to study at Eton Nir College, a boarding school near Meridia, in Ciupa. School reports complained about his idealism and stubbornness but he was popular and well known at the College. His friends were largely from the wealthy upper-middle and upper classes, his closest friends then being Archie Mavis and Selah Oswald, both of whom later accompanied him to the Triune University of Balmora and remained friends into adulthood. Both Archie and Selah are now members of the Founrath Cabinet, Archie overseeing the Ministry of Transport and Selah the Ministry of Economy.

Founrath won a scholarship at the Triune University of Balmora, a four-year course in the study of the Classics, ancient literature and classical philosophy. One year later however, Gindyr abandoned the classics for a course in the study of Economics, for which he was interested ever since he interacted with the upper-middle class at the Eton Nir college. He graduated in 2005 magna cum laude and started working closely with his father in changing the economic prospects of his dukedom.

Member of the High Council
During 2010, Duke Waylar's health declined, and Gindyr frequently stood in for him at public events, where he attracted the attention of the realm's monarch, Torrhen III. Impressed by his enterprising mind and charisma, Torrhen offered him a position in the High Council, to Brendanus Ilona's dismay, who had a different agenda. His father died on 17 May 2011 and Gindyr assumed the Balmoran titled and became the 5th Duke of Balmora. Being one of the highest ranking nobles in the High Council and due to his intoxicating charisma, he often had the ear of the monarch and that can be seen later, when under his advise, the monarch dissolved the council. Engaging in a constant rivalry with the High Councilor Ilona, Founrath sought to modernize the political institutions of the nation and move the country away from stagnation.

Duke of Balmora
While has was constantly needed in the capital for High Council business, Duke Gindyr made sure to visit his lands regularly, holding court in Balmora every couple of months. In 2015, he opened the position of Mayor of Balmora for every citizen, holding elections for the position every two years. This democratic approach was seen as controversial at the time by the High Council, who ruled their titles personally, never delegated or forces forbid, open the position to 'the rabble' as the Duke of Driftmark had put it in words.

Royal Aspirations
In July 2020, five years after the death of Queen-consort Bogdana, a massive cataclysm struck the islands of Baia Papaya and the ocean reclaimed the land and hundreds upon thousands people lost their lives, including the life Prince Abnur, House Founrath becoming extinct in the male line with his death, the Balmoran cadet branch being the sole remnant of this old and powerful house. This event shook the very foundations of the Bigician society, causing uncertainty about the succession in the kingdom.

As the only remnant of the ancient Founrath Dynasty, Duke Gindyr initially sought to become the heir presumptive by advising Torrhen to name him officially, however Torrhen refused to do so due to the high tensions in the High Council. Instead, he opted to participate in the Great Council of 2020, a council of Bigician nobles gathering to resolve contentious issues such as the succession of the realm and the fate of the High Council as a political institution. Torrhen invited many nations to Nar Darum to present their candidates and also permitted local nobles to select their own picks. In the end, it was Princess Majlinda Mëriqi of Arkodrë (also called the Mbretëresha in her native language), who won the hearts of every member of the Great Council, getting 86 votes, while Princess Liliana Sierra Jade Castello - Ramos of Solentoya, who was seen as a predictable victor, only gained 84 votes. Duke Gindyr came third with 51 votes, thus ending his ambition for the throne.

Leader of the Reform Party
The Great Council approved the abolition of the High Council proposed by the monarch, with 194 votes for and 52 against. The council of old split into two political forces, the conservative wing consisting of fifty-two nobles forming the Founders Party, while some of the 194 nobles who voted for the dissolution of the High Council bounded together to form the Reform Party. Dennas Bryne was elected by the party members as interim president of the party and, following the September 2020 Reform Party leadership election, Founrath was elected leader with 92,153 votes (66%) to Bryne's 46,656 (34%).

Initial appointments
The premiership of Gindyr Founrath began on 24 April 2021 when Founrath accepted King Torrhen III's invitation, at his prerogative, to form a new administration. The cabinet was installed on 25 April 2021, during a formal government meeting with the monarch. It followed the 2021 Bigician legislative election, which saw the rise of the two parties - Founders and Reformists - at the forefront of Bigician politics. Despite his well-known rivalry with Founders leader Brendanus Ilona, both parties agreed to form a coalition following a night meeting between the two.

Basmath Tendaji, an executive at the media conglomerate North Star, was appointed chief business adviser to the Prime Minister. Dennas Bryne, former leader of the party and chief of the electoral campaign for the Reformists, was appointed into a role as a senior advisor to Founrath.

Founrath's key cabinet appointments were Brendanus Ilona as Deputy Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Morndilin Salingire as Minister of Education, Sara Kamal as Minister of Energy, Selah Oswald as Minister of Economy, Kelina Nerevau as Minister of Environment, Archie Mavis as Minister for Transport, Lebesu Cholneith as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Balwûr Cenric as Minister of National Defence, Bracus Talurn as Minister of Labour, Hadiya Sarlamin as Minister of Justice, Theodemar Presqen as Minister of Health, Maraquo Hestohrin as Minister of Internal Affairs, Bauron Masoud as Minister of Culture, Achivoine Tailencel as Minister of the Sea and he invited High Priestess Phelaks to serve the role of Eleven Forces Emissary.

