2010 A1 Political Crisis

The 2010 A1 Political Crisis was a series of events from 15 February 2010 to 18 March 2010. After 18 March, it became the 'Great Patriotic War'.

Background

The crisis is believed to have originated from tensions dating back as far as November 2009, when A1 withdrew its membership of the Grand Unified Micronational organisation. It was then that then-Deputy Chairman Tomas Caulfield began to "drift away" from the policies advocated and enacted by then-Chairman Rob Gribbon.

It is believed that disagreements between the two most powerful people in A1 increased from that point on, finally culminating in Caulfield's opposition to the statement made to the Central Committee on the 8th February. It is believed that this caused Caulfield to begin plotting against Gribbon, along with his main followers; these being the then-Director of the Office of the People, Alexei Borja, and Minister for Culture, Lynette Cooper.

Timeline of events

15 February

Chairman Rob Gribbon announces a "pending trial" against then Deputy Chairman Tomas Caulfield at the High Court of A1 for reasons that were not specified on this day. However, later it was revealed that these charges were for Caulfield, in his capacity as Treasurer, "losing" most of the A1 Treasury, which Pauline Lightman, head of the A1 People's Party, accused Caulfield of embezzling.

18 February

A poll conducted by the A1 News Service showed rapidly declining support for Rob Gribbon and support for Tomas Caulfield increasing to 56% and 32% respectively.

22 February

The long lasting coalition of the A1 People's Party and the A1 Democratic Socialist Party is broken, with the Democratic Socialists pulling out of the coalition due to "internal reasons". Chairman Gribbon denied that the move was as a result of previous events.

23 February

Tomas Caulfield is stripped of his powers as Deputy Chairman, Treasurer and all other positions in the A1 Government by Chairman Gribbon. Chairman Gribbon said that the drastic move was necessary due to Caulfield orchestrating “undemocratic processes” and “continued disloyalty to A1, the government and the Party”.

David Massarde is appointed Deputy Chairman in his place and Peter Williams is appointed Treasurer in his place.

24 February

Director of the Office of the People and Commander of the 1st Support Battalion in the A1DF, Alexei Borja, resigns from his posts and announces his intention to create a political party. This later becomes the United A1 Party.

25 February

Long-serving Minister for Culture, Lynette Cooper, resigns and joins the newly created United A1 Party.

26 February

The charges brought against Tomas Caulfield by Rob Gribbon and the A1 Government are dropped, in an announcement by Justice Maximus ze Blah. The charges were dropped due to "lack of evidence".

27 February

Tomas Caulfield joins the UA1P, and Chairman Gribbon offers talks between the People's Party and the United A1 Party. These are later refused.