Astrid Haugen

"People are afraid of change, they don't like new things, but my stance has never been to change what St Scarlett fundamentally is, I merely want to drive our nation towards its brightest possible future! The same nation with a new coat of paint."
- Astrid Haugen, at her inauguration in 2018.

Astrid Mary Haugen (Born 23rd April 1993) is a Skarlagen politician who served as the 1st president of St Scarlett between July 2018 and November 2023. She has also served as leader of the Haugen party since 2016 and the leader of the Skarlagen opposition since November 2023.

Astrid came straight out of university and into a political environment, starting as a speaker and advocate for free speech and equal rights for men and women with Skarlagens For Frihet (Skarlagens For Freedom) activist group she was picked up by the then Republikansk party, becoming an MP in 2014, who shared her ideals of a country where anyone could speak their mind and admired her speaking abilities.

Admiration for the young woman, combined with her high ambition, lead to her being elected leader of the party in mid 2016. With this election she became leader of the opposition. Under her, St Scarlett's then second largest party was reformed with new objectives of ending matriarchal rule on the archipelago.

Haugen and her party along with activist groups Skarlagens For Frihet and Ny-Skarlagen led the May revolution, storming the Skarlagen council building and arresting the matriarchal council, ceasing control and establishing the Republic of St Scarlett. Unfortunately for Haugen, Matriarch Erin Redwood had amassed a large following of not just the general public but also high ranking officials, especially those in law enforcement and as such she was soon released and resumed control. Haugen avoided prison herself by taking advantage of her speaking abilities and friendship with Erin Redwood, and through continued talks managed to convince the government to reform. She was elected as the country's first Vice Matriarch under the new system, a position automatically gained by the leader of the opposition upon election.

Just two months later and Haugen and the then Republikansk party, having received a record amount of votes in the general election she herself had engineered in the reforms, were able to reform the government further, creating a constitutional matriarchy and making Haugen the first President of the new democratic St Scarlett. The country was renamed in her honour, with Haugen added to the pre-title.

After leading the country for 5 years between 2018 and 2023, the now burgeoning democracy voted her party out of power with many believing it was time for less neutral policies now that the new system of government had reached full function. The Haugen Party remained the second largest party in Parliament allowing Astrid to remain in a position of power as the Leader of the Opposition.

Early Life

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Born in Rubin, Astrid grew up in the city's western district, an area serving both as a busy port and the site of the city's more prestigious zone. Her father, Leif Haugen (Born 1966), worked as an accountant in the city's financial district for most of his life and met her mother Mia Valen (Born 1970) there who was working as a secretary at the time. Astrid has a sister, Kristina Haugen who was born two years later than her in 1995.

She attended Rubin Primary School (Rubin Barneskole) and Rubin Secondary School (Rubin Ungdomsskole), two linked schools in Western Rubin commonly held in high regard. After which she attended RU's sixth form where she achieved high grades in Politics, Law and History. She was then accepted into Rubin Island University (Rubin Øyland Universitet) where she graduated with a second class degree in Politics.

A very stubborn girl with dreams for a better St Scarlett, Astrid was quickly drawn in to the activist movements in Rubin, joining SFF in 2011 after graduating. It was there that she met her husband who was the leader of the group at the time.

Rise in Politics

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Political Activism
Astrid began her political career straight out of university. She joined a local Rubin activist group, SFF (Skarlagener For Frihet, Skarlagens For Freedom) where she was paid to direct protests and write and give speeches to rally people to the group's ideology. As well as to enter direct talks with Grand Matriarch Erin Redwood, attempting to make their voice heard in the government.

Republikansk
Republikansk members frequently attended SFT protests, they too wished to see a more free St Scarlett, and were impressed by Haugen's ability to get and to hold the attention of everyone, sometimes for hours on end. They sent her a letter, inviting her to join their party as an MP, something that was voted on unanimously by the party's members. She joined officially in 2014.

By 2016 she had announced her candidacy for leader of the party and was voted in by a significant majority. Upon election, as leader of the second largest Skarlagen party, this also made her leader of the opposition.

President of the First Republic and Vice Matriarch
In May of 2018 the Republikansk party, lead by Haugen, stormed the Skarlagen council and demanded the arrest of Grand Matriarch Erin Hazelwood. Astrid then assumed presidency of the newly declared republic. This was a short lived position however as Erin Hazelwood, a highly influential figure, was able to return to the government and regain control. Though the Skarlagen people did not ignore the improved conditions under Haugen in her just two months of ruling, and with this in mind Astrid was able to convince Erin to reform her government, including increased power for other parties and a Vice Matriarch position held by the leader of the opposition.

