List of heads of state of Meridon
Meridon has had an elected head of state resembling a modern executive since 1717, when the Confederal Meridonian Union established two-year terms for the Chairman of the Union Council- prior to this, the Chairman acted primarily as a supervisory body for the Union Council and a primus inter pares, as well as overseeing the confederal agencies. The current role of President was codified in the Articles of Federation of 1749 and has been modified multiple times, with the last modification to their role coming during the 1986 Adjustment to the Articles of Federation.
(blob about presidential statistics- 2 vs 1 terms, died, assasinated, resigned, no confidence(?), etc.)- two resigned due to health, two assassinated,
The incumbent president of Meridon, since 2023, is Yui Townley of the Federal Party.
List
Political Parties:
Current
Federal Party
Liberal Party
Tangaran Unity Party
Agrarian Party of Meridon
Green Party
Worker's Party
Meridon Union Party
New Meridon Party
Defunct
Sovereigntist Party
Territorial Party
Whitelily Party
Conservative Union Party
Note- chairmans from 1640-1717, prior to the enactment of strong legislative powers and a two-year term, are not included in this list due to a lack of significant data.
№ | Portrait | Name | Took office | Left office | Days | Election | Political party |
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1 | FIRST LAST (1###-1###) |
May 1st, 1717 | May 1st, 1719 | 2 years | 1717 | None | |
Necessary writeup information here. | |||||||
2 | FIRST LAST (1###-1###) |
May 1st, 1719 | May 1st, 1721 | 2 years | 1719 | None | |
Necessary writeup information here. | |||||||
3 | FIRST LAST (1###-1###) |
May 1st, 1721 | May 1st, 1723 | 2 years | 1721 | None | |
Necessary writeup information here. | |||||||
4 | FIRST LAST (1###-1###) |
May 1st, 1723 | May 1st, 1725 | 2 years | 1723 | None | |
Necessary writeup information here. | |||||||
5 | FIRST LAST (1###-1###) |
May 1st, 1725 | May 1st, 1727 | 2 years | 1725 | None | |
Necessary writeup information here. | |||||||
6 | FIRST LAST (1###-1###) |
May 1st, 1727 | May 1st, 1729 | 2 years | 1727 | None | |
Necessary writeup information here. | |||||||
7 | FIRST LAST (1###-1###) |
May 1st, 1729 | May 1st, 1731 | 2 years | 1729 | None | |
Necessary writeup information here. | |||||||
8 | FIRST LAST (1###-1###) |
May 1st, 1731 | May 1st, 1733 | 2 years | 1731 | None | |
Necessary writeup information here. | |||||||
9 | FIRST LAST (1###-1###) |
May 1st, 1733 | May 1st, 1735 | 2 years | 1733 | None | |
Necessary writeup information here. | |||||||
10 | FIRST LAST (1###-1###) |
May 1st, 1735 | May 1st, 1737 | 2 years | 1735 | None | |
Necessary writeup information here. | |||||||
11 | Jackson Marriott, (1###-1749) |
May 1st, 1737 | August 10th, 1749 | 11 years, 3 months and 9 days | 1717 | None | |
The longest-serving Chairman, Marriot lead the Confederal Union through Second Meridonian Civil War with two emergency 5-year extension to his term. | |||||||
1 | Henry Miller (1749-1810) |
August 10th, 1749 | May 10th, 1759 | 9 years and 9 months | 1749, 1754 | None | |
First President of the Federal Republic. Was a vocal proponent in the establishment of the planned city of Cordelia becoming the nation's capital, which came about shortly after his term ended in 1759.
