Defence of the Republic

Defence of the Republic Vanguardia della Repubblica
Leader	Primo Demasso
Chairperson	Carlo de Proventis
Founded	July 21, 2015 (2015-07-21)
Headquarters	Corso Aventici 1440/8, Timiocato 1402AE
Ideology	Conservatism Right-wing populism Pacitalian nationalism Communitarianism Soft theocracy
Political position	Right-wing to far-right
International affiliation	Worldwide Conservative Union
Colours	Blue
Senato	0 / 100
Constazione	34 / 715
Website
www.vdr.org.pc
Political parties

Defence of the Republic (Pacitalian: Vanguardia della Repubblica, VdR) is a right-wing populist political party in Pacitalia.

The party was founded in July 2015 by former Christian Democratic Party leader Marco Quirinamo, university professor Carlo de Proventis, and former L'Osservatore opinion columnist Primo Demasso. It was a part of a small wave of new right-wing to far-right parties that emerged in the mid-2010s.

In relative terms, Defence of the Republic has been the most successful organization to emerge from that cohort of new parties. It has been the most electorally successful of those parties, first gaining a foothold at the national level at the 2017 election, when it surpassed the required party list vote threshold of 0.5 percent and gained three seats in the Constazione Repubblicana. They subsequently added a fourth in the 2020 vote. Until 2023, the party had not won any single-member district, or electorate, seats, although it managed to win nearly five million electorate votes in 2020 (equivalent to 1.5 percent of the vote).

The party also elected 60 regional deputies and over 1,900 communal and municipal councillors in the 2021 regional elections. During the 2023 national election campaign, the party consistently polled at its highest-ever levels of public support, and significantly increased its vote share on election day, managing to become the fourth-largest parliamentary assembly with 34 elected MRPs – although it once again failed to elect a Senator.

Defence of the Republic is currently the fourth-largest party by membership and ranks sixth in fundraising income as of 2023.

Ideology

Defence of the Republic is a right-wing populist party that has espoused traditionalist, social conservative, anti-immigration, social chauvinist, theocratic, ultra-nationalist, economic nationalist, communitarian, and authoritarian views. Defence of the Republic is also AOscepticist and strongly supported both the Anaian split from Atlantian Oceania in 2022 and the Foringanan exit from Atlantian Oceania ("Forexit") in 2023.

Critics, meanwhile, argue the party is essentially fascist, or neo-fascist, stating that it consistently understates its views and values, in an attempt to deceive new supporters into thinking the party is more moderate.

Naturally, the party's extreme views have made it the target of controversy and criticism from opponents. Defence of the Republic has repeatedly condemned gender, sexual, and racial equality protections, lamenting the "feminization of society" as "destructive" and "inherently harmful". Demasso has said that "discrimination against men, laws and rules against men, and their ability to be a man, act like a man, as God has intended [...] that is the single-greatest and most toxic threat to civilized society".

Party members, including Demasso, have been criticized for numerous false statements, such as claiming domestic violence is sometimes acceptable or necessary, that women must serve their husbands, inaccurately linking homosexuality to pedophilia, and saying that the Pacitalian government has permitted "mass immigration" from countries with predominantly Muslim populations, as part of a clandestine plot to enable a "Islamist takeover" of the country.

While it does not officially endorse political violence or oppression as a means to achieving its political goals, notably neither Demasso nor the party have explicitly condemned such acts. Several rank-and-file members have been investigated by police in recent years for verbal or written threats, acts of intimidation, and posting or uttering hate speech online. Opponents of the party have expressed concern over the ability to ensure that the rise in hateful rhetoric and violence seen in other countries does not manifest in Pacitalia.