President of the Haugen Matriarchy
With more influence in government Astrid was able to continuously roll out new legislation to increase her power and decrease that of ruling party KAS (Kvinner av Skarlagen). With increased power and popularity the Republikansk party quickly became the largest party, in just a single election, and Hazelwood was forced to renounce her power in a new constitution that created the new Haugen Matriarchy, named in honour of Astrid, a system of government more similar to a constitutional monarchy. After her referendum to convert St Scarlett back to a republic democratically was defeated and republicanism was removed from their primary agenda, members of Republikansk voted to rename the party to the Haugen Party in her honour.

Leader of the Opposition
Despite losing the 2023 election, Haugen remained a much respected figure in Skarlagen politics, with new President and leader of the Labour Party Misty Rygg praising her efforts in bringing democracy to St Scarlett in her inaugural speech. She remained the leader of Haugen, now the second largest party in government, and gladly took up her position as the Leader of the Opposition.

Leadership

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Under Astrid Haugen St Scarlett became a much more free and democratic country, with regular elections, full free speech and a reduced police force, the country became a much more pleasant place to live or visit and saw a boost to its economy via the increased tourism in the small nation.

Policies

• Devolution
  Local governments were set up in each of St Scarlett's regions, giving each of them relative autonomy.

• Proportional Representation
  The elective system was overhauled to proportional representation to give individual parties more chance of success.

• End of Sexism
  Under the Matriarchy men did not have equality to women, under the new system men are allowed to work in any job they wish and receive equal pay and treatment.

• Establishment of the ANO
  Astrid led talks with the U.N. to establish an Anti-Narcotics Organisation to deal with global narcotics related issues, this was an idea suggested to her by President Melanie Martínez of Chile and Venezuela.

• Republican Referendum
  Astrid held a referendum in 2021 to ask voters if they wanted St Scarlett to become a republic or remain a constitutional monarchy. The country voted 66% to remain a constitutional monarchy.

• Separation of Government and Matriarchy
  Under Astrid's leadership, the Haugen party was able to amend the constitution to ensure that the Matriarch and her council must be impartial, unable to join any political party, and unable to directly alter or veto any law, though they may make suggested changes.
  

For & Against

• For: Gender Equality, Free Speech, Capitalism, LGBT rights, Environmentalism

• Against: Recreational Drugs, Alcohol, Capital Punishment, Mass Immigration, Globalism, Polygamy

Post-Premiership

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In the election of November 2023 the Haugen Party would fall to the second largest party in the Medlemsmøte after the surprise landslide of the newly founded Labour Party, the new President Misty Rygg would invite the New Left and Civil Liberties Parties to form a left-leaning coalition government with her Labour party, meaning Haugen not only lost the position of President of St Scarlett but found herself out of the ruling government entirely. As the leader of the largest party outside of government she has since taken on the position of Leader of the Opposition. Haugen has stated she has no plans on leaving politics behind anytime soon and does not believe it is necessary to stand down as the leader of her party as she was still able to maintain the vote of 23% of the Skarlagen public, only 5% less than the now ruling Labour party.

As Leader of the Opposition she has frequently questioned and challenged the policies of the government, but has maintained an air of professionalism by keeping all of her criticisms constructive, something Rygg has stated she appreciates as it allows her to find and eliminate flaws in her policies so she is always able to deliver what is best for the Skarlagen people.

Outside of her political life, Haugen has reportedly begun writing a book on the state of democracy in the world in which she is expected to be scathingly critical of the failings of existing democracies such as the United States, United Kingdom and European Union as well as of nations that refuse to give their people a voice such as Russia, China or North Korea. She has additionally given a number of speeches and talks on the topic as well as on human rights as a wider issue and has been a member of Amnesty International since 2010.

Haugen has remained a staunch LGBT+ ally outside of her role as President and has frequently given talks on the topic. In the light of a seeming rise in transphobia, Haugen has made significant donations to charities such as the Trevor Project and Mermaids, both of which she was instrumental in helping to open branches within St Scarlett.

She founded her own charity, the Democracy Campaign, in early 2024. The charity is focused on raising money to help people living in nations with insufficient democratic systems and has a particular focus on helping those whose human rights are threatened. The Democracy Campaign has been criticised by the Chinese government for its claims regarding the country's Uyghur population.

