The First Provincial Governor Elections
In 1244, a popular referendum called for all provincial governor elections to be held on the same day in a particular three-year cycle as Council seat elections. The Federal Estates Council eventually voted for such an election to fall on every third year of the Prime Minister's term, beginning in 1245. On 24 September 1245, such elections were carried out, awarding John Derry the Governor Seat of Ereautea, Karl Torick the Governor Seat of Nintel, Michael Wayfare the Governor Seat of Gymia, and Jason Kellerton the Governor Seat of Combria.
1245-47: The Issues
Between 1245 and 1247, the most prominent politicians on the national front were Arnold Stone, James Black, and Jason Kellerton. The most pressing issue was the economy, especially the hubstone industry.
Over the previous two centuries, Combria had been a leader in the hubstone market, being the first entity to enter it. In the latter half of the 1100s, though, other hubstone deposits were discovered in other nations, prompting competition. And in the wake of the Retunian Revolution, Combria lost its standing, resulting in lost business, lower prices, and decreased revenue for the House of Masons. This created an incentive to eliminate the henshale industry in Gymia.
The Federal Estates Council, along with Provincial and Territorial Councils, debated numerous measures for economic reform. In May 1246, Arnold Stone proposed legislation that would implement various stimulus measures to businesses wishing to trade abroad and allocate other stimulus measures to businesses that traded domestically and provided jobs. Within the month, the measure passed.
In September 1246, Jason Kellerton proposed an amendment to the measure, wishing to give business advantages to the hubstone industry. Kellerton's proposition would implement future stimulus measures to help establish banks to carry out money-lending deals. His idea was that the banks would loan money to the hubstone industry to buy out hubstone assets abroad. In addition, the measure would instill tariffs for other industries against nations who did not provide tax incentives to businesses who decided to sell their hubstone assets to the Combrians. This would help the House of Masons to gain advantage and control over the global hubstone industry, thus allowing them to raise prices. Arnold Stone, James Black, and a majority of the Federal Estates Council voted against Kellerton's measure, citing an unfair market advantage with the tariffs. As a measure of consolation, Stone advocated for and led the Council to passing a measure to lower hubstone production taxes in exchange for worker pay raises.
Stone, Kellerton, and Dorman
Many people began seeing Arnold Stone as a good diplomat, and called on him to run for office as the nation's first Prime Minister. Stone, however, was only willing to do this if he received a petition of 10'000 signatures from each province and territory, with the total number no less than 100'000 for the entire nation. In May 1247, Combrian workers, favoring Stone's policies, began the first of Stone's requested petitions. Kellerton saw this as a threat to the hubstone industry and the precarious balance of Combrian provincial sovereignty, and, in September, publicly announced his bid for the Prime Minister position.
The population in the territory of Layda was opposed to any form of Combrian "dominance"; and, in October, Harold Dorman, House Leader in Savel, called for a vote to forward a proposal for Layda to become a province. This, however, was opposed by many local people, who accused Dorman of having a history of financing the oppressive regime of West Savel during the Retunian Revolution. On 18 December, this measure failed to pass the House.
James Black Becomes the First Prime Minister
Meanwhile, James Black decried Kellerton's campaign, calling out his proposition regarding the hubstone industry. Before long, petitions came forward for Black to run for Prime Minister, amounting to the numbers requested by Stone. Honest with his criteria and the idea of democracy, Stone, himself, advised James Black to run. And on 21 December 1247, James Black officially announced his bid, appointing John Derry as the Provincial Domain Governor-General.
The year of 1248 was a contested campaign between James Black and Jason Kellerton. Kellerton continued propagating his measure to instill tariffs designed to help bring the domestic hubstone industry to a dominant status in the international markets, and called for a complete repeal to hubstone production taxes. James Black called for an increase in defense spending to combat the growing issue of Circlarian pirates, as well as economic restoration measures that would expand on Stone's financial grants to businesses and reshape the Federal Estates to adhere more closely to Circlarian standards of trade. Furthermore, Black promised to resurrect the measure to make Layda a province, as well as grant the same to Pimdan, a former territory of the Great North that formed a Council that summer to vote in an according proposition.
With his soaring popularity and his far more appealing agendas, James Black, on 16 September 1248, won the election to become the first Prime Minister of the Federal Estates.