I think to be consistent in tenses, you missed out a "had" in "who (had) believed"... If you had started the sentence with "Are" instead of "Were", then "had been" becomes "have been" ? Also, political situation could be used, but arguably, you can consider "situation(s)" also, as it is likely there are more than 1 situation to write about.... this is not a "tense" discussion but a "logic" discussion...