Since the October 7th attack on Israel, Haugen has been a vocal opponent of both Hamas and the Israeli government and has frequently criticised fellow Western Nations for turning a blind eye to many of Israel's actions, noting double standards when compared to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. This is unsurprising as it was her administration that in 2021 officially recognised Palestine as a nation and withdrew diplomatic ties to Israel, facts which remain true to this day.

Personal Life

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As a young politician, her personal life has run closely alongside her political career. In November 2018 Astrid married Miles Alden who she met in 2011 when she joined the activist group he led. Showing her passion for speaking and her firm but fair attitude she quickly rose up the ranks and became one of their main speakers, as a result she found herself spending a lot of time with Miles and it was while working together that the two fell in love. Astrid claims that Miles’s leadership and support was crucial to her growth in popularity and rise to power.

On the 9th August 2019 Astrid gave birth to her daughter Lyra Haugen, the name was chosen by Miles (after his grandmother) and agreed upon by Astrid who thought it sounded beautiful and was happy to give her husband the honour of naming her child. Lyra is only the third child ever to be born to a national leader during an active term.

Her favourite pasttimes include reading, swimming and horse riding and she loves to take trips into the Skarlagen wild-lands to take photographs of nature. She recently took up ballroom dancing and has become quite fond of the tango.

Personal Trivia

• She was one of the youngest world leaders at the time of her inauguration.

• She is good friends with Erin Redwood despite their past conflicts and differing ideologies.

• Despite living on an island archipelago she is terrified of boats and only travels internationally by plane.

• Her favourite colour is light blue.

• Astrid is a big animal lover and currently has 3 cats named Luna, Sven and Belle and an Arctic Fox named Trixie.

• Luna became the official Chief Mouser of Freya Castle after she was adopted by Astrid in early 2019, this was inspired by the official mouser of 10 downing street in the UK and created a new tradition with President Rygg's cats Pancake and Waffles taking on the title after Astrid and Luna left Freya Castle in late 2023.

• Her fiancé Miles proposed to her four times over the space of six months before she said finally said yes. She has explained she did this to test his loyalty and dedication to her.

• Her wedding was the most viewed television broadcast in Skarlagen history and made SBC its biggest profit yet.

• She, alongside Jacinda Arden and Benazir Bhutto, is one of only three women to give birth while in office.
  

Legacy

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Despite serving only one term as the President of St Scarlett, Haugen is viewed as the nation's George Washington or Simón Bolívar and is almost viewed with almost as much reverence as Saint Scarlett herself. While she was voted out of power in 2023 due to the increase in partisanship following St Scarlett's transition to democracy, the majority of the nation's politicians have made their respect for the former president clear despite their differing political ideologies and she has maintained a friendship with the current and former Grand Matriarchs Kari Erland and Erin Redwood.

Since coming to power her name has entered popular use, with 'Astrid' becoming the most popular girls' name in the nation from 2018-2020 and remaining in the top 5 to this day. The country itself was renamed to the Haugen Matriarchy of Saint Scarlett in her honour by her first government and her political party changed its name from the Republican Party to the Haugen Party in her honour in 2022, following their defeated referendum to transition St Scarlett to a republican system. The Astrid Haugen Museum in Rubin, detailing the history of St Scarlett and its struggle for independence and democracy is also named in her honour. The little town of Småbruk in northern Rødtland changed its name to Astrid in 2023, following a vote between retaining its original name or being renamed in honour of the first president, with the latter winning by 66%. There were talks for Rubin International Airport to be renamed Astrid Haugen International Airport but these were rejected by the airport's owners as they believed the inclusion of Rubin's name was important for Skarlagen tourism and didn't want to overcomplicate the airport's name.

While Haugen is held in high regards by the majority of the nation, with most polls giving her an average of an 80% approval rating, there are some who do not see her in such a positive light. The Women's Party of St Scarlett, which served as the main opposition to the Haugen Party when it was in power and many of whose members made up the pre-2018 dictatorial government, is generally politically and ideologically opposed to the former President and most have not forgiven her for overthrowing their regime. She has also met fierce opposition from the Skarlagen Communist Party and amongst many left leaning communities due to her centre-right political views, and was not popular with the Norwegian Re-unification Party who saw her transition to democracy as a step away from re-uniting with Norway. Current President and leader of the Labour Party, Misty Rygg, has also been critical of the Haugen administration that preceded her own, especially on the issue of immigration where the two leaders have the biggest divide in opinion, despite this Rygg has stated that she greatly respects Haugen and has taken a lot of inspiration from her on how to lead the country.