Freedom and Democracy Party (Monsilva)
Freedom and Democracy Party 自由民主黨 (Zìyóu Mínzhǔdǎng) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Lin Yao-tang |
| Shadow Senate Leader | Ju Lin |
| Founded | August 1830 August 1958 (current form) |
| Preceded by | People's Culture Party |
| Headquarters | FDP Headquarters 47 Minquan Street, Amking 000423[1] |
| Membership (2022) |  350,200 |
| Ideology |
|
| Political position | Centre-left |
| Colours | Red |
| Slogan | "民主不僅僅是選舉，它還是一種生活方式。" ("Democracy is not just an election, it's a way of life") |
| Second Chamber | 94 / 254
|
| First Chamber (Senate) | 29 / 75
|
| Legislators (total of all State Parliaments) | 350 / 718
|
The Freedom and Democracy Party (Monsilvan: 自由民主黨, Pinyin: Zìyóu Mínzhǔdǎng) or the Democrats, is one of the three main parties in the Monsilvan Republic, along with the RNP and the Liberal Party. The incumbent president, Chiu Zan is a member of the party and formally represents its ideologies as president of the Monsilvan Republic. It is also the current opposition party, having been so since the 2016 general election. The party was the leading party and in government between 1996 and 2016, having won the 1996 general election in a coalition with the Liberal Party of Monsilva, which it disbanded in the 2000 general election. The party is on the centre-left of the political spectrum, and encompasses various ideological factions, with mostly similar views, but with some members leaning more towards centre politics and others towards left-wing politics. The party currently has 94 Members of the Second Chamber, 29 Senators and 350 State Parliament Legislators. As well as having more State Parliament Legislators than any other Monsilvan political party, the FDP is also the leading party in 8 state governments. Members of the Freedom and Democracy Party are often referred to as "Democrats" or "民主人".
The FDP was founded in August 1830 with the establishment of the Kingdom of Monsiva after the Monsilvan Civil War. It was originally known as the People's Culture Party, with a slightly more conservative ideology than it does now. It was established as the leading party in government, with its leader, Chai Lin being the first Monsilvan prime minister. The PC/P remained as the leading party until the 1855 general election, where it lost its majority and became the second largest party. In the 1895 general election, the PC/P, lead by Lo Zhou regained its majority and became the party in government again. Under Lo, the government decided to focus on many social issues the country was facing, as opposed to economic problems. The government retained significant popularity, especially by women and citizens of non-Monsilvan ethnic groups and lasted through 3 elections gaining more and more popularity each election. However, when Lo Zhou died of pneumonia in 1902, An Tian took over without election. An Tian was very unorganized and suffered from severe anxiety, but was uncontested in the leadership contest. In the 1908 general election, the People's Culture Party faced a massive loss after experiencing increasing backlash over the struggling economy and became the third largest party in the government, losing to the National Party which moved into second place.
The People's Culture Party was voted out of the Monsilvan parliament in the 1953 general election. This lead to the party losing a significant amount of its membership. After losing over 50,000 members and a lot of money, leading members of the party discussed an urgent re-establishment of the party as the threat of a one-party parliament was becoming close to a reality. In 1958 the party was renamed to the Freedom and Democracy Party and adopted a more centre-left ideology with social democracy as one of its focus points. This was accelerated after the formation of the Liberal Party of Monsilva, which was made up of former members of the FDP that were in disagreement over the changing ideologies of the party.
After the 1978 Monsilvan protests, the Freedom and Democracy Party was a supporter of the Monsilvan Revolutionary Army even though it was lead by an opposing political party, it was an agreement of defeating a common evil (the incumbent government of the Kingdom of Monsilva). The 1980 general election was the first election after the establishment of the republic, in which the FDP won the second most seats, becoming the Official Opposition to the Reformed National Party government. In the 1996 general election, the FDP won the most seats, but did not have a majority. This lead to the FDP leader, Suen Shi-huang, coming to an agreement with the Liberal Party of Monsilva to form a coalition. This was the first time the FDP was in government and was the first coalition in Monsilvan history. Under Suen Shi-huang, Monsilva saw lots of social reforms, increased devolution to Monsilva's states, a second reform on the education system to fight increasing mental illness in teenagers and an overhaul of the emergency services. Suen's government was very popular from the start and managed to gain a majority in parliament at the 2000 general election, which ended the FDP-Liberal coalition. Suen served as prime minister until he reached the term limit at the 2012 general election, where he was replaced by his former Secretary of State for Education, Lee Su. Lee was not as popular as his predecessor and although winning a majority in the 2012 general election, he did not manage another majority at the 2016 general election and lost to the RNP.
The party has generally adopted economic policies working towards decreasing wealth inequality and working on improving trade agreements and government funded projects. The party is also popular for being very progressive on social issues, with states being lead by the FDP usually being the first to adopt progressive policies such Anti-discrimination acts. The party has an official stance of being for the Ostlandet Union (OU), with criticism being very rare. The party also has a strong view on global peace which has faced some praise, but also disapproval on the grounds that it shows Monsilva as being susceptible to persuasion by stronger nations.
Alternative Logo
See also
Notes
- ↑ See also: Postal codes in Monsilva
