Nyland Daily News

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Nyland Daily News

New Centrist List faces internal tensions after first major legislative failure of President Kohout
By William Blacaria
Published: Septem 1, 1582


Governor Lynn B. Atkins was highly critical of the tax reform.


Nyköping, Nyland - Divisions in the New Centrist List coalition increases, as President Kohout pushes toward his reformist agenda.

The tax reform proposed by the Nyland Liberalists, which would have reformed considerably Nyland's tax system, and toward an opposite direction, barely a year after the tax reform passed during Tilda Morgen's presidency entered into force, was defeated in the Nylander Assembly, has increased doubts about the goals of Kohout's presidency and about the future of his administration and political allies.

Unexpectedly after winning the presidential elections, President Kohout agreed to form an inclusive administration with a liberal-leaning centrist agenda, which included both the New Centrist List and the Green Party. While the new administration seemed to work so far, recent legislative debates showed increasing cracks in the ruling coalition, with only a third of NCL lawmakeres voting with the Nyland Liberalists on their proposed tax reform, while the Greens lawmakers either opposed or abstained.

The opposition to Kohout's tax reform came mostly from the liberal-leaning current of the party which initially became key to the election of Tilda Morgen as General Secretary of the Party in 1573. However, the party leadership kept a pretension of unity, and freedom of vote was granted to NCL lawmakers, without any official recommendation of vote. Only 22 lawmakers voted for the bill, while 41 voted against it. Opposition in the Green Party was much more open.

Sources believe that the survival of the current coalition is not at risk, although it is likely to have an important role in the NCL primaries for the federal legislative, which are to finish in the coming next two months.

Governor Lynn D. Atkins, who had not been active in federal politics for almost a decade, came out as one of the most critical of Kohout's reform and the federal coalition. She has not confirmed if she plans to return to active politics again.

There were rumours that former President Tilda Morgen was likely to intervene in the internal discussions, in order to pressure NCL lawmakers to accept Kohout's tax reform, or at least not voting against it, in name of the rest of proposals which were accepted in a joint manifesto when NCL announced that several of its members were going to join the federal administration and that Kohout promised to deliver. However, Morgen remained neutral and did not express any policy preference, as she has remained since she left the presidency.

On early Dein, the New Centrist List is expected to hold an ordinary political Congress, when important changes in the organization of the party will be discussed. The congress is not expected to discuss in detail policies, but rather the general strategy of the party for the coming two years. However, it is expected that Eyvind Beskow, the nominal NCL leader since 1581 and one of the strongest supporters of cooperation with Nyland Liberalists in the federal administration, may face some pressure by his more liberal-leaning critics in the centrist coalition.

Beskow, 54, has emphasized that NCL members of the federal administration and the coalition lawmakers "play different roles and task...responding to different constituencies and goals", so the rejection of a bill in the Nylander Assembly should not question "the attitude and compromise of [NCL] representatives in the federal government".

However, most political commentators agree that risk of a split remains low.