National Consolidation Party
Template:KylarisRecognitionArticle
National Consolidation Party Nationale Konsolidierungspartei | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Federal President | Anton Raicevich |
| Vice-President | Andrea Däubler |
| Leader in the House of Deputies | Elisabeth Biedenkopf |
| Leader in the House of Councillors | Jakob Böckler |
| Founder | Konstantin Vogel |
| Founded | 13th May 1954 |
| Merger of | LDP, SDP |
| Headquarters | 17 Jorganberg Road, Westbrucken, Werania |
| Youth wing | New Generation Forum |
| Membership | 101,463 |
| Ideology | Conservatism |
| Political position | Centre-right |
| Euclean parliamentary group | Alliance of Conservatives and Democrats for Euclea |
| Euclean affiliation | Party of Euclean Conservatives |
| Colors | Orange, blue |
| Slogan | Gott, Heimat, Freiheit |
| House of Deputies (Werania) | 244 / 545
|
| House of Councillors | 130 / 232
|
| Landtags/Seimas | 314 / 1,067
|
| Minister-Presidents | 5 / 11
|
| Euclean Parliament | 42 / 118
|
The National Consolidation Party (Weranian: Nationale Konsolidierungspartei) commonly abbreviated to the NKP is a conservative political party in Werania. It is currently the largest party in the country with a majority in both houses of the Bundestag.
Formed in 1957 as a merger of anti-socialist political parties with the intention to represent the right-wing of the political spectrum, the NKP under Konstantin Vogel firmly established itself as the main party operating within an asymmetric two-party system with the NKP competing with a range of left-wing opposition parties. The NKP served in government from its foundation in 1955 to 1983 serving under a total of seven premiers. It remains the longest stint in power of a single party in Weranian history.
In 1983 after economic difficulties the NKP would enter opposition for a 20 year period as it became the rival of the governing party, the Social Democratic Radical Party of Werania. During this period in opposition the NKP would become incredibly divided between its traditional Sotirian democratic faction and a new right faction focused more on right-wing populism and economic liberalism. In 2003 the NKP under moderate leader Sotirian Lowenstein led the NKP to a victory against the SRPO. Lowenstein implemented conservative fiscal policies, privatising industry and reinvesting it into supporting tech startups. Dealing with economic collapse in 2005 Lowenstein implemented austerity policies avoiding a bailout from the Euclean Community. In 2007 he led the NKP to a coalition government where Lowenstein supported Euclean integration and greater fiscal liberalisation. Resigning in 2009, his successor Dietrich Wittmann was unable to gain re-election placing it back into opposition.
In 2015 Otto von Hößlin became NKP leader. He has under the influence of deputy leader Jörg Bullmann moved the party to the populist right, supporting economic nationalism, social conservatism and soft-Euclescepticism. In 2019 the party became the largest in the House of Deputies and is expected to form the next government of Werania. In 2022 Anton Raicevich became leader and in 2023 led the party to a majority government.
The NKP is a member of the Party of Euclean Conservatives, a member party of the Alliance of Conservatives and Democrats for Euclea. A centre-right party, the NKP is seen as more socially conservative and economically interventionist than other parties within the ACDE.
History
Formation
The NKP was founded as a merger of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Sotirian Democratic Party (SDP) in 1957 by SDP Chairman and Premier Konstantin Vogel. Between 1942 to 1950 the Catholic Social Party, National Liberal Party and Centre Party had governed the country as part of the Fatherland Bloc. The bloc during the 1940's became increasingly authoritarian as a result of the Valduvian-Weranian War that saw a destabilisation of the state culminating in the failed Colonels putsch and the break up of the Fatherland Bloc. The progressive, anti-war of the bloc formed the SDP which claimed to represent a break from the opd conservative parties.
The 1950 election saw the KSP, NLP and ZP collapse as the SFP formed the Tripartite coalition with the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Werania (SPO) and the Weranic Section of the Workers' International (OSAI). Subsequently the KSP and the NLP formed the LDP to represent a more conservative stance then the now ascendent SDP.
The Tripartite government commanded large majorities in the 1950 and 1953 elections implementing several progressive reforms as well as leading Werania into the Euclean Community. However the government suffered from internal tensions due to the alliance of urban socialists with rural conservative Catholics. In 1955 Konstantin Vogel - an outspoken critic of the tripartite government - became SDP leader. Legislation to increase trade union influence in the economy gave the SDP pretext to end the coalition leading to a vote of no confidence in the government that passed. The subsequent election saw the right wing parties of the SDP and LDP gain a majority confirming Vogel as premier.
Vogel's SDP-LDP government implemented moderate policies, creating a social market economy based on the doctrine of Catholic social teachings. The new government followed a mostly demand-side economics with an active fiscal and monetary policy ensuring there was low unemployment, moderate inflation, an expansion of the welfare state, the maintenance of the nationalised natural monopolies from the Tripartite government and income redistribution through public works projects. Nevertheless the government did still pursue some traditional conservative policies such as privatising state-owned breweries. As well as this the government encouraged the growth of Großkombinats, large business conglomerates that were supported by state-intervention thanks to the nationalisation of banks by the Tripartite governments.
