Llorens

Llorens

Co-founder
Assumed office 14 March 2018
Preceded by	Atealia
4th Secretary
In office 14 December 2019 – 14 June 2020
Vice Secretary	None Kavagrad
Preceded by	Argentigrad
Succeeded by	Greylyn
In office 1 July – 14 December 2017
Prime Minister	Obiristan Franckley
Preceded by	Atealia
Succeeded by	South Miruva
2nd Chief Justice
In office 30 September – 31 December 2016
Preceded by	New Prague
Succeeded by	Auven
Ministerial roles 2nd Prime Minister In office 31 December 2016 – 30 March 2017 Secretary Cedoria Preceded by Auven Succeeded by Atealia Minister of Archives In office 24 April – 4 May 2018 Secretary Cedoria Preceded by Position established Succeeded by Position dissolved 1st Minister of Culture In office 17 March – 22 April 2018 Secretary Cedoria Preceded by Position established Succeeded by Position dissolved 8th Minister of Foreign Affairs In office 14 June – 17 September 2018 Secretary Kavagrad Preceded by Halfblakistan Succeeded by Hecknamistan
General Assembly roles Member/Senator of the General Assembly In office 14 September – 14 December 2019 In office 14 March – 14 December 2018
Supreme Court roles Justice of the Supreme Court In office 2 July – 22 September 2019 In office 24 February – 22 March 2018 In office 21 May – 20 June 2017 Second Justice of the Supreme Court In office 27 April – 21 May 2017
Personal details
Founded	Llorens 6 May 2016 (8 years, 1 month)
Nickname(s)	Llo
Nation page	Link

Llorens (founded 6 May 2016) is a retired Assemblian politician who has been a co-founder since 2018. He served as the 2nd Chief Justice in 2016, and as the 4th Secretary in 2017 and 2019-20.

He is a member of the 'second generation' of Assemblians who founded in the early days of the region, entering The Leftist Assembly less than four months after it was created. Llorens founded one of only a few political parties that existed under that system before its collapse - the Socialist Union. Following this, his proposed model of an independent one-branch General Assembly government was adopted, which remained in place until December 2017.

Llorens entered the political scene in September 2016, defeating Losinia by just one vote to become Chief Justice. It was at this time that he gained a reputation as a prolific legislator - still holding the record for the most bills and amendments passed of any nation - including the removal of discrimination exemptions, the creation of by-elections, and the establishment of a formal legislative process. In later years, he would also overhaul the Constitution and Code of Laws numerous times, abolish the regional military, and expand the size of government through the separation of powers.

Following a stint as Prime Minister under Secretary Cedoria, he again faced off against his rival Losinia for Secretary in the March 2016 general election, this time losing by one vote. A critic of the Losinia administration throughout the April Crisis, he later went on to serve two consecutive terms as Secretary - the first 'Assemblian native' in the role - in June and September 2017. During his term, Llorens organised the first quarterly census and the first Culture Competitions. In April 2017, Llorens also founded a new social Discord server for the region, which he was head administrator of until his resignation in January 2021.

In 2018, Llorens served in a variety of executive, legislative, and judicial portfolios, most notably one term as Minister of Foreign Affairs under Secretary Kavagrad where he established the ambassador program. He also became the first-ever prosecution in a court case - Tobostan v. Llorens (2018) - in September, in which he was successful. Later in the year, he semi-retired from Assemblian politics to focus on NationStates Today, an interregional NationStates newspaper, where he served twice as Chief Executive Officer.

He returned to Assemblian politics in late 2019 before opting to run for a third term as Secretary in December 2019, where he faced a new rival, Greylyn. The issue of the civil service that emerged from this election came to dominate the political scene for several election cycles, with Llorens firmly opposed to the idea. Despite winning in a landslide, a rematch in March 2020 saw him win by an unexpectedly close one vote. During his third and fourth terms as Secretary - the longest anyone has ever served in the role - he established the Revolutionary Support Exchange (RoSE) program and introduced a new regional roleplay.

Llorens retired again from regional politics after the conclusion of his term in June 2020, and now continues to manage the regional wiki and occasionally contributes to legislative discussions.

