Article Written: 3 January 1451
Edward Jackson (1217-1309) was the earliest third-party candidate to win the election for Prime Minister in the Republic of Retun, and would go down as being one of the most influential politicians in history.
1259-1260
In the late 1250s, Jackson had joined the Top-Hatters Aviation Club which at that point became effectively an organization of members who were exclusively businessmen and bankers. He was initially considered a "Freshman," but soon had won his way to the Club's Master position. Rumor states he had done so through a duel but sources indicate it was simply his skill and talent at charisma and persuasion of the masses. Shortly after becoming the Clubmaster, he announced his run for Prime Minister and renamed the Club the National Diplomatic Party.
With the Diplomatic Party being a new and independent third-party at the time, Jackson won the Primary Elections as its candidate in 1259. His name, however, was not yet famous at the time, as the nation was focused primarily on the two contesting mainstream parties: the Foundation Party and the National Labor Party. The incumbent Prime Minister James Black was associated with the Foundationist Party and was running against Labor Party candidate Robert Smith, who was under controversy for having allegedly implemented a strategy to disqualify Arnold Stone, a popular candidate also of the Labor Party. In the ensuing protests and political chaos, Edward Jackson emerged in popularity on behalf of his platform with the promise to build a robust economy on the practice of deep-trade.
And so came the general election on 16 September 1260. By the time the polls closed and the ballots were counted, it became clear that the election would be one of the most contested in history, for it was too close to call. The district that would ultimately determine the outcome was the South Masonia District, where the votes were tied between the three candidates. After many recounts, the Supreme Court in Retun rested on Edward Jackson being the winner, thus winning him the Office of Prime Minister.
Jackson's Tenure
When Jackson began his Office as Prime Minister on 1 January 1261, his Diplomatic Party had only two seats in the Ministry Council and slightly more than a third in the Representative House and Public Assembly. However, Jackson was able to push major free-enterprise economic policies by pushing a popular concept that the Foundation Party wanted to govern "the conservative way" and the Labor Party "the liberal way" while the Diplomatic Party wanted to implement solutions that were practical regardless of political bias. Breaking a mold formed in the years before of political gridlock between the Foundationists and Laborists, this concept gained popularity among voters and succeeded in pressuring members from both parties to form coalitions with the Diplomatic Party in getting Jackson's measures passed. Foundation and Labor Party leaders publicly criticized Jackson and the Diplomatic Party for such "measures of coercion," but Jackson responded by casting them as "establishment figures." And in 1263, gubernatorial elections won the governorships of Combria, Ereautea, Nintel, and Pimdan for the Diplomatic Party, who also won a simple majority in House of Representatives and Public Assembly, and four more seats in the Ministry Council. The year 1264 saw the Diplomatic Party push to admit Chemko and Zyrtin as new Provinces into the Republic, a motion that won easy approval in the Public Assembly and House of Representatives, but initially ran into opposition in the Ministry Council. Jackson implemented an intense lobbying agenda that year, which succeeded in garnering another coalition to finally get the Ministry Council to pass the measure, which was signed by Jackson less than a week later.
This prompted backlash though, especially in light of Jackson's subsequent decision to implement military units to force the relocation of many members of the local indigenous population in the new Provinces. And prominent figures from both the Labor and Foundation Parties formed a coalition and motioned for the impeachment of Jackson on the charge that, during this time, he had implemented aggressive measures of coercion. Such a measure, however, failed to pass the House of Representatives or the Public Assembly; and Jackson was allowed to continue serving his role, winning re-election in 1266.
The main objective of Jackson's second term was to establish a network of deep-trade between Remikra and Greater Circlaria. This succeeded with the establishment of a deep-trade contract between the Early Republic and the Acrean Kingdom in 1272, carrying Jackson to win re-election for a third term. However, the Acrean Kingdom was overthrown and re-established as the Acrean Republic, which terminated the deep-trade agreement in 1273 and threatened to remove "Retunian squatters" in its territories by military force. Jackson dispatched Retunian military forces during that time, which confronted Acrean forces and began the Acrean War. This War was a source of controversy in the Retunian Republic as present-day scholars argue that this was the time that the Diplomatic Party, itself, began to turn into an "establishment party." Jackson, however, saved his reputation when he ended the War with a truce with the Acreans and settled for a stalemate agreement that awarded the Republic a large portion of the Meredythian Islands. This proved a major advantage for the Republic as businesses began to invest in the building of trading posts in this region. And in 1278, Jackson won re-election for a fourth and final term.
