Faking Democracy

[Nentsia]

Mstsislavsk - the Republic of Nentsia
1581

''We are the People! We are the People! We are the People!'' chanted a crowd in a square near the Mstsislavsk State University. Ihar Litvinchuk was one of the students in the square, like many others, carrying a little Nentsian flag. Ihar was, like so many of his friends and fellow students, sick and tired of the endemic corruption levels in his country. Everything in this country required some form of bribery to get it done. A visit to the doctor? Bribe the doctor first. Want to avoid getting pulled over by the police? Bribe the cop. Want to get a train ticket? Sold out! Unless you pay a bribe. Want to get into university? Pay a bribe. Want to graduate from university? Pay a bribe! Not to mention the absurd amount of money the politicians were stealing and storing in secret bank accounts in tax havens such as Magentina and Batavia.

The immediate reason for the students to hold their protest in front of the university was the raise of the college fee, a decision by the ~absolutely corrupt~ Rector Magnificus. His decision would force several students from poorer families to quit their studies. Other students wanted to demonstrate their solidarity at this social injustice, especially because everyone knew the money disappeared in the pockets of a criminal elite. But for Ihar and his friends, Oleg, Artyom, and Yanya, it was bigger than that. This was a protest against the systematic injustices and corruption in the country, and above all against the man who embodied that system: President Vynnychuk.

President Vynnychuk had been practically married to power. He first led the country since 1561. He won a second term in office in 1565. He then changed the constitution to enable himself a third term in office, which he entered in 1569. By 1573 he was forced to hand over the presidency, and he did so by selecting one of his loyal servants (Stanislaw Zhyrovitsky) to preside over the country while Vynnychuk and his clan controlled everything in the background. It was during this period that the first major anti-corruption demonstrations broke out, and Vynnychuk's criminal daughter was arrested in Khibland and extradited to Mordvania for her role in a fraud case involving Mordvanian politicians, Nentsian politicians and criminal gangs. Perhaps because he feared that control was slipping from his hands, Vynnychuk forced Zhyrovitsky to resign after just one term in office so that Vynnychuk could run for presidency in 1577. In the months before the election campaigns began, the authorities launched a well-planned assault on the political opposition, independent media, and democratic institutions in order to destroy any real possibilities of challenging Vynnychuk in the elections. The election campaigns were manipulated to such a degree that the actual rigging of the elections wasn't even necessary for Vynnychuk to win by a landslide.

The opposition, led by Mikita Martsinkyevich, held a demonstration against these undemocratic practices on the night of the election results. The government's response, feeling strengthened by the overwhelming support of the voters, was ruthless. Heavily armed police troops encircled the demonstrators in the square and charged at the people, driving the crowd apart, arresting anyone they could lay their hands on and violently beating people up. Not even Martsinkyevich - a member of the parliament - was spared. He was so badly molested that he ended up with a coma in the hospital. He recovered from his injuries, and fled into exile to Mordvania. As if that wasn't enough already, the pro-Vynnychuk deputies in the parliament (Rada) used the uproar as a pretext to initiate a ''Ban on Extremism'', in which ''Extremism'' was so vaguely defined that it can be used to suppress any form of dissent. Ihar fully understood that this demonstration could fall under the Ban on Extremism, and the police troops could arrive on the scene any moment to violently put an end to it.

The timing of the demonstration was quite sensitive. It was 1581. Vynnychuk's 4th term was almost finished, and he had announced his intention to go for a 5th as the elections were scheduled for 1581. Unlike the 1577 elections, these elections did not require a great deal of manipulation. All real political opposition had ceased to function. In 1577 the government had already weakened the opposition by literally faking the opposition. What they did was they either infiltrated opposition parties, or they bribed prominent members, and they let them cause a split in the party and set up an exact copy of that opposition party - with the only difference being they were loyal to the regime. As opposition parties fought in the streets with their fake counterparts, nobody understood anything anymore. Their support declined, and the opposition parties that survived were all satellite parties, controlled by the security services. So now the 1581 elections were nothing but a sham: Vynnychuk vs fake opponents. These were not elections, they were just a ratification of Vynnychuk's continued presidency. And after 20 years the Nentsians were far from the end of the Vynnychuk reign: Aliaksei was probably grooming his criminal daughter, Ksenia, as his successor.

Ksenia Vynnychuk had been given a mild punishment by the Mordvanian courts, in a trial that was accompanied by diplomatic conflicts and all kinds of dirty, and even illegal games being played by Ksenia to escape the Mordvanian justice system. Her attempts failed, and she was lucky that things didn't get worse. After a year or so she was released and quickly returned to Nentsia. She spent some months in anonymity, but made her full comeback into Nentsian public life as she was suddenly appointed as a member of the Senate in 1580. Apparently unhappy about the lack of power with a job in such a meaningless rubber stamp institution, she was suddenly appointed as the new Director of the Office of the Prime Minister, serving directly under the prime minister and acting as his spokeswoman. She continued to hold her seat in the Senate by the way - in Nentsia these things are possible.

If many people (especially older generations) wished Vynnychuk back in 1577 because he stood for economic stability, economic decline in recent years did definately undermine his popularity in combination with his demolition of what had remained of the constitutional order. Rampant corruption, for which many people seldomly blamed Vynnychuk personally, was now increasingly attributed to the President. More and more Nentsians were opening their eyes. They were waking up. For decades everyone resented this vague public enemy: ''Korruptsiya''. People were now finally willing to admit that it was Vynnychuk himself who was the root of the problem. But it was especially the young people who were opening their eyes, like Ihar and his friends. As the chanting grew louder, Ihar looked around to see why some sections of the demonstration were getting so loud. Then he saw it. Armoured police trucks were arriving. And not just a few. It seemed the entire Mstsislavsk police division had been mobilized. But Ihar understood that it was part of the game. The authorities liked to test the waters with some intimidation and show of force. The situation required only one small spark to turn this square into a bloody battlefield.