Rhys Raferty

Rhys Raferty (b. 14 January 1969) is a Onawean currently serving as 35th Chancellor of the Onaweans since 2018. Raferty is a member of the Farmer-Labor Party, the first Chancellor from the party in the nation's history, and the first to not be a member of the United Onaway Party or Social Republicans since 1954. Prior to serving as Chancellor, Raferty was a National MD for Osdego's 11th Riding, following two terms in the Chiefly Diet of his home region, and an earlier, non-concurrent time on the Municipal Council for his hometown of Eskanaba.

Raferty was born in 1969 in Kiladara, a small, majority-Salish community in Nodawa. In 1987, Raferty was conscripted to serve in the Onaway National Defense Forces as a member of the Commonwealth Guard, then a part of the Onawean Royal Army, where he served as a for armored vehicles and tanks. Raferty was part of the last group of Onaweans to be conscripted, as in 1988, Sugmuk began his reign as High Chief, and began the processes of the Onawean constitutional restoration by reorganizing the armed forces. Deferring his rights to ending his term of service, he remained with the Commonwealth Guard until 1992 when he became married. Raferty was part of the deployment that responded to the events surrounding the 1990 Ogemaw regional plebiscite. He continued working as a mechanic after his time in the military, and continued to do so whilst serving on the Eskanaba Municipal Council. He briefly left politics to care for his wife Wawetseka whilst she was recovering from a bout with.

He was encouraged to return to politics, however, as he was confronted with the multitude of issues surrounding the nation's increasingly outdated infrastructure and aloof medical establishment, especially in the nation's "blue collar" areas outside of the affluent parts of the country. Upon returning to politics, he joined the Farmer-Labor Party, and successfully ran for the Osdego Chiefly Diet on a platform of infrastructure revitalization and workers' rights, seeking "to balance the equality offered under the old system with opportunities given to 'richer folk' under the new", a overarching policy goal that would later carry him to the regional Chancellorship in 2006. Despite his popularity in Osdego, he was little known outside of his home Chiefdom, even when present at the National Diet. However, Raferty's status as a proved to be exceptionally appealing to an increasingly disenfranchised rural population, and for younger generations feeling left behind by the processes of  that were embraced by the Political Establishment. The "Raferty Revolution" was seen as a shock by the international community, but was met with positive acclaim by those of a similar position in their politics abroad.