Lüc da Schir
Senator Lüc da Schir, O.Be. (b. December 28th, 1997) is a Talossan citizen from the province of Benito. He is a former three-term Prime Minister, a former leader of the Moderate Radical Party of Talossa and has held various positions in Cabinet over a span of four and a half years.
He was granted citizenship on March 21st, 2012/XXXIII.
| Lüc da Schir |
| Senator for Benito In office: 1 Oct 2014/XXXV - Preceded by: Tric'hard Carschaleir Followed by: incumbent |
| Seneschal In office: 1 Jan 2017/XXXVIII - 29 Jul 2018/XXXIX Preceded by: Cresti Siervicül Followed by: Ian Plätschisch |
| Seneschal In office: 19 Sep 2014/XXXV - 24 Jun 2015/XXXVI Preceded by: Glüc da Dhi Followed by: C. Carlüs Xheraltescù |
Politics
Da Schir has been involved in Talossan politics for over six straight years, sitting on the Cosa and subsequently the Senate for virtually the entirety of his Talossan life. He identifies as a centrist pragmatist and a moderate reformist, which has generally identified the MRPT's ideology under his tenure as leader. His legislative accomplishments as main sponsor or key cosponsor notably include electoral reform, provincial catchment area reform and various budget bills. He is also involved in attempts to overhaul Talossa's constitutional framework.
Da Schir missed a single vote in his parliamentary tenure, out of roughly fifty, as to mid 2018. In Glüc da Dhi's partisan reviews of MZ's voting records, based on each MZ's vote on individual bills, he usually ranks in the middle of the left-to-right list of MZs and slightly towards the right of MRPT MZs, with the notable exception of the 49th Cosa where he ranked as the absolute most leftist MZ.
2012-2014 (Opposition and Da Dhi Cabinet)
While his political career actually started among the ranks of the RUMP, he quickly moved towards the Moderate Radical Party of Talossa, which he joined before the elections to the 44th Cosa. He sat as an MC for the 44th and 45th Cosa; he was also elected as Maestro of Benito on July 22th, 2013.
After former party whip Alexandreu Soleiglhfred renounced to being renominated in late 2013, da Schir was appointed to replace him, simultaneously becoming the new deputy leader of the party. Following the MRPT's electoral win, he was selected to serve as Minister of STUFF in party leader Glüc da Dhi's cabinet. As party whip, he also led the MRPT's parliamentary caucus during the 46th Cosa.
2014-2016 (MRPT leader, first Cabinet, junior coalition partner)
Following Glüc da Dhi's decision not to stand for reelection as leader of the MRPT, da Schir was elected as the new leader; he also announced his candidacy to Benito's Senate seat on July 23rd, 2014, in the province's first election to a full senatorial term since 2012, a race he won unopposed. He closed his three-term tenure in the Cosa without missing a single vote.
Despite the MRPT losing a share of its centrist vote to the reformed Progressives and the newly formed Liberal Congress, the party won once again first place among the coalition parties and da Schir succeeded to his fellow party member da Dhi at the helm of the government, forming the First da Schir Cabinet. He resigned from his post as Maestro of Benito on October 22th 2014, following his election as Senator.
At almost 17 years of age, he was the youngest Talossan ever to be sworn in as Prime Minister, and only the third Seneschal to hail from the province of Benito, the previous being Thomas Buffone over twenty-two years before.
He also served as Attorney-General pro tempore between his dismissal of the previous A-G Magniloqueu da Lhiun to Txec Róibeard Nordselva's appointment, for a week and a half in mid-January 2015. He took on the job again in April 2015 when, at the Cosa's dissolution, Nordselva resigned to return to his job in the Cort dels Edilicieux. From May onwards, he also had to fill in for Owen Edwards' absence from the Government and replaced him as caretaker Minister of Finance, holding de facto three portfolios simultaneously for about two months.
In the rundown to the elections for the 48th Cosa, the two coalition partners to the left of the MRPT (ZRT and Lib) allied in the Free Democratic Alliance; the Liberal Congress's Carlüs Xheraltescu having previously proposed an alliance to the Moderate Radicals too, which was rejected due to the longstanding ModRad tenet of running on its own terms by not making deals before an election. The newly formed pact, which enjoyed a theoretical advantage of 52 seats to the 42 of the MRPT coming in to the elections to the 48th Cosa, managed to narrowly stay in front of the Moderate Radicals by a single vote after the elections, and as such took the lead of the broad coalition which had been governing Talossa since early 2014. As such, da Schir accepted a role as Distain in Free Democrat leader Xheraltescu's cabinet, temporarily filling in for Owen Edwards as Acting Finance Minister as well.
During the term, he was honored with the Order of Benito on April 29th 2015 by Maestro Vitxalmour Conductour.
With the party in disarray after a poor performance in the coalition, da Schir took a number of steps towards reorganization, such as offloading some of his tasks to other members (Ian Plätschisch being appointed to the office of Party Secretary after a three-Cosa tenure by da Schir) and initially advocating for not joining any coalition in the next government. He later reneged on this, viewing with unease the increasing polarisation between RUMP and Free Democrats, and attempted to form a "centrist pole" together with the TNC and Progressives. This never happened, however, even though a similar agreement was reached separately with the TNC's leader Breneir Itravilatx.
The party suffered an emphatic and expected nine-seat loss; however, it still held the balance of power together with the other centrist parties, as the MRPT and TNC combined were tied in seats with the eventual winner, the Dien Tresplet-led Free Democrats. Deeming unacceptable the demands of the Free Democrats, with a number of members in both parties still wary and resentful the previous coalition's outcome, the MRPT joined a coalition government with the RUMP and the TNC, led by Cresti Siervicül, with da Schir accepting a role as Distain.