First 100 days
On 26 April 2021, Founrath entered the Oversoul Palace for the first time as Prime Minister. He used his first speech to promise that a new Constitution would be adopted within 99 days.

Founrath focused on strengthening the democratic institutions within his first few days in office, creating a special commission to explore and compare the fundamental laws of Natia's nations and compile the best ideas out of them. The new constitution was intended to replace the many constitutional laws of the High Council era, the Fundamental Laws of the Realm, and turn Bigicia into a constitutional monarchy by removing many of the King's powers and giving the Parliament a foundation on where to build the democracy and rule of law. The feat of creating a democratic system without breaking the structures of power of the state was made possible by the approval of the Political Reform Act of 2020, passed by the High Council and approved by King Torrhen III as the last Fundamental Law. The new constitution was drafted by a committee of jurists in collaboration with the Minister of Justice Hadiya Sarlamin, the High Magister of Bigicia and it took first three months of his premiership to be completed.

Before the parliamentary vote, Prime Minister Gindyr Founrath sent a letter to leaders of parliamentary parties in order to invite them to a consultation on the referendum, the Republicans being the only party to decline the invitation. On 16 September 2021, the common judiciary committees of the two chambers of the Parliament approved the referendum, the Parliament did so the next day in a non-binding vote. Even though the opposition requested several articles to be introduced related to regional autonomy, government MPs disagreed, thus the report was adopted with 259 votes in favor, 9 votes against and 1 abstention.

The constitution was adopted on 27 September 2021, following the vote in the constitutional referendum, where more than 8 million (75%) were in favor, while around 3 million (28.9%) opposed the changes; 60.9% of 18 million eligible voters turned out to vote. This was viewed as a massive success by both the Founders and the Reform party, in part because despite their many differences, both parties agreed that a streamlined fundamental law was needed in the new political climate.

First cracks in the coalition
The cabinet worked as a well-oiled machine in the weeks following the Constitutional referendum, riding on the electoral success high. However, the disagreements that were a common occurrence during the High Council era started to resurface. In practice, the cabinet was filled with the same people who were previously members of the council, being a new government but in name. Seeing how popular Founrath is with the commoners, Brendanus Ilona followed his lead when it came to the referendum, but when it came to other policies, they strongly disagreed and cabinet meetings were a circus and a half. Despite Illona's threats that he will leave the coalition, he didn't proceed with them, as there was really no other party who would agree to work with the Founders.

The first big disagreement between the two political forces came when the Prime Minister announced his wishes to reform the local administration as well, following closely the system he established in the city of Balmora. Brendanus Ilona as well as other highly-positioned Founders were strongly against any such ideas, as they ruled their dukedoms and counties without being questioned. Local elections was a step too far for the upper class nobility. High Magister and Minister of Justice Hadiya Sarlamin pointed out that there is no need for mayors or local councils as long as the nobles can hold court in their respective peerages. Despite his efforts, Founrath suspended his reform plan when even his close friend Archie Mavis, 1st Count of Zmeos was not very fond of the idea. The national press, as well as international press argued that this was a sign of cowardice from the cabinet, not willing to push the reform to the very end and abandoning its mission half-way.

The government also faced new challenges when the temperatures started to drop alarmingly at the beginning of the month of November 2021, the northern cities experiencing an early harsh winter. The cabinet had to use the national reserve fund after the power and heating generation company Aurora, controlled by the Government, stopped hot water deliveries in three of the kingdom's cities, without notifying the municipality’s heating distribution operator. The press once again condemned the excessive centralization of the state and the sorely needed local representation who could deal with such problems instead of the government. Duke Brendanus Ilona's city of Driftmark was also hit by the sudden winter, with pipes bursting from the cold.

The Spring Respite
The spring of 2022 has blossomed into a calm, peaceful time for the realm. The rapid economic growth and general prosperity has made even the staunchest adversary of this unsteady coalition to become more mellow. A shadow was lurking behind it all however, the shaky health condition of the king. Despite the predictions that he'd quickly pass away after the 2020 Great Council, the king pushed on and now he reached the venerable age of 93 years old. In April 2022, the king suffered a hypoxemiac episode and ended up in hospital for two weeks. Fortunately, he recovered and his health condition improved but not enough to leave the bed. Crown Princess Majlinda became a much more active player in the politics of the realm since then.

The Zechonian Summer Revolution
In July 2022, the period of peace and prosperity which characterized the last decades in Zechonia has ended in turmoil, with the Zechonian state turned to dust once again, as oft it happened during their bloody history. Due to the highly polarized struggle between left and right ideologies, a group of colonels overthrew the government a month before scheduled elections and now they're ruling under a military dictatorship. The former Prime Minister is not yet ready to relinquish power however and the struggle will more than likely turn into a civil war.

After hearing about the tragic end of the Fifth Zechonian Republic, Prime Minister Gindyr Founrath began to worry about the safety of Bigicia's southern border. Troops were deployed along the border and military spending became one of the cabinet's priorities.