In the runup to the 1959 there were concerns of OSAI becoming the largest party and possibly forming a government with the SPO. Amongst the two coalition parties there was a feeling that the decline in both monarchist conservatism and classical liberalism meant the three parties increasingly came to resemble each other supporting Weranic nationalism, free-market economics and Catholic social values. As such in 1957 Vogel alongside LDP leader Ludwig Stadtbäumer announced the creation of the National Consolidation Party which would be a "big-tent" party representative of right-wing politics in Werania. In order to allow a constant rotation amongst the leadership of the constituent parties the NKP adopted a three-year term for federal president with re-election allowed only once. The NKP subsequently formed a close relationship with the Solarian Catholic church, Catholic trade unions, großkombinat's and mittelstand's in order to boost its outreach to the electorate gathering supporters from all economic and social backgrounds.
Party of power
The NKP in its first election in 1959 scored a decisive victory getting 302 of 586 seats enabling it to govern with a majority. Like the preceding National Bloc the NKP benefited from divisions in the left with the OSAI, SPO and Radical Party often competing for votes. As well as that parties to the right of the NKP such as the ORP and OBb were seen as being far-right in character meaning that the NKP was able to present itself as the only credible non-socialist political force in the country.
The party's big-tent nature meant it primarily promoted centre-right policies with former KSP parliamentarians becoming the dominant tendency. Nevertheless the party still exhibited ideological diversity particularly on the issue of the Euclean Community, ranging from pro-EC federalists to proponents of souverainism. Vogel, a moderate pro-Eucleanist, focused on sound economic management through a promotion of private enterprise and competition between Euclean nations.
In 1960 Vogel announced his retirement from politics preceding elections that year after developing early signs of lung cancer. His successor was August von Münstermann who shared much of his centre-right positions declaring the party stood against the "revolutionary radicalism" of the OSAI and SPO. However whilst the 1960's were marked by economic prosperity there were shifts in social attitudes with the rise of second-wave feminism, the new left and immigration from former Euclean colonies. The NKP was largely unresponsive to these social changes shifting to a gradual loss of support. As such in 1966 the NKP lost its majority in the Reichstag getting only 292 seats, albeit remaining the largest party by a large margin (the second ranked party, the OSAI, gained only 169 seats). Although the NKP could've formed a majority government with the SPO party leaders refused this possibility with NKP Finance Minister Sigmar Welskopf-Henrich declaring that the NKP "doesn't do coalitions". As such the NKP agreed to a minority government with the Sotirian Democratic Homeland with von Münstermann continuing his role as premier. He resigned after declining to run for re-election for NKP president and replaced with Rudolf Wiefelspütz.
Prior to the 1966 election economic growth stalled leading to Wiefelspütz to cut public expenditure. Wiefelspütz was seen as a technocratic figure with the government being re-elected in 1966 but his weak health meant he resigned in 1969 being replaced by Welskopf-Henrich.
At the 1970 election the NKP under Welskopf-Henrich secured re-election despite Welskopf-Henrich's wooden personality. Welskopf-Henrich continued moderately progressive social reforms whilst co-currently implementing budget cuts and reducing some of the welfare programmes started by the previous government, in line with policies pursued by previous NKP governments. The NKP remained popular thanks to dizzying economic growth due to the continued rise of großkombinat's, which accounted for over three-quarters of national output with many expanding further into other industries fuelled by state support due to loans given out by state-owned banks.
Welskopf-Henrich was premier during the 1972 student protests which started due to the government's controversial control over university curriculum's. The protests eventually became a broader movement for social justice and economic equality with the Amalgamated Federation of Trade Unions holding a wildcat general strike over the government's control over the upper echelons of the trade union movement. The country briefly came to an economic standstill with the government fearing revolution; as a result Welskopf-Henrich resigned as premier whilst calling a snap election. His successor was Renatas Vinkauskas who became the NKP's first Ruttish leade and premier. Calling on the "silent majority to vote against socialism" Vinkauskas led the NKP a large electoral victory an effort largely seen as down to Vinkauskas's personal popularity and much of the electorate voting against the instability the protests had caused.
A member of the NKP social Sotirian faction, Vinkauskas was credited with creating a dialogue with trade unions and student groups following the protests. A charismatic politician known for his wide factional support Vinkauskas attempted to present himself as a moderniser heardling a move towards liberal conservatism. Vinkauskas modernised the party's electoral apparatus, using television extensively crafting an image of himself as a modern leader who focused on long term development.
As premier Vinkauskas attempted to oversee large infrastructure projects, most ambitiously aiming to oversee a decline in the power of Großkombinats in favour of mittelstand's, the traditional backbone of Weranian industry. However under his premiership the economy continued to record solid growth due to the continued aggressive expansion of the großkombinat's, despite economic slowdowns in Senria and other parts of Euclea. In order to avoid recession Vinkauskas's government responded with implementing more comprehensive incomes policy and cutting public service wages, leading to tensions between the NKP and its traditional trade union partner, the Confederation of Catholic Labour. This policy was at the time hailed by economists who credited the strong output of großkombinat's as saving the Weranian economy, but was later seen as flawed as it stunted domestic consumption leading to the großkombinat's to incur far higher debt through borrowing.
