eDemocrats

eDemocrats
Presidium	National Party Council
Spokesperson	Laura Moretti Gallo
Founded	April 22, 2020 (2020-04-22)
Headquarters	Via Alberga Monastica 25/5, Timiocato 3867AG
Youth wing	eDem+Juvé
Women's wing	(f)Democrats
Ideology	Direct democracy, e-democracy, populism
Political position	Syncretic
Colours	Lavender
Senato	5 / 100
Constazione	74 / 715
Regional deputies	58 / 914
Mayors and councillors	3,124 / 91,620
Website
www.edem.org.pc
Political parties

The eDemocrats (Pacitalian: eDemocrate) are a political party in Pacitalia.

The party was founded in the spring of 2020 by Marco Arancella, the retired host of the TVR current affairs talk show Guardare Cosi Diretti. Calling for a new movement that transcended typical left/right politics, Arancella, with no previous political experience, launched the new party, billing it as a populist alternative to the "big tent" parties.

The concept was initially dismissed by political opponents and a number of media outlets, as naïve and unsustainable, deriding Arancella for considering himself the voice of the movement rather than a traditional party leader. Some outlets regarded the party, and its immediate popularity among voters, with bewilderment, highlighting that new political movements had the potential to upend politics-as-usual.

At the 2021 regional elections, the eDemocrats won 58 of a possible 914 seats up for election on Pacitalia's 22 regional councils, and a further 3,124 municipal-level seats, making them one of the five biggest parties. They contested their first national elections in 2023, winning five seats in the Senate and becoming the third-largest party in the lower house.

Arancella announced in April 2023 that he would run to be nominated as the party's candidate in the upcoming 2023 archonal election, rather than run for a seat in parliament. He was replaced as spokesperson by lawyer Laura Moretti Gallo. Arancella placed third in the archonal election, and was eliminated in the first round.

The party is currently the seventh-largest by total membership as of 2023, but ranks third in fundraising income.

Ideology

Unique among active political parties, the eDemocrats are a syncretic populist party, borrowing policies from traditional left and right schools of thought. The party favours universal basic income and the creation of a digital currency, and advocates for the use of technology and the internet to enhance the public's access to government services ("e-democracy"). It has several values in common with the Green political movement, such as integration of ecological and environmentalist principles into economic and social policy, and commitments to non-violence, participatory democracy, and social justice.

The party internally practices "bottom-up" or "grassroots" politics, allowing the membership to communally set the party's policy direction and election platform.

As a political movement, the eDemocrats are largely viewed as AOscepticist, anti-establishment, anti-particratic, and as proponents of degrowth. Party membership also generally oppose political alliances, which would preclude the eDemocrats from joining coalition governments in the future. Should the party ever win a plurality of seats, observers note the aversion to political alliances would leave it attempting to govern alone or with an informal confidence vote arrangement.

Some observers have called the eDemocrats anti-immigration due to the party's initial immigration policy, which called for restrictions on the number of immigrants coming into Pacitalia and changes to immigration law. A subsequent motion in front of the party's national council in 2022, amending the party's immigration policy and replacing it with more neutral language, was adopted.

The party is stridently anti-corruption, with its platforms calling for open government and so-called radical transparency in government to retain public trust and pre-empt disengagement in politics.

The eDemocrats advocate for, among others:

• using the internet to improve access to public services and strengthen public engagement and participation in democracy;
• nationalizing telecommunications infrastructure to ensure every person has access to the internet;
• fostering a "digitally inclusive" society that renews a sense of civic duty and responsibility;
• strengthening anti-corruption legislation;
• implementing a national basic income program to replace welfare;
• enacting laws that give people freedom to work or learn from home;
• making public transit fare-free for everyone;
• providing distance-based tax credits for people who commute by cycling or walking;
• completely phasing out reliance on fossil fuels and ban production of new gas-powered motor vehicles;
• protecting and defending reasonable free speech, expression, assembly and association;

Party spokespeople

The party has had two leader, called a "spokesperson" as of 2023. Former television personality Marco Arancella was the party's first leader and its founder. Arancella stepped down as promised after being nominated as the party's candidate for Archonate. Members voted lawyer and university lecturer Laura Moretti Gallo as his replacement to lead the party in the 2023 elections.

Name(s)	Served from	Served until	Notes
Marco Arancella	April 22, 2020	August 24, 2023
Laura Moretti Gallo	September 22, 2023	incumbent

National Party Council

A unique feature of the eDemocrats is the National Party Council, a governing body composed of the party membership. The council is designed as a form of internal direct democracy that aims to honour the party's overall advocacy for direct democracy in the general public.

With the exception of the roughly 8,500 founding party members who have been part of the party since 2020, subsequent new members are required to wait six months, with their membership in good standing, before they can speak to, or vote on, agenda items, such as party resolutions or candidate nominations for the party list. Electorate nominations are handled by the party's local district associations, similar to other parties.

Electoral performance

Constazione Repubblicana

Election	Spokesperson	Electorate votes		Party list votes		Electorate seats		Party list seats		Total seats		Position	Result
		No.	Share	No.	Share	No.	±	No.	±	No.	±
2023	Laura Moretti Gallo												Election to be held November 2023

Senato Repubblicana

Election	Spokesperson	Votes		Seats		Position	Result
		No.	Share	No.	Share
2023	Laura Moretti Gallo						Election to be held November 2023

Archonate of the Pacitalian Republic

Election	Candidate	First-round votes			Runoff election			Result
		No.	Share	Position	No.	Share	Position
2023	Marco Arancella	TBD						Election to be held in November 2023