Svobodna Dnevnik

[Hadash]

El Correo Internacional

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Calandrian government deposed in unexpected coup d'etat
By: Nina Cartarescu
Published: Fein 20, 1582


Calandrian soldiers around the Chamber of Deputies

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Prime Minister Florica Donceanu was ousted by rebel forces combined army, police, and paramilitary forces, three months before parliamentary elections.

In the first military coup in the Mandavines in decades, policemen stormed the parliament building in the capital, Histria, early in the morning, and minutes later the resident of the Prime Minister was seized, disarming the presidential guard, and detaining Prime Minister Florica Donceanu. She is currently under house arrest, the new authorities have declared.

Florica Donceanu had only been Prime Minister for a year, although her party had been in power in Caladria since 1570. She was formely Minister of Justice.

President Marian Puscas, who was Prime Minister from 1570 until 1581, was on an official travel in Magentina, along Foreign Minister Bartolomeu Kjellberg. Puscas angrily denounced the coup as illegal and attack to democracy and Mandavines stability. While the Magentinian President Clemente Aguafuertes offered Puscas political assylum, Puscas declares that he is grateful for the support of the Magentinian government, he is confident that the democratic government will be restored in Caladria, and asked the new authorities to step down and that the constitutional institutions were restored.

Lieutenant-Colonel Savel Paunescu, who acted as spokesperson of the conspirators, has declared that the coup d'etat was motivated by a "decade long of incompetence and corruption" by Puscas administration, which violation of the constitution has made "unable to assure free and fair elections in the coming months", in reference to the recent appointment of two judges of the Constitutional Court, which was considered controversial by media critical to Prime Minister Donceanu. Under such circumstances, the Caladrian military officer claimed, the salvation of the nation could not "be guaranteed by conventional methods".

Paunescu, however, claimed that he is not willing to build a dictatorship, and that the constitution will be restored and new democratic elections, once order is restored and that the situation is calmed enough. He declared that the international community should be able to understand this and cooperate so there is a "smooth transition of power in the country". Meanwhile, Paunescu announced that the martial law and the state of emergency was declared in the archipelago.

While Paunescu was giving his speech on television, there was a pro-government demonstration in Histria, which was followed by riots. Only two hours later police units loyal to the new authorities were able to put down the protest, arresting hundred of protestors. Twenty-five minutes later, the last military barrack loyal to the deposed government finally decided to surrender, after hours of siege by rebel forces, including unidentified paramilitary units.

Meanwhile, the situation in Capidia, the second largest island, remains unstable, with reports of shooting nearby the center of the city. The other smaller islands remain calm, under control to forces loyal to Lieutenant-Colonel Paunescu.

Paunescu promised that a new Prime Minister will be appointed as soon as possible, who would lead a provisional government in charge until new elections.