In 1976 the NKP once again secured a majority government. However several factors would lead to the NKP to enter a decline over the 1976-1980 term. Patronage politics had led to several voters to desert the NKP whilst the emergence of centrist forces such as the PMZ would present an attractive alternative to what was seen as an increasingly right-wing NKP. Most damaging was the merger of the SPO and the RP into the Social Democratic Radical Party of Werania (SRPO) in 1977 which emerged as the first big tent centre-left party in the country's history.
In 1979 the Steinman Scandal had broken out which saw the NKP accused of soliciting favours from the Steinman großkombinat through an illegal slush fund that funnelled Steinman donations to the party.
In 1980 as the balance of payments crisis worsened Vinkauskas made the decision to revalue the Reichsmark which incurred a loss of popularity for the NKP. The devaluation of the Reichsmark helped lead to the bubble of constant mergers and acquisitions by the großkombinat's to burst when the fourth largest company in Werania, the Einem Group, to file for bankruptcy. The großkombinat's debts were not only to state industrial banks but also to independent banks and their own financial services subsidiaries. The scale of the loan defaults meant that banks could neither foreclose nor write off bad loans without themselves collapsing, so the failure to service these debts quickly caused a systemic banking crisis leading to the Weranian government had to pump billions into banks and take a loan from the Global Institute of Fiscal Affairs, seen as a humiliation by large swathes of the population.
Loans from foreign banks meant that Vinkauskas was forced to cut public spending to deal with the recession, most notably slashing agricultural subsidies as well as undertaking a substantial devaluation of the Reichsmark. As well as this Vinkauskas was seen as uncharismatic and confrontational to trade unions, leading to more frequent strikes and economic disruption during the early 1980's.
The Steinman scandal combined with the economic crisis led to a collapse in support for the NKP and led to 32 of the party's deputies to form a new liberal conservative party, the Modern Centre Party.
The emergence of SRPO leader Ludolf Ostermann saw the NKP increasingly regarded as a party of old men out of touch with younger voters who had led to a historic mismanagement of the economy and sold Werania out to the GIFA. In the 1980 election the NKP remained the largest party with 196 seats whilst the SRPO overtook the OSAI for the second time as the second largest party, with the two parties together getting the best result ever for the Weranic left since the popular front took power in 1918. As a result of the NKP losing its majority Ostermann formed a left-wing coalition between the SRPO and the OSAI putting the NKP into opposition for the first time since its creation.
Wilderness years
The failure of the NKP to present a credible and attractive alternative to the left caused many younger members of the party to start to challenge the ideological orthodoxy of the party with Sotirian democracy, agrarian populism and pork-barrel politics becoming increasingly unpopular. Neoliberal economics and populist nationalism became popular amongst party activists who advocated a radical shift from the old consensus driven, centrist Sotirian democracy to a more populist, free market direction. These activists believed the old system of nationalisation, strong labour unions, heavy regulation, high taxes, and a generous welfare state had led to Werania's economic malaise, recommending instead a programme of privatisation, deregulation and a reduction of trade union power being inspired by Patrica Flowers in Caldia. This faction was known as the neue rechte (new right) with proponents within the party including Egon Geisel, Oskar Schweidnitz Elisabeth von Neudeck and Dietrich Wittmann who became known as the "Gang of Four".
Prior to the 1981 NKP conference the gang of four plotted to forward a vote of no confidence towards Vinkauskas's leadership with the intention of putting forward Geisel as party leader. Unwilling to allow the neue rechte to dominate the party Vinkauskas unexpectedly announced he would not run for another term as NKP president prior to the conference recommending his deputy Maximilian Frommel as leader. Enraged that Vinkauskas avoided a no confidence vote Geisel, Schweidnitz and von Neudeck alongside several other neue rechte deputies split from the party forming the Democratic Alternative (DA). The DA soon became popular with voters concerned about rising immigration and deeper Euclean integration as well as arousing the approval of the business community who wished for an economically liberal but anti-trade union party. Concerns were raised surrounding Frommel, who was seen as an apparatchik with little charisma or vision. Unbeknownst at the time was that Frommel was suffering from cancer which resulted in him to limit his public appearances which created an image of him as being aloof and out of touch. As well as this, the NKP's political machine - which had been adept at acting as a locus for matching interest group money and votes with bureaucratic power and expertise - weakened due to being in opposition.
Frommel like his predecessors as leader was a pro-business conservative representing continuity within the NKP and as such initiated no major policy differences. In opposition Frommel advocated a relatively passive strategy believing the traditional divisions of the left would discredit the Ostermann government and that voters would quickly return to the NKP. In 1982 after facing severe economic problems the SRPO-OSAI government abandoned its radical socialist programme and adopted free-market policies at the insistence of the Euclean Community. This led to a large decline in support for the government leading to Frommel at the 1984 NKP party conference to declare for the party to "ready itself for government". However this looked unlikely as the split with the DA had resulted in approval for the NKP sharply declining hurting its image as a safe pair of hands for government and the economy.