Political career

Entry into politics

Llorens was an immediately controversial figure in the region, with his first now-deleted posts on the Regional Message Board in May 2016 questioning why nations with the 'Fascist' category (in the Liberal theme, Inoffensive Centrist Democracy shows as Fascist) were allowed to exist in the region. He quickly began to question many of the aspects of the region's Constitution and Code of Laws, which were had several inconsistencies and ambiguities. This led to his formation of a political party - the Socialist Union - which quickly grew to become one of the largest parties despite having never contested an election.

His agreement to merge with the Independent Leftist Front at the same time that the Workers' Army Party and the Solidarity Party were also in talks to combine ultimately led to the collapse of the party system. He proposed a new independent one-branch General Assembly model as a solution to the issue, with a nine-member variant - consisting of the Secretary, Prime Minister, four other Ministers, and the three Justices - being enacted from the September 2016 general election. This was the first of several major institutional overhauls that Llorens was either partially or fully responsible for.

He ran for the Ministry of Law (the predecessor to the Supreme Court in September 2016, his first-ever election in the region. The campaign was dominated by a new heated rivalry between Llorens and Losinia, a prominent figure (under the name Napania) in the region's predecessors, with each questioning the credentials and proposals of the other. Other issues that featured were the nature of the Prime Minister role and restrictions on right-wing nations residing in the region. Despite Losinia receiving the endorsement of the two primary authors of the original Constitution at the time - Atealia and New Prague Workers Republic - Llorens ended up defeating him by one vote as Chief Justice after the distribution of preferences.

During the 3rd General Assembly, Llorens quickly gained a reputation as an efficient legislator, outlawing all forms of discrimination that were exempted in the Constitution through the Anti-Discrimination Act, and receiving unanimous support in a referendum for the establishment of a formal legislative process in his Legislative Process Act. However, he also suffered two defeats on his electoral promises: the Vice-Secretary Act that sought to rename the Prime Minister and select them as the runner-up of the Secretary election, and the Rightist Restrictions Act which sought to extend limitations on right-wing nations to being unable to vote.

Prime Minister

Losinia (flag pictured) became a prominent rival of Llorens, and the pair rarely saw eye-to-eye on political matters.

In the December 2016 general election, Llorens decided to run for Prime Minister after three-term incumbent Auven stepped down from the role. He faced Minister of Foreign Affairs New Tuva SSR, but most debate occurred between him and Losinia over the issue of the recently-passed Criminal Recognition Act that gave powers of banjection from the Ministry of Law to the whole General Assembly. Late in the campaign, New Tuva SSR accused Llorens of seeking to concentrate his powers as Chief Justice, while Llorens claimed that New Tuva SSR had done little in their ministerial capacity. Llorens won with over two-thirds of the vote to become deputy to re-elected Secretary Cedoria.

During his term, Llorens worked with Cedoria to set up recruitment auto-telegramming and review the status of all embassies. In legislative terms within the 4th General Assembly, he legislated on by-elections with Cedoria in the Minister Replacement Act, formalised the banjection process and returned power to the Justices with the New Lonopolian Empire in the Banjection Reform Act, and removed private industry restrictions on running for office in the Industry Freedom Act.

Rise to leadership

March 2017 election

Main article: March 2017 general election

The March 2017 general election was arguably one of the most bitterly contested in Assemblian history, with the vacancy left by Cedoria leading to the nominations of Llorens, Losinia, and Auven, with debate primarily centred around the first two long-term rivals. Highlighting the strength of the divisions, former Secretary and now-Prime Minister candidate Atealia endorsed Llorens, while incumbent Secretary endorsed Losinia over their deputy.

During the campaign, Llorens was criticised by his opponents for a lack of 'major' policy plans beyond abolishing the inactive Diplomatic Corps established by New Tuva SSR (and supported by his ally Losinia) in October 2016, while he in turned accused Auven of being inactive in previous General Assemblies and Losinia of having no real plans to deal with the inactive United Armed Forces military beyond rebranding.

Despite leading on the primary count, Llorens was defeated by Losinia by just one vote following the distribution of Auven's preferences in almost exact reversal of the Ministry of Law election six months prior. Following his defeat, Losinia privately offered Llorens to serve as his Minister of Foreign Affairs, which he declined given his differences in foreign policy, promising instead to be a "critic" of the administration.

