Liberal Party (Delkora)
Liberal Party Liberale Parti | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | L |
| Leader | Adric Azengaard |
| Chairperson | Nilay Tahir |
| Founded | 1833 |
| Headquarters | Norenstal |
| Newspaper | Befrierne |
| Youth wing | Liberale Ungdom |
| Women's wing | Liberale Kvinder |
| Membership (2019) |  2,701,873 |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre-left |
| Colours | Yellow |
| Anthem | "Landet" |
| Chamber of Representatives | 134 / 500
|
| Chamber of Nobles | 46 / 200
|
| First ministers | 3 / 7
|
| State parliaments | 342 / 1,325
|
| County councils | 1,803 / 5,290
|
| Municipal councils | 12,663 / 47,580
|
The Liberal Party (Delkoran: Liberale Parti) is a political party in Delkora. It is one of Delkora's oldest parties, and a major force in Delkoran politics. Its leader Adric Azengaard is the current Chancellor of Delkora.
With roots dating back to the 19th century, the Liberals were one of the two major parties of the first party system, opposing the Conservative Party. They were a big tent party, supported by farmers, workers, and the middle class. The party suffered a decline after National Labor displaced it as the largest left-wing party, and it served as a centrist kingmaker during the second party system.
Factional conflict between classical liberals and social democrats culminated in the 1940 split. The classical liberals split off to form the Reform Party, leaving the Liberal Party in the hands of the social democrats. It was transformed into a solidly centre-left social democratic party, becoming close allies of National Labor. During this period, it gained a notable geolibertarian element, making it a competitor for the Agrarian Party in rural areas.
The Liberal Party won a plurality in the Chamber of Representatives in 2018, and is currently in office as part of a traffic light coalition with National Labor and the Greens. At the state level, it currently heads the governments of Førelskov, Norvia, and Vassengård.
History
Early years
The Liberal Party emerged from the constitutional convention following the Delkoran Civil War, its membership consisting mainly of townspeople, peasants, and freehold farmers who had opposed the Royalists during the war. The party was dominant in politics until the middle of the century, being perceived in the popular imagination as "the party of the revolution." Indeed, all three Liberal Chancellors who held office during this period, Thorbjørn Johannessen, Ásgrímur Jacobsen, and Klaus Nygaard, had played prominent roles in the war.
In its early years, the party was broadly classical liberal in its ideological orientation. Liberal governments of this era succeeded in eliminating the last vestiges of feudal land tenure, limiting the power of the nobility, and sought to purge the Vallyar Order of supporters of the old regime. They supported free trade and were generally opposed to tariffs, in addition to favoring low taxation and spending. They opposed the creation of a large standing army, instead supporting the old militia system.
Although the Liberals initially enjoyed the backing of Delkora's burgeoning labor movement, the unwillingness of Liberal governments to take significant action to improve working conditions in factories, increase wages, or otherwise respond to deteriorating social conditions in the cities led to an erosion of their support among the urban working-class.
The left–right struggle
During the second party system, the Liberals drifted into the role of a centrist kingmaker, and were largely supplanted as the left opposition by National Labor. Its decline in influence prompted the emergence of two factions: the social democratic Venstre ("left") and classical liberal Højre ("right").
Conflict between the two factions erupted, paralleling National Labor's own conservative–radical civil war. A series of alternating leaders from each faction kept the Liberals in coalition governments, at the cost of a growing reputation as "sleepwalking weathervanes".
Sofia Westergaard's election as party leader in 1932 challenged the party's unprincipled image. She adopted a leftist platform, calling for expansion of the welfare state and public works programs. The party won the 1932 and 1936 federal elections, their first victories in nearly a century, and Westergaard formed a coalition with National Labor and the Progressive Party.
Westergaard's time in office saw the passage of a social democratic agenda, and she became famous for her forcefulness in carrying it out: she blockaded Banderhus to ensure passage of universal healthcare, and used federal powers to push states to reform local government. She spent much of her tenure fighting Højre just as much as the right-wing opposition, and relying on her National Labor and Progressive partners to pass legislation.
The Venstre–Højre battle culminated in the Liberal Party split of 1940. Højre broke away under Julius Mathiesen, establishing the Reform Party. Venstre remained in the Liberal Party, and accepted a merger with the Progressives, solidifying its new social democratic character.
For the next decade, the two rivals fought claims to be the rightful continuation of the party: the Liberals often stood for office as "Progressive Liberals" (Fremskridtsliberale), and Reform as "Reform Liberals" (Reformliberale). Ultimately, the Liberals triumphed, with Reform ultimately being swept out of federal and state legislatures by the end of the 1950s.
Westergaard devoted her efforts in opposition to strengthening the party's social democratic standing. She vocally condemned the policies of Veidnar Albendor and ensuing 1950s depression, but was often frustrated with Johannes Löfgren's conservative leadership of National Labor. In some elections in the late 1940s–early 1950s, the Liberals' party manifestos were more radical than National Labor's. The party gained a significant geolibertarian element, and its identification with land reform and taxation made it the Agrarians' main left-wing challenger for rural votes.
New Kingdom
The 1959 federal election inaugurated a new era for the party. Although it lost a small amount of support due to National Labor's landslide victory, it actually finished second, becoming the official opposition. Westergaard retired from the leadership after a record 27-year tenure, and was succeeded by her protégé Osvald Bjerg.
The Liberals supported the New Kingdom program advanced by Mette Elvensar and Geirbjørn Feldengaard. Bjerg proved astute at balancing cooperation with National Labor and building a distinctive image for the Liberals. Throughout the 1960s, they consistently finished second in federal elections, owing to enduring voter resentment of the Conservative–Agrarian record, resulting in the ironic situation of the official opposition party being in an unofficial coalition with National Labor.
The coalition was formalised in 1975, after National Labor lost their majority, and the Liberals were displaced by a revived Conservative Party led by its moderate wing.