Lazia, 26 October 2019 — The Social Democratic Party, together with the National Convention, has elected Zabëlle Skye as its new leader, charging him with steering the party away from the highly progressive, democratic-socialist platform of his predecessor, XO — derided by the Classical Liberals as one for “social justice warriors” — towards a more moderate social- and Christian-democratic course, in the hope of restoring its standing.
The new leader is a man of several parts: a New Eiffelic prince, film critic, film-maker and actor, variously described as “film-obsessed”, “colourful” and “hard-working”. Born Zabëlle Lunarius Skye-Greys in the United Kingdom to South African parents of French and Dutch heritage, he holds dual South African and British citizenship. He was schooled at the Kingston School and, latterly, at the New Eiffel School and Esher Church of England High School, studying subjects ranging from Greek mythology and drama to politics and geography.
He brings a measure of political experience with him. Since 2018 he has led the Socialist Scandinavian Party in New Eiffel — coming second in that year’s New Eiffelic general election — and he is a member of Populares in Abelden. A native speaker of English and Afrikaans, with some Dutch and Hungarian, he counts statistics, film-making, acting and film criticism among his pursuits. The testimonials are warm: “If there was a leaderboard of the best micronational leaders, Zed would be top ten,” offered Joost Skye, leader of New Eiffel’s Yellow Party, while the micronationalist Anthony Dickson said that, had he been a Mahusetan citizen, he “would definitely have voted for him”.
Asked by the Courant van Lazia what direction he intended to take, Skye did not spare his own party. The SDP, he said, had been “one of the worst parties in Mahuset”, responsible for “the most defeated bill in Mahuset history”; he would set about changing that by listening “more to what people actually want” and engaging with them more closely.
He was measured about his predecessor. XO had taken the party “in very pro-LGBTQ ways, which isn’t bad — he just did it in the wrong way”, he said, citing the non-binary recognition bill, the heaviest defeat in the chamber’s history, and a proposal to make it an offence to insult someone’s sexuality, which Skye argued would offend against freedom of speech. His own aim, he said, would be to draw in “more active citizens” and to sharpen the party’s political and media presence. Of the ruling Classical Liberals he was combative, promising to “seriously challenge” them: “if the SDP could have a chance of winning, we will need to give them a run for their money.”