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2 | Percival Rigenall (1710-1786) |
May 1st, 1759 | May 1st, 1769 | 10 years | 1759, 1764 | None | |
Known as a staunch Federalist, he contributed to establishing the first standardized system of taxation and personally lead military forces in the stamping out of some still-lingering dissent, notably in far-flung Tangaran communities, and in the 1759 civil disturbance in Cossetton against their family, establishing an agreement that would allow them to maintain their economic, but not political, influence over Bairoi and Valle du Roi districts. While he was well-liked in his time, the consequences of his contributions have seen him ranked low historically. | |||||||
3 | Charles Whittenmoth (1717-1788) |
May 1st, 1769 | May 1st, 1779 | 10 years | 1769, 1774, | None | |
Whittenmoth is primarily known for his encouragement for the establishment of additional settlements and colonies on the eastern groups of islands. His Presidency also saw the re-forming on a provisional basis of the Navy to deter piracy. | |||||||
4 | Pierre Caumont (1721-1800) |
May 1st, 1779 | May 1st, 1789 | 10 years | 1779, 1784 | Territorial Party | |
Caumont limited the expansion of the Federal government in an aim to limit its power and funding and was one of the pioneers of what would evolve to become the Meridonian political party system, of which elements remain to this day. | |||||||
5 | Mitchell Stewardly (1727-1808) |
May 1st, 1789 | June 10th, 1796 | 7 years, 1 month and 9 days | 1789, 1794 | None | |
Presided over a period of an undeclared naval war with Anagonia and other naval powers in Meridon's vicinity, and the success of which made him particularly popular. He died of heart diseas in 1796, leaving his vice president to run the remainder of his term.
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6 | Howard Purleon (1736-1830) |
June 10th, 1796 | May 1st, 1799 | 2 years, 10 months and 21 days | None | ||
While an effective middle-of-the-road president and an effective bureaucrat, he proved initially unpopular due to his past association with aristocratic interests and was defeated decisively in the 1799 election. | |||||||
7 | Chelsea Brando (1750-1808) |
June 10th, 1799 | May 1st, 1804 | 5 years | 1799 | Territorial Party | |
Unusually vigorous, charismatic, and young for the post, Brando was largely ineffective as an administrator, restricting funding to areas considered key to Federal operations and refused to intervene in a series of territorial demarcation disputes, believing in the overall reduction of the footprint of the Federal government. His attempts proved ineffective and harmful and he was defeated in a landslide. | |||||||
8 | Howard Purleon (1736-1830) |
May 1st, 1804 | May 1st, 1814 | 10 years | 1804, 1809 | None | |
Purleon, having spent Brando's presidency working agricultural jobs, returned virtually as a new 'man of the people', having sold many of his own assets beyond a small farm. He proved immensely popular as a President and reversed Brando's prior actions. He also served as the founder for what would later become the Agrarian Party of Meridon, although his focus on agricultural ventures is cited to have delayed Meridonian industrial ventures somewhat. | |||||||
9 | Claude Bittencourt (1769-1835) |
May 10th, 1814 | May 10th, 1824 | 10 years | 1814, 1819 | None | |
Bittencourt, a mercantalist, helped to advance Meridonian industralization, becoming the first Meridonian president to take a direct interest in doing such. He also commissioned Whiteriver Manor. | |||||||
10 | Richard Atkinson (1775-1841) |
May 10th, 1824 | May 10th, 1829 | 5 years | 1824 | None | |
Serving as the Vice President of Bittencourt, Atkinson largely followed his predecessor's policies, establishing a regulatory organization for intraterritorial transport and trade. He was also the first president to occupy Whiteriver. | |||||||
11 | Lewis Hawkerly (1780-1850) |
May 10th, 1829 | May 10th, 1839 | 10 years | 1829, 1834 | Federal Party | |
