Andrus Candrin

Andrus Hūvrius Dariur Kâmen Cólumba Oirenac ú Emblese Meþodius Mandur Sóenis Candrin is a Kiravian politician and the current Prime Executive of the Kiravian Federacy. A former shipping executive and First Executive of his home state of Kiygrava, Candrin was appointed Secretary of the Exchequer by the Federal Stanora in 21192 and played a key rôle in developing and implementing economic policies that led to explosive growth in the late 21190s. A member of the Political Shaftonist faction with economic liberal tendencies, he stood for the office of Prime Executive in the 21197 election and won with 56% of the final electoral vote, succeeding Irasur Mérovin.

As Prime Executive, Candrin has worked to sustain high levels of economic growth while pursuing an active foreign policy. He directed a comprehensive naval modernisation programme and entered the Federacy into the Oceanic Defence Coalition before shifting to a regional focus on Ixnay in 21200. Domestically, his agenda has included interstate commercial reform, tax reform, and simplification of the immigration process. Though generally popular, Candrin has been criticised for participating in costly naval expeditions of questionable benefit to Kiravia, alleged pro-Western or liberal sentiments, and a lack of attention to labour rights and economic justice.

Early Life
Candrin was born in Valēka, Great Kirav, to Hūvrius Candrin, a Kaltem buisnessman with Trischem ancestry, and Mórea Azhoin Candrin, an immigrant of Kaltem, Armakem, and Corçem ancestry. He grew up in Blacktrent, an affluent neighbourhood on Tandhurin Island inhabited primarily by Vrytan Coscivian ethnic groups and Peninsular Coscivians. His father was the owner, president, and chief executive of Seaborne Corporation, Kiravia's largest international shipping firm. Seaborne was founded by Candrin's great-grandfather, Éamon G.I.R. Candrin, and most of its top personnel were related to the Candrins by blood or marriage (fairly common in Kiravia). The Candrin family held strongly to Kaltem ethnic traditions, and Kaltem Coscivian was the only language spoken at home (though Mórea Candrin was a native Armakan-speaker and all of the family was bilingual in Kiravic). While keeping his family strongly rooted in Kaltem culture and the Insular Apostolic Church, Hūvrius Candrin's international business interests caused the family to travel widely and take up the English language, making them highly cosmopolitan by Kiravian standards.

He attended the local Apostolic parish elementary school, and then Columba Iatic Academy, a Kaltem charter school, where he excelled at economics, essay writing, and debates. Here he learned Iatic or High Coscivian, the prestige language of Coscivian civilisation, and encountered the works of the ancient philosopher Shafto, which continued to influence him into adulthood.

Candrin attended the Fāstervon Jesuit University in North Valēka, where he studied Applied Economics and Management and earned a certificate as an ekisdopon, indicating mastery of the Shaftonist canon. It was here that he met fellow student Síonna Alloīn, whom he married during his final year at the institution.

Seaborne Corporation and State Politics
Upon graduating from university, Candrin was given a position as a paymaster and schedule manager at Seaborne Corporation's depôt in the Midocean Islands, a Kiravian territory in the Pelagic Ocean. As heir apparent to the company, Candrin was "cautiously avoided" by the Seaborne employees and fell deep into boredom at the outpost, spending most of his ample free time drinking with seaplane pilots. After completing his year "in exile", he was relocated to Mystmar, Erinava in the same capacity. Here he chose to work under the false name Suivnē Dónailmaĥen, with his true identity known only to the depôt manager, but paid for his privacy with disrespect and disobedience from his predominantly Ańlem workers.

Having demonstrated his abilities as an administrator, Candrin was appointed by his father to oversee Seaborne's regulatory, compliance, and government-relations activities. It was during this time that he first became acquainted with politics as a field and with politicians, building relationships with Valēka, Kiygrava, and federal officials that would serve him later in life. This phase of Candrin's career, during which he was responsible for ensuring and demonstrating compliance with the Kirosocialist government's heavy regulatory burden and, particularly deleterious to the shipping industry, economically isolationist policies, engendered in him a potent distaste for Kirosocialism and a strong inclination towards its abolition.

Governor of Kiygrava
As discontent with the Kirosocialist system swelled in the Federacy's largest state, Candrin announced his candidacy for the 21180 gubernatorial election. Though a member of the Shaftonist-minded reformist Moderate Republican Party, Candrin was also able to secure the endorsement of the pro-market protest party Excelsior, forming a united front against the Kirosocialist-compliant Kiygrava Democratic Union that had ruled the state for decades.The ensuing gubernatorial race quickly assumed a national profile. Candrin reached out to reformists in other states, claiming that "if Kirosocialism is overthrown in Kiygrava, its fate throughout the realm is sealed."

