Political Parties of Belarum
Political parties in the Federal Republic have a long and interesting history. Almost as soon as the Federal Republic was created in the early years of the 20th century, political affiliations began to spring up. Between the creation of the FRB and the Great Depression, the two main political affiliations which arose became known as Federalists and Conservatives. Federalists favored a strong central government with the ability to dictate authority to the administrative divisions which were once their own nations, while Conservatives were weary of such power concentrated in a central government. Conservatives preferred smaller federal government and states rights.
At first, Federalists dominated the executive branch of the Federal Republic for 16 years, from 1908 to 1924, until a series of missteps and power grabs on the part of the second President of the Federal Republic, Mans Huskvarna. This led to a sweeping Conservative victory in the 1924 elections, making Jameson Khaskovo the holder of executive power until the Great Depression hit. Khaskovo’s perceived callousness and ineffectiveness in dealing with the severe economic downturn cost him the election in 1932, which went to Patrick Alesund, a member of the Communist Party. His sweeping election led to a Communist plurality in the Senate as well, making them a dominant party in the years to come.
Factions in the Federalist and Conservative parties, realizing that Communism would be a formidable ideology to contend with in the years to come, broke off with their main parties in order to create the Centrist Party, one which sought to balance moderate social, economic, and fiscal beliefs. After this move, the Federalists faltered and the Conservatives were greatly diminished in power.
During Communist control of the Executive and Legislature, the size of the federal government grew dramatically in order to cope with the failing economy. Social welfare, healthcare, commerce, and defence spending grew dramatically during this period, especially during the Baltan War. The entire economy was placed under central government control in order to fight the Baltans, but after victory was ensured, the economy was transferred back to mainly private holdings.
Centrists, in order to capture the executive office, nominated Alfred Jigger, a war hero and believer in moderate government. Jigger won in a landslide, and followed a popular policy course. During the Post War Years, Centrists and Communists traded off control of the Executive and Legislative branches until the 1980 elections, when the Communists merged with members of the Centrists in order to create the Democratic Socialist Party, which sought a leftist economic course and moderate social policy.
Until the emergence of the Liberal Party, the Democratic Socialists dominated the branches of government. However, during the midterm 2006 elections in the Senate, the newly created Liberal Party won a plurality of the Senate, and share power with the Democratic Socialists. In March of 2007, it was announced that the Centrists and the sorely outnumbered Conservatives would form a new political party, the National Right Party. In this bold move, the outnumbered Centrists and Conservatives became the second largest holder of seats in the Senate, in front of the Democratic Socialists.