An uptick in the economic situation and perceptions that the NKP was a divided party that stood for few core principles meant that in the 1984 election the SRPO was elected to a record second term in government. The NKP suffered a catastrophic result falling from 202 to 108 seats, easily its worst result up until that point attaining the second most amount of seats for the first time in its history. Many NKP seats went to the DA which debuted with 78 seats along with the Ruttish Sotirian Democratic Homeland which gained 36 seats. As a result of the terrible result Frommel resigned from the party leadership and politics in general. The 1984 leadership election was seen as a defining one for the party as the centre-right candidate Adolf Stahl faced off the neue rechte and former gang of four member Dietrich Wittmann for the leadership. By a narrow vote Stahl won.
The government formed after the 1984 election was a coalition between the SRPO and the Modern Centre Party. The new government would subsequently begin to promote a radical programme of reform supporting social and economic liberalism. This led to several progressive social reforms such as the legislation of homosexuality and divorce and economic reforms in the form of privatisation and deregulation particularly in the public sector. The new government saw a shift of economic power from state-owned enterprises and the großkombinat's towards mittelstands and other small and medium-sized enterprises (SME's). These measures were seen as highly reformatory to the Werania the NKP led prompting discussion within the party of the direction forward following the 1984 result.
Stahl started the process of party modernisation mainly with an overhaul of party financing and its ability to reach voters as well as setting up an array of think tanks to support the party's ability to formulate new policies. However the issue of whether to accept coalition government remained divisive within the party with the old guard refusing to accept the idea on principle. In 1986 Blaurock announced that in the next election the NKP would be willing to offer coalition agreements with "likeminded parties if the NKP attained less then 200 seats heralding a major shift in NKP policy.
In 1987 the SRPO and PMZ government fell apart over differences in economic policy. Discontent with the government led to an uptick in support for the NKP which emerged as the lagrest party. The NKP however did not secure a majority and despite getting over 200 seats Stahl elected to form a coaltion with the PMZ. This move was incredibly controversial and the government was plagued with factional disputes. The NKP-PMZ government continued economic reform but in contrast to the SRPO led government introduced austerity and attempted to implement union busting and right to work legislation. As a result they quickly became unpopular and the NKP suffered a defeat at the 1991 elections to the SRPO led by Wolfgang Löscher. Stahl resigned as leader and was replaced by Edmund Blaurock.
Although being associated with the old guard of the party Blaurock recognised that the NKP needed to reinvent itself if it was to credibly challenge the SRPO and maintain its position as the leading party of the right over the DA. Blaurock also recognised that the party was seen by voters as being out of touch with modern Werania and that it appealed solely to rural, conservative Catholics. Blaurock started the process of party modernisation mainly with an overhaul of party financing and its ability to reach voters as well as setting up an array of think tanks to support the party's ability to formulate new policies. Nevertheless the NKP was unable to win the 1995 election due to the excellent economic conditions at the time with the SRPO government of Wolfgang Löscher being re-elected.
Following the 1995 election Blaurock committed several institutional reforms within the party instituting an age limit of 75 for parliamentary candidates and promoting more women within the parliamentary party. Blaurock also abolished term limits for the NKP president to give stability to the post of leader. Blaurock also shifted the party to the right, promoting a more stringent form of economic liberalism declaring upon his election that "there is no alternative to an economic based on entirely free-market principles" whilst also differentiating the NKP from the SRPO-led government by promoting an explicitly souverainist policy regarding the Euclean Community.
The 1995-1999 legislature saw Blaurock continue to modernise the party placing more power in its executive and reaching out to opposition parties such as the SDT and the DA which were seen as potential coalition partners. In the runup to the 1999 election the NKP were confident they would become the largest party and form government for the first time since 1979. Blaurock's campaign as such in February 1999 unveiled an extremely right-wing programme that called for amongst other things rescinding many labour protections, restricting the right to industrial action, implementation of a flat tax and raising VAT. These proposals led to Löscher to embark on a vigorous campaign painting the NKP as a party that was solely supported by the wealthy, running a negative campaign that also portrayed Blaurock as a weak and indecisive leader. As a result of the right-wing proposals and the negative campaigning by the SRPO the NKP's polling lead narrowed as the SRPO regained lost support. Although the NKP would get the most amount of votes their seat count - 187 - was exactly the same as the SRPO who formed a coalition with the OSAI. As a result Blaurock resigned as party leader in 2001 stating two electoral losses meant "it is clear that I do not hold the support of the Weranian people" retiring from politics completely.
Following Blaurock's resignation party elites soon supported Sotirian Lowenstein for leader. Although never serving in the federal government Lowenstein had been the Minister-President of Roetenberg and was respected for his consensus driven style. He was elected unopposed as party leader representing a victory for the moderate wing of the party.
