Progressive Party (Midrasia)
Progressive Alliance Alliance Progressif | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Melcion Portas |
| Deputy Leader | Arnaud Peltier |
| Senate Leader | Marie-Ange Giras |
| Founded | 27 April 2017 |
| Headquarters | Fidancia, Lotrič |
| Ideology | Progressivism Modern liberalism Social democracy |
| Political position | Centre to Centre-left |
| International affiliation | Progressive Alliance |
| Parliamentary Bloc | Reform |
| Colours | Purple |
| Public Assembly | 116 / 572
|
| Senate | 92 / 300
|
| Election symbol | |
| AP | |
The Progressive Alliance (Midrasian: Alliance Progressif) is an political party formed in early 2017 as an alliance between Fight Against Corruption and defectors from the Social Democratic Party to contest the 2017 Midrasian elections. The alliance went on to win the election, leading Melcion Portas to be appointed as Consul with the Progressives becoming the largest party within the Reform Bloc in the process. Currently the party holds 116 seats in the Public Assembly and 91 seats in the Senate.
Whilst the Progressive Alliance initially only existed to contest the 2017 elections, the party soon moved to centralise, establishing itself as a permanent force within the Reform Bloc. Nevertheless, the party's poll ratings have fallen since the 2017 election, raising questions as to the future viability of the party.
History
Early Progressivism
Whilst progressivism has never had its own political party within Midrasian history, other parties have incorporated elements of progressivism into their ideology and manifestos.
The Conservative Party can be argued to have ingrained elements of Progressivism into their One Nation policies of the mid-1800s under the leadership of Antoine d'Erimar. Throughout this period, the party began to call for greater electoral and industrial reform along with improvements to factory conditions in an effort to attract more working-class votes. Whilst many suggest such policies can be regarded as progressives, others suggest they represent classical conservative paternalism and a mere attempt to pragmatically gain votes from the working classes by differentiating the party from the more laissez-faire Chartists.
Furthermore, the regular electoral alliances that took place between the Liberal League and Social Democratic Party during the early twentieth century have been regarded by political commentators as "progressive", incorporating ideological elements of social reform and institutional overhaul with Liberal values and Social Democratic market interventionism. Other political scientists, such as Henri Jules have gone as far as to suggest that in reality the Social Democratic Party should be regarded as the progressive, over labels of "Socialist" or "Social Democratic". This is due to the party's turn toward a more centrist political outlook and the lack of any true socialistic market interventionism throughout the party's modern history.
Foundation
In response to the divided political scene in the lead-up to the 2017 general election the LCLC, and a number of defectors from the Social Democrats and Liberal League agreed to form an electoral pact to contend the upcoming election. With poll ratings from the other major parties relatively low, the alliance was able to secure a majority government under the leadership of Melcion Portas.
The electoral alliance can be regarded as the first official progressive force in Midrasian politics, generally moving the Midrasian left wing away from its socialist origins, whilst continuing to implement social and economic reform. Despite this, the inclusion of many more classical liberal politicians from the Liberal League lead many political scientists to dispute the pact's branding as "progressive".
Ideology
The Progressive Alliance identifies itself as a fusion of the values which make up the wider Reform Bloc. Their party platform suggests decisions are made with the involvement of all members from all branches of the bloc in contrast to previous governments which tended to monopolise power around a small number of parties. Generally, the Progressives are viewed as economically interventionist, though commit themselves to the maintenance of "fair and ethical capitalism". The Progressives also highlight their commitment to combating climate change, with the Green Party heavily involved in the Portas administration's environmental policy. The party is also committed to constitutional reform, reviewing the electoral changes made under the PSD in 1994 whilst also working to increase parliamentary oversight and governmental transparency.
The party's main platform as outlined in their 2017 manifesto were as follows:
- Constitutional reform to increase oversight on the role of Consul
- Parliamentary review into corporate influence in politics
- Legalisation of same-sex marriage
- Overhaul of Midrasia's gender laws
- Introduction of a windfall tax on excessive corporate profits
- Reform of the 40% tax rate to create a more progressive taxation system
- Work to better integrate Midrasia into the Commonwealth of Democratic Nations
- Aim to make Midrasia carbon neutral by 2050
Electoral performance
Parliament
| Election year | Public Assembly | Government | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # of overall votes |
% of overall vote |
# of overall seats won |
+/– | ||
| 2017 | 15,504,629 | 23.4 % | 134 / 572
|
 134
|
in government |