Defence of the Republic has advocated for, among others:

• A freeze on immigration for at least 10 years,
• Stricter rules to qualify for citizenship and tougher criteria for asylum seekers and refugees,
• A blanket entry ban on nationals of certain countries,
• Action to arrest, detain, then deport illegal migrants,
• Reintroduction of prayer and other religious rites in public schools,
• Mandatory membership in a religion,
• Elimination of specific legal protections for certain groups of people (LGBTQ+, women, people of colour, etc.), with a single "everyone is equal" principle enacted in place,
• More funding and resources for the military, for police, and the Gendarmeria Repubblicana

Constitutional experts have said that the concept of religio sit amet (mandatory religion) has been debated for centuries in Pacitalia and legislation to force Pacitalians to be a member of a religion would not hold up if challenged in court. Demasso has countered, stating "it's simple – we would just change [the constitution]".

Defence of the Republic's voting base is overwhelmingly Christian and male, with most of its support coming from working-class males between the ages of 20 and 40. The party's politics have largely transcended the traditional rural-urban divide that has delineated the bases of support of traditional left- and right-wing parties.

Party leaders

The party has had a single leader since inception – Primo Demasso. Demasso, a prominent newspaper columnist for over 25 years, was well-known as a staunch conservative voice in the media, but had previously been supportive of the Federation of Progressive Democrats. He began to embrace more hardline views in the 2010s.

After founding Defence of the Republic, he initially retained his weekly opinion column in the national broadsheet L'Osservatore, but prominent left-wing voices aimed sharp criticism at the newspaper, arguing it was platforming Demasso's views and those of the party, helping expose radical and extreme views to a mainstream audience. The publication bowed to pressure and released him from his contract in 2016. Demasso went on to found his own website, Truthseeker, supported by crowdfunding, where he produces both a blog-style column and a video podcast with a panel of rotating guests. He is also active on Chirp.

Authorities began to investigate Demasso and the party in 2021 after Pacitalia's election commission was given evidence that some of the money he had raised through crowdfunding sites to help fund his website and content creation was being funneled to the party – a violation of campaign finance regulations. Investigators later paused their inquiry after being unable to gather enough evidence to proceed with criminal charges.

Name	Served from	Served until	Notes
Primo Demasso	July 21, 2015		Incumbent

Electoral performance

Constazione Repubblicana

Election	Leader	Electorate votes		Party list votes		Electorate seats		Party list seats		Total seats		Position	Result
		No.	Share	No.	Share	No.	±	No.	±	No.	±
2017	Primo Demasso	0a	0.0%	2,282,283	0.7%	0 / 270	0	3 / 445	3	3 / 715	3	10th	Third party
2020	Primo Demasso	4,974,495b	1.5%	3,161,142	1.0%	0 / 270	0	4 / 445	1	4 / 715	1	8th	Third party
2023	Primo Demasso	27,197,106	7.9%	18,514,709	5.5%	9 / 270	9	25 / 445	21	34 / 715	30	4th	Third party

^a The party did not run any candidates in the 270 single-member districts in the 2017 election; all of its candidates were on the party list.
^b The party ran candidates in 143 of 270 districts in 2020; similar to 2017, it focused most of its campaigning on electing candidates on the party list.

Senato Repubblicana

Election	Leader	Votes		Seats		Position	Result
		No.	Share	No.	Change
2017	Primo Demasso	2,440,147	0.8%	0 / 96	N/A	N/A	Not seated
2020	Primo Demasso	2,702,845	0.8%	0 / 100	0c	N/A	Not seated
2023	Primo Demasso	17,757,572	5.3%	0 / 100	0	N/A	Not seated

^cThe size of the Senate was reverted to 100 seats for the 2020 election; however, the party still did not win a seat and the comparable net increase or decrease in seats in the larger Senate remains zero.

Archonate of the Pacitalian Republic

Election	Candidate	First-round votes			Runoff election			Result
		No.	Share	Position	No.	Share	Position
2016†	No candidate (endorsed PDC's Carmine Bello)
2017†	No candidate (endorsed PDC's Carmine Bello)
2023	Yusuf Osman	11,101,292	3.9%	5th				Eliminated in first round

† Election result was annulled due to the narrow margin of just 754 votes between the final two candidates, out of nearly 250 million valid votes cast. Voting irregularities and missing postal ballots that may have altered the final result were also noted during the tabulation process. The National Superior Court invalidated the election results as a precaution and officials re-ran the election in 2017.