Difference between revisions of "Pantocratorian Socialist Alliance"

Revision as of 00:05, 1 December 2005

The Pantocratorian Socialist Alliance is the largest of Pantocratoria's two governing parties, occupying 269 seats in the Imperial Parliament. It is a moderate socialist party.

The Founding of the Pantocratorian Socialist Alliance

The Pantocratorian Socialist Alliance was formally formed in late 2004, although its structure and composition had long been previously arranged by the Pantocratorian Socialist Society, so that when the laws restricting the founding of political parties to the establishment were repealed, the party was quickly welded together from lesser organisations, such as trade unions and regional socialist lobby groups, so that it seemed to appear out of almost nowhere.

Election of the 107th Imperial Parliament

The Pantocratorian Socialist Alliance dominated the second election campaign of 2004, making the Loyal Christian Front and Pantocratoria First Party look so similar to each other by contrast with their own agenda that voters who had been dissatisfied with some element of either party, or with the United Christian Front before them, naturally turned to the Pantocratorian Socialist Alliance as the first breath of fresh air in Pantocratorian politics in decades. It is interesting to note that much of the Pantocratorian Socialist Alliance's election platform polled rather poorly, but the numbers for the party itself were almost unassailable with the conservatives so divided.

The Drapeur Government

Under the leadership of Thibault Drapeur, the Pantocratorian Socialist Alliance won 269 of the 540 seats in the Imperial Parliament, and formed a coalition government with the Constantinople Party.

List of Ministers

• Imperial Chancellor, Dr Thibault Drapeur
• Deputy Chancellor, Spiro Bolkus (Constantinople Party)
• Treasurer, Isabelle Folquet
• Minister for Foreign Affairs, Demetrios Raoul
• Minister for Education, Marie-Anne Trabzondi
• Minister for Health, Pierre Gastinois
• Minister for Defence, Gregory Nikomedes (Constantinople Party)
• Minister for Public Safety, Manuel Sebasto (Constantinople Party)
• Minister for Finance, Kostas Pelospoulos (Constantinople Party)
• Minister for the Environment, Henri Santiago
• Minister for Trade, Jacqueline Catala

(incomplete)

Repeal and Reform

The first two sessions of the 107th Imperial Parliament were excited explosions of legislative energy, in which many of the most oppressive of the policies of the United Christian Front and previous governments were overthrown. Greek became an official language of the Empire once again, alongside French. The Ministry of Cultural Development was essentially abolished in the sense in which it used to exist. A secular public education system was established. Profound changes occured in Pantocratoria on a greater scale and more quickly than had been seen since the reign of Manuel le Franc.

Coalition Tensions and Contentious Reform

Drapeur's early reforms had near consensus support, but in mid-2005 the Government began to push for more contentious reforms which bitterly divided public opinion in Pantocratoria. Roman Catholicism lost its favoured position as the established religion of the Empire. The Greek rite was imposed on dioceses with a majority Greek speaking population at the request of the Constantinople Party, which demanded Socialist support for the Greek Rite Act in exchange for support on other key reforms. The Socialist backbench almost revolted when despite their support of the Greek Rite Act, the Constantinople Party refused to support several bills, most notably the Marriage Act, which would've established secular, state marriages in Pantocratoria (and consequently, allowed gay marriage under the terms of various United Nations resolutions). The majority of the reform act was passed, although the Government had to use a parliamentary committee of inquiry into the Emperor's spending to force Emperor Andreus I to grant his assent (necessary for an act of parliament to become law (see What lies beneath the surface).

Leaders of the Pantocratorian Socialist Alliance

• Dr Thibault Drapeur (2004 to Present)