The Zechonian conflict continued near the army headquarters, the presidential palace and the airport, with heavy weapons used. Observers determined that the army was controlling access to Zechonia's capital and trying to cut off supply routes to ZRF (Zechonian Resistance Force) fighters. Thousands of residents fled Zechonia by foot or by vehicle to safer parts of the country and tried to enter Bigicia.

November 2022 migrant crisis
As of 20 November, the Bigician government had reported 989,357 Zechonians entering the kingdom. Bigician Minister of National Defence Balwûr Cenric announced on 28 November that Bigicia cannot receive any more refugees and asked for international aid. Most of the refugees were settled in the Merid-Ciupean region, which sparked controversy in the parliament, with the Merid-Ciupa Concordat asking for equal quotas throughout the realm and asking for compensation for the region taking the brunt of the crisis. The Minister of National Defence General Balwûr Cenric, Commander of Raylight Keep resigned on 25 November 2022, quit his membership in the Founders Party and joined the Merid-Ciupa Concordat. Prime Minister Gindyr Founrath failed to address the situation and sparked even more dissension. Both the TFP and TRP parties started plummeting in polls.

December 2022 cabinet reshuffle
The November crisis culminated with the cabinet reshuffle one month later, with the Prime Minister trying to get rid of the controversial ministers. The reshuffle saw a significant restructuring of government departments. New departments included those for Regional Development and one for International Trade. Due to severe health issues, Brendanus Ilona suffered a stroke in August while he was attending a ministerial meeting in Pyreica. After recovering, he resumed parliamentary work, but his condition became very unstable so that he resigned from politics in December. Thus, there was a dire need to occupy the vacancies of Deputy Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Minister of National Defense.

Due to the premiership being in the hands of the Reform Party, the expectations were that another Founders Party leader will get the Deputy premiership. The unfortunate situation was that Brendanus' sudden exit left a power vacuum inside the party, with both Lebesu Cholneith, 6th Duke of Wrainwreth and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Achivoine Tailencel, 4th Duke of Driftmark and Minister of the Sea, vying for the position and tearing the party apart with their strong personalities now free to express out of Brendadus' shadow.

In the end, Prime Minister Founrath picked Dennas Bryne, the former interim president of the Reform Party and old rival now turned friend. The Founders Party did not take this controversial decision lightly, but due to the disarray in which the party's leadership continued to be throughout the month of December 2022 and later, they couldn't do much about it. Trying to appease the Founders somewhat, Prime Minister Founrath awarded the Minister of Regional Development, the freshly created ministry with a lot of funds, to them.

March 2023 government crisis and snap election
In March 2023, following a government crisis as a result of the failure induce Parliament to approve a revised income tax law, the popularity of the Founders Party plummeting even further in the polls and the rise of the Social Democrats, Prime Minister Founrath called for a snap election which the Chamber of Representatives supported via the Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2023. The relations between the Founders and the Reforms reached an irreconcilable level, thus Founrath started looking for new coalition partners, who are willing to pass reforms.The date chosen for the 2023 general election was 5 May 2023.

2023 legislative elections
The 2023 Bigician legislative election was held on 05 May 2023. The Founders Party, having failed to secure a majority in the 2021 election, had governed for 2 and a half years in a compromising coalition with the Reform Party, being in a strong opposition with the Social Democrats and the Merid-Ciupa Concordat.

Achivoine Tailencel, 4th Duke of Driftmark had become leader of the Founders in April 2023 after previous party leader and Deputy Prime Minister Brendanus Ilona resigned due to critical health issues. Ginevra Rimgailė, a well-known minority rights activist, took the leadership of the Merid-Ciupa Concordat. Gindyr Founrath, former Prime Minister, maintained his position as Reform party leader and so did Eriana Amanor, Social Democrat Party leader, who launched the biggest campaign the realm has ever seen.

A new addition to the election cycle was the formation of alliances - a move by the governing Reformists to show a façade of strength and that they could continue to govern without the Founders. Two alliances formed, with the Reformists, Merid-Ciupa Concordats and the Green League forming a centrist Alliance. The newly founded Militant Labour would join with the other freshly new political entity Federal Proposition Party to form a Progress Coalition. The Social Democrats, now left without their Green League allies and the left-leaning members of the Concordat, opted to stand alone.

The election would give the Social Democrats a landslide victory, gaining 49 seats and securing 150 seats overall, 83 seats short of a majority. However, now that the alliances are in play, and together the Gold Alliance of Reform Party, Merid-Ciupa Concordat and Green League, secured 264 seats, which is more than enough to achieve a majority.

The Founders Party met the expectations of the polls and plunged into the abyss, their crown now in the gutter. Losing a number of 81 seats overall, the sting of defeat made Achivoine Tailencel's tenure as Founders leader very brief. He resigned a few hours after the elections results were revealed.

Despite riding the highs of the Gold Alliance victory, the Green League failed to make an impression in the Senate vote and lost 6 seats, three of which they've recovered in the Chamber vote. Although they've achieved a minor result overall, their meager seats are absolutely necessary for the Gold Alliance majority, so the cards are in their hands and Green League leader Christina Divata knows it.