Social Democratic Radical Party of Werania

Social Democratic Radical Party of Werania Sozialdemokratische Radikale Partei von Ostischland
Abbreviation	SRPO
Chairwomen	Luise Höcherl
Deputy Chairperson	Konrad Schröder
Parliamentary leader	Luise Höcherl
General-Secretary	Jochen Rupprecht
Founder	Ludolf Ostermann Joschka Schreiber
Founded	4 June 1977
Preceded by	SPO RP
Headquarters	Westbrucken
Student wing	Socialist Students of Werania
Youth wing	SRPO Youth
Membership	250,000 (2018)
Ideology	Social democracy Social liberalism Pro-Eucleanism Democratic socialism (minority)
Political position	Centre-left
European affiliation	Socialist Alternative for Euclea
Colours	Pink
Volkstag	85 / 545
Herrstag	68 / 232
Governorships	5 / 12
Landtage	247 / 1,067
Euclean Parliament	26 / 122
Political parties

The Social Democratic Radical Party of Werania (Weranic: Sozialdemokratische Radikale Partei von Ostischland) commonly abbreviated to the SRPO is a centre-left political party in Werania. Founded in 1977 as a merger of the Social Democratic Party of Werania (SPO) and the Radical Party (RP) the SRPO is the country's main centre-left party supporting social democracy and social liberalism. Since 2019 it has been the main opposition party in Werania.

The SRPO was founded in 1977 with the intention to move the Weranic party system to that based around two parties with the SRPO designed to behave like a big tent party of the left, similar to its right-wing counterpart the National Consolidation Party. The SRPO led the federal government from 1984-1999 first in a coalition with the socialist Weranic Section of the Workers' International (OSAI) and then with the centrist-liberal Modern Centre Party (PMZ). During this time the SRPO was led by three Chancellors - Ludolf Ostermann (1984-1992) Wolfgang Löscher (1992-1998) and Zigmas Šilingas (1998-1999). The 1979-1999 oversaw a period of intense economic and social reform but saw the SRPO ousted from power after a sustained period of ideological fissures and internal fighting.

The SRPO remained in opposition until 2011 when the party returned to power under Ellis Koopmann who formed a coalition with the PMZ. Koopmann was ousted from office in 2014 due to poor polling results being replaced by Viktor Oberhauser. After the 2015 election which saw the government lose its majority Oberhauser subsequently continued the SRPO-PMZ coalition with parliamentary support from the OSAI and Sotirian Democratic Homeland (SDT). In 2019 the party under Josef Felder lost power re-entering opposition.

The SRPO identifies itself as a modern social-democratic party. It currently sits in the Socialist Alternative for Euclea group in the Euclean Parliament and leading in the provincial governments of Ruttland, Bonnlitz-Ostbrücken, Kolreuth, Westbrücken and Ostry whilst participating in the Elbenweis government.

History

Origins

The SRPO came from the unification of two parties, the Social Democratic Party of Werania (SPO) and the Radical Party. The Radical party was one of the oldest in Werania, itself coming from a unification of liberal and republican deputies in 1898, who supported a platform of free trade, secularism and representative democracy based on universal suffrage. The Radical Party would govern Werania for three periods - from 1903 to 1909 and 1911 to 1914 under Lothar von Kuehnelt and from 1920 to 1922 under Casper de Montigny. The radical government implemented progressive reforms such as the introduction of a 48-hour workweek and universal male suffrage and a proportional voting system. These governments were first supported tentatively by socialists but von Kuehnelt's enforcement of union busting laws led to an estrangement with socialist deputies. The socialists did support von Kuehnelt's second government particularly it's drive to implement more wide reaching secular laws. However the Great Collapse led to von Kuehnelt adhering to classical economics to implement a harsh austerity budget that resulted in the socialists to withdraw all parliamentary support leading to a snap election which saw the radicals decimated with a conservative coalition taking power.

The assumption of power of the conservative coalition led to a crisis in the Weranian left. The Weranic Section of the Workers' International (OSAI) was split between a moderate faction that advocated a duel strategy of workers' agitation and parliamentary socialism and a radical faction that advocated for violent revolutionary action. The party's strongman Albrecht Küchenthal eventually adopted the duel strategy leading to a split from the revolutionary faction led by Siegfried Höcker who created the Weranic Syndicalist Union (OSU) which through its armed wing the Revolutionäre Kampfgruppen engaged in violent paramilitary activity. The OSAI's duel strategy meant they both created their own paramilitary section, the Volksschutzfront to combat the influence of the Revolutionäre Kampfgruppen and right-wing Soldaten des Reichsbanners, as well as engaging with the centre left in order to create a united front against the conservative parties. The Radical Party in turn went to the left as von Kuehnelt retired and was replaced by Casper de Montigny who came from the left of the party that was closer to social democratic policies.

