Centre Party (Caldia)
Centre Party | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Cúan Ó Domhnaill |
| Chairperson | Siobhán Ní Cheallaighe |
| Founded | 1916 |
| Headquarters | Cloghel, County Sackmannan |
| Youth wing | Young Centrists |
| Farmer's Wing | Farmers' Union |
| Senior Wing | Senior Centrists |
| Membership (2010) | 37,340 |
| Ideology | Centrism Agrarianism |
| Political position | Centre |
| Euclean Parliament group | Euclean Liberal Party |
| Colours | Green |
| Seanad Glítteann | 3 / 60
|
| Comhthionól Náisiúnta | 33 / 399
|
| Euclean Parliament | 2 / 15
|
| Website | |
| lárionad.gl | |
The Centre Party (Ghaillish: Páirtí Lárionad) is a centrist and agrarian political party in Glytter. The party has liberal tendencies and advocates for a mixed market economy and a small but effective welfare state that is heavily tended to by the government. More recently, it increasingly shifted its focus towards environmental protection, criticism of the use of fossil fuels, and decentralisation of governmental authority. The Centre Party also supports the subsidisation of the Glytteronian agriculture sector and has adopted many student-friendly policies.
The party was first founded in 1916 as the Farmer's Party (Feirmeoirí Páirtí) and changed its name to the Centre Party in 1941. Originally founded as an agrarian interest party, it also included the interests of those employed in the logging and fishing industries in addition to rural interests. It has formed coalition governments with both the Liberty Party and the Social Democrats. It entered coalitions with the SDs in 1952 and 1967 and with Liberty 1969, 2007, and 2012. Currently, it is in a centre-right governing coalition led by Frank Casarnach of the Liberty Party. Cúan Ó Domhnaill, the leader of the Centre Party, serves as the Tánaiste and Minister of Education. Several cabinet posts are held by Centre TCs. It previously belonged to governing coalitions led by Alexis Walker and Jimmy O'Reilly. The Centre Party gets most of its support from Glytter's northern counties, particularly those with heavy ties to agriculture. Farmers and those employed in the agriculture industry still make up a significant portion of the party base. In order to make itself more appealing to suburban and young voters, the party has begun to adopt positions that favour free higher education. The party also supports lowering the voting age to sixteen in municipal and county elections. Other recent policies added to the party platform have marked a shift towards environmentalist policies. The Centre Party is opposed to any further expansion of nuclear power and hopes to cut the number of nuclear power plants in use by half before 2025. Subsidies for farmers, business owners, and home owners to install solar panels on their properties is also backed by the party. It is also opposed to any further expansion of off-shore drilling and seeks to maintain the status quo. It considers the Free Market Party its biggest opponent, with the two often vying for support of the rural counties.
It has 33 TCs and is the third-largest party in the Comhthionól Náisiúnta and has three seanadóirí. It is a member of the Euclean Liberal Party and sends three MEPs to the Euclean Parliament.
History
The party was founded in 1916 as the Farmer's Party. Its purpose was to meet the demand for a new political party to represent the interests and needs of the rural working class, notably those employed in agriculture. Its founders hoped to mirror the growing success of the Social Democratic Party, which appealed to the urban working class. Soon after its founding the party worked to bring those employed in the forestry and fishing industries into its electoral base, adopting policies that represented their interests. These three industries were central to the Highland economy and much of the population was employed with them. In 1922 the Highlanders' Union merged into the party, solidifying the role of rural and Highland interests in its platform. After the merger the party was known as the Farmers' and Highlanders' Party (Páirtí feirmeoirí agus tailtardanach). The party saw strong support from farmers in particular. Many of its early TCs were farmers that played an active role in their local communities.
It was among the smaller members of the Comhthionól for decades and competed primarily with the National Conservative Party. However, the NCP's collapse created an opportunity for the party to expand its electoral base. The Highlands and rural counties in Fuarifreann, Central Glytter, and the Lowlands became the party's center of power. Its expanded influence led to a name change in 1941, resulting in the current Centre Party. It entered a coalition with the Social Democrats from 1952 to 1957 and from 1962 to 1962 to 1969. The violent unrest during the administration of Rory McAllan caused his government to collapse and forced a snap election. After the snap election, the Centre Party entered a coalition with Liberty. This ended its previous alliance with the Social Democrats, who with it pursued a series of Red-Green and Red-Green-Red coalitions, the later of which included the new defunct Equalist Party. The party abandoned its long-time leader, Eilís Ní Raghallaigh, a prominent farmer and agricultural labor activist, for Cian Mag Uidhir. Mag Uidhir brought the party farther away from its origins in organized rural labour and introduced a more economically liberal tenets. He also embraced the party's traditional socially conservative platform. Centre supported the government of Calvin MacKenzie, entering a coalition from 1969-1977 and secured significant concessions. It remained in opposition until 2007 when leader Malcolm Fitzpatrick secured a coalition agreement with Liberty's Alexis Walker.
2007 to present day
Electoral history
Leaders
- Eilís Ní Raghallaigh (August 1951 - March 1969)
- Cian Mag Uidhir (March 1969 - July 1982)
- (July 1982 - January 1988)
- (January 1988 - July 1999)
- Síle Ó Cuív (July 1999 - September 2006)
- Malcolm Fitzpatrick (September 2006 - March 2018)
- Cúan Ó Domhnaill (March 2018 - present)