Gallente Foreign Relations in Campaign Spotlights as Ramnev Declares and Ontbad Visits Minmatar HQ

Shaileen Ramnev Announces Presidential Run and Major Campaign Theme from Hueromont on Caldari Prime

Luminaire, Essence – Former Arcurio Mayor, and runner-up in the YC117 Gallente presidential elections, Shaileen Ramnev appeared today at a press conference in Hueromont to announce her candidacy in this year's election and address the future of Caldari Prime as a major plank of her campaign.

"I can confirm that I am a candidate for the President of the Gallente Federation," announced Ramnev. "Standing here in Hueromont, and after my visit to dear Arcurio, I see clearly that this great Federation remains strong in its diversity, tolerance and resilience. The healing of this vital world has been nothing short of miraculous and I am proud to seek the highest office in a polity that can achieve this."

"Now, though, it is time that the destiny of Caldari Prime is put in the hands of those who call it home," Shaileen Ramnev continued. "Mordu's Legion involvement after Operation Highlander was a risky but necessary choice, which in the end played out well. Mordu's Legion Command lived up to its reputation, and I as a citizen of this planet am very grateful to them. But after the long years of recovery, I say that we, the people of Caldari Prime, should not be seen as a problem to solve, but as a valuable community that will contribute to Federation and interstellar prosperity. We also should not allow the relationship with our Caldari neighbors fester for lack of attention to a shared pain that requires a shared solution."

Ramnev has issued a campaign document detailing a long-term solution to the vacuum that will be left by the impending departure of Mordu's Legion, already reduced during the period of their contract's extension. She is proposing a "planetary oversight body" with officials elected by all permanent Caldari Prime citizens. Such planetary institutions, she says, would oversee matters of global security, and act as a neutral regulator of the legal and business interactions between Caldari and Gallente settlements, leaving full autonomy over internal matters to regional authorities.

"I have seen communities everywhere on our scarred home," continued Ramnev. "They are different. They are unique. They hold dear different things. But they also seek the same things every community does. Peace. Prosperity. Happiness. These are things that no one can reach if everyone seeks them only for themselves. Now is the time to search for them together. Our Federation is never at its best when it 'directs' the many peoples of our union. Rather it reaches its heights when it aids the people in their quest for liberty and self-determination of their home communities. Providing the aid that is needed without demands for political conformity shall be my guiding principle as President of the Gallente Federation."

The Scope's political analyst Renyart Colsten suggested that Ramnev's pitch is "a clever message that may well appeal to communities across the Federation, such as the Intaki homeworld and Jin-Mei autonomists, without seeming false or artificial given her history and the direct anchoring in the Caldari Prime situation. Once again, Shaileen Ramnev shows why she should be considered a strong contender in this election."

Senator Kelen Ontbad Visits Minmatar Militia Warzone Headquarters on "Fact-Finding Mission"

Amo, Metropolis – Gallente Senator Kelen Ontbad of Algintal visited the staff headquarters of Valklear General Kanth Filmir of the Republic's Territorial Defense Guards, last night, declaring his visit a "fact-finding mission" for the Senate Gallente-Minmatar Relations Committee. General Filmir is overall commander of the Minmatar Republic's military response to the invasion of Floseswin IV and received Senator Ontbad at his HQ on the Tribal Liberation Force station in Amo, giving the ethnic Vherokior politician a short tour of the strategic operations center before holding a joint press briefing.

Questioned on the criticisms of the Republic's diplomatic and military strategy from various quarters, General Filmir was unequivocal in his response:

"The wiseacres on Matar can hoot and holler about the Sanmatar's diplomatic strategy from the safety of their lodges but I for one support any moves that save Matari lives and hold open the door to the return of those captured by the Sarum forces. Likewise, I repudiate the blood-drunk braying from Minmatar capsuleers who have called my men and women 'layabouts' even as these fighters struggle to recover the cities and people of Floseswin IV. My focus is on the liberation of our people and rolling back the invaders and occupiers from our lands. Every politician or capsuleer who has aided that cause selflessly and without thought of personal glory, I commend. The rest are fit only to receive water and shelter so far as I am concerned."

Senator Ontbad brushed aside questions as to a possible run at the presidency and sought to underline the importance of diplomacy in his own remarks to the assembled press:

"In the course of my visit here in Amo, I have found Valklear General Filmir to be a man of strong passions justified by years of service in the cause of freedom for the Matari people, all Matari people. It is not my place to comment on the politics of the Republic itself but, in terms of the politics of our people as a whole, I appreciate deeply the need to balance military strength with diplomacy. The reality is that our people will not be returned through military adventurism or destabilizing terrorism but by means of maintaining the security of the Federation and Republic, while pursuing every political and diplomatic means to end the scourge of slavery."

One swift reaction to the comments of General Filmir and Senator Ontbad came from Tobias Efrit, a veteran Krusual parliamentarian influential in trade and security matters:

"Filmir may have been a Midularist once but he's always been a loyal warrior for the Matari people. I hear his views with the utmost respect. As for Ontbad, he's a fop and a dilettante, as his idiotic equation of our military and covert operations with 'adventurism and terrorism' demonstrates clearly. People who think it would be a good idea to have an itinerant artist turned professional weathervane as leader of our most important ally just because he's of the Tribes need their heads checking. That right there is just another version of Midularism's squishy soft notion that it doesn't matter who's in charge so long as it's a so-called 'democracy'. No, I say it would be best for the Federation to have a strong leader and one they pick without any nonsense emanating from our quarter."

In the Gallente Federation, the intervention of Senator Ontbad has gone down relatively well with academic and media commentators. However, it had a mixed reception in Minmatar communities and notably appears to have left the hawkish element of the so-called "Roden Coalition" cold.

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