CHAPTER 2107  SEARCHING FOR REASONS

The mere return of the Emperor of Harmony had sent waves across East Panama.

His actions, however, did more than just that.

In an office in the presidential headquarters of the Republic of Gorteau, President Raymond sat in his office, frozen with shock.

"What…?" A whisper escaped him. "What did you say?"

His administrative head stood before him with a grave expression.

"The Democratic Socialist Party has won over two hundred and eighty-three seats, sir."

He shuddered at her words.

The general elections of the Republic of Gorteau had just ended. These were elections conducted for the state government, the legislators of which would go on to form the Congress, the legislative body for the entire nation.

President Raymond's ambitious campaign promises required him to not only be re-elected in the presidential elections of the Republic of Gorteau but also needed his party, the National Libertarian Party, to gain an overwhelming majority in Congress.

This was because the governmental system of the Republic of Gorteau was such that the authority to levy war was divided equally between the Congress and the President. While the President was the sole overseer of war, the authority to formally approve his declaration of war rested solely in the hands of Congress, barring times of emergency or breach of national security, as specified by the Constitution.

This measure was to ensure that war could not unilaterally be declared by any one candidate.

Thus, in order to go ahead with his plans to wage war on Kandria eventually, he needed Congress to approve his declaration of war. He needed Congress to be firmly dominated by his party, or else he could lose his existing plans.

That was why the news of his opposition party gaining an enormous number of seats in Congress was so horrific.

"What the hell happened?!" He gritted his teeth. "I thought the polls indicated that we would get at least seventy percent!"

"Sir, the director of campaigning affairs has already begun preparing a psephological report that is exploring the reasons for the unexpected upset."

President Raymond gritted his teeth. "What is his initial diagnosis?"

"Sir, according to him, it appears that the Socialist Democratic Party gained a large surplus of campaign donations to fund a lot of their campaigning," she calmly explained. "The states that they won correspond with their largest campaigning ventures. The estimated cost of their campaigning far exceeds their funding."

President Raymond narrowed his eyes. "In other words, they got a large windfall at the final moment, breathing life in their campaign in swing states?"

"That appears to be the case according to the director of campaigning affairs, sir."

He gritted his teeth.

"If I may, sir, isn't this a good thing because we have a good justification? We can avoid war with the Emperor of Harmony."

He shook his head. "Our donors don't care about the reason. And the voter base doesn't even understand the justification. The only thing they'll remember is that I failed to keep my promises."

He understood how both his donors and voters thought. The former understood the reason that they didn't care about. The latter didn't understand the reasons and still didn't care. Regardless, this was a major upset that threw all his plans out the window entirely. If he couldn't get Congress to approve his declaration of war, then everything he had worked towards in the past five years would be in vain.

And he knew that his opposition would impede all his initiatives as much as possible. The less he accomplished, the more it would be used against him in the next round of elections. All in all, it was a complete nightmare for his future prospects, even though he had just been elected as president.

However, there was one good outcome out of all this.

He could indeed avoid war with the Emperor of Harmony.

He had put on a facade of confidence when questioned on how he would fare in the war against the famed Emperor of Harmony. However, he would be lying if he said he was confident or had reason to be confident.

This was a man who had brought Kandria victorious outcomes, if not outright victory, in every major war that the Kandrian Empire had ever partaken in. It wasn't even a question of whether he was qualified, considering he had a team of military and Martial experts that he needed to defer to. (C) content.

He had not looked forward to waging the war against Kandria now that the Emperor of Harmony had returned to power.

"Find out where the socialists got that windfall from." He narrowed his eyes. "They had always fallen behind us in funding due to being pacifists. How could they have possibly gained enough at the last minute?"

He had his suspicions.

Whoever it was that had supplied them with the large donation was clearly someone who wanted to stop the war against the Kandrian Empire from happening. There was clearly no other reason to support the socialist party.

Especially because their ideology was antithetical to most of the wealthy class. Regardless, it was a horrible outcome. If he didn't get the war against Kandria that he had promised his voters, then the probability of him being re-elected was extremely low.

"Damn it all!" He gritted his teeth. "Now the only way I can declare war against Kandria is if the Emperor of Harmony provokes a war somehow such that I can declare an emergency or even those thick-headed socialists will decide to support it."

He didn't hold out much hope for that.

The Emperor of Harmony was not an imperialist leader, and, thus, the probability that he would go out of his way to trigger war was low.

Unfortunately, it was his only option from there on out.

Thankfully, his new presidential term would last another five years, which gave him hope that he would be able to find justification to declare war on the basis of national security.

"Contact the director of the intelligence service. I want him to direct targeted investigations against the Kandrian Empire. Tell him to find me a reason to declare a national emergency to unilaterally declare war. Any valid reason." He narrowed his eyes gravely. "For the sake of my presidency."