Anti-Revolutionary Party (Marirana)

Anti-Revolutionary Party Partito Anti-Rivoluzionario
Abbreviation	PAR
Leader	Rosa Michelozzi
Secretary-General	Edoardo Capezzone
Founded	13 February 1942
Split from	Rally for the Republic
Headquarters	12 Piozzana Street Aquinas
Youth wing	Young Anti-Revolutionaries
Ideology	Sotirian democracy Neo-populism Social conservatism Economic liberalism
Political position	Centre-right
National affiliation	Coalition for Democratic Action
Colours	Green, orange
House of Councillors	27 / 232
House of Senators	12 / 90
Provincial Assemblies	171 / 692
Provincial Presidents	2 / 6
Website
www.par.ma
Political parties

The Anti-Revolutionary Party (Vespian: Partito Anti-Rivoluzionario) commonly abbreviated to the PAR is a Sotirian democratic political party in Marirana. One of the most successful political parties in Mariranan political history, the PAR has won six of the twelve free presidential elections held since its creation and had maintained a plurality in every freely elected legislature from 1942 to 2018 (excluding the military legislature from 1973-1988).

The PAR was created in 1942 by Antonio Michelozzi, a war hero and populist who broke off from his former party the Rally for the Republic due to disagreements with president Niccolò Pellegrini. Under the authoritarian presidency of Jordi i Teixidor the PAR served as a primary opposition and following i Teixidor's overthrow in 1952 played a key part in the development of the "pct of democracy".

Michelozzi would dominate politics thereafter with the pact of democracy that enabled the PAR to maintain influence. Michelozzi won the 1953 election and in 1962 PAR member Raimondo Zamparini became president after the impeachment of Silvano Brazzi. However the party soon split between the conservative faction led by Zamparini and a more populist faction led by Michelozzi. Michelozzi returned to the presidency in 1963 and tapped social democrat Romano Emanuele Orlando as his protégé. Michelozzi's death in 1965 the PAR split between the supporters of Orlando (the Authentic Anti-Revolutionary Party) and the supporters of Zamparini (the Intransigent Anti-Revolutionary Party) with both running in the 1968 election; Orlando won narrowly, but the PAR effectively was two parties. Orlando's social democratic programme was opposed by powerful domestic and foreign elites, leading to a military coup in 1972.

Following the coup was the PAR was banned, soon becoming a major component of the anti-military Coalition for Democratic Action. The PAR put forward a candidate in the 1980 election, but criticised the result as fraudulent following the victory of the military-backed candidate. Following the fall of the military regime in 1988 the PAR as part of the CPLD backed Stefano Uccello of the Democratic Alternative (DA) for the presidency, where it supported Uccello's democratising reforms. In 1993 the son of Antonio, Oliviero Michelozzi, was elected president with the Michelozzi government implementing neoliberal reforms started by the military regime and Uccello government, including privatisations of state assets, deregulation of economic sectors and cuts in government spending. The PAR maintained presidency in 1998 with Giordano Falcomatà becoming president. The PAR lost the presidency again in 2003 but soon formed a coalition government with president Alfonso Hatoyama supporting efforts to impeach him in 2006 with PAR prime minister Roberto Vernizzi becoming president. The PAR lost the presidency in 2008 and their coalition, the Coalition for Democratic Action, losing the legislative election shutting the PAR out of government for the first time since the return of democracy in 1988. The PAR however re-entered government in 2010 forcing president Dario Lorenzin into cohabitation and in 2013 re-taking the presidency under businessmen Giorgio Macciocchi.

In 2017 the candidate of the PAR for the presidential election and daughter of president Oliviero, Rosa Michelozzi, failed to enter the second round of that year's presidential election, the first PAR candidate not to achieve this. The PAR in the 2018 legislative election lost over 55 Councillors and 20 Senators, losing their position as the biggest party in the Mariranan legislature being overtaken by the left-wing Democratic Party of Socialists.

