Shaoyu Independence Party

Shaoyu Independence Party 哨域独党 (Shàoyù Dúdǎng)
Leader	Hou Qiao
Founded	September 1954 (1954-09)
Membership (2024)	6,780
Ideology	Shaoyunese independence Centrist
Political position	Centre to center-left
Colours	Pink
Legislative Assembly	1 / 510
Senate	0 / 85
State Parliament members (Shaoyu seats)	7 / 174

The Shaoyu Independence Party (Monsilvan: 哨域独党; pinyin: Shàoyù Dúdǎng; Shaoyunese: 𖩓𖩩𖩈𖩔𖩅 𖩤𖩝𖩅 𖩤𖩂) is a centrist, Shaoyunese independence party in the Monsilvan Republic. The party only runs candidates in Shaoyu, as its main policies are oriented around the independence of the state of Shaoyu. The party was first created in 1954 under the Jackian administration of Niao Dao. It had very little following from its founding, until the late 1960s when it saw a surge in support as people feared the island would be returned to Monsilva's dictatorial regime at the time. When the island was passed over to Zloveshchiy instead, the party was dissolved and many members fled the island to Jackson and continued the party as a political organization. In 1979, after the dissolution of the Kingdom of Monsilva, the party relocated to Monsilva. The party applied for re-registration in 1981, but the electoral commission responded that their application was indefinitely paused. The suspension was officially overturned in July 2023 by the government of Lin Yao-tang.

The party was officially re-registered in January 2024. It saw an increased membership after re-registration as members of the Independence Group of the Shaoyu Liberation Party, which was dissolved when the party moved from a big-tent ideology to a social democratic one. The SIP is Monsilva's largest independence party, having 1 seat in the Legislative Assembly and 7 seats in the Shaoyu State Parliament. This makes the party the fourth-largest party in the state parliament.

History

The Shaoyu independence movement has existed for hundreds of years, with the first independent Shaoyunese government being formed in 1500 as the Kingdom of Shaoyu, after gaining independence from the Beining Heavenly Kingdom. Shaoyu lost that independence in 1568, when it became a client state of the Empire of Baltanla as the Commonwealth of Shaoyu. It briefly became independent again from 1730 to 1731 before it was invaded by the Kingdom of Great Shan. Since then, Shaoyu has been a constituent state or territory of the Great Shan, Jackson and Zloveshchiy before returning to Monsilvan administration under a free state system in 2024.

During the Jackian administration from 1824 to 1969, Shaoyu, or Niao Dao as it was known at the time, had a relatively minor independence movement. The island's rapid development and flourishing economy lead to the majority of residents being relatively apathetic towards an independence movement. This began changing in the 1950s and 1960s as Jackson's lease of the island was almost ending. In September 1954, the Niao Dao Independence Party was founded. Although throughout the 1950s its membership remained relatively low, it began growing significantly in the 1960s as many residents of the island feared they would be returned to Monsilva, which at the time was administered by a military-led dictatorship which fiercely opposed Niao Dao's liberal government. This led to independence once the lease was over to be a much more favorable option in the opinion of the islanders. In the final congressional election on Niao Dao, the independence party became the second-largest party in the congress. The party's goal was unsuccessful, however, and the island was given to the administration of Zloveshchiy in 1969 instead. This lead to the party being immediately dissolved by the Zloveshchiyan government, and many of the party's members fled to Jackson, where the party remained as a political organization.

Whilst the party was in Jackson, it continued to advocate for the independence of Shaoyu. In 1971, the party renamed itself to the Shaoyu Independence Party. Its membership was primarily Shaoyunese people who had fled the island to Jackson along with the party in 1969. In 1979, after the dissolution of the Kingdom of Monsilva and the re-establishment of liberal democracy in Monsilva under the Monsilvan Republic, the party re-located to Luhai City. It intended to re-register as a political party on the Monsilvan electoral register. In 1981, the party re-applied to be a political party. However, when the electoral commission responded, they stated that the party's application had to be indefinitely suspended. The party's leadership was outraged by this and claimed it to be a 'miscarriage of democracy'. When the party complained to the electoral commission, they stated that they would 'look into it'. The party began sending monthly complaints to the commission, stating that they would continue to complain until the commission accepted their application or provided a valid reason for denial. Although initially this began as a protest, it eventually became a tradition for the party as this continued for 42 years from 1981 until June 2023, when the government of Lin Yao-tang directly requested that the electoral commission approve the Shaoyu Independence Party's application. In 2018, the party chose to send many of its senior members of the party joined the Shaoyu Liberation Party to form the Independence Group when the RSSI Act 2018 was passed. These members returned to the party after the SLP removed its big-tent ideology.

In January 2024, along with several other Shaoyunese parties, the Shaoyu Independence Party was re-registered on the electoral register for the first time in 55 years. In the first election in the newly created Free State of Shaoyu, the Shaoyu Independence Party won 7 seats in the Shaoyu State Parliament. It also won 1 seat in Monsilva's Legislative Assembly.

Policy

The predominant policy of the party is to establish of a completely independent country on the island of Shaoyu. Although the party isn't necessarily supposed to lean in either direction on the political spectrum as its main focus is just independence, the party's policies and members have historically leaned slightly to the left.

See also

• Federal government of Monsilva
• Politics of Monsilva
• List of political parties in Monsilva