Democratic Labour Party (Imagua)

Democratic Labour Party of Imagua and the Assimas
File:ImaguaDemLabs.png
Chairman	Edmondo Privitera
Parliamentary Leader	Douglas Egnell
Founded	1948
Merger of	Democratic Party Labour Party
Headquarters	Cuanstad, Imagua and the Assimas
Student wing	Labourers of the Intelligentsia
Youth wing	Young Labourers
Ideology	Social democracy
Political position	Centre-left
Colors	Crimson
Anthem	Bella ciao
Legislative Council	12 / 19
House of Commons	31 / 70
County Councils	78 / 261
Website
dlp.org.ia
Political parties Elections

The Democratic Labour Party of Imagua and the Assimas (Vespasian: Partito Democratico del Lavoro di Imagua e Assime, Western Imaguan Creole: Demokati Abetipati) is one of the two major political parties of Imagua and the Assimas, the other being the Sotirian Labour Party.

Founded in 1948 following the merger of the Labour Party and the Democratic Party, the party quickly became a major party in Imaguan politics, governing from 1952 to 1956, and then from 1960 onwards. While initially being part of a two-party system with the Sotirian Democrats, after an internal divide led to the formation of the National Labour Party in 1978, the NLP quickly displaced the SDP as being the primary opposition party.

After the SDP and NLP merged in 1997 to form the Sotirian Labour Party, the DLP lost power in 2000, and only would return to power in the 2016 general elections. Since then, it has held the Presidency, as well as control of the Lesser House of Parliament.

History

Establishment

Since the 1944 general election, members of both the Democratic and Labour parties advocated for a merger of the two parties, in order to stand a chance against the dominant Sotirian Democratic Party. This was supported by Wilbur Smith and new party leader Herschel Ahern, but was opposed by the Democratic leadership.

However, in 1947, the Democratic membership ousted Abraham Halfacre, who was opposed to the proposed merger with the Labour Party, and was replaced by Herschel Ahern. Unlike Halfacre, Ahern was more receptive of the merger, as he was part of the social liberal wing of the party. Thus, in December 1947, a joint party congress was held where the two parties agreed to merge. The party was registered with Elections Imagua the day prior to the start of the 1948 election campaign.

Wilbur Smith was nominated to be the presidential candidate, while Ahern was nominated to be the Prime Ministerial candidate in the 1948 election. With the recent unification of Imagua and the Assimas Islands into one country, the Democratic Labour Party was expected to win much of the seats in the Assimas, as the inhabitants were traditionally left-leaning prior to the Legionary Reaction.

The 1948 elections saw a marked improvement in the combined party's fortunes, with the Democratic Labour Party securing 24 of the 66 seats, suggesting that this strategy had paid off massively for the party. However, it failed to form government, leading some right-wingers within the Democratic Labour Party to question whether the "united front against the Sotirian Democratic Party" was a viable strategy. However, the party largely held on, and in the 1952 elections, the Democratic Labour Party were able to capitalise on the unpopularity of Frederick Maynard's government to secure control of government, winning 34 seats, with Sotty Haloranov becoming the first woman to be Prime Minister in Imaguan history, and only the second Prime Minister from either the DLP or the SDCP.

Haloranov's tenure as Prime Minister was marked by efforts to establish pan-national institutions to bridge the language divide between the Estmerish Imagua and the Vespasian Assimas, such as the Imaguan Television Service and the Imaguan Maritime Service, ensuring that workers would be protected, and creating the foundations for the later welfare state that would blossom under the governments of Efrem Lacovara and Eric Fleming.

However, in the 1956 elections, Haloranov would lose to Martin Ellingham, while Walter Redmond Keswick, the incumbent SDP president was succeeded by Venanzio Mazzone, with the DLP falling to 29 seats. Haloranov resigned as parliamentary leader in 1956, and was succeeded by Efrem Lacovara.

Fleming and Lacovara era

File:DLP logo 1970s.png

Logo of the Democratic Labour Party from 1967 to 1991

Positions

Economically, the Democratic Labour Party supports increased regulations on industries, in order to "ensure the safety and well-being of the Imaguan people," while ensuring that capitalism can continue to operate freely.

Socially, the Democratic Labour Party are more liberal than the Nationals, supporting increased LGBT rights and supporting on-demand abortions. They are also more supportive of the environmentalist movement. However, the Democratic Labour Party is opposed to increasing immigration, as they believe that immigration would only benefit the rich and harm local Imaguans.

Election results

The results are compared to the Democratic and Labour Parties from 1944.

Election	Leader	Candidates	Seats	+/-	Votes	%	Position
1948	Herschel Ahern	66/66	24 / 66	16	218,027	39.77%	Official Opposition
1952	Sotty Haloranov	63/63	34 / 63	10	259,714	50.03%	Majority government
1956		63/63	29 / 63	7	217,312	39.55%	Official Opposition
1960	Efrem Lacovara	63/63	38 / 63	9	345,784	51.90%	Majority government
1964		65/65	41 / 65	3	316,872	48.22%	Majority government
1968	Eric Fleming	65/65	35 / 65	6	327,658	50.27%	Majority government
1972		67/67	41 / 67	6	357,890	56.59%	Majority government
1976	Pietro Muro	67/67	47 / 67	6	368,091	58.30%	Majority government
1980		67/67	44 / 67	3	281,066	41.55%	Majority government
1981	Marguerite Ernman	67/67	45 / 67	1	328,568	49.70%	Majority government
1984	Edmondo Privitera	64/64	43 / 64	2	288,478	51.07%	Majority government
1988		64/64	38 / 64	5	286,019	49.10%	Majority government
1992	Gerald Larsson	67/67	37 / 67	1	281,364	45.41%	Majority government
1996		67/67	39 / 67	2	272,442	40.20%	Majority government
2000	Ladislao Colacino	67/67	22 / 67	17	272,055	32.20%	Official Opposition
2004	Pete Tasuku	68/68	29 / 68	7	293,175	41.19%	Official Opposition
2008	Agostina Di Bari	68/68	31 / 68	2	273,918	40.23%	Official Opposition
2012		70/70	32 / 70	1	248,553	36.64%	Official Opposition
2016	Douglas Egnell	70/70	36 / 70	4	333,227	44.70%	Majority government
2020		70/70	32 / 70	4	338,210	37.40%	Minority government