The founder of the Federal Party, Hawkerly presided over a period of significant domestic troubles. He was crucial in promoting and implementing Adjustments 4 and 5, repealing indentured servitude and slavery in Meridon, into law despite the protests of mercantilists. He counteracted backlashes by industries by providing subsidies and campaigned strongly for the right to citizenship in Meridon, which would become enshrined in Amendment ##, passed in 1852, two years after he was assassinated. He ranks highly among Meridon's presidents. | |||||||
12 | Edward Moras (1783-1863) |
May 10th, 1839 | May 10th, 1849 | 10 years | 1839, 1844 | Agrarian Party of Meridon | |
Elected as the first Agrarian president after its inception in 1812, he participated in agricultural subsidies in the face of increasing industrialization. Summerhall Presidential Reserve was gifted to him during his presidency. | |||||||
13 | John Williamson (1800-1871) |
May 10th, 1849 | May 10th, 1859 | 10 years | 1849, 1854 | Federal Party | |
Williamson, the protege of Hawkerly, intervened in the Integration Acts crises and championed the outlaw of indentured servitude as a form of taxation in Meridon. He also helped implement protections for Tangaran people and tribal entities under Federal laws. His marriage to a Tangaran woman was highly controversial. | |||||||
14 | Lambert Gérald (1802-1888) |
May 10th, 1859 | May 10th, 1869 | 10 years | 1859, 1864 | None | |
A moderate, Gérald reduced government subsidies for industries in order to limit expenditures, but was generally ineffective at managing growing political and economical unrest as politics and wealth distribution became more polarized. | |||||||
15 | Howard Hughley (1814-1900) |
May 10th, 1869 | May 10th, 1874 | 5 years | 1869 | Conservative Union Party | |
The first president from the Conservative Union Party, Hughley attempted to stem the tide of growing political discord but was actively stifled by a divided federal government and corrupted institutions. He was driven out of office following an adultery scandal. | |||||||
16 | Louis Cossetton (1805-1884) |
May 10th, 1874 | December 3rd, 1883 | 9 years, 6 months and 23 days | 1874, 1879 | Whitelily Party | |
Formed the Whitelily Party to consolidate capitalist and mercantile interests and spent his term creating injunctions against labor rights, repealing the prohibition of child labor and certain forms of indentured servitude; however was responsible for government subsidies of intra-territorial rail infrastructure and and philanthropic ventures to fund the creation of libraries and water wells. Died of asphyxiation during a state dinner. | |||||||
17 | Leonard Sealey (1829-1912) |
December 3rd, 1883 | May 10th, 1889 | 5 years, 5 months and 7 days | 1884 | Whitelily Party | |
Vice President of Louis Cossetton, he was elected to a full term in 1884 and continued minor philanthropic ventures and restricted the rights of organized labor in Meridon, but was defeated in a landslide 1890 election. | |||||||
18 | Josué Almeida (1829-1912) |
May 10th, 1889 | May 10th, 1899 | 10 years | 1889,1894 | Worker's Party | |
Elected in a landslide against the Whitelily-backed Johnathan Rigenall, Almeida vigorously overturned labor setbacks made by the past two presidents. His presidency inflamed sectarian tensions in Meridon to the point that Whitelily-supporting companies and organizations created a market boycott that ground the nation to a halt. He was defeated by Phillipe Cossetton Sr. in 1889, and remains the only President from the Worker's Party to this day. | |||||||
19 | Phillippe Cossetton, Sr. (1835-1908) |
May 10th, 1899 | November 30th, 1908 | 8 years, 6 months and 20 days | 1889, 1904 | Whitelily Party | |
Second of two Cossetton presidents, Phillipe Cossetton reversed much of the policies of his predecessor and is remembered as an agitator against labor rights. Philippe was impeached and acquitted at least five times for nepotism before he was assassinated in 1908. | |||||||
20 | Jean-Jacques Moreau (1843-1909) |
November 30th, 1908 | January 3rd, 1909 | 1 month and 4 days | None | Whitelily Party | |
The Vice President of Philippe Cossetton, his was the shortest tenure of any President of Meridon, and he was the only president to never be elected to any office prior. His short term was marred by his ineffective response to widening political violence. He died of a heart attack, although some historians believe he committed suicide. His death caused the 1909 constitutional crisis, which lead into the culmination of the Takerehāia. | |||||||
