Contemporary politics in Ariddia

This article pertains exclusively to politics in the PDSRA, not in the Ariddian Isles in general.

The People’s Democratic Social Republic of Ariddia is, de jure, a multi-party, unitary democratic state. It has fully democratic institutions with regular elections, recognised by the United Nations as free and fair. However, from 2124 to 2136, the PDSRA had only a single political party. This anomaly – a one-Party democracy – created some debate, but was not considered particularly troublesome by a majority of Ariddian people.

As from 2136, a nascent, fully renewed multi-partyism is re-emerging.

A brief history of early multi-partyism

Ariddia became independent in 1810, at which point there existed no formal, official political movements which could be described as parties. Suffrage was exclusively in the hands wealthy, property-owning men, who for the most part shared the same values and views on government. The first political party (the Land Party) did not appear until 1833, and was essentially a formalised, highly conservative endorsement of the socio-political status quo.

Bipartyism appeared with the birth of the Conservative Party in 1854. The election of Conservative candidate John Miles to the position of Prime Minister ten years later marked the first time the Land Party lost control of government. Both parties remained in agreement over many issues, however, and both were fundamentally conservative.

The Liberal Party, created in 1879, was equally conservative, but did generate debate on economic and other issues. Finally, the birth of the Wymgani Party and the Socialist Party in 1898 gave left-wing views a voice in institutionalised politics.

There was no left-wing government until 1985, and there has been no right-wing government since. Over the past century and a half, the Ariddian electorate has systematically re-elected Democratic Communist Party candidates, who have enjoyed an absolute majority in Parliament since before the birth of any Ariddian alive today.

This eventually led to a generalised feeling of consensus and permanence, making elections little more than a ritual and a foregone conclusion. It is in this context that multi-partyism began to fade away.

Towards a one-Party state through democratic elections

Six political parties participated in the 2114 general elections. Just one decade later, there was only one party remaining in the Ariddian political field.

The 2114 elections brought Prime Secretary Aj Ud (DCP) back to power for his ninth and final term in office. The DCP obtained 98 out of 99 seats in the People’s Prime Parliament, making the People’s Party (PP), with one seat, the main Opposition party instead of the centre-right Movement for a Democratic Alternative (MDA), with no seat. Communist control of government was absolute, reflecting over a century of democratic political evolution.

Over the following years, the Green Party fused into the DCP, while the MDA disbanded, leaving only four parties in existance for the 2119 general elections. By this point, the very idea of minority parties had become essentially a quaint anachronism in the eyes of a vast majority of Ariddians. Thus, between 2120 and 2124, the People’s Party, the Ariddian Communist League and the (right-wing) Morality Party all disbanded in turn. Independent studies from suspicious investigators in several neighbouring Uhuhland countries all reported that there had been no government pressure on the defunct parties. The PDSRA had become an oddity: a single-party democracy.

Seemingly untroubled by this contradictory state of affairs, Ariddian voters re-elected Prime Secretary Nuriyah bint Rashad Khadhim in 2129 and 2134, elections in which she was the sole candidate.

Multi-partyism renewed

The year 2136 marked a flurry of political activity, sparked by debate over the functioning of a democratic society with only one party. While many expressed the view that Ariddia had reached a stage of nationwide consensus reflecting national political maturity, and suggested an end to party politics altogether, others argued that a healthy democracy needed at least some form of Opposition and inter-party dialogue and debate.

Consequently, the Ariddian Blank Party came into being, modelled after the Blank Party of West Ariddia. It advocated pluralism for its own sake, as a first step towards renewed multi-partyism, and called upon any voters critical of DCP policy to vote ABP in the upcoming 2139 general elections. It did not, however, advocate any specific policy of its own.

Shortly thereafter, the PDSRA branch of the Trans-State Study Group for the Reunification of the Ariddian Isles (TSSGRAI) became the Ariddian Isles Reunification Party (AIReP). A single-platform party, it presented itself as a pressure group in favour of re-unification of the Isles, possibly on a federal model.

Lastly, that same year, a branch of the DCP split away to become the Confederalist Communalist Party (CCP). Sharing the DCP’s core values, the CCP nonetheless opposed the government’s long-standing tradition of strong political centralisation, and argued that a more representative, more genuinely communist society would be achieved through radical devolution of authority down to the smallest local levels. In other words, this meant granting almost complete autonomy to the already existing village and city district community decision centres.

The upcoming 2139 elections

In 2139, Ariddians will be voting to choose their Prime Secretary and the composition of the People’s Prime Parliament. Assuming no new parties appear in the interval, there will be four parties in contention.

The parties have not yet officially announced the name of their respective candidates for Prime Secretary.

Poll predictions

Prime Secretarial election

Although the names of candidates are not known, polls tentatively predict the following results:

• ABP: 0.8%
• AIReP: 3.9%
• CCP: 22.7%
• DCP: 72.6%

Parliamentary election

Current poll predictions are as follows:

• ABP: 1.0% (1 seat)
• AIReP: 5.6% (6 seats)
• CCP: 39.5% (39 seats)
• DCP: 53.9% (53 seats)

Comments

The results in three years’ time may be very different from the 2136 predictions, but if current polls are correct, the DCP candidate for Prime Secretary will be elected with a comfortable majority. The more interesting election will therefore be the Parliamentary one. The CCP’s stated aim is to force the DCP into a coalition which would compell a DCP government to include CCP members in the Council of Secretaries, and to take into consideration proposed CCP policies.

However, should AIReP obtain a sufficient number of seats in Parliament, it would be conceivable for a DCP-AIReP coalition to form and control a majority of seats.