Citizens' Alliance
File:Citizens Alliance logo.png | |
Leader | Maxime Bélanger |
President | Julie Lambert |
Founded | 13 March 2015 |
Split from | Rally of the Democrats |
Headquarters | 18-10 place d'Outre-Mer Tourres, Isle-Royale |
Student wing | Liberal Students Association |
Youth wing | Young Citizens |
Membership (2017) | 1.35 million |
Ideology | Radical centrism, economic liberalism, social liberalism |
International affiliation | Progressives |
Position | Centre |
Colours | Purple |
House of Deputies | 130 / 452
|
Esquarian Parliament seats | 16 / 62
|
Provincial governments | 0 / 13
|
The Citizens' Alliance (AC; French: Alliance citoyenne) is a centrist political party in Ainin. It is the second-largest party in both the National Assembly and the Aininian delegation to the Esquarian Parliament, as well as the junior partner in Ainin's coalition government. Since its founding, it has been led by Maxime Bélanger, who serves as Deputy Prime Minister in the government.
It was established in March 2015 in the aftermath of the West Aininian crisis by cabinet ministers Maxime Bélanger and Remy Micheaux along with three other centrist deputies as Stéphane Mann's Democratic government began falling apart. Over the next few days, as the social conservative faction of the Democrats split off to form the Federation of Conservative Forces, many centrists joined the initial centrist defectors and the Citizens' Alliance caucus grew to 46 deputies by the 2015 snap election. In the subsequent vote, the party gained 84 more deputies, mostly at the Democrats' expense, and denied Marianne de Lotbinière's Social Democratic Party an outright majority. The party then struck a deal with the Democrats to form a grand coalition with Bélanger as deputy prime minister.
The party's political outlook, supporting a mix of economic and personal freedoms, has been described as centrist by most commentators. Under Bélanger, the party has explicitly rejected social conservatism and has been an outspoken voice in favour of economic deregulation and free trade. Because of this, the labels neoliberal, radical centrist, clasical liberal and social liberal have also been used to describe members of the party.
History
Ideology
Leadership
Electoral record
Election | Votes | Seats | Win | Outcome | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | % | # | ± | |||
2015 | 130 / 452
|
84† | Junior partner in coalition with SD, BDR |
† 46 Democratic deputies defected to the Citizens' Alliance prior to the election.