Left Alliance (Alsland)

Left Alliance Links Alliânsje Vasakliit
Abbreviation	LADS/VLS
Leader	Olari Lippmaa Andrys de Graaf
Founded	22 March 2009 (2009-03-22)
Ideology	Democratic socialism Social democracy Eco-socialism
Political position	Centre-left to left-wing
Members	Alslandic Section of the Workers' International Social Democratic Party
Colours	Red
Folkssenaat	41 / 201
Federal Council	15 / 96
Euclean Parliament	4 / 23
Website
www.linksaalslân.as
Political parties

The Left Alliance or United Left (Dellish: Links Alliânsje – De sosjalisten, Martish: Vasakliit – Sotsialistid, lit. 'Left Alliance – The Socialists', LADS/VLS) is a left-wing electoral alliance of political parties in Alsland. Founded in 2009, the alliance is composed of the Alslandic Section of the Workers' International (ASAY) and Social Democratic Party (SDAP) and historically also included the Green - Alternative Choice (GAK) which withdrew in 2010. The alliance currently occupies a plurality of seats in the Folkssenaat and placed first in the 2022 Alslandic legislative election 22.9% of the vote although the Alliance remained in opposition. The alliance is active within the Alslandic trade union system and is an advocate for union membership and workplace democracy.

A democratic socialist, pro-Eucleanist and social democratic alliance, LADS takes up the left-wing of the Folkssenaat. The alliance is active within the Alslandic trade union system and is an advocate for union membership, workplace democracy as well as progressive policies, the alliance supports a restrictive immigration policy as well as diplomatic neutrality. LADS takes an antu-austerity position on economics and is critical of the response to the Alslandic government-debt crisis. The alliance is led by Olari Lippmaa of ASAY and Andrys de Graaf of SDAP, the former of which was the alliance's candidate for Premier in 2022.

History

Formation

Former Premier of Alsland and ASAY leader Jabik Nieuwenhuis in 2009

The formation of a united left alliance had been attempted with varying degrees of success since 1990, the most successful and notable being the 2006 Plural Left Agreement between the Alslandic Section of the Workers' International (ASAY) and Social Democratic Party (SDAP) whereby the latter would support Jabik Nieuwenhuis as the former's candidate for Premier in exchange a formal agreement between the two parties was signed to cooperate either in government or in opposition. Historically ASAY and SDAP were ideologically opposed although since 2005 SDAP had moved considerably to the left which alienated the party's centrist factions in the process. The Plural Agreement saw the centrist faction break off from SDAP and found the Progressive Alliance. At the 2006 Alslandic legislative election, ASAY and SDAP won a combined 93 seats in the Folkssenaat which informally guaranteed that Nieuwenhuis would become Premier with the support of the Greens and Humanist Sotirian Union (HSU).

The subsequent 4 party coalition of Plural Left, Greens and HSU combined held a significant majority within the Folkssenaat and pursued a leftist which was moderated slightly by the SDAP and HSU who represented the moderate elements of the government. Simultaneously the government also took a centrist approach to social policy and after Holsteen recognised same-sex marriages instead of the federally recognised civil unions for same-sex couples between, the HSU having historically opposed any changes to the definition of marriage agreed to support a referendum on same-sex marriage in 2009 which was ultimately successful, the referendum was the first time a referendum had been held in Alsland on a non-constitutional issue and was opposed by the HSU.

Growing differences between the governing parties particularly the HSU under a new conservative leadership and the remaining leftist parties became more apparent publicly when the HSU signed a memorandum with the newly formed Liveable Alsland party under Liekele Ykema to stand joint candidates in local elections. In response the Greens, SDAP and ASAY founded the Socialist-Ecological coordination working group, the group initially tried reconciling the differences between the parties and investigate the potential for a merger between the three although this was dismissed by members of all three parties who supported retaining separate policies. Ahead of the 2009 Euclean Parliament election, the three parties announced a joint list of candidates with members from all three parties as well as ideologically aligned independents. The so-called joint list won the most seats at the election although was outnumbered by opposition parties from Alsland. Ahead of the 2010 Alslandic legislative election which was expected to be extremely competitive, the three parties agreed to the creation of the Left Alliance which would consist of equal representation for all three parties involved.