Christian Democratic and Social Federation (Tarper)

Christian Democratic and Social Federation Fédération Chrétienne-démocrate et Sociale
Abbreviation	CDSF
Leader	Rafaela Tanner (Chancellor)
Chairperson	Louisa Bell
General Secretary	Lloyd Morris
Federal Council leader	Jonny Dobson
Federal Assembly leader	Marie Miles
Founded	2002 (2002)
Preceded by	Christian Socialist Union
Newspaper	The National Courier
Think tank	Christian Thinkers Bureau
Student wing	Student Federation of Social Christian Democrats
Youth wing	Young Christian Democrats (YO!)
Women's wing	League of Christian Women
LGBT Wing	Tolerance & Love
Trade union	Tarperti Christian Workers' Center
Membership (2024)	365,190
Ideology	Christian Democracy Social Democracy Christian Left
Political position	Center-left
Religion	Catholicism
International affiliation	Centrist Democrat International
Colors	Blue
Slogan	"God's in his heaven. All's right with the world"
Federal Council	44 / 125
Federal Assembly	206 / 733
State legislatures	498 / 1,659
Party flag
Political parties Elections

The Christian Democratic and Social Federation, abbreviated as CDSF, is a christian and social democratic political party in Tarper. The CDSF is led by Rafaela Tanner.

The CDSF was founded in 2002 by former members of the Christian Socialist Union and religious members of the Socialist Unity Party. For most of Tarper's history, it has been the third party in the Federal Assembly.

However, in the 2013 federal election, the CDSF failed to win any directly elected seats in the Federal Assembly and came up short of the threshold to qualify for representation. The CDSF was therefore left without representation in the Federal Assembly for the first time in its history.

The CDSF strongly supports human rights, civil liberties, and internationalism. The party was traditionally considered center-right, but has shifted to the center-left according to polls in recent years. It is a member of the Centrist Democrat International.

History

Soon after the end of the Second Civil War a group of religious members from the SU joined some politically motivated Christians and created the party. In July 2002 the group was called for the establishment of a conservative party, its Constitution was hesitantly approved by the interim government. In the first state elections in August 2002, the party won by a sizeable margin. However, it had to support the policies of the Socialist Unity Party.

Appearance in the Federal Assembly and decline

From 2002 to 2013 the CDSF was a formidable party and managed to become an influential force in Tarperti politics. But after the creation of the Labour Party and its quick ascension to second most popular party, the CDSF saw itself losing favor with the populace with every passing election. In 2013 the party did not qualify for a seat in the Federal Assembly.

Resurgence

After the 2013 elections and the disappearance of the party from the Federal Assembly, the CDSF started to campaign under the guise of sympathy. Within the year, the party gained members. In early 2017, the party decided to oust longtime leader Derrick E. Derby because, as put by Party PR Leader, "He is 89, he's just too old" and "We want to give the party a new 'look'". And so the party elected 29-year-old Rafaela Tanner in the hope her leadership and youth would bring back voters. In the 2017 Federal Election, the party came in 2nd and gained 153 members of parliament, its best result in the party's history, including Tanner who was elected in a constituency in Astra.

Tanner has followed up on the party council's request to modernize the party. As of early 2018, the party has changed its official color to a more cool blue and updated the flag's color with it and changed its logo to be much more friendly. Tanner has also brought up a move to more leftist policies in order to benefit from the popularity of the Socialist party.

First Tanner cabinet

After achieving plurality in the 2021 Tarperti federal election, the CDSF was tasked by the Federal President to create a government for the 6th Federal Assembly of Tarper. It took an excruciating 3 months for the party to secure a majority coalition. The CDSF's new government would bring in the GLU/ULV from the last government and introduce the New Liberal Party of Tarper to the government for the first time.

The inclusion of the GLU/ULV was a controversial one as the GLU/ULV and its predecessor, the Green Party of Tarper, had always helped out left-wing parties. Though the Green Party had also gone through a similar controversy in 2009 when it joined the Labour Party's first government. Parties towards the left issued a moratorium that future coalitions would refuse to include the GLU/ULV, though state level parties were still allowed to negotiate.

The Tanner government has unfortunately been marred by its ineffectiveness and general unwillingness to pass its legislation. Tensions between the left-wing of the GLU/ULV have been to blame as they refuse to pass more right leaning bills. Current polls for the next Federal election predict a resurgence of support for the Socialist Party.

