Christiaan van Riet

Christiaan van Riet (born 14 February, 1967) is a Dogger politician serving as the Speaker of the National Assembly since 26 December. Previously he has served as Chancellor of the Treasury under Prime Ministers Michael and Paterson.

Provincial Career
As member of the Zuipont Liberal Party, van Riet has served in the Zuipont Assembly from 2002 to 2021. In 2009 he was appointed Chief Whip of the party by the leader, rising through the ranks. He was later made Minister of Interior and Safety in Zuipont from 2011 to 2013, his tenure was focused on cracking down on organised crime. He had to resign on 12 October 2013 over a controversial courts reform plan. Once the Liberals were able to enter the provincial government again, van Riet was appointed Minister of the Economy. In the office he passed many initiatives such as cutting provincial taxes, enacting tax credits and deregulation. He resigned in 2020 after the Zuipont Assembly voted down one of his bills which would've cut back on environmental regulation, though he remained fairly popular with the electorate. He later claimed to have implemented the vast majority of his agenda as Minister and that he was satisfied with the progress made.

Chancellor of the Treasury
Van Riet decided to quit provincial politics on 18 December 2021 though he remains a member of the Zuipont Liberal Party. He stood for election to the National Assembly on the list of the national Liberal Party. Soon after winning his seat he was appointed Chancellor of the Treasury by Prime Minister Priston Michael. He continued to serve in the office under Eric Paterson. After heavy negotiation van Riet presented the government's budget on 26 December, it included many tax cuts, several spending cuts, introduction of a graduate tax, repeal of The Bedrock of Doggerland Act and increased funding for the Education ministry. It was supported by the overwhelming majority of the assembly, passing with 74 ayes to 8 nays. Christiaan van Riet resigned as Chancellor after submitting the budget to become Speaker.

Speaker
On 24 December due to 	Peter Rampart's election to the Senate, van Riet announced his intention to run for Speaker of the National Assembly, hoping to bring the experience he had in the Zuipont Assembly and solve the bureaucracy of Port Nandels. He later won the election in a landslide, becoming Speaker on 26 December. As Speaker van Riet has ensured the assembly works fast and passes legislation quickly. This has made the December-January term of the NA its most production, going through 27 bills and a budget.

Leadership Election
On 10 January Louis St. Laurent announced his resignation as leader of the Liberal Party, van Riet decided to stand in the election. He campaigned for the position as a centrist focusing on unity despite him being on the right of the party. He narrowly won the election in the third round after a large lead in the first. He begun his tenure in the party by promoting unity and reconciliation but his attempts seemingly failed since Jimothy Gee and Arøn Paxton left the party to reform the Progressive Libertarians. Van Riet described the move as petty and said the main reason they left was because they lost the leadership election.

Christmas and Civic Duty Coalitions
Following his ascention to party leadership van Riet maintained his stance in support of Prime Minister Laurent and the Christmas coalition. After the January elections van Riet chose to form a government with the right, investing Peter Lis as Prime Minister. He faced a lot of controversy during the time and some, most notably Senator Peter Rampart, called some of his actions "abuse of power". Van Riet dismissed remarks.

Time in Opposition and Merger
Following the February election the government lost its majority and Paul Keating of the Labour Party was invested as Prime Minister. Van Riet congratulated him and assured the new government that the liberals were open to working with them in the Senate where the right still held a majority. After the fact van Riet has organised several meetings between the Prime Minister, Chancellor and moderate Liberal Senators Anthony Baines and Steve DeLuca. Soon after the reformation of the Libertarian Party van Riet and Deputy Liberal leader Steve DeLuca approached Freedom Alliance leader Barry Goldman about a possible merger. This will eventually lead to the formation of the Free Liberals on March 1st.