2017-2018 (second and third Cabinet)
After a good performance by the party in the previous coalition, da Schir led the party to their then-biggest success, winning 79 seats in the Cosa and first place overall. He was also reelected as Senator for Benito, winning 11-5 against his Free Democrat opponent Taiwos. This ushered in a second term as Seneschal for da Schir, heading a coalition between the Moderate Radicals and the Free Democrats. He briefly served as Acting Mençei from August to October 2017.
In the run up to the 51st Cosa elections, da Schir won reelection to a third term as leader of the MRPT. Taking advantage of a positive record and a general sense of apathy in the other parties, da Schir led the Moderate Radicals to a second straight record breaking election, gaining four more seats and over 40% of the vote share; the party also coming close to achieving an overall majority in the Senate, but ultimately losing the decisive race in Maricopa, ostensibly due to the Free Democrats refusing to endorse the Moderate Radical candidate and largely choosing either Béneditsch Ardpresteir or to abstain. This led to the previous coalition being renewed and a third term as Prime Minister.
In the waning days of the 51st Cosa, da Schir announced he would partially retire from national politics, by stepping down as leader of the MRPT one Cosa in advance and ruling out any involvement in the next couple of Governments, concurrently declaring his bid for a third term in the Senate. He planned to focus the next phase of his Talossan life on Senatorial activity - where he mentioned he would seek to take a more independent stance, while still having no plans to relinquish his Moderate Radical membership -, legislative projects and reforms (such as parliamentary bylaws and Organic reform) and on other interests, such as journalism and political punditry.
As part of the elections for his successor as Leader of the Moderate Radicals, he nominated and endorsed Ian Plätschisch, da Schir's long time deputy as Party Whip for most of the latter's tenure as leader. He was ultimately replaced as leader by Plätschisch on June 8th, and as Seneschal on July 29th.
2018- (semi-retirement)
Da Schir was opposed in his bid for a third term in the Senate by a fellow three-term Seneschal, albeit of the Republic: Free Democrat Eiric Börnatfiglheu. After a somewhat bitter campaign, he won reelection with 75% of the vote, an increase of 8% on his previous reelection bid. He was nominated to the Senate Rules Committee.
Journalism and Punditry
He is currently the chief editor of the Talossan Observer news company, which he founded in the late March 2012. Due to a chronical lack of time and to his involvement in national politics, however, any publication is currently suspended. He was one of the two runner-ups to the title of Best Journalist of 2014 and his piece "The Talossan Observer's Analysis on the January 2014 General Elections" won the Article of the Year award, both as part of the 2014 Talossan Journalism Awards. Later that year, he also contributed to the first issue of Preßeu Zespenat with an article about his last thoughts as Prime Minister.
In recent years, his writing interest has shifted to political punditry; he released exit polls for every general election from 2015 onwards, around half an hour before polls are closed. The exit polls are created by assigning to each individual citizen a chance of voting for each party, and simulating the outcome 10.000 times; each citizen also has a chance of showing up to vote, that decreases over time using a formula derived from the turnout pattern of previous elections, and influences the eventual outcome of the projection by predicting the final turnout ahead of time.
Other interests
Lüc da Schir serves as bandsman tubist in the 1st Platoon of the Zouaves of the Royal Bodyguard with the grade of Corporal.
He is the manager of Talossan Fantasy Football team Els Ceumarscheirs (The Skywalkers), a play on his own name, which has competed in the league since 2013 and was the runner-up in the 2016 edition.
Offices
The Ziu
| Preceded by Tric'hard Carschaleir |
Senator for Benito Senate for the 47th Cosa - Present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Member of Cosa | 44th 45th 46th |
National
| Preceded by Glüc da Dhi |
Leader of the MRPT 11 Aug 2014/XXXV - 8 Jun 2018/XXXIX |
Succeeded by Ian Plätschisch |
| Preceded by Sir Cresti Siervicül, UrN |
Seneschal 1 Jan 2017/XXXVIII - 29 Jul 2018/XXXIX |
Succeeded by Ian Plätschisch |
| Preceded by Glüc da Dhi |
Seneschal 19 Sep 2014/XXXV - 24 Jun 2015/XXXVI |
Succeeded by Carlüs Xheraltescù |
| Preceded by Miestra Schiva |
Distain 25 Jun 2015/XXXVI - 20 Dec 2015/XXXVI |
Succeeded by Miestra Schiva |
| Preceded by Miestra Schiva |
Distain 4 Apr 2016/XXXVII - 31 Jan 2017/XXXVIII |
Succeeded by Ian Plätschisch |
| Preceded by Owen Edwards |
Finance Minister 3 Jun 2015/XXXVI - 20 Dec 2015/XXXVI |
Succeeded by Alexandreu Davinescu |
| Preceded by Alexandreu Davinescu |
Minister of Stuff 24 Jan 2014/XXXV - 20 Sep 2014/XXXV |
Succeeded by Sevastáin Pinátsch |
| Preceded by Carlüs Xheraltescu |
Head of the New Citizen's Committee 25 Jan 2014/XXXV - Oct 2014/XXXV |
Succeeded by Beneditsch Ardpresteir |
Provincial
| Preceded by Tímoþi Asmourescu |
Maestro of Benito 22 Jul 2013/XXXIV - 22 Oct 2014/XXXV |
Succeeded by Vitxalmour Conductour |
| Preceded by Istefan Perþonest |
Arvitieir Prima of Benito 27 April 2014/XXXV - 16 April 2016/XXXVII |
Succeeded by Istefan Perþonest |