21 | Admiral Daniel McBriar (1845-1920) |
January 3rd, 1909 | May 10th, 1910 | 1 year, 4 months and 7 days | None | Meridonian Navy | |
At the behest of the Federal Council in the midst of the constitutional crisis and the Takerehāia, Admiral Daniel McBriar took the reins of the country as Provisional President during a period of martial law across Meridon and oversaw the peaceable conduct of the 1910 election, which was delayed by a year due to Phillipe Cossetton's death. Although his tenure saw the widespread use of emergency authority powers, he stepped down peaceably after Theodore Whitmond was elected and is commonly regarded highly among Meridon's presidents. He would later serve as Vice President to Whitmond during the second half of his term. | |||||||
22 | Theodore Whitmond (1874-1943) |
May 10th, 1910 | May 10th, 1915 | 5 years | 1910 | None | |
Although only a one-term president, Theodore Whitmond was one of its most influential. Mediating and preventing the Takerehāia from escalating to a full-blown civil war, his implementation of the Whitmond System made it federal policy to intervene directly in political or economic trusts. He greatly expanded the authority of the Federal government, especially the Defense, State, and Interior Departments. Immensely unpopular in political circles and ousted from politics in the 1915 election by a combined coalition, he was the last nonpartisan president of Meridon to this date. His election contributed to the later disintegration of the Whitelily Party. Whitmond is also the only Meridonian president to disappear, being presumed killed during the Battle of TBD during the Great War, although his body was never found. Alongside Reginald Lancaster, he is considered one of Meridon's best presidents. | |||||||
23 | Romero Licali (1860-1932) |
May 10th, 1915 | May 10th, 1920 | 5 years | 1915 | Conservative Union Party | |
Served as a stabilizing force following Whitmond and encouraged the development of infrastructure to help dampen the post-Takerehāia economic slump- however was deemed ineffective in his response and voted out by Herrera in 1920. | |||||||
24 | Augustin Herrera (1877-1949) |
May 10th, 1920 | May 10th, 1930 | 10 years | 1915 | Federal Party | |
Served as a stabilizing force following Whitmond and encouraged the development of infrastructure to help dampen the post-Takerehāia economic slump. Herrera took advantage of the Chamorro War and supplied both sides of the conflict while expanding government programs and agencies such as the Defense Forces. | |||||||
25 | Elliot Niessen (1872-1963) |
May 10th, 1930 | May 10th, 1940 | 10 years | 1930, 1935 | Federal Party | |
Niessen continued Herrera's economic policies and attempted to steer Meridon clear of the then-raging Great War. His insistence on preventing any sort of meaningful military buildup handicapped Meridon during it's entry to the Great War, although he reversed course on this matter in his second term. | |||||||
26 | Reginald Lancaster (1892-1987) |
May 10th, 1940 | May 10th, 1955 | 15 years | 1940, 1945, 1950 | Conservative Union Party | |
President during the Great War, Lancaster was elected for an unmatched three terms, making him the longest-serving head of state. Lancaster introduced strong state controls of production, served as a unifying figure domestically, and helped lead an effective war effort abroad. He later lead the effort to reconcile ties with Marquesan and solidifed the Defense Forces post-war as a permanent 'force in readiness'. His breaking of precedent to serve a third term was highly controversial and later resulted in the ## Adjustment to the Articles of Federation imposing two-term limits on Meridonian presidents. He is generally cited as one of Meridon's best presidents. | |||||||
27 | Louis van der Hilt (1905-1963) |
May 10th, 1955 | December 23rd, 1963 | 8 years, 7 months and 13 days | 1955, 1960 | Liberal Party | |
