[IC] Il Quotidiano

SALUCCI CALLS FOR SOLIDARITY WITH FORNOIRE
Maurizio Lori

Senator Mario Salucci delivered an impassionate speech on the floor

Mekselia. Earlier this morning senator Mario Salucci took the floor to deliver an impassionate speech on the deteriorating situation in Fornoire and calling for Sartoria to offer any assistance needed to stabilise the eastern nation. Salucci said that President Valerio had overwhelming evidence that tensions in Fornoire were high and that an overthrow of the constitutional order there is imminent.

Widely regarded as the main opposition figure in the Senate, Salucci said that "we need to defend democracy where it finds itself threatened, not only at home but also abroad" and faulted the President for failing to establish a foreign policy distinct from that of Selene. In turn, allies of President Valerio responded that Sartoria had no business interfering in the internal affairs of sovereign nations, particularly since no actual coup had taken place. Senator Andrea Giovanni, an ally of the President, said that Salucci was merely using the tense situation in Fornoire to increase his own standing in the Senate.

Senator Salucci is a leading member of the informal nationalist faction, dominant in the southern and western regions of Sartoria, which favours policies independent from those followed by Selene. In contrast, President Valerio leads the regionalist faction, dominant in the northern and eastern regions, which favours closer and coordinated relations with Selene. While political parties are not illegal in Sartoria, they are highly frowned upon, and politics is usually handled through informal factions.