Douglas Egnell
The Right Honourable Douglas Egnell | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Douglas Egnell, 2016 | |
| 20th Prime Minister of Imagua and the Assimas | |
| Assumed office 23 April, 2016 | |
| President | Edmondo Privitera |
| Deputy | Renzo Imburgia |
| Preceded by | Edmondo Privitera |
| Member of Parliament for Bellmare | |
| Assumed office 23 April, 2004 | |
| Preceded by | Ian Anderson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Douglas Egnell 13 May 1968 Bellmare, Imagua and the Assimas |
| Nationality | Imaguan |
| Political party | Democratic Labour Party (since 1994) |
| Spouse | Molly Egnell |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | Hammarvik University |
Douglas Egnell (b. 13 May, 1968) is the twentieth Prime Minister of Imagua and the Assimas, serving since 23 April, 2016, and is the incumbent member of Parliament for Bellmare, representing the seat since 23 April, 2004. He is part of the Egnell family, a political family which has had played a significant role in Imaguan politics since the early twentieth century.
Born in 1968 in Bellmare, Douglas Egnell initially worked at a financial firm, before entering politics in 1994 when he joined the local constituency association of the Democratic Labour Party. He was first elected in 2004 for the constituency of Bellmare, defeating National incumbent Ian Anderson 53.6% to 46.1%.
Douglas Egnell served as a backbencher until becoming the Deputy Leader of the DLP in 2009 following the death of Gerald Larsson. He became Deputy Prime Minister when Edmondo Privitera became Prime Minister in 2012, serving until 2016, when Privitera was elected President, and Egnell became Prime Minister.
Early life
Douglas Egnell was born to Peter Egnell, son of Isaac Egnell, and parochial councillor for Saint Christopher's, and to housewife Edith Egnell, on 13 May, 1968 in Bellmare, as the only son, and eldest child of two children, with his younger sister, Cathy Egnell born in 1971.
Douglas Egnell enrolled at the Dick Parlow Primary School for Reception in 1972, and entered Year One the following year. In 1979, he took the Standard Assessment Test, and received a score of 99.5%. However, as there were no selective high schools in Bellmare, he went to the Bellmare Comprehensive School.
At Bellmare, he became involved in the debate team, and in 1984, he passed the A-levels with flying colours. By 1986, he graduated from high school, and was awarded a scholarship from Hammarvik University. There, he attended the Nygaard School of Economics at the Hammarvik University, where he did incredibly well in his studies.
After finishing his bachelor's degree in 1990, he moved to Cuanstad to work at a financial firm, which he later described as being the worst period of his life. Thus, in 1994, he quit his job and returned to Bellmare, where he joined the local constituency association for the Democratic Labour Party.
Early political career
Staffer of the local DLP association
As a staffer, Douglas Egnell felt that he had a "sense of purpose" in life. While he admitted that "parts of the job" were boring, he felt it was "infinitely better than when I was working at the firm."
With the 1995 snap elections called, Douglas Egnell started to campaign on behalf of Democratic Labour candidate Joe Burns against incumbent Conservative MP Ed Pearson. During the campaign, Egnell campaigned extensively in favour of Joe Burns. However, after the 1995 elections, Burns was defeated by a slim margin by National Reform candidate Troy Burke.
During the next couple of years, Douglas Egnell began to organize an effective opposition against Burke's leadership, with Ed Pearson and the Conservatives agreeing to conduct electoral fusion in the next elections, with Pearson standing down for Bellmare in favour of Joe Burns.
Thus, in the 1997 elections, a joint Conservative-DLP ticket helped enable Joe Burns to become MP for Bellmare. During this time, Egnell remained at the local office, but received a lot of communication from Burns, which helped keep him informed of the day-to-day politics in Parliament.
In 2001, Joe Burns was defeated by National candidate Ian Anderson. With Burns announcing his retirement from politics, the DLP selected Egnell to succeed Burns as the head of the local constituency association in Bellmare. Thus, over the next few years, Egnell began to build up his stature in Bellmare.
When elections were called in 2004, Douglas Egnell was nominated as the DLP candidate for Bellmare against National incumbent Ian Anderson. During the campaign, Egnell took advantage of his high personal popularity, as well as claiming that Anderson had "done little" for the people of Bellmare. Thus, by the end of the election, Egnell won with 53.6% of the vote, defeating Anderson who only got 46.1% of the vote.
Backbencher
On 23 April, 2004, Douglas Egnell was sworn into the Lesser House of Parliament for his first term. As a backbencher, Egnell's primary focus was advocating for local issues back in his constituency of Bellmare, and played a relatively marginal role in shaping the policies of the Democratic Labour Party.