The SRPO-OSAI government during the early 2000's was marked by infighting and fatigue after 16 years of SRPO governance. The 2000 election saw the NKP achieve 240 seats due to the unpopularity of the centre-left coalition. Lowenstein formed a government with the Democratic Alternative party, marking the end of the NKP's 12 years in opposition and the first time the NKP formed a coalition government.
Modern history
The Lowenstein government came to power under a context of healthy economic growth but a poor employment rate with Lowenstein declaring that conquering unemployment would be the government's priority. Lowenstein himself was seen as fiscally conservative supporting a restraint on public expenditure and tax cuts whilst also being socially conservative. However Lowenstein was also seen as being pro-Euclean supporting deeper integration in contrast to his DA coalition allies.
Upon coming to power Lowenstein implemented a programme of tax cuts and a raise in public expenditure due to the budget surplus left by the prior government. The government also lessened some of the liberal policies of the previous government tightening drug laws and implementing tough new laws regarding immigration, with the system being transformed into a skills based points system for non-EC migrants. The government also slashed the capital gains tax in 2000 leading to a housing boom. In the initial years of Lowenstein government the NKP benefited from good polling and the weak state of the opposition, but tensions over Euclean policy mounted with the DA coalition partners. In 2004 DA leader and Finance Minister Egon Geisel unexpectedly announced he would resign from government and withdraw the DA from the coalition agreement. A large amount of the DA disagreed with this proposal with Health Minister Theodore Goetzberger and the more centre-right faction of the party staying in government as part of the Reform Conservatives Party. During his preimiership Lowenstein built a close relationship with her Gaullican counterpart, Alexandre Lévesque.
In 2005 at the start of the global financial crisis Werania's economy entered a severe recession with the collapse of the Stiemark Investment and Savings Bank and the bursting of the housing market bubble resulting in sales and property values collapsing. As a result of the recession the government in 2005 announced a 2 year unlimited guarantee of all debt for 4 leading banks, with the debts totalling €700 billion at the start of the guarantee. To ensure it could take on such debts, the government announced severe cuts to education, healthcare, defence, welfare and pensions as well as reversing income tax cuts and beginning to run a deficit. These measures were unpopular with the NKP's support dissipating and anti-austerity protests being held around the country. The economic situation worsened as the government refused to apply for a bailout from the EC.
In the 2007 election the NKP again came first with 215 seats whilst radical parties on the right and left rose in seats. The NKP formed a coalition with the RKP and the SDT continuing a programme of austerity to prevent any need for a bailout from the EC.
In 2009 Lowenstein decided not to run for another term as NKP leader and thereby premier. The party as such elected finance minister Dietrich Wittmann as his successor. Although formally a major figure in the neue rechte faction Wittmann since shifted to a more moderate position albeit still being a strong advocate of further economic liberalisation. His government continued austerity measures but without the popular figure of Lowenstein the reforms were seen as increasingly unfair with the NKP losing popularity. Wittmann was unable to revive the party's electoral fortunes and they were heavily defeated in the election although Schaefer stayed on as leader.
In opposition the new leader Gustav Schaefer attempted to present the NKP as a "party of the progressive centre-right" whilst continuing to support austerity policies in order to maintain fiscal credibility to the Euclean Community .He emphasised the party's fiscal responsibility against the SRPO-PMZ coalition whom he accused of "reckless tax and spend" policies urging fiscal restraint. The party also became more overtly Euclesceptic with Schaefer declaring that he would hold a referendum on the Euclo if Werania was forced to finance a bailout for countries such as Amathia.
Schaefer had been the Minister-President of Wolfsfled and as a result concentrated power amongst his colleagues from his time in Wolfsfled, leading to much of the party to actively agitate against his leadership, especially the party's conservative wing. Schaefer was unable to increase support for the NKP especially following the Kleinmann Affair where Schaefer was accused of taking undisclosed political donations from the construction company Kleinmann. At the 2013 House of Councillors elections - considered a barometer for public support - the NKP saw only marginal gains compared to the 2009 election. Under Schaefer the NKP opposed the legislation of same-sex marriage.
Nevertheless an unpopular pension reform plan by the SRPO-PMZ government in 2014 saw the NKP regain their place in the polls leading to the SRPO to oust their leader and premier Emilia Koopmann and replace her with Viktor Oberhauser. This led to the SRPO to regain their place in the polls getting 157 seats in the 2015 election with the NKP gaining only 9 seats at the election. Oberhauser formed a government with the PMZ whilst Schaefer tendered his resignation as party leader facing criticism from all quarters of the party.
Following Schaefer's resignation former Defence Minister Otto von Hößlin was elected as the NKP incumbent leader. Von Hößlin's leadership has seen a shift to right-wing populist rhetoric calling for a more Euclesceptic foreign policy, tougher immigration policy and economic nationalist measures such as a promotion of Weranian goods, welfare chauvinism and ending the neoliberal policies of the SRPO-PMZ-SDT government. Von Hößlin's leadership in opposition saw support for the NKP increase due to a rightward, Euclesceptic shift in Weranic public opinion partly in response to the unpopularity of the Oberhauser government. Much of the shift to the right was promoted by NKP deputy leader Jörg Bullmann who was close to the Etrurian Tribune Movement. Von Hößlin was re-elected to the party leadership in 2018.
