Linge Chen

Linge Chen was a Corummese politician and Chancellor of the Republic who is considered the father of modern Corumm, nicknamed 'the Sun that never sets'. He founded the Party of Corummese Democrats and led it from humble beginnings to the seizure of total power in the federal election of 1992.

Early Life
Linge Chen was born on October 1 1940 in the town of Cao as the only child of Zang and Shumei Chen. His father was a cobbler and his mother sold fruit at the local market. Despite the economic constraints of his family, young Chen was a hard working student with great interest in subjects such as history and mathematics and was frequently chosen to represent his classmates before the school authorities.

In 1958 he went to the capital and enrolled in the Mirzak Business School to pursue a career in Accounting and seek opportunity beyond his hometown. During his university years he got involved in a student's grouping named the Political Action Council where he would be introduced to oratory and meet many of those which would later form the leadership core of the Party of Corummese Democrats.

Early Politics
Upon graduation Linge Chen got a job in a prestigious accounting firm in Mirzak where he proceeded to build a successful career spanning almost 20 years, rising from intern to partner. However, he remained dissatisfied and slowly gravitated back to his main interest in political activism and demagoguery.

After gathering a few adherents and securing the support of several wealthy acquaintances from his days in finance, Linge Chen founded the Party of Corummese Democrats; a political party with a nationalist bent on the fringes of the Corummese political system. It was destined for greatness.

Mayor of Mirzak
The elections to replace the incumbent mayor of Mirzak were scheduled for March 1986. The office had been bouncing back and forth between the Social Liberal Party and the conservative National Renewal Party for decades; both were widely perceived by the electorate as part of a corrupt and entrenched establishment.

In the two years since its establishment the PCD had been conducting grassroots campaigns in the vast poor suburbs and middle class neighborhoods of the capital and Chen came to be seen as a fresh figure who had the best chance of breaking the political duopoly in Mirzak.

Riding a wave of discontent with against corruption and with a mix of populism, catchy slogans and firebrand public oratory, Chen managed to siphon voters from both the of the older parties. His tough on crime approach appealed to conservative folk and his environmental stances pulled liberals in. With the endorsement of several minor parties, Linge Chen pulled ahead and won the race with 58% of the vote.

During his administration, Linge Chen enacted a well received campaign to cleanse the city administration of corruption, arresting dozens of city officials. He also greatly promoted mass transit, solved Mirzak's recurrent water troubles, halved crime rates and revived the city's crumbling industrial districts by courting foreign investment.

He ended his period with a 96% approval rating.

Chancellor
Linge Chen being sworn in as Chancellor.

After the PCD won the 1992 election in a landslide, Linge Chen rose to the coveted position of Chancellor of the Republic. Almost concurrently with this, a new communist inspired revolt erupted in and around the western industrial metropolis of Vant, fueled by leftist demagogues. Socialist political forces threatened strikes and open revolt in the capital should the government send in the army to suppress the revolt.

Seeing no alternative out of the crisis other than the firm application of the law, Chancellor Chen imposed martial law, banned all political parties but the PCD and purged their members from the Federal Parliament. Now in complete control of the political situation, the army was ordered into Vant to restore the constitutional order.