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Vice Chancellor Leia Organa breaks silence on the Moff Crisis

Andeta Rugasaya,
Senior Senate Correspondent, Midrim News

CORUSCANT – New statements by Vice Chancellor Organa during Taungsday’s session of the Senate have aligned her Reformationist Bloc with the radical parties on the Moff issue, further threatening the governing coalition of Chancellor Mothma.

Since the start of the crisis with the arrest of Senator Lankin by Onderonian security forces, Vice Chancellor Organa had maintained neutrality between Mothma’s Restorationists and the various radical parties. This has come to an end in a fiery speech on the floor of the Senate that, while cautioning the independent action of the former Guerrarite governor-revolutionary of Onderon, urged the repeal of the Imperial Amnesty Act.

The Amnesty Act, whose provisions have been interpreted to find the Onderonian imprisonment of the former Moff Lankin illegal, has been highly controversial since its passage two years ago. In the debates surrounding its passage, Organa had argued for it as a necessary measure for preventing warlordism and the formation of larger imperial remnant coalitions. In Taungsday’s session however, she argued that the need had passed and it was time for the crimes committed by Moffs and other high imperial officials to be tried, even if they had been guaranteed clemency as part of their surrender to the New Republic.

The speech, which came during a debate of Bruss’ proposed resolution demanding the release of Lankin, accused the Senate of complicity in the crimes of the Empire “until all those responsible for Palpatine’s reign of terror see the inside of a cell”. While she did not invoke the memory of Alderan, the following Reformationist and radical speakers did. Instead, she made comparisons to the later days of the Old Republic, arguing that “straying from truth and justice for the sake of what is politically useful” was at the heart of its destruction. Her speech was immediately followed by a speech by, leader of the Institutional Partisan Front, Lux Bonteri that seconded her points and argued along the same lines. Analysts have taken this to suggest a possible new alignment between the Reformationalists and some of the more radical factions.

Vice Chancellor Organa’s speech has been condemned by the Unity and Restoration factions within the Senate, as well as some leaders of the Outer Rim expeditionary force as damaging to future attempts to bring the few remaining warlords into the fold. Senator Bel Iblis declared it “a blatant powergrab at the cost of years of diplomatic efforts”, raising the possibility of Organa using the radical factions to make a move for the Chancellorship.

This remains for now just a possibility. While the cracks are growingly apparent within the joint Reformationist and Restoration government, Chancellor Mothma has not made any public moves to remove Organa as her Vice Chancellor or to seek new coalition partners among the Unity faction.

With the surprise and chaos sown by Vice Chancellor Organa’s speech, voting on Bruss’ resolution has been delayed and appears far less certain than it did at the beginning of the week. It now appears likely that the Onderonian High Revolutionary Tribunal will hear the jurisdiction challenges put forth by Senator Lankin’s counsel before any decision by the Senate is released. The tribunal, while less Guerraran than the thoroughly ex-military security apparatus, is not believed to be likely to deny the jurisdiction of the lower court to try Lankin.

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