Alexander Bouras

Alexander Bouras (1907-2011) was a Marianan politician and former Prime Minister from 1949 to 1957. Bouras headed three consecutive governments, the only Prime Minister to do so. During his period in office, in particular his first and into the second term, he was viewed favorably by the electorate, but suffered with allegations of corruption in his department in 1953, which ultimately led to a power-sharing agreement with the Social Democrats for his last term

Early life
Bouras was born in a farm in Cape Cross to a family of Barzuna-speaking origin. He was very distantly of mixed Catalan-Arab descent and his ancestors had arrived in the 16th century from Spain. In 1924 he was conscripted into the Royal Guard for one year service; as Prime Minister he would state he hated his time there. He later worked as a police officer in Cape Cross, making it to Inspector in the city police in 1936.

War Years
Upon the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Bouras decided to join the Royal Navy. He commissioned as a 2nd Class Ensign

In 1949 he was successfully elected as Prime Minister with the Liberal Party, forced into the first coalition government ever with the Social Democratic Party. In his first term, he worked closely with the government at rebuilding Brunant following the destruction left from the War. During his second term (1953-1957) he was involved in a massive corruption case (some conservatives claimed he had funneled over Th. 250,000 from the treasury to benefit him and his family. In the end it was found that he had indeed stolen money, but only Th. 10,000. With Pietersen announcing his retirement ahead of the 1949 election, Bouras was selected by him to succeed the party leadership. Bouras' campaign for the Liberals was very much focused on continuing the stable, postwar policies and government that Pietersen had lead, going as far as announcing that "most ministers" would remain in their posts if he won, and that he would also name Pietersen to a ministry if he so chose to accept.

First Bouras government
On 4 May, a Brunanters gave 44.8% of the vote to the Liberal party, a slight increase over 1945 to give them 41 seats. While they held an 8-seat lead over the Whites, they became the first leading party to not command more than 50% of seats in congress. Bouras was then forced to reach out to the SDP to secure a majority and was able to agree with their leader, xx, to form the first coalition government.

As Prime Minister, he ...

In 1950, he began looking into changing the colonies' political status, in order to give them some measure of self-government and at the same time reduce government expenditure for them by allowing them the option to manage their own budgets. Reaction from the parties in congress varied greatly. Most of the White Party and CDU members were opposed to a status change, seeing the colonies not yet ready, a sentiment shared by even some in the SDP and LP. With the communists opposed to this unless it was full divestment (ie. Independence), the decision was made to call early elections rather than lose a vote, hoping for an increase in Liberal seats to secure a majority or require a minimal amount of votes from other parties.

Second Bouras government
The election was scheduled for 15 January 1951, and the outcome would either give him or deny him a mandate for this change. The result would provide a three seat increase for the Liberals, a nine seat loss for the Whites, and a near-guaranteed passage of his plans. The Overseas Territories law was drafted and passed in March 1951 that gave a proper self-government to Bequia and Marigalante, the crowning achievement of his first years in office.

Despite setting up the mechanism for the now-overseas territories to collect their own revenue and manage their budget, the government would still need to continue paying significant funds for those, something that became apparent well into 1951 and raised more questions. Eventually it was decided that Internal Affairs and the Overseas would set up a fund for Bequia and Marigalante, for the purposes of setting up expanded government offices, hire public servants and continue providing a budget, which would be reduced by 18 percent yearly from 1952 (100% of the pre-1951 budget) to 1955.

In early 1953, though, Internal Affairs began reporting a small though significant amount of money missing, earmarked for overseas territories, totaling at a minimum 560.000 l. Two high-level members of the department were implicated, and it was soon being reported by the media and some in congress that this would not have happened without the Prime Minister's knowledge [ie. Bouras as the relevant minister]. Bouras was quick to publicly denounce the two members as corrupt and had them removed from their positions, and had most of the stolen funds paid back by his own initiative and by some recovered.

Among the public opinion was divided; some hailed his quick acting and decisive leadership on the matter, though others believed he was just as tainted and may have done what he did to try to cover up or take away from his own involvement in the scandal. Within congress, though, it was felt that this scandal, and by extension his plan with the Overseas territories was the result of mismanagement and that he could not be trusted. On 14 April it was made clear by SDP president Anthony Heemskerk that his party would no longer support him in government, and Bouras was forced to call early elections. Despite repeated calls by the CDU and many for him to resign, he plead his innocence and refused to resign.

Third Bouras government
Elections were set for 1 July, and the campaign was the first one where no party looked like it would a significant advantage over the others. After election day it became clear that the Liberals suffered. Losing 14 seats, it was a massive loss for his party, with all major parties, especially the Whites and SDP gaining the most. Still, he seems to have maintained enough of a voter base to lead his party to a heavily-reduced first place.

Bouras was likely to return as Prime Minister, but he desperately needed the SDP to secure a government. The post of PM was non-discussable, but for the SDP's support he was willing to trade External and Internal Affairs, Finance and Education, to give them just over half the departments. The SDP, who would now effectively dominate government and policy, readily agreed to the terms.

Later life
Bouras died in 2011, from natural causes.