Republic: Formation of the National Economic Council
The sixteen workers' associations have formed a "National Economic Council" to take on the role of the government and ensure both economic and social order until such time as an official cabinet can be formed that meets the demands of the ongoing demonstrations. Consisting of 200 representatives, appointed by the associations roughly proportionally to their membership, the Council will have the primary responsibilities of coordinating the tasks of the workers' associations, of ensuring the continued supply of raw material to producers, of maintaining international trade, and of meeting internal consumer demand. When it is in recess, its work is to be carried out by a smaller Presidium, consisting of 16 members and a non-voting president, currently Esketal Indretek, leader of the Ecologist Party and a major figure of the Istkalenic opposition.
"There no longer exists a functional government in Istkalen," said Indretek upon his election to the position. "it is now our responsibility, our sacred responsibility, to ourselves ensure stability and the maintenance of our international prestige until true order can be restored - until a strong government, willing at last to govern with the people and according to their demands, takes office and ensures a negotiated and consensual end to the righteous and justified unrest."
The Council intends to work with regional and local people's committees, which since the occupation have played a major role in ensuring the cooperation of the associations and of their constituent societies, to accomplish its goals; it has made an appeal calling for people's committees, particularly on a regional level, to establish more official relations with it and send delegates to a congress with which the Council will be in communication for the purpose of policy formulation.
Many leaders of the Istkalenic opposition have endorsed the Council. Elspeth Oskon, leader of the party Liberation, while expressing disagreement with the economic policies that it intends to pursue, nevertheless gave strong support for its establishment, stating,
We liberals have long struggled for democracy, true democracy, in Istkalen. While the Council certainly is pursuing objections almost diametrically opposed to our own, for us this is of no matter; its establishment, against the increasingly tyrannical and overreaching mandates of a government that, like so many others, clearly sees itself as entitled to govern, is a major victory for popular self-determination and the defense of human rights in our long-closed country.
Other major figures in support include Kalju Ilves, the leader of the Social Democratic Party, and LIris Vesek, former leader of the National Republican Party, both of whom have taken positions on the council's Presidium.
In strong contrast, however, the Council has not itself lent unreserved support for the goals of the opposition. While against the major cuts to the welfare state, it has not signaled any intention to restore the "stolen" pensions, instead suggesting that a separate system to provide the elderly benefits in kind ought to be established; it has also outright endorsed the centralization of the workers' associations, although it has moved to reinstate legal recognization to the workers' societies, "abolished" in December of 2021 but continuing to exist, informally, to the present.
"Unsustainable systems cannot be maintained," said Indretek in response to questions about the policy choices of the Council. "We are certainly opposed to the extreme radicalism and authoritarianism through which the government sought to replace them, but nevertheless, we see it as absolutely necessary that they be replaced. The solutions we have proposed are all, necessarily, moderate in nature. We have proposed no radical reorganizations, no major cuts. The welfare of the people will be protected."
However, no real objections have been expressed to this chosen path. With popular forces continuing to converge around the Council, it is, to the contrary, likely that it will be able to go about its tasks and implement its propositions with few barriers.