Sovarese Independence Party

Sovarese Independence Party Sovarskur sjálfstæðisflokkur
Founders	Beinir Ludvíkson Ísak Herbertson
Founded	1947 (As United Sovar)
Dissolved	2 February 1982
Merger of	Self-Government Party and Reform Party
Ideology	Economic liberalism Conservatism Sovarese independence
Political position	Centre-right
Colours	Blue
Election symbol
SSF

The Sovarese Independence Party (SFF) (Sovarese: Sovarskur sjálfstæðisflokkur) was a Sovarese political party that governed Sovar between 1955 and 1982. The party's government oversaw Sovarese independence from Rythene in 1972.

History

United Sovar was formed in 1944 after a merger between the pro-Autonomy Self-Government Party and the agrarian Reform Party. The party's main goals were the promotion of the Sovarese language, an autonomous parliament in Sulastad and land reform. The party was initially successful winning seats in the Rythenean parliament and was gaining support in Sovar. The party initially rejected Sovarese independence and pursued a policy of gaining Sovarese autonomy.

Sovar gained a semi-autonomous parliament in 1952 and the party shifted towards a pro-independence ideology and changed it's name to the Sovarese Independence Party in 1953. The party was the largest opposition party in Sovar to the pro-union Liberal Union. After the 1953 Palheim explosion the party capitalised on outrage from the Sovarese population and vowed to "kick Rythene out of Sovar". The party won the 1955 Sovarese Parliament election in a landslide and began cutting ties to Rythene. Whilst in government the party focused initially on land reform and removing nuclear weapons from Sovar. The Sovarese parliament set up a parliamentary inquiry separate from the Rythenean inquiry into the Palheim explosion, it concluded that incompetence and a lack of care from Rythenean military officials had caused the disaster - a finding that wasn't supported by the official inquiry.

In 1956 the Sovarese parliament made Sovarese the only official language of Sovar and cut all Rythenean language services. In 1961 Beinir Ludvíkson resigned as the party's leader and made Ísak Herbertson the leader of the party. Herbertson adopted a more radical ideology to Ludvíkson's cautious approach to independence and advocated for a unilateral declaration of independence from Rythene. Concerns about the economy caused the party to lose it's majority in the Sovarese parliament and forced it into a coalition with the Sovarese Socialist Party.

In 1969 the party backed calls for a general strike in Sovar which began on 8 November 1969. The general strike ended with the 1970 Lagurstad agreement which allowed for a non-binding referendum on independence to be held in 1971. The referendum resulted in a landslide victory for the nationalists. The following year on 28 July 1972 the Sovarese parliament formally declared independence from Rythene.

Upon independence the party vowed to continue to exist and deliver for the people of Sovar. The party however collapsed when the conservative factions left the party and formed the Republican Party. The SFF government's popularity declined as it's policies proved to be unpopular and it lost support from the Socialists in 1981. The party was nearly wiped out in the 1982 general election. Following the election the party voted to dissolve itself with remaining members forming the Progressive Party.

Election results

National Assembly

Election year	Leader	# of votes	% of vote	# of overall seats won	+/–	Govt?
1952	Ísak Herbertson	TBD	TBD (#2)	11 / 30	11	Opposition
May 1955		TBD	TBD (#1)	14 / 30	3	Opposition
August 1955		TBD	TBD (#1)	18 / 30	4	Government
1960		TBD	TBD (#1)	14 / 30	4	Government
1965		TBD	TBD (#1)	13 / 30	1	Government
1970	Ovi Sívarson	TBD	TBD (#1)	25 / 30	12	Government
1971		TBD	TBD (#1)	23 / 30	2	Government

Aðalfundur

Election year	Leader	# of votes	% of vote	# of overall seats won	+/–	Govt?
1977	Ovi Sívarson	TBD	TBD (#1)	29 / 54	6	Government
1982		TBD	TBD (#3)	5 / 54	24	Opposition