Liberal Party (Imagua)

Democratic Party of Imagua and the Assimas
File:ImaguaDemocratic48.png
Founded	1892
Dissolved	5 January, 1948
Merged into	Democratic Labour Party, Imaguan Party of Democrats
Ideology	Liberalism
Political position	Centre to Centre-left
Colors	Purple
Senate	0 / 60
Lesser House	0 / 70
Political parties Elections

The Democratic Party of Imagua (Vespasian: Partito Democratico d'Imagua) was a political party of Imagua and the Assimas that existed from 1892 until its merger with the Labour Party to establish the Democratic Labour Party of Imagua in 1948 prior to the 1948 general elections.

Established by Cornelius Suthmeer, it was one of the two major political parties of Imagua from 1892 to 1920, when the Labour Party formed government in an upset result. Despite their efforts, the Democratic Party began to decline in strength, resulting in a merger with the Labour Party in 1948. A group of members opposed to the merger established the Imaguan Party of Democrats, which continue to field candidates to this day.

History

Establishment

After Estmere granted the Colony of Imagua self-government in 1892, Cornelius Suthmeer, former managing director of the Bank of the Orient from 1885 to 1891, declared the establishment of the Democratic Party of Imagua, after hearing the news of the establishment of the Conservative Party by Harmon Lambourne.

At a conference, Suthmeer declared the establishment of a Democratic Party, saying that "the people of this island need a genuine choice, to lead this Imaguan land into prosperity," and believed that "democracy would be the way with which Imagua will become truly free."

At the 1892 general elections, the Democrats won nineteen seats, allowing them to become official opposition, with most of their seats being based in the large towns (i.e. Cuanstad and New Taois). While Suthmeer was able to increase his results in 1896 to 23, and in 1900 to 25 seats, he was unable to ever form government, and after losing five seats in 1904, Suthmeer retired.

Suthmeer was succeeded by Edmund Bollen. While Bollen proved to be charismatic, and the Democrats made gains in 1908, gaining three seats, in the 1909 snap election, while the overall distribution did not change, Bollen lost his seat to Dick Parlow.

Rise and zenith of Democratic Party

After Edmund Bollen lost his seat, he resigned as leader of the Democratic Party. At the 1910 leadership convention, Peter Hansson was named the parliamentary leader of the Democratic Party.

Under Hansson's leadership of the party, he started to expand the popularity of the Democrats outside of Cuanstad and New Taois, calling for "increased participation" of Bahio-Imaguans within the party, and focused on "liberalising agricultural policies" so farmers can sell their produce with no restrictions as to whom they can sell it to.

This paid off in 1913, when Hansson saw the Democratic Party gain ten seats, most of it in the countryside. While they were still the official opposition, their position was such that they were expected to form a government in the next four years.

Thus, over the next four years, Peter Hansson continued to advocate for the party's expansion beyond the cities, with Hansson advocating for policies that would win over voters outside the cities, while remaining faithful to the founding principles of the Democratic Party.

This strategy paid off when in 1917, they gained thirty-six seats. However, as they needed a Speaker, and that would bring down their number of MPs to 35, they decided to form a coalition with the Labour Party.

(TBC)

Political positions

The Democratic Party's ideology was liberalism. For much of its history, it was a classical liberal party, which advocated for freedom of speech, trade, conscience, and choice. It advocated for reduced regulations, as they believed that a freer economy would benefit Imagua and the Assimas.

Socially, they were also liberal, advocating for women's suffrage in the 1890s, and advocated social liberal policies, especially from the end of the Great War onward.

Election results

Election	Leader	Candidates	Seats	+/-	Votes	%	Position
1892	Cornelius Suthmeer	36/36	10 / 36	new	15,968	25.25%	Official Opposition
1896		36/36	11 / 36	1	17,911	31.18%	Official Opposition
1900		36/36	13 / 36	2	21,916	33.30%	Official Opposition
1904		37/37	11 / 37	2	15,330	27.80%	Official Opposition
1908	Edmund Bollen	37/37	11 / 37		19,117	27.21%	Official Opposition
1909		37/37	12 / 37	1	27,665	31.15%	Official Opposition
1913	Peter Hansson	38/38	16 / 38	4	32,944	33.88%	Official Opposition
1917		38/38	20 / 38	4	54,134	44.20%	Democratic-Labour coalition
1920	Tim Marklund	38/38	11 / 38	9	60,332	24.79%	Official Opposition
1924		39/39	5 / 39	6	62,915	21.51%	Third party
1936	Nelson Pakenas	39/39	9 / 39	4	74,051	23.30%	Official Opposition
1940		39/39	5 / 39	4	76,993	23.10%	Official Opposition
1944	Abraham Halfacre	40/40	3 / 40	2	59,814	19.54%	Third party