The April Crisis

Main article: The April Crisis

Losinia led as Secretary for one month, which was a period of turmoil and heightened political tensions following the closely-fought preceding election. Llorens criticised the announcement of the new Leftist Defence Force in place of the United Armed Forces on 7 April 2017 as a "non-policy" for improving activity. He again became vocal when Losinia led the General Assembly to remove First Justice Celera for inactivity just one day before the conclusion of a vote on the Democratic Confidence Act, which Llorens had written but had his ally Atealia sign to avoid opposition from the Secretary. Throughout this, he published a since-deleted dispatch blog, What Is Going On?, that criticised Secretary Losinia's actions.

He also worked behind-the-scenes with Atealia and Cedoria, who had both also become increasingly critical of Losinia in the first weeks of his term. Following Cedoria's motion of a vote of no-confidence in Losinia, the first in regional history, Losinia accused Atealia and Llorens of being “shadow plotters turned public firebrands” that were behind the motion, having planned to remove him from power ever since he was elected. The Secretary's delaying tactics, illegal declaration of a state of emergency, and eventual fleeing from the region saw Prime Minister Atealia assume his role formally on 3 May, though there was a broad perception that Llorens was to be the natural successor in the following election.

On 22 April, amidst the crisis but separate to it, Llorens and The Final Horseman collaboratively founded a new social Discord server for the region, which Llorens remained head administrator of until his resignation in January 2021 on the basis of growing sectarian behaviour.

Reform and renewal

Llorens had become a member of the 5th General Assembly just days before Losinia fled the region, winning a close by-election against New Prague Workers Republic to become Second Justice on 27 April following the vacancy left by Celera. Using his new position in the General Assembly, he passed a record number of legislative reforms in the wake of the April Crisis, including the shortening of by-elections in the Replacement Urgency Act, the reduction of the maximum state of emergency length in the Emergency Invasion Act, the adoption of a non-tiered judicial system in the Legal Standard Act, and a complete reorganisation of the Constitution in the Constitutional Organisation Act.

First period as Secretary

Llorens was elected as the first 'Assemblian native' Secretary in a near unanimous vote during the June 2017 general election, with the endorsements of both Atealia and Cedoria. His policies included a revitalisation of the Leftist Defence Force through new training materials, limiting outside influence in the region, holding a referendum on whether to reinstate the party system, and abolishing the Secretary voting advantage in the General Assembly.

Leading the 6th General Assembly, Llorens passed five pieces of legislation, including removing the Secretary voting advantage in the Equal Vote Act, merging the Minister of Immigration and Customs into the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Legislature Reduction Act, banning unauthorised foreign policy communications in the Foreign Communication Act, and once again overhauling the Constitution and Code of Laws to implemented a simplified numbered format. In September, he also organised the first-ever Culture Competitions, which has become a biannual event for citizens to design and vote on certain visual elements in the region.

He was again elected in a near-unanimous vote as Secretary with no opposition in September 2017, largely promising a continuation of the status quo, as well as a new "monthly census" to gauge opinions on the region. A quarterly census was hosted for the first time in October 2017, and has continued to date in largely the same form as its original. In the 7th General Assembly, Llorens continued his reputation of reform, notably abolishing the Minister of Defence and their Leftist Defence Force in the Military Removal Act, as well as separating the branches of government with a new Supreme Court and five independent Senators in the Judicial Separation Act.

Towards the conclusion of the term, Llorens became involved in a heated foreign affairs dispute concerning the proposed NSLeft membership of the Social Liberal Union. While most NSLeft regions initially voted in favour of their membership, scepticism by some vocal figures concerning the acceptance of a ‘liberal’ region into the alliance and perceived antagonism from members of the Social Liberal Union towards authoritarian leftists prompted regions to reconsider their stance. Llorens was criticised by some for deciding to reaffirm the region's vote in favour of their membership, making The Leftist Assembly the only region not to abstain or vote against it.

Post-leadership politics

Following the conclusion of his second term as Secretary on 14 December 2017, Llorens spent the entire next term out of office for the first time in over a year. However, he remained active behind-the-scenes in coordinating and assisting the election campaign of executive ticket South Miruva and Atealia in the December 2017 general election, and continued to be involved on the legislative scene.