Jackson's final term consisted of peak prosperity in the Republic, yet there were still issues. Tension existed between faculty and administration of the public and private universities enrolled in the North Circlarian World Academy, which was reducing pay raises and worsening other work conditions for its employees across the multi-national organization. Many faculty, as a result, formed collective organizations, which in turn voted to join the multi-chapter Kindol Educators Association. And in 1282, this organization began a labor strike, which shut down every involved educational institution across Circlaria for one year. Meanwhile, in the wake of unsuccessful deep-trade diplomacy with the Rinaean Kingdom, employees of the Deep-Trade Administration began a strike of their own, which lasted until 1285.
The reputation of the Diplomatic Party, however, was not hurt by this, as they had employed doctrines that convinced the masses that such labor upheavals constituted a threat to democracy. And in 1281, as the threat of both labor demonstrations loomed, the Diplomatic Party won important seats in the gubernatorial elections that year, gaining a two-thirds majority in all three chambers of Council. The following year, they used their gains to their advantage and passed the Third Amendment to the Constitution of the Republic. The Third Amendment handed court judges extra leverage in approving or denying the appointment of candidates to what were known as Mitigator Offices; Mitigators were initially representatives appointed by petitioners to initiate or stop ongoing procedures in either a legislative chamber or executive office. Such passage of this Amendment effectively gave more leverage to wealthy factions capable of affording higher-quality attorneys.
With popular sentiment effectively curtailed toward Diplomatic Party interests, Jackson endorsed his colleague, Arther C. Cummings, to be the next candidate for Prime Minister. And Cummings won the nomination handily in the 1284 elections.
After Jackson's Tenure
Jackson continued to remain in a public spotlight, being seen as a wise mentor to the new Prime Minister until Prime Minister Cummings' first week in office, in January 1285, when he signed a measure to borrow money from private banks in order to pay a large sum to Deep-Trade Administration employees and settle the ongoing strike overnight. With regard to workers' rights, it seemed an ethical and viable option, but the notion of the government obtaining a loan from such private institutions was a stark violation to Jackson's sense of ethics, as he saw this act as reckless. In the wake of this, Jackson dropped from the public eye and keeping touch only with family and close colleagues. Jackson made further distance between himself and the incumbent Prime Minister in the wake of the 1287 War with the Provan Republic, which ended as a loss to Retun.
In 1288, Jackson purchased assets and began a business renting out small airships to emerging businesses across the country. He made a successful living at this while maintaining a low profile, and eventually sold the business in 1300 for his retirement. In 1302, however, in the wake of ensuing economic depression, Jackson joined the ranks of leadership of a non-profit organization that crowdfunded business grants in an attempt to help emerging entrepreneurs. This organization gained the members of many people supporting the Progressive Party, which had risen and defeated the Diplomatic Party in the 1296 general elections, but had gained the sympathy of Jackson, who at this point began having contempt toward growing corruption in the Diplomatic Party establishment. Beginning in 1307, Walter Scott Mason had risen to the forefront as the Diplomatic Party nominee to run for Prime Minister, and was running a campaign based on hatred toward members of the darkfire community. It was during this time that Jackson rose to the public spotlight and endorsed John Waltmann, the incumbent Prime Minister having run on the Progressive Party ticket. Scholars argue that Jackson's endorsement against his own Diplomatic Party may have played an important role in Waltmann winning re-election, defeating Mason by a small margin in the 1308 election.
Jackson up to this point had long campaigned against Mason's sentiment of hatred toward the darkfire population. However, in 1309, he publicly sided with Waltmann's centrist views that the darkfire population be "kept in its place," going against the expansion of darkfire rights upheld by Finzi and his supporters. But Jackson never saw the turn of events that would take place during the 1309 Revolution, for he passed away peacefully the day before on 5 September 1309.