The 2019 election saw the NKP attain 244 seats, the party's best result since mid-2000's. Von Hößlin form a coalition government with the Democratic Alternative with von Hößlin becoming the tenth NKP premier. The NKP-DA coalition had since coming to power largely focused on implementing tougher rules regarding immigration, liberalising sectors of the economy and expanding various welfare programmes. In 2022 von Hösslin resigned as premier being replaced by Anton Raicevich. In the 2023 Weranian federal election the NKP won a majority government enabling them to form a single-party cabinet.
Ideology
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The National Consolidation Party is seen as a catch-all party with it's traditional slogan - Gott, Heimat, Freiheit - intending to exemplify it's fusion of Sotirian democracy, nationalism and liberalism into a single conservative party. The NKP was formed to represent the predominantly rural Catholic community and as such adopted policies in spirit with Sotirian democratic and agrarian philosophy. Over time it has developed into a centre-right conservative party supporting social conservatism and economic liberalism although has more liberal and interventionist tendencies. The NKP is a strong proponent of subsidiarity.
On economic matters, the NKP is strongly influenced by economic liberalism, being the main party responsible for the creation of Werania's social market economy. Prior the collapse of the großkombinat's in the 1970's the NKP strongly supported their development over mittelstands but by the 1990's has re-orientated to support a mix of large conglomerates and SME's. Since the 1980's the NKP has promoted neoliberal economic policies such as privatisation and deregulation. Generally the modern NKP's economic policies have been described as populist due to their support of low taxes and generous social spending despite a rhetorical commitment to small government. Since the 1990's the NKP have supported supply-side economics seeing higher taxes on the wealthy as detrimental for economic growth. The NKP opposed the introduction of a federal minimum wage and oppose further increases to it on the grounds it is bad for job creation. In recent years the NKP have spearheaded moves to introduce a balanced budget amendment (Schuldenbremse) to the Weranian constitution.
On social policy, the NKP has been traditionally seen as conservative opposing legalised euthanasia, supporting greater restrictions on abortion, favouring tight immigration laws and supporting nationalist policies. However, the NKP has generally been pragmatic in certain areas promising in the 2015 election not to amend the current laws surrounding abortion.
On foreign policy the NKP for much of its history has been moderately Euclesceptic party, with their position being described as supporting souverainisme. The NKP currently support reforming the Euclean Community to be more focused on economic rather than political integration. The party was split over the prospect of Etruria joining the bloc in 2016 with some factions supporting it's membership whilst others were strenuously opposed on financial grounds although the failure of the 2016 referendum made the debate within the party moot. The NKP has also traditionally supported close relations with Senria in Coius being strongly critical of Shangea and Dezevau. In the mid-20th century the NKP was more dovish towards Soravia, but have increasingly taken a hardline anti-Soravian stance since the Sostava War when Werania supported the independence of Soravia's former constituent states. They strongly support increasing defence spending.
The NKP see environmental regulations as a burden on the economy and support market based solutions to climate change. Although the NKP does support the validity of climate change they are split on whether humans contribute to it with a significant amount being climate change deniers. The NKP oppose a carbon tax and other command and control methods of environmental regulation. The NKP support fracking.
Factions
Due to the nature of the NKP's creation - that of a merger of parties intending to represent the broad right-wing spectrum of Weranian politics - the party contains several informal ideological factions ranging from liberals to populists. Factions tend to within them contain various ideological strands being organised by charismatic figures. Factions play a large role in the NKP's internal politics although their influence has weakened over time as the NKP has become more ideologically homogenous.
- Sotirian democrats - the historically dominant faction of the party. They mainly consist of Sotirian democrats tracing their heritage to the Catholic Social Party and agrarianists. The mainstream conservatives traditionally opposed both free-market capitalism and socialism, instead promoting a "social market economy" based on the principles of sphere sovereignty and subsidiarity. In the 1980's they became more economically liberal and now are seen as supporting free-market economics and small government whilst maintaining a welfare state. Mainstream conservatives in the party tend to support the Euclean Community with a minority favouring Euclean federalism. Since the 2000's the mainstream conservatives influence has weakened in favour of the new right and populists and have increasingly transitioned to liberal conservatism supporting a more conciliatory social policy whilst defending neoliberalism. Former premiers Konstantin Vogel, Adolf Stahl, Rudolf Wiefelspütz, Johannes Zollitsch and Renatas Vinkauskas were from the mainline conservative faction although Sotirian Lowenstein was considered close to this faction.
- Traditionalist conservatives - mainly descending from the Weranian Fatherland Party. Traditionalist conservatives tend to be extremely socially conservative and nationalist with some supporting völkisch politics. They also are opposed to the Euclean Community. The traditionalist conservatives largely declined in the 1970's with the right-wing of the NKP being supplanted by populists and the new right. Former premier Sigmar Welskopf-Henrich were from the conservative faction.