While he passed the Seek Other and Sentencing Acts, implementing a new 'seek other' election option and expanding the number of prosecutable offences respectively, he clashed with Cedoria on legislation concerning the separation of government powers. He had opposed Cedoria's Executive Government Act, passed at the start of the term 10-8 in a referendum, on the grounds that it gave Ministers the ability to see internal General Assembly communications, it blocked Justices from serving as Ministers, and gave ambiguous preference to Senators for ministerial portfolios. His alternative bill, the Revised Executive Act, sought to overturn these particular elements while retaining the core part of the bill in clarifying ministerial responsibilities, but it failed 8-9 in a referendum.

In the March 2018 general election, Llorens was comfortably elected as one of seven Senators to the 9th General Assembly. During the term, he passed a number of uncontroversial pieces of legislation, such as the enshrining of regional designs and increasing the Senator population ratio from 1:10 to 1:12, but he faced obstacles with requiring General Assembly votes on all ministerial appointments in the Executive Article Act (failed 6-8 in a referendum) and adopting a new Condorcet-modelled election counting system (passed 9-7 in a referendum).

It was during this period that he also served briefly as the only Minister of Culture in the region's history to host the Culture Competitions, a responsibility handed on in later years to the Minister of Information, as well as the Minister of Archives to manage the wiki (rather than the regional newspaper, as the title had been formally used for). The wiki, which followed a short-lived regional website that he designed using Wix, has been managed continuously by Llorens since, with him having created a collection of pages on NSWiki and NSIndex at varying times before the establishment of an independent TLAwiki in August 2020.

He was re-elected as a Senator in June 2018 as the top-ranking candidate, spending the term on a numerous of legislative referendums: returning to a fixed number of Senators with New Arkados in the Fixed Legislature Act, requiring candidacy confirmations on the Regional Message Board in the Candidacy Confirmation Act, and requiring one Justice to lead each trial as a presiding judge in the Judicial Review Act. The first use of this would be in the region's first-ever court case at the end of the term - Tobostan v. Llorens (2018) - where Llorens successfully prosecuted Tobostan for spamming and trolling behaviour.

Llorens was again the best-performing senatorial candidate in the September 2018 general election, with his third term beginning with another complete legal overhaul that notably saw the Code of Laws become a collection of laws rather than a document in itself. This was followed by his widely-popular Set Ministers legislative package with New Arkados that required the Secretary to appoint Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Media, and Recruitment, while giving them the flexibility to appoint additional ones as they saw fit, a model that continues in largely the same form today.

Fun facts

• Llorens is the only nation to have served four terms as Secretary.
• Llorens is the only candidate to have ever won two elections by a single vote.

Quotes

• "We need a candidate who has been here consistently, not just one who is 'experienced'."
  • Defending his candidacy for the Ministry of Law, 24 September 2016
• "You mistaken experience simply as holding these positions. That isn't experience. [...] You were basically never, throughout the past six months that I have worked with you in the GA, active in GA discussion and have consistently had long periods of inactivity during the term."
  • Accusing Secretary opponent Auven of a lack of experience and activity, 21 March 2017
• "I intend to be a fierce critic of the new Losinia regime..."
  • Public statement rejecting Secretary Losinia's private offer to him to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs, 2 April 2017
• "I believe an efficient Cabinet is one that is made up of Ministers with clearly defined duties within a specific area of regional life."
  • Criticising Secretary opponent Greylyn's proposal for a Minister of Domestic Affairs, 6 December 2019
• "The accusation that somehow I was out-of-line for trying to convey my stance on whether there should be an election nomination poll, of all things, strikes me as ludicrous."
  • Defending his decision to ask an MGA to cast a deciding vote for legislation on election nominations, 24 April 2020
• "An increasingly vocal minority has sought to belittle those with different perspectives and construct a narrative that their worldview is superior to others and the ultimate goal of any ‘good’ leftist. This is toxic, and each word to this effect slowly unravels the fragile fibre of our community."
  • Accusing certain citizens of sectarianism during resignation as head admin of the regional Discord server, 19 January 2021