NOMINATION BATTLE BECOMES THREE-HORSE RACE AS JACKSON FALLS BEHINDInfluence of DRP Factions evident as former front-runner fails to win any of the three factions' supportAbove: Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, Sebastien Desjardins. His faction, the RLG, has given its support to Presidential hopeful Finley Davis, allowing the journalist to catch up in the polls to his rivals Thomas, and Riley.Chloe Jackson fell drastically behind in polling for the Presidential nominee for the Democratic Reform Party following a failure to secure the endorsements of any of the three factions within the party. Despite being the initial front-runner, and found by party members to be the "safest pair of hands" out of the four candidates, the Real Libertarian Group (RLG), Social Libertarian Group (SLG), and Pragmatic Alliance (PA) all endorsed other candidates, removing a large base of support from her campaign.
Perhaps the most politically-savvy in this primary, Chloe Jackson has quickly risen up party ranks from her initial job as a party researcher for the environment. Now a close adviser to Environment Spokesperson, Ameline Chaucer, she is the only one of the candidates to have any say in party policy so far - influencing the
Ecological Adjustment Act, which was passed through Parliament.
However, she now finds herself on 12 points, far adrift of Thomas, Riley, and Davis, and is contemplating withdrawing from the race, according to a source within the Jackson for President campaign team. This rumour has been so far denied by the Campaign itself, with a released statement saying that the candidate had "every intention to fight to the end," and that she believed the race was "still for the taking".
Meanwhile, the race at the front is hotting up with Finley Davis benefitting from support from the RLG faction, headed up by Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Sebastien Desjardins. This has allowed Davis to close the gap to Thomas, who has naturally earned the support of the faction he leads - the SLG - and Riley, who has been given the support of the more socially conservative Pragmatic Alliance, which is headed up by party member and lawyer, Sophie Bernard.
As of yet, the leader of the party, Chester Fayette, has refused to back any candidate, although political pundits agree that a Finley Davis presidency would best help him push through his own agenda in Parliament. Current polling has Riley in the lead with 29 points, Thomas on 27 points, and Davis on 26 points. With Jackson on 12 points, this leaves just 6% of the party membership undecided, meaning that the vote in January could come down to a knife edge.