Van der Hilt was instrumental in the establishment of term limits- initially for the Presidency but also campaigned for term limits on members of the Federal Council. Hilt was also a major proponent of the Meridonian switch to nuclear energy. Hilt was assassinated when a plane impacted the home of a family friend while he and his wife were having dinner. | |||||||
28 | Vincenzo Sacrimoni (1910-1989) |
December 23rd, 1963 | May 10th, 1970 | 6 years, 4 months and 17 days | 1965 | Liberal Party | |
Sacrimoni was Van der Hilt's vice president, who finished the remainder of his term and won re-election in 1965. Sacrimoni cut federal spending and abolished war-time taxes on certain items such as cigarettes and alcohol, and aimed to de-regulate a number of industries. | |||||||
29 | Michael Rindley (1916-1993) |
May 10th, 1970 | May 10th, 1980 | 10 years | 1970, 1975 | Federal Party | |
Established Summerhall as a game reserve and presided over the start of the 1980s economic slump. His policies are largely attributed to the Federal Party's defeat in the 1980 election. | |||||||
30 | Stewart Migidelle (1912-1985) |
May 10th, 1980 | May 10th, 1985 | 5 years | 1980 | Liberal Party | |
Elected to manage the 1980s market slump, Migidelle enacted a number of severely unpopular austerity reforms and was criticized as ineffective delivering relief after a tsunami hit the Eastern Islands Territory and Taikorea Territory in 1984. The nail in his coffin came when plans to cancel the Navy's upcoming Sistine-class aircraft carriers were made public, causing widespread dissent in both popular and military circles, and lead to his landslide defeat in the 1985 election. Migidelle committed suicide six months after he was replaced in office by Tulin. | |||||||
31 | Franklin Tulin (1934-2012) |
May 10th, 1985 | May 10th, 1995 | 10 years | 1985, 1990 | Federal Party | |
Elected in a landslide during the 1985 elections, Tulin is credited with helping to end the 1980s financial crisis. He maintained a relatively popular public opinion until he was connected to the Apex Initiative after his death, a program responsible for the death of over 1,000 Meridonians. | |||||||
32 | William Wendies (1945-2001) |
May 10th, 1995 | March 29th, 2001 | 5 years, 10 months and 19 days | 1995, 2000 | Agrarian Party of Meridon | |
Presided over the intervention in Maltika in 2000 shortly after his re-election, he was assassinated in 2001 and is the most recent Meridonian president to be assassinated. | |||||||
33 | Maximillian Bardly (1950-2020) |
March 29th, 2001 | May 10th, 2010 | 9 years, 1 month and 11 days | 2005 | Federal Party | |
Initially the Vice President of William Wendies, he assumed office in the wake of his assasination. Created the Homeland Department and strengthened federal security agencies in the wake of the assassination. | |||||||
34 | Leonardo Verdugo (1958-) |
May 10th, 2010 | May 10th, 2020 | 10 years | 2010, 2015 | Liberal Party | |
Relatively middle-ground president, presided over the Meridonian intervention in Marquesan in 2015 and enacted a number of domestic policies. | |||||||
35 | William Acton (1970-) |
May 10th, 2020 | October 5th, 2023 | 3 years, 4 months and 25 days | 2020 | Federal Party | |
Presided over a number of significant Meridonian foreign policy events, including its entry into ICON and participation in and victory during the New England War. His domestic policy drives included the passing of MeriHealth, a universal care program, but its release was delayed. Resigned as a result of the outcome of the Advent Island crisis, with his vice president Yui Townley taking office upon his resignation. He is the first and only Meridonian president to resign from a non-health related issue. | |||||||
36 | Yui Townley (1977-) |
October 5th, 2023 | Present | 1 year, 2 months and 18 days | None | Federal Party | |
The current president of the Federal Republic, she is credited with the ending of the Advent crisis and the establishment of the Pan-Regional Multilateral Pact in its wake. Townley has also spearheaded the full implementation of MeriHealth, a universal healthcare program. Townley is the first female, first Hiakemirian-Meridonian, and the youngest president in Meridonian history at time of taking office. |