By the 2008 elections, he was competing against National candidate Marge Maciokas. While initially, Marge polled higher than Egnell, as she was perceived to be more willing to address the issues facing Bellmare, by election day, Egnell was able to keep his seat, 52.9% to 46.4%.
In his second term as a member of Parliament, Douglas Egnell started to become more important in the affairs of the DLP, with Douglas Egnell appointed to the position of deputy leader of the opposition in June, 2009.
Deputy Opposition Leader
Following his appointment by Edmondo Privitera to the position of Deputy Opposition Leader to succeed the late Gerald Larsson, Douglas Egnell started to play an increasing role in shaping the affairs of the Democratic Labour Party.
While the role was symbolic, much like the position of Deputy Prime Minister, it was expected that should Privitera die, he would become acting leader of the DLP until a leadership convention was held. In addition, holding such a high position helped bring enormous prestige to Egnell, as despite the fact that he was still only in his second term in the Lesser House of the Imaguan parliament, he was effectively the second-in-command of the DLP.
Thus, during his tenure as the deputy leader of the opposition, Douglas Egnell became more influential in the political scene of Imagua and the Assimas. While many criticized Egnell for being inexperienced compared to Edmondo Privitera, Egnell's supporters defended him by arguing that his "strong determination to protect the interests of the people of Bellmare" made him qualified to be a deputy leader.
In the 2011 leadership convention, he was nominated as the backup candidate for the Imaguan premiership in the event that Immacolata Contessa defeated incumbent President Agnes Ingram.
Thus, during the 2012 general elections, Douglas Egnell campaigned nationwide alongside Edmondo Privitera, vowing to increase regulations and restrict immigration to Imagua. At the same time, he ran against Jim Mason of the National Party in his home constituency of Bellmare.
However, while the DLP took control of the Lesser House from the National Party, Agnes Ingram remained President, thus enabling Privitera to become Prime Minister for a third term, making Privitera the first person to serve non-consecutive terms as Prime Minister. However, Egnell was able to defeat Mason 48.5% to 47.6%, with other candidates, most notably Green candidate Vinnie Floyd taking the remaining 3.9%.
Deputy Prime Minister
Thus, on 23 April, 2012, Douglas Egnell was sworn in as Deputy Prime Minister, succeeding National Dennis Egnell, who was a cousin of Douglas Egnell, as Deputy Prime Minister.
Much like his previous position as Deputy Leader of the Opposition, the role of Deputy Prime Minister was a ceremonial position, as the Deputy Prime Minister is the first-in-line after the Prime Minister. Its importance stems from the fact that should Privitera die in office, Egnell would become Acting Prime Minister until fresh elections were held.
Thus, during his third term in the Lesser House of Parliament, Douglas Egnell represented Edmondo Privitera at many official functions, especially in the absence of Edmondo Privitera. As well, Egnell wielded extensive power in Privitera's government, helping oversee the implementation of free tertiary education in Imagua and the Assimas, as well as a wet foot, dry foot policy following the outbreak of the Mariranan Civil War in 2014.
At the 2015 Democratic Labour Party leadership convention, it was decided that Edmondo Privitera would run for the presidency of Imagua and the Assimas, leaving a void to be taken advantage. While Douglas Egnell had substantial support from the DLP elites, especially after Privitera endorsed Egnell to succeed him, he faced Jonas Grimas, who claimed that Egnell would be "soft on immigration," and "soft on crime," and accused Egnell of being a "National in sheep's clothing." In the aftermath, Egnell managed to prevail over Grimas, 60% to 40%, thus making him the Prime Ministerial candidate for the next general election.
Thus, in the 2016 elections, Douglas Egnell ran for a fourth term in his constituency of Bellmare against National candidate Nick Bailey. While Egnell spent most of the campaign outside his constituency, as he focused on becoming the next Prime Minister, Egnell did campaign substantially to maintain his seat, with Egnell's campaign largely being based on criticizing the actions of the governing National Party, and taking advantage of their handling of the refugee crisis, promising "stricter policies."
As well, Egnell campaigned heavily on "continuing the success of the DLP over the past four years," vowing a "just society for all Imaguans," which helped increase his approval. In contrast to National candidate, and former Prime Minister and President, Agnes Ingram, Egnell polled incredibly well, as he took advantage of the public's antipathy to the National Party, especially to Dennis Egnell, the National's candidate.
As a result, on 25 March, 2016, Douglas Egnell won his seat against Nick Bailey 51.3% to 41.2%, with Green candidate Flora Baxter taking 7.2% of the vote. On the national level, the DLP maintained their majority in the Lesser House, gaining one extra seat to take 37 seats, meaning Egnell became the Prime Minister.