The PAR defines itself as a Sotirian democratic party, advocating for conservative social policies and a social market economy, often being placed in the centre-right of the Mariranan political spectrum. It has traditionally portrayed itself as a big tent party of power, although since the 2000's this perception has weakened. Critics accuse the PAR of populism and nepotism, the latter owing to the dominance the Michelozzi dynasty have within the party.

History

Formation

The PAR was formed in 1940 following the election of Antonio Michelozzi as Governor of Vittico, the province that housed the capital of Aquanis. Michelozzi was the son of a conservative rancher possessing a small personal fortune and possessed a platform that was populist with strong pro-labour and anti-communist tendencies, being based on the Sotirian democracy of the Gaullican Catholic Labour Union. Michelozzi's dual ties to the business communities and to the strong trade unions in Vittico allowed him to ascend to Governor with 76% of the vote. The PAR's formation was the result of a merging of centrist politicians who supported the populist policies of Michelozzi. In order to dispel accusations that his new party was left-wing Michelozzi named it the Partito Anti-Rivoluzionario and started to appeal to conservative sections of society, openly calling the new party Sotirian democratic. Despite this the PAR also had strong ties to the trade unions, giving it a wide political base from the offset.

At the 1945 legislative election the PAR became the third largest party in the House of Councillors, attaining 40 out of 147 seats.

Pact of Democracy

In 1948 incumbent President, Jordi i Teixidor of the Republican Democratic Concentration, illegally dissolved parliament and called a new election which saw the CDR win an overwhelming majority in what was seen as a rigged election. The PAR joined its main opponent, the RPR, in condemning the CDR and agitating for democracy, resulting in Michelozzi to be exiled from the country. When i Teixidor was ousted in 1952 Michelozzi returned to Marirana and became vice-president to interim president Emilio Štromajer, where they drafted the Pact of Democracy.

The Pact intended to ensure peaceful transfers of power alongside avoiding majoritarian governance. Each party would appoint the losing candidate to vice-president in every presidential election and appoint coalition cabinets following each parliamentary election. This was helped by the fact both the RPR and the PAR were ideologically vague, moderate parties.

The RPR was riven apart by ideological rifts between its conservative and progressive factions and a strong challenge from the PAR. The candidate eventually settled on was Silvano Brazzi, a social liberal from the RPR's progressive wing. Brazzi had strong support from urban centres and the country's commercial elite whilst Michelozzi's PAR had more support from rural regions and the poor (named by Michelozzi as the "shirtless ones"). With encouragement from his political allies Michelozzi ran as the PAR's candidate, using his own wealth as well as getting support from the construction industry and conservative trade unions. The 1953 election saw Michelozzi win 67.53% of the vote, easily beating Brazzi and becoming president of Marirana.

Ideology

The Anti-Revolutionary Party is based on the principles of Sotirian democracy, taking inspiration from the Gaullician Catholic Labour Union. Economically the PAR support the creation of a social market economy advocating a welfare state whilst also being critical of socialism and supporting free markets. The PAR are considered socially conservative supporting a ban on abortions (identifying as pro-life), bring vehemently against same-sex marriage, supporting less access to contraception and promoting Christian morals in public life. They do not however reject climate change seeing humanity as being stewards of the Earth to God. On foreign policy they are seen as being pro-JDF and support close ties with the Federation.

However the PAR have been seen as being populist and have been called a big tent party with members ranging from conservatives to social democrats. The PAR since its creation have been influenced by a strong belief in free markets and individual enterprise and during its existence has been influenced by various forms of economic liberalism - ordoliberalism amongst the PAR's left (being dominant in the 1950's) and neoliberalism amongst the right (which has dominated the party since the 1990's).

For much of its history the PAR was seen as a populist party. Party leaders Antonio Michelozzi and Romano Emanuele Orlando promoted "classical populism" which advocated import-substitution industrialisation, pro-labour policies and anti-imperialism being critical of the Federation of Asteria. During the 1990's under Oliviero Michelozzi and Giordano Falcomatà the PAR embraced "neo-populism" which departed from its classical variant by promoting economic liberalism. Since the 1990's neo-populists are dominant within the party where despite criticising neoliberal economics implement them co-currently.