- Liberals - Historically coming from the National Liberal Party they are considered the most pro-business faction and largely support economic liberalism, free trade, privatisation, individualism and secularism. Liberals in the NKP are divided between national liberals who support a more conservative form of cultural nationalism, social liberals who support more liberal policies in the social sphere and green liberalism and neoliberals who mainly focus on economic liberalism. Former premier August von Münstermann was from the liberal faction.
- Neoconservatives - the neoconservatives are characterised by support for free markets, financial discipline, firm control over public expenditure, tax cuts, Weranic nationalism, traditional values, privatisation, populism and hard Euclescepticism. They also support an interventionist policy abroad and are adamantly anti-socialist. The neoconservatives tend to be fiscal conservatives supporting balanced budgets as well as low taxation. Although the neoconservative faction declined following the creation of the Democratic Alternative the rose to prominence during the 1990's particularly due to the decline of the liberal conservatives and Sotirian democrats. Premiers Sotirian Lowenstein, Dietrich Wittmann and incumbent Otto von Hößlin are most heavily associated with the neoconservatives.
- Populists - emerging from the protectionist, populist tradition of the Rural Federation the populist faction has historically been the weakest. They tend to support forms of national conservatism and economic nationalism. They tend to be the most interventionist on economic issues being more critical of economic liberalism then the other faction. The populists are also the most strongly anti-immigration heavily using nationalist rhetoric and also tend to be souverainist supporting a "Euclea of nations". Of all the factions the populists are the strongest supporters of political reform. Incumbent premier Anton Raicevich comes from the populist faction with Johannes Zollitsch and Otto von Hösslin also being seen as close to this faction.
Organisation
State Lower House Seats | |
|---|---|
| Bonnlitz-Ostbrücken | 30 / 105
|
| Cislania | 82 / 202
|
| Elbenweis | 26 / 95
|
| Kolreuth | 5 / 48
|
| Prizen | 38 / 113
|
| Ruttland | 11 / 125
|
| Rotenberg | 51 / 121
|
| Westbrücken | 8 / 83
|
| Wittislich | 22 / 35
|
| Wolfsfled | 42 / 101
|
The National Consolidation Party organises itself on a federal, provincial and municipal level running in every province. At the apex of the NKP's organisation its the party federal president. The NKP president when in government is the premier and when in opposition serves as the party's leader in the House of Deputies. The federal president is elected to three year terms, with the president having no term limits. If a president resigns a replacement is elected to serve the rest of their term.
The other leaders in the party include the vice-president and the party's leaders in the House of Councillors and the House of Deputies. The party president is elected by the parliamentary party in the Bundestag through preference voting whenever a vacancy appears or if the party leader loses a vote of no confidence.
The highest body in the NKP is the Federal Executive Committee (Bundesvorstand), which serves as the highest executive body in the NKP. The Bundesvorstand is made up of 20 voting members and 5 non-voting members and is elected by delegates at the annual party conference with the exception of the party president and vice-president who are ex-officio voting members.
Unlike other parties such as the Social Democratic Radical Party of Werania the NKP has a relatively decentralised organisational structure with federal branches of the party having large degrees autonomy. The relatively diffuse origins of the NKP means the party's federal branches have strong ideological and personal rivalries. Party policy is made almost entirely by the parliamentary parties, not by the party's rank-and-file members, although NKP members do have a degree of influence over party policy within the federal conference.
The key to the NKP's success is its highly developed network of patron-client relationships on both national and local levels. Within single member districts NKP representatives manage local support groups to keep in touch with public opinion and gain votes and financial backing. These local support groups often were connected to the Catholic Confederation of Labour, rural mutual aid groups and the Catholic Church enabling the party to act as a locus point for financial support and mobilisation of voters. Since the 1980's there has been a decline in these local support groups with the NKP's ability to utilise patronage and pork barrel spending to farm votes being weakened.
The NKP is a member of the Alliance of Conservatives and Democrats for Euclea joining the group in 1997 under Rasa Šimonytė. As of 2019 it is the largest party in the group holding 42 seats in the Euclean parliament.
