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Markus Harold Edwin, more commonly known as Mark Edwin, (born June 8, 2960) is a Wiltshirian politician who is currently serving as Leader of the Labour Party and previously served as Prime Minister of Wiltshire between June 3020 and September 3020. Edwin led a coalition between his Labour Party and the Socialist Party. However, his tenure was cut short by the WEA/EFR electoral scandal, in which his government was found guilty of interference in the August 3020 EFR Parliamentary General Election.
Following Edwin's dismissal as Prime Minister, he continued to serve as Leader of the Opposition.
Early life
Edwin was born to Andrew and Maria Edwin who were both industrial workers in the mining settlement at Solasos III. Edwin started his life in much the same way, working as an industrial worker. He was born on the settlement at Solasos III and stayed there until he was 21 years old.
His father died at aged 21, in 2981. This loss of security and stability for Edwin and his mother led them to make the decision to move from the corrupted and polluted mining colony to Vulcan - which was leading in talks with other planets to reform the United Federation of Planets.
Throughout the years prior to the reformation of the Federation, Vulcan remained a galactic center for education, research and science - as well as peace. Edwin arrived on Vulcan in 2982 and immediately started searching for work in the construction and mining industries. However, when this turned out to come to little (due to Vulcan's limited reliance on these industries), Edwin turned to education - in the hopes of applying for a monetary grant for students on Vulcan. Edwin was successfully admitted to the Vulcan Institute for Political Science and Economics and eventually went onto study at the University of Vulcan, achieving a strong first class degree in Liberal Arts in 2988.
In 2989, Edwin's mother, Maria, died and Mark moved from Vulcan to Earth and the capital of the newly reformed Federation. He arrived and worked in Washington E.R. as a policy and political analyst. Edwin worked for several members of the Federation Congress and eventually stood as a candidate for the Federation Congress, representing Earth. While Edwin's bid was unsuccessful, he still remained committed to politics in Washington and on Terra. During the Federation/C.E. war, Edwin relocated to France to work away from the front lines of the war. Edwin was not a soldier and wanted to continue his life in other ways. Throughout the war, Edwin didn't marry and didn't have any children. Following the war, Edwin was strongly in favour of Jaresh Inyo's settlement of Juneville and the surrounding Wiltshire settlements. Edwin returned to Washington in 3002 and has stayed there since. He continued to work in policy and the civil service, eventually running for Washington City Mayor in 3017 and getting elected to the City Council the following year.
In 3019, he was elected to lead the Washington Labour Party during the NCR occupation of Wiltshire, which expanded to be the Wiltshire Labour Party in January 3020.
Political career
Candidate for Federation Congress
In 2992, Edwin was nominated by the Terran Democratic Party to stand as a candidate for the open congressional seat. Edwin, who stood as a progressive democrat, was unable to win the seat over the Republican nominee, Toby Patel. The experience showed Edwin how politics often operated and, as he describes, shaped his perspective of politics coming into the 31st century.
Washington City Mayor
In the election for the Mayor of Washington E.R. in 3017, Edwin stood as the Socialist Party candidate. He has been a prominent member of the Socialist movement in Washington since returning in 3002 and was easily nominated to take on incumbent Conservative Mayor Andrew Armstrong. Armstrong, who had been Mayor since 3013, was seen as turning more and more towards the right wing - however - was still relatively popular within the city. Armstrong was able to maintain Washington's union with Wiltshire, despite numerous threats from the ASR and so was a difficult candidate to beat. In his second, and last, election defeat, Edwin lost by 15 percentage points to Armstrong. The base he established did, however, allow him to run for City Council.
Washington City Council and Labour Group Leader
Months after his defeat in the election for Washington Mayor, Edwin was elected to represent West Washington on the City Council. During his time on the council, Edwin supported Wiltshire's membership of the Novanite Federation and Washington's designation as its capital. He joined the council as a Socialist member, however, in 3019 was one of 8 Socialist members to defect to the Labour Party, that was formed in the same year by Director Rita Smith. He was easily elected Leader of the Labour Group in the Assembly after their defection, leading to Labour's growth to the second largest party in the City Council in the next election in September 3019. Edwin remained the Washington Labour Leader and continued to lead the party through the September Mutiny and fall of Wiltshire to the New Corporate Republic. Following the Culling of Parliament in December 3019, Edwin was the highest ranking Labour politician in the country.
Labour Leader
In December 3019, Edwin was unanimously named the successor of Henry Campbell-Trenneman as Leader of the Labour Party. He continued to lead the Labour Group in the Washington City Council, however, took over the larger party infrastructure that still existed in the country. His first act as Leader was to support Gaius Selan's Government-in-exile. He was a loud supporter for the general strike and helped Selan and Audrick Hill, the Mayor of Washington at the time, to gain wider diplomatic support. Following the success of the independence movement and independence for Wiltshire, Edwin returned his focus onto his party - which he was determined to get into power.
In the Presidential Election, former Labour Leader Rita Smith stood as a candidate against President Selan. Edwin, as party leader, did not approve of this and still supported Gaius Selan - however - remained mostly neutral during the election campaign. In the subsequent general election, Edwin was elected to the National Assembly and led Labour to become the fourth largest party - winning about 12% of the popular vote.
Following this, Edwin began to gear his campaign for the impending June 3019 Wiltshire Legislative Elections to one for government, claiming that he is a viable candidate to serve as Prime Minister of Wiltshire. After the election, he formed a coalition government and became the third Labour Prime Minister in history.