Liberal Democratic Party (Seketan)

Liberal Democratic Party Libre democrateça ynden
Abbreviation	LDY
Leader	Kati Jolas
President	Lyeslji Yorgan
Founded	January 30, 1998 (1998-01-30)
Merger of	Democratic Party Liberal Party
Headquarters	Conelibek
Youth wing	Young LibDems
Ideology	Liberalism Social Liberalism Pro-Europeanism Libertarianism (minority)
Political position	Centre
Colors	Orange
Commons Council	20 / 293
State Council	4 / 106
State Governors	0 / 7
State Legislatures	10 / 487

The Liberal Democratic Party is a liberal political party in Seketan. Since its creation in 1996, it has frequently been the third-largest party in Seketese politics. Currently, it has 14 MHA's, 4 senators, and 30 provincial lawmakers. They sit in the centre of the Seketese political spectrum between the Socialists and the National Conservatives. Despite often being a kingmaker in minority governments, they have never served in government at the national level, though they have been junior partners in provincial governments and were once the senior member in Nelderjen's government from 2018-2022.

The party was established in 1998 after the Democratic Party and the Liberal Party merged. The Liberal Party had existed since 1908, being one of the few parties not banned under the Kjedorate regime, while the Democratic party emerged from the moderate factions in the 1978 Seketese Revolution. Both parties served in several governments, supporting both Socialist and National Conservative Governments. By the 1990s, after several elections of perceived vote splitting between the two liberal parties, a merger was agreed to, thus forming the modern Liberal Democrats.

Today the party is broadly a coalition of liberals and progressives, with a small libertarian faction on the right. The party has often fluctuated between the centre-right and centre-left based on which faction has supremacy. They are most popular among the collage educated, self-employed, middle-class, and urban voters.

History

Liberal Party

See also: Liberal Party (Seketan) and Liberal Party

The Liberal Party was founded in 1908 in Winneston after a coalition of academics and emerging businessmen signed the Liberty Treaty, a series of essays from political thinker Ymiþi Aaltyen. It promoted what was known at the time as "liberalism", what is known today more commonly as "classical liberalism" for the Kingdom of Seketan in the Nelbec Empire. It's startup coincided with the establishment of Société Conelibek (1907), with the two organizations signing a memorandum of understanding in 1913 just before the break out of the Seketese Revolution and Seketese Civil War. The party loosely supported the Kjedorates politically, though explicitly not militarily, and often came into conflict with the Kjedorates over administrative issues during the civil war. Upon the Kjedorate victory in 1923, the party was one of two non-Kjedorate parties that remained legalized, partially due to their ties to Société Conelibek, but also to garner support for the Kjedorate Regime amongst academics and businessmen.

By the 1978 Seketese Revolution, the party had remained existent as a key part of the Kjedorate system. Most factions within the party were neutral or supported the revolution. The party chose to run in the first post-revolutionary election in 1978 Seketese General Election, finishing with 9 seats, almost exclusively in major cities. For the next many elections the party continued to hobble along, winning between 3 and 10 seats. By the mid 90's, stagnation amongst membership started causing problems on the party's finances. This, alongside a widespread perception that their policies were identical to the newer, larger, and liberal Democrats, which drew members and voters away under the fear of vote splitting. In 1995 the party announced that it would go bankrupt in 2 years if course didn't change, and would petition the Democrats for a deal.

Election Results

Election	Party votes	Total %	Change %	Seats won	Seats change	Status
1999	543,063	17.2%	3.3pp	22 / 193	3	Opposition
2003	516,724	17.3%	0.1pp	22 / 193	0	Opposition
2005	457,358	15.8%	1.5pp	28 / 293	6	Opposition
2006	447,103	14.7%	1.1pp	20 / 293	8	Opposition
2010	503,450	17.3%	2.6pp	33 / 293	13	Opposition
2014	531,299	16.4%	0.9pp	34 / 293	1	Opposition
2017	414,382	14.5%	1.9pp	29 / 293	5	Opposition
2021	97,358	3.0%	11.5pp	2 / 293	28	Opposition