Premiership
First term
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After forming his cabinet, Douglas Egnell was sworn in as the twentieth Prime Minister of Imagua and the Assimas on 23 April, 2016, succeeding outgoing Prime Minister and incoming President Edmondo Privitera.
Almost immediately, Douglas Egnell focused on setting his agenda into motion, with the Democratic Labour Party tabling a bill to send all refugees arriving into Imagua and the Assimas after its passage to a "third-country," with Egnell saying that "Imagua cannot and will not handle any further refugee arrivals, lest they overwhelm our country." After months of negotiations with Valentir, the bill was passed.
With this agenda in place, Egnell began to return his attention to domestic affairs: in July 2016, he approved government funding for the construction of a light rail system in the Cuanstad metropolitan area, with a line to connect Cuanstad with Altaithe "to combat congestion on the highways connecting the two cities."
In October 2016, Douglas Egnell tabled a bill to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples, saying that "while marriage is, for the time being, completely infeasible in today's political climate, civil unions are a perfect alternative [to marriage]." This led to outrage by both the National Party, who viewed it as threatening the "stability of the family," and the Greens, who viewed it as not going far enough. Despite the fact that 62% of Imaguans disapproved of the bill, it made its way through both the Lesser House and the Senate, and went into effect on January 26, 2017.
At around that time, the 2017 budget was passed, which maintained the funding to government programmes that were enshrined in the 2016 budget, but did reduce funding to the Imaguan Constabulary, justifying the cuts due to the "decreased threat to our nation's safety [by the refugee crisis as a result of the civil war in Marirana].
Over the next year, Douglas Egnell continued to push through his legislative agenda, as he tabled measures to improve the "general prosperity of the nation," such as increased welfare programmes to reduce the poverty rate from 7.6% to 3.8% by 2021.
When the 2018 budget was passed, much of the funding was dedicated towards education, healthcare, and social services, with funding for the Constabulary reduced even further than in the 2016 budget. In April 2018, the children's hospital at Altaithe was opened by both Egnell and Privitera, with Egnell saying that "it will ensure that our nation's children will be treated in an environment conducive to their health and their recovery."
In 2019, Douglas Egnell's budget increased funding for the Imaguan Constabulary, at the expense of cultural events, but otherwise maintained funding levels for education, healthcare, and social services. In May 2019, at the DLP leadership convention, he was voted to be their candidate for the Prime Ministerial position in the 2020 elections, while Edmondo Privitera was voted to be their candidate for the presidency.
Finally, in 2020, the 2020 budget was passed which maintained the budget levels set in the previous year's budget for the Constabulary, but increased funding to social programmes. On 31 January, 2020, he requested that Parliament be dissolved for a general election campaign to take place, with elections scheduled for 27 March.
Personal life
During his studies at the Nygaard School of Economics at Hammarvik University, he met Molly Strömberg. After developing a close relationship, the couple married in 1992, and had three children: two daughters, Mimmi Egnell, born in 1995, and Oleana Egnell, born in 1998, and a son, Will Egnell, born in 2001.
He speaks Imaguan Creole as his native language, and speaks Estmerish, Etrurian, and Ostisk fluently. He can hold a basic conversation in Gaullican.
While he goes by Douglas in a political setting, he is affectionately known by friends and family as Doug, or Douggie.
Political views
Douglas Egnell is a social democrat, saying in 2013 that "capitalism, if kept in check, can do wonders for the economy and for the people of our country [i.e. Imagua], and this is what social democracy is about: to keep capitalism in check."
Egnell, while personally opposed to abortion, does support it being legal until twenty weeks for any reason, and up until birth for medical reasons for either the fetus or mother, or if the fetus is conceived due to rape, saying "women should have a right to decide whether they want to carry a child to term, or not, and it should be up to her and her doctor, not to the government."
He also is supportive of LGBT rights and same-sex marriage, but unlike Edmondo Privitera, believes that "it should not be rushed headlong against the wishes of the Imaguan people, but rather, it should be up to them whether homosexuals should marry."
He is also somewhat supportive of the environmental movement, and is in favour of a cap-and-trade system, and is also a supporter of free public education at all levels of education.
Egnell, while supportive of legal immigration, has argued that levels should be low, "so our tiny nation can effectively absorb the immigrant population into a common national identity."
Religion
Douglas Egnell is an adherent to the Bahrist faith, having adhered to it since his baptism into the faith. While privately, Egnell is an adherent to the social gospel, he has stated many times that "religion and politics should remain firmly separate in all affairs."
He is noted to be a devout Bahrist, going to church every Sunday, as well as on all important Bahrist holidays with his family.