The CDSF won plurality in the Federal Council after the 2024 State elections and ensuing 2024 Federal Council selection. This plurality led to the CDSF winning the office of Federal President, Cristina Carl Alberts became the first President from the CDSF and the first not from a majority socialist party.

Ideology

The CDSF is born out of Catholic social teaching of the latter half of the 20th century especially the liberalization of the Catholic church after Vatican II.

Religious socialists have existed for the same amount of time as classical socialists. A Catholic christian faction existed within the Communist Party in the early 20th century. This faction was then spun-off into the Christian Socialist Union, a puppet party from the Tarperti Confederation. Despite the lack of political autonomy, the CSU was allowed to spread ideas of Christian Socialism to skeptical religious Tarps.

The politically active Catholic community in Tarper is very receptive to ideas such as liberation theology and Christian socialism. The party is not socially conservative but it is also not as socially progressive as parties towards its left. CDSF voters were polled and found the idea of a religiously tolerant socialist or social democratic society as favorable and an aspirational goal.

The party's position on the left and as the second largest party in the Federal Republic, political analysts have floated the idea of a future grand coalition between the Socialists and Christian Democrats but relations between the two have been and remain quite cold.

Platform

The CDSF advocates for workers' rights in the scope of religious (Catholic) social teaching. The accumulation of capital and corporate green are not looked upon in a positive light in the Catholic bible and especially under the Catholic teachings of liberation theology. Expansion of social welfare and along with moderate socialist economic policies have been a staple of the Christian Democratic platform. Free market policies have also been advocated for, especially as a reaction towards the legacy of the Tarperti Confederation.

The party is surprisingly progressive on social issues when compared towards other Christian Democratic parties. Abortion, though with caveats, is a popular policy within the CDSF. Acceptance and tolerance of LGBTQ+ people has increased within the party since its founding. The party's LGBTQ+ wing was created in 2019.

The surge in support for liberal and conservative parties in Tarper has been met with surprise and suspicion, as the country has historically been very left-wing. The CDSF has previously been open to coalitions with liberal parties, but was apprehensive towards a coalition with conservative and other parties further to the right. It has also been pretty open towards a coalition with some parties further to its left but talks did not go further than the Social Democratic Party of Tarper and the party has not held talks with left-wing parties since the creation of the Socialist Party.

Structure

Symbols

As a mainly Christian party, the CDSF naturally uses the cross as its primary symbol. The blue was carried over from the Christian Socialist Union, the Communist era party. The blue was chosen as a it is seen a moderate color, the opposite of the Communist Party's socialism. The CSU's logo also featured a red cross, known as the "Red Cross of Socialism". The main party no longer uses the cross but more progressive members of the party, along with the Progressive Democratic Caucus, still use the cross.

Special organizations

Factions:

• Progressive Democratic Caucus: Center-left pressure group within the party.
• National Catholic Center of Tarper: Center-right to right-wing pressure group.

Pressure groups & Think tanks:

• Tarperti Christian Youth Organization (YO!): Overseer of student and youth organizations. Generally leans center-left.
• Student Federation of Social Christian Democrats (SF-Soc): Organization of High School and University affiliates of the CDSF. Leans further left than the main party.
• Christian Thinkers Bureau: The CDSF's main think tank and charity organization.
• Tolerance & Love: The party's LGBT+ wing, originally an independent organization, it was absorbed into the party fold in 2019.
• League of Christian Women: Women's auxiliary wing, has been central for the party's position on abortion.

Trade union centers:

• Tarperti Christian Workers' Center (TCWC): Nominally catholic trade union center, despite the religious affiliation, the trade union believes in socialism and has held solidarity strikes with other non-religious unions.

Associated Newspapers:

• The National Courier, Ltd.: Classically conservative newspaper, established in 1880. Not owned by the CDSF, but chooses to remain associated with the party.

Federal election results

Election	Seats won	±	Position	Leader	Government
2002	47 / 603	47	3rd	Francis Akers	United Coalition for the Federal Commonwealth
2005	54 / 614	7	4th	Derrick E. Derby	In opposition
2009	45 / 622	9	6th	Derrick E. Derby	In opposition
2013	0 / 630	45	—	Derrick E. Derby	Extra-parliamentary
2017	153 / 709	153	2nd	Rafaela Tanner	In opposition
2021	206 / 733	53	1st	Rafaela Tanner	CDSF – GLU/ULV – NLP

Leaders of the CDSF, 2002-present

Leader	Period
Francis Akers	2002–2005
Derrick E. Derby	2005–2017
Rafaela Tanner	2017-present