First Minister Darijus Laine
Representative for Mägise
Leader of the Chistopol Unity Party
Born in 1971 Darijus is the current First Minister of Chistopol meaning that he is responsible for setting the day to day agenda of the national government.
He is the second child of Konrad Laine and Eleanor Laine a pair of dairy farmers from the small town of Mägise in central Chistopol. His father had been a veteran of the War for Independence and was a long time suffer of PTSD which was triggered by loud noises and as such he would rather spend time out in the fields than around the town or even his own house. Darijus would often get sent out by his mother to check on his father and as such developed a love for hiking and being around nature. In 1979 he joined the Young Pioneers youth club and his mother jokes that from that point on she never saw him as almost all his spare time was spent on projects for the group.
In 1982 he won a scholarship to the Tartu Grammar School having performed exceptionally well in his 11+ exam. He became the first student from Mägise to be accepted into the prestigious school. Despite the honour and the quality of education he was being given he missed the outdoors of Mägise and became homesick really quickly. He was encouraged to remain at the school though by his House Master Rasmus Ilves who was a well respected member of the militias during the War for Independence and had become a leading lawyer. He inspired Darijus to take an interest in politics, debating and law by combining these things with his interest in nature. During his remaining time at Tartu Grammar School he was responsible for running a student team that worked to campaign for better care of the countryside and he puts this as a key moment in his development as a politician.
He was accepted into Tartu University to study Law in 1989 following a glowing reference from his mentor Rasmus Ilves. While at the University he became even more interested in politics however did not select a political party at this point rather electing to attend meetings of several different parties. He also became part of the National Restoration Congress (NRC) which was an organisation that investigated collaboration during the War of Independence and helped prepare court of anyone deemed to have supported the Communists. When he left University in 1993 he continued working for the NRC where he became responsible for handling some of the more straight forward cases as he built up his experience as a lawyer.
In 1999 he finally made his decision about which political part to support and joined the centre-right leaning Chistopol Unity Party (CUP) which places an emphasis on maintaining a minimum amount of power in the monarchy, few restrictions on daily life and a protection of traditional religious values. Initially he stood for election in 2001 after the representative for his hometown of Mägise resigned because of ill health. The rural town was a strong hold for the CUP and naturally Darijus won easily. He was given a role as a Junior Minister in the Department for Justice and worked hard to find his feet. Over the next decade he was extremely active in pushing the party forward towards an agenda of supporting rural communities to develop after the huge damage done in the 1960's by the Communists and in 2005 became Minister for Agriculture and the Fishing. He was instrumental in bringing in laws to protect the coasts of the nation and established several environmental protection areas. In 2010 the Parties leader retired and the Deputy Leader Jaak Mägi assumed control. He appointed Darijus as his deputy.
The period between 2011-2016 however were difficult times for the party as it became clear that while Jaak Mägi was a charismatic leader he lacked the ability to take the nation beyond the advances that they had already made. This was shown in the 2016 election where the CUP's majority was cut from a comfortable 33 seats down to just 2. The party rebelled against Mägi and in the subsequent leadership race Darijus came out ahead becoming both the leader of the CUP and the nations First Minister. He immediately set about a rapid series of reforms designed at trying to modernise the industry of Chistopol while opening the nation up to the world. He pushed through a host of educational reforms and built connections between the CUP and all three of the nations native faiths ensuring that a representative of each sat in the upper chamber of the nations legislature. In Feb of 2020 elections were held and Darijus won his seat in Mägise by taking 71% of the local vote, a record for Chistopol. The CUP regained many lost seats and earned themselves a 24 seat majority.
Away from his career in politics Darijus still finds time to promote his love of the countryside. He is a registered Young Pioneer leader and tries to be as hands on with helping the youth organisation as he can. He also is seen regularly back in Mägise visiting his elderly mother and father who still live in the old farmhouse while his elder sister Yulia and her husband run the family farm which was expanded by purchasing the neighbours farm in 1997 when the whole family including Darijus clubbed together.
In 1996 Darijus married Loviise who was a Priestess of Dievas who also helped at a Youth Pioneer group her temple ran. In 1998 they had their first daughter called Piret who is currently studying a Masters degree in Agricultural Sciences. In 2000 their son was born, Ilmar, who is a Air Traffic Controller in the nations Air Force. Their second daughter, Anu, was born in 2004 and is following in her father's footsteps by studying at Tartu Grammar School.
Remigijus Šimašius - RL Person