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March 11, 1985- Kiara Amini is crowned Queen of the Pride Lands.
January 1, 1987- Queen Kiara announces a new plan to make the Pride Lands a full-fledged constitutional monarchy within 5 years.
May 6, 1987- Reformists hold open demonstrations at Pride Rock, unrestricted by police and military personnel.
July 1, 1988- After weeks of wrangling and empty threats from the Queen, the Pride Lands Council of Royal Deputies (CRD) votes 11-10 to accept her proposed reforms to the Kingdom’s political system which include free elections for the CRD as well as the establishment of an elected Parliament.
March 26, 1989- The first ever free, competitive elections for the CRD are held, with royalists winning 8 of the 21 seats up for election with pro-democracy reformists winning the other 13.
May 25, 1989- The inaugural session of the first democratically-elected session of the CRD is held. Reformists elected to the body use the session as a platform to openly criticize the monarchy before a public audience.
November 9, 1989- After weeks of protests demanding freedom of movement, hyenas and other lower predator species relegated to forced banishment in the Outlands, win a concession from the monarchy and the royally-appointed government of the Outlands to dismantle the Outlands Barrier, which begins later that night. Outlands residents flood into the greater Pride Lands.
March 4, 1990- The first ever free, competitive elections for the Pride Lands Parliament are held, with pro-democracy reformists engineering an utter sweep, taking 77 out of 100 total seats. The opening of the inaugural session of Parliament is scheduled for April 1.
March 15, 1990- The CRD votes 15-6 to remove a long-standing ban on the formation of political parties. Queen Kiara grants Royal Assent shortly thereafter.
April 1, 1990- The Parliament of the Kingdom of the Pride Lands holds its inaugural session during which the 100 elected members are sworn in by Queen Kiara, who presides over the body’s proceedings and controls when and for how long the body can remain in session. She sets the length of the inaugural session at 1 week and appoints staunch royalist Kitabu Siri as Interim Presiding Officer, much to the chagrin of the heavily reformist majority.
April 2, 1990- In a widely unexpected turn of events, reformist MPs defy Queen Kiara’s assertion of control over the proceedings of Parliament and elect Vitani Kita as Parliamentary Speaker. They transfer the duties of the Interim Presiding Officer to her and give her, not the Throne, the sole power to declare the opening and closing of parliamentary sessions. 68 MPs vote to appoint her as Speaker, while 13 vote to elect Kitabu Siri, and 19 others either abstaining, not present, or casting scattered protest votes. Siri resigns as Interim Presiding Officer shortly thereafter to make way for Vitani as Speaker.
April 3, 1990- Queen Kiara, rather than engage in direct confrontation with Parliament as her advisers wish her to do, announces reluctantly that she intends to accept the jurisdiction of Speaker Vitani Kita in dictating the schedule and agenda of Parliament. In hindsight, historians view this decision as the turning point after which dissolution of the monarchy became not only likely, but inevitable. They believe that had the Queen decided to engage in direct confrontation with Parliament, it would have assuredly lead to a constitutional crisis and perhaps even civil war. Among royalists, this date is known as Black Tuesday, while democrats use the term Silent Revolution to describe the events of April 1-3.
October 3, 1990- A proposal to grant full citizenship and voting rights to former Outlands residents is approved 73-27 in Parliament and 12-9 in the CRD. Queen Kiara grants Royal Assent within a few hours. The vote is greeted with a significant amount of fanfare throughout the Pride Lands, as it is seen as the final step in reunifying the Outlands with the rest of the Pride Lands.
March 7, 1991- A referendum on the introduction of the Pride Lands Presidency is held with 70% of Pride Lands citizens voting in favor of introducing the post. The monarchy had been publicly calling for a “No” vote weeks in advance of the referendum in favor of continuing the process towards creating a constitutional monarchy.
June 12, 1991- The first election for the post of the Presidency of the Pride Lands is held, with pro-democracy reformist Parliamentary Speaker Vitani Kita winning 57% of the vote under the label of the newly established Liberty Party, defeating her brother and royalist candidate (as well as Queen Kiara’s Consort) Kovu Kita, who receives 16% of the vote, with other minor candidates receiving lower proportions.
July 10, 1991- Vitani Kita is inaugurated as the first ever President of the Pride Lands.
August 19-21, 1991- A group of traditionalist government officials and ministers attempts to facilitate a coup against Queen Kiara and President Vitani Kita. They declare Queen Kiara to be invalid as a monarch due mainly to her democratic reforms, but also due to the fact that she is female. As a result, they declare Prince Hara as the sole legitimate heir to the throne, a declaration Hara immediately disowns. The coup fails when the vast majority of the military declares their allegiance to Kiara and Vitani.
August 22, 1991- Queen Kiara disbands the network of traditionalist advisers she had kept as holdovers from her father’s reign. As a result, she takes on many of President Vitani’s advisers as her own, further merging the office of the Monarch and the Presidency.
September 5, 1991- The CRD votes to transfer most of its authority to Parliament.
December 8, 1991- Coming on the heels of widespread popular protests throughout the Pride Lands, often lead and orchestrated by various Liberty MPs, Queen Kiara and Pride Lands President Vitani Kita sign the Pride Rock Accords, setting a framework for the dissolution of the monarchy by the end of the month.
December 12, 1991- The Pride Lands Parliament approves the Pride Rock Accords by a vote of 88-12.
December 25, 1991- After taking a few weeks to set her own affairs in order, Queen Kiara Amini abdicates the throne and, with the consent of her son Hara, declares the royal bloodline null and void in her final edict. By dusk, the former Queen and her family vacate Pride Rock to allow it to be set up as the Office of the Presidency.
December 26, 1991- The CRD formally recognizes the dissolution of the monarchy and votes unanimously to dissolve itself.
December 27, 1991- Kiara and Hara Amini issue a joint statement disavowing any and all calls among royalists for them to act as royal pretenders following the final dissolution of the monarchy.
December 28, 1991- The Pride Lands Parliament votes 87-13 in favor of a binding resolution stipulating that all formerly royal institutions either dissolve or accept the jurisdiction of the Presidency upon the formation of the Republic of the Pride Lands on January 1. President Vitani Kita symbolically approves the resolution.
December 31, 1991- The Pride Lands Royal Tribunal, the court of last resort under the monarchy, becomes the last royal body to dissolve itself, when just before midnight, it votes to dissolve and transfer its authority and jurisdiction to the Pride Lands High Court, which upon the Tribunal’s decision, becomes the new court of last resort in the nation. President Vitani Kita declares the monarchy officially phased out and leads the midnight celebration ushering in the formation of the Republic of the Pride Lands.
January 1, 1992- The Republic of the Pride Lands is officially established.
