Rainbow Party
The Rainbow Party is a political party in the Sovereign State of West Ariddia and the City of North-West Ariddia. It is generally referred to as a "minor party".
The Rainbow Party's policies are simple. The party advocates vesting all power into a Parliament made up of citizens selected at random and compelled to serve a three-year term. This, active party members claim, would make the legislative body truly democratic, and would prevent corruption by "career politicians". The party's proposals, however, are not taken seriously by any other political movement in Limea.
In accordance with its stated beliefs, the Rainbow Party in West Ariddia selected its own spokesperson at random - quite literally picking a name from a phone directory. This resulted in a young woman called Siobhan Donovan, an employee in a clothes shop in Aqeyr, being asked to become the party's representative in debates and media events. Initially startled, Ms. Donovan eventually accepted, and stood unsuccessfully for President in the 2117 election, obtaining 0.78% of the vote. At the age of 20 (and one month), she was the youngest ever presidential candidate. She obtained 0.51% in 2122, and 0.58% in 2127, and became a familiar face in West Ariddian politics. Her score increased significantly after that: 2.11% in 2132, 2.02% in 2137, 2.14% in 2142. In early elections in 2143, she dropped to just 1.98%.
In 2132, Donovan was the first and only Rainbow Party MP elected to the West Ariddian Parliament (thanks to an electoral system based on proportional representation). She retained her seat in 2137 and 2142, until the West Ariddian State was rather unexpectedly abolished by President Thomas Brown. Four months later, communist Ea L'lew seized power and invited MPs to resume their seats in Parliament. Donovan refused, on the grounds that L'lew had no electoral mandate to govern the country. In a fresh election in 2143, Donovan lost her seat for the first time.
Now aged 46, Donovan currently works as a junior supervisor in a shoe-making factory in Aqeyr. She has held a succession of low-paid, short-term jobs characteristic of much of the West Ariddian workforce. During the 2127 election, she was unemployed, as there had been job cuts in the furniture manufacturing factory where she had been working. She is married (but retains her maiden name) and has one daughter, Maria, aged 17.
In North-West Ariddia, the party has no designated spokesperson, and membership among party "leaders" appears to fluctuate. It has no representatives in Parliament.
Links
- Donovan is interviewed by Kimberly Wren of the Merano Regency (Zwangzug)