The initial phase of Candrin's campaign proved disappointing: Initially intending to solicit passive support from both of Valēka's municipal parties, Candrin failed to gain any measure of support from either the Emerald Civic Alliance or even his own former Azure Civic Union, both of which were unwilling to disrupt the status quo or jeopardise the flow of federal funds to the city through Kirosocialist programmes. Thus, the Candrin campaign was forced to adopt a more grassroots approach, courting business interests large and small, various ethnic communities, professional groups, and a few trade unions that had suffered from Kirosocialist central planning, in order to establish an independent base of support in the state's principal city.

Early Policies
Candrin campaigned for the Prime Executure as the candidate of the National Renewal establishment, promising to continue reforming the Federacy's finances, balance state and federal responsibilities to address new economic challenges, and promote economic growth. His early policies focused mostly on increased economic liberalisation, following the trajectory that he had set as Governor of Kiygrava and which had been reproduced by Rénkédar and Mérovin on the federal level. Along with these policies, which were generally judged as successful, Candrin spearheaded a more controversial reform of the Federacy's immigration system. In order to encourage more trade and investment, Candrin relaxed the requirements for foreigners to become long-term and permanent residents in the Federacy (it should be noted that permanent residency is usually not a step towards naturalization, see Kiravian nationality law), and approved expedited visa procedures for nationals of select nations, such as the Echo Islands, Urcea, and Uiri.

Candrin's most notable and enduring first-term policy was his initiative to rennovate the Federal Navy. Candrin worked with the SRA majority in the Stanora and with the security establishment to overhaul defence acquisition regulations, abolishing barriers that blocked foreign firms from bidding on "special projects" contracts. This allowed Kiravia to purchase Falkasian-built naval vessels, Amerigan-built aircraft, and other state-of-the-art foreign armaments. Though initially an unpopular move, especially in arms-manufacturing states like Ventarya, the more militarily-active stance that these new armaments allowed Kiravia to assume in subsequent years ultimately proved profitable for the native Kiravian arms industry.

Political and Philosophical Beliefs
A devotée of the classical Coscivian philosopher Shafto, Candrin is a strong believer in ethical living as the ultimate aspiration of human existence.

Candrin's economic policies have variously been described as neoliberal and ordoliberal. He is a strong proponent of a capitalist market economy, free trade and the free flow of capital, and privatisation, all of which he implemented as Governor of Kiygrava, and as Prime Executive, he has continued to support the Shaftonist Republican Alliance's market liberal policies. Candrin has often faced criticism from, who accuse him of having materialist, utilitarian values and of prioritising corporate profits over human development.

While not a Coscivian nationalist per se and opposed to Coscivian nationalists on economic and migration issues, Candrin nonetheless believes in the fundamental importance of a Coscivian cultural identity for Kiravia and has said that "it has become the duty of the Kiravian Federacy, and of the Prime Executive, to defend and advance Coscivian civilisation as a whole." The colloquial title "Leader of the Coscivian world" began being applied to Candrin in the media after the liberation of Sydona and has remained a popular by-word for the Prime Executure ever since.

Personal Life
Candrin was married to economist Síonna Alloin Candrin, by whom he has four grown children, until her death in 21206. His elder son, Iśdan Candrin, is the current CEO of Seaborne Corporation, and his daughter Máiread Candrin serves as Executive Vice President for Levantian Operations. In addition to the traditional family home in Valēka, which remains his primary personal residence, Candrin also owns a property in the Kiravian colony of Enscirya and a mountain lodge in upstate Kiygrava. He is fluent in Kaltan, Kiravic, Iatic, Trischan, Armacan, Liturgical Gaelic (Old Irish), Corçan, and English, with a fair command of Sorrentian Latin.

A Ĥeldican Apostolic by faith, Candrin is a parishoner at the Cathedral of St. Adomnán in Valēka, where he attends while at home. In Kartika, he celebrates Mass with Apostolic members of his senior staff in the private chapel at Kroveniren Hall. As a result of his Jesuit university education, Candrin is friendly toward the Society of Jesus and has donated to a number of Jesuit establishments in the Valēka Metropolitan Area.

He is a supporter of the Valēka Azure fieldball team, the Kiygrava Islanders sampakut team, and the Caridosar Highlanders shinty team.