This culminated in 1918 with the Radicals and Socialists forming the Popular Front (Volksfront) which agreed to strive for the creation of a parliamentary republic whilst spearheading a social revolution in the country. The development of the front was understood to be a compromise for both parties - for the socialists it entailed a recognition of the parliamentary system whilst for the radicals it meant more heavily embracing the notion of a social rather then liberal republic. The Popular Front won a convincing majority in the 1918 election with Küchenthal becoming premier becoming the first Weranian government to be led by socialists. The new government implemented a raft of progressive legislation such as the introduction of a right to strike, collective bargaining, a 40-hour work week, nationalisation of industry, price controls on agricultural goods, expansion of unemployment benefits, a major public works programme and measures against price raises. However Küchenthal was killed by right-wing paramilitaries barely 4 months in office with his replacement, Gustav Kroetz, being less trusted by the left-wing of the OSAI. Kroetz soon became overwhelmed by continuing economic instability and political polarisation opting to slow down the reform programme creating greater trains within the coalition.

The April Revolution split the OSAI with Aurimas Kreickamas, the leader of the left-wing, calling for a similar revolution in Werania and the end to Kroetz' incrementalism. Kroetz's right-wing reformist faction was only a minority of the party leading to him and his supporters to split from the OSAI creating the Social Democratic Party of Werania (SPO) in 1919, ending the Popular Front. The radicals de Montigny subsequently formed a centrist coalition with the SPO that had outside support from the centre-right National Liberal Party. The government was unstable collapsing in 1922 when it was replaced by a conservative coalition.

Organisation

Leaders

No.	Name (Born–Died)	Portrait	Term in Office		Notes
1	Frank Schellscheidt (1928-2009)		18 March 1977	4 June 1982	Former leader of the SPO.
2	Ludolf Ostermann (1927-)		4 June 1982	16 1992	Served as Chancellor from 1984-1992.
3	Wolfgang Löscher (1942-)		16 May 1992	4 October 1998	Served as Chancellor from 1992-1998.
4	Zigmas Šilingas (1928-2012)		4 October 1998	7 June 1999	Served as Chancellor from 1998-1999.
-	Dietmar Preußen (1946-)		7 June 1999	22 November 1999	Interim leader.
5	Lothar Holzmeister (1944-)		22 November 1999	22 November 2007
6	Ellis Koopmann (1965-)		22 November 2007	14 September 2013	Served as Chancellor from 2011-2013.
7	Viktor Oberhauser (1962-)		14 September 2013	17 October 2017	Served as Chancellor from 2013-2017.
8	Josef Felder (1962-)		17 October 2017	1 June 2019	Served as Chancellor from 2017-2019.
-	Konrad Schröder (1954-)		19 June 2019	27 January 2019	Interim leader.
9	Luise Höcherl (1971-)		27 January 2019	Incumbent

Electoral results

Volkstag

Election	Volkstag					Rank	Government	Leader
	Votes	%	±pp	Seats won	+/−
1980	5,406,826	22.19%	New	114 / 579	151	#2	Opposition	Frank Schellscheidt
1984	7,087,256	28.70%	+6.51%	157 / 579	43	#2	Coalition government	Ludolf Ostermann
1988	7,895,832	32.81%	+4.11%	224 / 598	12	#1	Coalition government	Ludolf Ostermann
1992	8,585,721	33.57%	+0.76%	217 / 598	7	#1	Coalition government	Wolfgang Löscher
1996	8,938,695	31.71%	-1.86%	187 / 545	30	#23	Coalition government	Wolfgang Löscher
1999	6,877,382	23.87%	-7.84%	104 / 545	83	#2	Opposition	Zigmas Šilingas
2003	7,657,312	24.86%	+0.99%	119 / 545	15	#2	Opposition	Lothar Holzmeister
2007	9,787,191	26.40%	+2.01%	110 / 545	9	#2	Opposition	Lothar Holzmeister
2011	11,463,728	30.19%	+3.79%	190 / 545	80	#1	Coalition government	Ellis Koopmann
2015	9,175,847	27.12%	-3.07	157 / 545	33	#1	Coalition government	Viktor Oberhauser
2019	6,154,682	17.00%	-10.82%	85 / 545	72	#2	Opposition	Josef Felder

¹Compared to the 1975 seats for the RP and the SPO discounting the 19 seats from those who did not join the party.
²In 1982 the OSAI suffered a split after a vote of no confidence with 68 OSAI Volkstag members defecting to the SRPO bringing their total number to 225 members, meaning they net lost seats in 1983 compared to the start of the election.
³Attained less votes then the NKP but the same amount of seats.

Herrstag

Election	Herrstag						Rank	Status	Leader
	Votes	%	±pp	Contested seats	Total seats	+/−
1989	TBA	TBA%	New	85 / 232	85 / 232	85	#2	Minority	Ludolf Ostermann
1993	TBA	TBA%	TBA	32 / 116	72 / 232	13	#2	Minority	Wolfgang Löscher
1997	TBA	TBA%	TBA	29 / 116	61 / 232	11	#2	Minority	Wolfgang Löscher
2001	TBA	TBA%	TBA	41 / 116	73 / 232	12	#2	Minority	Lothar Holzmeister
2005	TBA	TBA%	TBA	45 / 116	85 / 232	12	#1	Majority	Lothar Holzmeister
2009	TBA	TBA%	TBA	54 / 116	99 / 232	14	#1	Majority	Ellis Koopmann
2013	TBA	TBA%	TBA	40 / 116	94 / 232	5	#1	Minority	Ellis Koopmann
2017	TBA	TBA%	TBA	28 / 116	68 / 232	26	#2	Minority	Viktor Oberhauser
2021	3,258,201	13.45%	TBA	23 / 116	59 / 232	21	#2	Minority	Luise Höcherl