Leaders
| No. | Name (Born–Died) |
Portrait | Term in Office | Party leadership elections | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Konstantin Vogel (1898-1980)  |
 |
13 May 1957 | 16 May 1960 | 1957 |
| 2 | August von Münstermann (1902-1984) |
 |
16 May 1960 | 5 July 1963 | 1960 |
| 3 | Rudolf Wiefelspütz (1892-1973) |
 |
5 July 1963 | 22 April 1969 | 1963 1966 |
| 4 | Sigmar Welskopf-Henrich (1902-1986) |
.jpg) |
22 July 1969 | 7 March 1972 | 1969 |
| 5 | Renatas Vinkauskas (1922-2017) |
 |
7 March 1972 | 30 June 1980 | 1972 1975 1978 |
| 6 | Maximilian Frommel (1931-2016) |
 |
30 June 1980 | 4 July 1984 | 1980 1983 |
| 7 | Adolf Stahl (1931-2016) |
 |
4 July 1984 | 17 October 1991 | 1984 1987 1990 |
| 8 | Edmund Blaurock (1934-2003) |
 |
17 October 1991 | 24 July 2000 | 1991 1994 1997 |
| 9 | Sotirian Lowenstein (1954-) |
 |
24 July 1997 | 12 July 2009 | 2000 2003 2006 |
| 10 | Dietrich Wittmann (1946-) |
 |
12 July 2009 | 8 July 2011 | 2009 |
| 11 | Günter Schaefer (1956-) |
_(cropped).jpg) |
24 July 2011 | 3 March 2016 | 2011 2014 |
| 12 | Otto von Hößlin (1952-) |
 |
3 March 2016 | 30 June 2022 | 2016 2019 |
| 14 | Anton Raicevich (1979-) |
|
30 June 2022 | Incumbent | 2022 |
Electoral results
House of Deputies
| Election | House of Deputies | Rank | Government | Leader | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±pp | Seats won | +/− | ||||
| 1959 | 9,536,815 | 46.53% | New | 278 / 586
|
 161
|
#1
|
Minority government | Konstantin Vogel |
| 1963 | 9,429,683 | 45.67% | -0.86% | 296 / 602
|
18
|
#1 
|
Minority government | Rudolf Wiefelspütz |
| 1967 | 9,296,847 | 44.64% | -1.03% | 300 / 602
|
4
|
#1
|
Minority government | |
| 1971 | 9,585,051 | 44.33% | -0.31% | 298 / 602
|
2
|
#1
|
Minority government | Sigmar Welskopf-Henrich |
| 1972 | 10,157,683 | 46.82% | +2.49% | 306 / 602
|
8
|
#1
|
Majority government | Johannes Zollitsch |
| 1976 | 10,384,732 | 43.28% | -3.54% | 314 / 579
|
8
|
#1
|
Majority government | |
| 1980 | 10,144,835 | 41.63% | -1.65% | 287 / 579
|
27
|
#1
|
Minority government | Renatas Vinkauskas |
| 1984 | 7,126,832 | 28.86% | -12.77% | 196 / 579
|
91
|
#1
|
Opposition | |
| 1988 | 6,448,392 | 26.79% | -2.07% | 108 / 598
|
88
|
#2
|
Opposition | Maximilian Frommel |
| 1992 | 6,964,925 | 29.58% | +2.79% | 156 / 598
|
48
|
#2
|
Coalition government | Adolf Stahl |
| 1996 | 9,284,922 | 32.94% | +3.36% | 187 / 545
|
31
|
#12
|
Opposition | Edmund Blaurock |
| 1999 | 11,583,941 | 40.21% | +7.27% | 250 / 545
|
63
|
#1
|
Opposition | |
| 2003 | 11,848,371 | 38.46% | -1.75% | 261 / 545
|
11
|
#1
|
Coalition government | Sotirian Lowenstein |
| 2007 | 12,683,712 | 34.22% | -4.24% | 228 / 545
|
33
|
#1
|
Coalition government | |
| 2011 | 9,174,932 | 26.48% | -7.74% | 135 / 545
|
80
|
#2
|
Opposition | Dietrich Wittmann |
| 2015 | 9,086,742 | 26.85% | +0.37% | 151 / 545
|
9
|
#2
|
Opposition | Günter Schaefer |
| 2019 | 13,257,365 | 36.61% | +9.76% | 253 / 545
|
102
|
#1
|
Coalition government | Otto von Hößlin |
| 2023 | 13,758,503 | 41.16% | +4.55% | 300 / 545
|
47
|
#1
|
Majority government | Anton Raicevich |
1Compared to the 1955 seats for the NLP, KP and the KSP.
2Attained more votes then the SRPO but the same amount of seats.
House of Councillors
| Election | House of Councillors | Rank | Status | Leader | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±pp | Contested seats | Total seats | +/− | ||||
| 1989 | TBA | TBA% | New | 86 / 232
|
86 / 232
|
86
|
#1
|
Majority | Edmund Blaurock |
| 1993 | TBA | TBA% | TBA | 53 / 116
|
97 / 232
|
11
|
#1
|
Majority | Edmund Blaurock |
| 1997 | TBA | TBA% | TBA | 68 / 116
|
121 / 232
|
24
|
#1
|
Majority | Rasa Šimonytė |
| 2001 | TBA | TBA% | TBA | 50 / 116
|
118 / 232
|
3
|
#1
|
Majority | |
| 2005 | TBA | TBA% | TBA | 32 / 116
|
82 / 232
|
36
|
#2
|
Minority | |
| 2009 | TBA | TBA% | TBA | 37 / 116
|
69 / 232
|
13
|
#2
|
Minority | Dietrich Wittmann |
| 2013 | TBA | TBA% | TBA | 35 / 116
|
72 / 232
|
2
|
#2
|
Minority | Günter Schaefer |
| 2017 | TBA | TBA% | TBA | 74 / 116
|
104 / 232
|
37
|
#1
|
Majority | Otto von Hößlin |
| 2021 | 10,059,483 | 41.53% | TBA | 67 / 116
|
130 / 232
|
12
|
#1
|
Majority | |
Logos
1957-1989
1989-2002
2002-2018
2018-2022
2022-
