In the given circumstances, with the country threatened by civil war and facing defeat at the hands of an external enemy, I do not consider it possible to shirk the burdensome duty laid on my shoulders by representatives of the largest socialist, democratic and liberal parties.

I shall base any solutions to this problem on my unshakable conviction that the salvation of the republic requires the cessation of party discord, and that nationwide efforts to save the country and its entire people must be undertaken in conditions and forms dictated by the harsh necessity of continuing the war, preserving the army’s fighting capacity and restoring the country’s economic might.