Ilmars Alderson
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Ilmars Alderson was a career politician and long time leader of the Liberty Party in the Confederation of Sovereign States. His single term as President was marked by stability, continued prosperity and international irrelevance. Alderson appeared to be headed to an easy re-election until supporters of prominent business man Thomas Caine managed to, first, deadlock the Liberty Party's nominating convention and, then, swing the nomination to Caine.
A sitting president's loss of his own party's nomination was unprecedented in the history of the Confederation. The loss weighed heavily on Alderson and he declined repeated offers to run as an independent candidate. Nevertheless, he received over 18 of the vote as a write-in candidate in the 2004 general election.
Alderson, despite his initial support of Caine as his party's candidate, quickly grew suspicious of President Caine following his election. Alderson soon joined church leaders in the states of Saxmere and Southland in denouncing Caine as a puppet of the Knootian Order of the Invisible Hand.
While Alderson did not clearly endorse Saxmere's efforts to secede from the Confederation in reaction to Caine's policy, he did support the state's efforts to gain greater autonomy and even extended cautious support to Baron James, the exiled heir to Saxmere' grand ducal throne. After Saxmere gained greater autonomy within the Confederation and restored the Grand Duke, Alderson took the next step in his opposition to Caine and formed a new political party - the National Renewal Party (NRP).
The NRP generally promotes the same center-right, free market policies held by the Liberty Party. The NRP, however, stands in strong opposition to the Order of the Invisible Hand and perceived Knootian interference in the Excalbian Isles. The NRP's affiliate in Saxmere - the Renewal Party of Saxmere (RPS) - did well in the Autonomous Grand Duchy's first parliamentary election. The RPS is currently a member of the Saxmerean ruling coalition. The NRP hopes that this bodes well for the upcoming national elections in the Confederation.
